Nicole Kidman, New York

Nicole Kidman AC (b. 1967), actor, began her film career as a teenager in the Australian ventures Bush Christmas and BMX Bandits (1983), appearing at about the same time in advertisements for pantyhose and health insurance. After a strong performance in the TV mini-series Vietnam (1987) she starred in Dead Calm (1989). Her Hollywood debut came in Days of Thunder (1990), starring Tom Cruise. In 1995 she played Batman's glamorous girlfriend in Batman Forever, but also proved her acting talent in To Die For, for which she won her first Golden Globe for best actress. After Stanley Kubrick’s swansong Eyes Wide Shut, she won another Golden Globe for Moulin Rouge (2000). For her performance in The Hours (2002) she became the first Australian woman to win an acting Oscar and was also named best actress at the BAFTAs and the Berlin Film Festival. Kidman has established a reputation for fearless participation in very diverse ventures including Lars von Trier’s Dogville (2003), the comedy Bewitched (2005), Baz Luhrmann’s epic Australia (2008), the Australian feature The Railway Man (2013), the children’s film Paddington (2012), the drama Lion (2016), the thriller The Beguiled (2017) and the grim police saga Destroyer (2018). In 2017 she received the Emmy for best actress for the television series Big Little Lies. Renowned worldwide for her elegance, in recent years she has starred in advertisements for Chanel No 5, Omega, Jimmy Choo and Etihad Airways.

The legendary Irving Penn took many photographs of Kidman in the years following her divorce from Tom Cruise and her triumph in The Hours.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009
© Irving Penn Foundation