Nicole Kidman was born 20 June 1967 in Honolulu, while her father was a visitor at the National Institute of Mental Health of the United States. They returned to Australia when she was four years old, where she attended school and after graduating went on to study at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, and at the Phillip Street Theatre in Sydney, with her good friend Naomi Watts. Nicole followed this up by further studies at the Australian Theatre for Young People.
Her breakthrough role in film was in 1989, when she starred in Dead Calm. The film was well received, and Kidman was then offered roles in Days of Thunder, and Far and Away – starring alongside Tom Cruise in both. In 1995, she featured in Batman Forever.
However, after meeting Cruise in 1990, Kidman’s career seemed to take the backseat to their relationship, with Cruise dominating the limelight. The pair married on Christmas Eve in 1990. Together the adopted two children – Isabella and Connor – but separated just short of ten years together when Kidman was three months pregnant. She subsequently suffered a miscarriage.
After separating with Cruise, her career flourished. Kidman starred in a string of hits, such as Moulin Rouge!, The Others, Birthday Girl, The Others, Dogville, Cold Mountain, The Interpreter, Happy Feet, and The Golden Compass. More notably, her most recent film Australia has just been released and is set to be one of the biggest epic films in history.
In 2005, Kidman met country singer Keith Urban at an even in LA called G’Day LA, which honoured Australians. They married in June 2006 at Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel in the grounds of St Patrick's Estate, Manly in Sydney, and in 2008 the pair confirmed that they were expecting their first child. Their daughter Sunday Rose was born in July 2008.
Kidman has also been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF Australia since 1994, and is constantly involved in charity work, and has also been nominated goodwill ambassador for UNIFEM. On Australia Day in 2006, she received Australia's highest civilian honour when she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia.
