Elegant Nicole Kidman, known as one of Hollywood’s top Australian imports, was actually born in Honolulu, Hawaii, while her Australian parents were there on educational visas. Young Nicole’s first love was ballet, but she eventually took up mime and drama as well (her first stage role was a bleating sheep in an elementary school Christmas pageant). In her adolescent years, acting edged out the other arts and became a kind of refuge — as her classmates sought out fun in the sun, the fair-skinned Kidman retreated to dark rehearsal halls to practice her craft. She worked regularly at the Philip Street Theater, where she once received a personal letter of praise and encouragement from audience member Jane Campion (then a film student). Kidman eventually dropped out of high school to pursue acting full-time. She broke into movies at age 16, landing a role in the Australian holiday favorite Bush Christmas (1983).
Her Hawaiian name is Hokulani, which means “heavenly star”. She was named after a baby elephant, that lived at the local zoo of her childhood home, as her mother loves elephants
When she was 14, she got her first job at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, where she worked as an usherette at Sesame Street Live
Decided to do Eyes Wide Shut (1999) before reading the script
‘Stanley Kubrick taught me to believe in myself artistically. I spent my 20s raising my children, and wanting to, and being married. That was my driving force. And then he said to me, “No, you have to respect your talent, and give it some space, and give it some time. Which was a lovely thing to be given. And my children were a little older then.’
‘I love acting but I don’t like all of the other stuff associated with it. The interest in celebrities, the press, the Internet, when your identity becomes mixed up in the way people are perceiving you.’
She writes short stories in her free time and hopes to publish them one day
She’s best friends with Naomi Watts
Kidman has never used a body double for her nude scenes
