Noami Watts
(1968)
Naomi Ellen Watts (born 28 September 1968) is a British actress.[1] She made her screen debut in the Australian drama film For Love Alone (1986) and then appeared in the television series Hey Dad..! (1990), Brides of Christ (1991) and Home and Away (1991) and alongside Nicole Kidman and Thandie Newton in the coming-of-age comedy-drama film Flirting (1991). After moving to America, Watts appeared in films, including Tank Girl (1995), Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (1996) and Dangerous Beauty (1998) and had the lead role in the television series Sleepwalkers (1997–1998).
After years as a struggling actress, Watts came to attention in David Lynch's psychological thriller Mulholland Drive (2001). The following year she enjoyed box-office success with The Ring (2002), the remake of a successful Japanese horror film. She then received nominations at the Academy Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards in the Best Actress categories for her portrayal of Cristina Peck in Alejandro González Iñárritu's neo-noir 21 Grams (2003). Her subsequent films include David O. Russell's comedy I Heart Huckabees (2004), the 2005 remake of King Kong, the crime-thriller Eastern Promises (2007) and the thriller The International(2009). Since then, Watts has portrayed Valerie Plame Wilson in the biographical drama Fair Game (2010) and Helen Gandy in Clint Eastwood's biographical drama J. Edgar (2011). For her leading role as Maria Bennett in the disaster film The Impossible (2012), she received second nominations for the Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress and a nomination for theGolden Globe Award for Best Actress.
In 2002, Watts was included in People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. In 2006, she became a goodwill ambassador for Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, which helps to raise awareness of AIDS-related issues. She has participated in several fundraisers for the cause, and she is presented as an inaugural member of AIDS Red Ribbon Awards.
Biography
- 1968
September 28
Welcome, Naomi
Watts is born to Peter, a sound engineer and road manager for Pink Floyd, and Myfanwy, a stage actress and interior designer. After her parents divorce, Watts frequently moves around with her mother and younger brother, Ben, before finding a stable home with her maternal grandparents in Wales. At seven, Watts' father dies. Although she has few memories of him, she tells Interview, "It was very sudden, and very shocking and upsetting."
- 1982
Sydney Bound
At 14, Watts and family move to Sydney, Australia, where she begins taking drama classes. At a casting call for girls in bikinis, she meets 15-year-old Nicole Kidman, with whom she shares a taxi. "I was inspired by her," Watts tells PEOPLE.
- 1986
A Model Effort
Watts makes her film debut in For Love Alone. Shortly after, she decides to try modeling, which takes her to Japan. Only there for four months, she describes it as the most depressing time of her life and moves back to Sydney. Watts decides she doesn't want to be in front of the camera ever again. A year later, Watts snags a job in advertising at a department store, producing fashion shoots. From there, she becomes an assistant fashion editor at Australian fashion magazine, Follow Me.
- 1989
Spring
Twice Bitten
When Watts reluctantly agrees to attend a weekend acting workshop, the acting bug bites her again. She quits her magazine job the following Monday and never looks back. Weeks later Watts is invited to the premiere of Kidman's Dead Calm and meets director John Duigan, who asks her to audition for a role in his upcoming film Flirting. She lands the part along side Kidman and Thandie Newton. Watts will work with Duigan again in 1993's Wide Sargasso Sea.
- 1993
January 29
Hollywood Bound
After moving to L.A., Watts lands her first Hollywood film gig. It's a bit part as an aspiring actress in the period comedy Matinee, starring John Goodman. She then stars as Jet Girl in the 1995 adaptation of the comic book Tank Girl. While the movie has a cult following, it barely makes a blip at the box office.
- 1999
It's a Job
Watts portrays the murder victim in the NBC true crime movie The Hunt for the Unicorn Killerand costars in the Australian romantic comedy Strange Planet. "I think my spirit has taken a beating," Watts tells London's The Sunday Times. "The most painful thing has been the endless auditions. . .I auditioned and waited for things I did not have any belief in, but I needed the work and had to accept horrendous pieces of s---."
- 2001
October
Who's That Girl?
After appearing in a long string of bit parts, Watts gives a breakthrough performance in David Lynch's Oscar-nominated noir-ish thriller Mulholland Drive, playing a troubled lesbian ingénue. Her performance establishes her as one of the most talented actresses nobody knew. Lynch tells the Los Angeles Times, "I saw someone that I felt had a tremendous talent, and I saw someone who had a beautiful soul, an intelligence, possibilities for a lot of different roles, so it was a beautiful package."
- 2002
May
A Late Bloomer
Watts is named one of PEOPLE's 50 Most Beautiful People. "I don't think I came into any attractiveness until I was in my late 20s," she tells PEOPLE. Her best friend Kidman also makes the list.
Spring
A Younger Love
Watts films Ned Kelly in Melbourne, Australia, opposite Heath Ledger; the two begin dating. While Ledger is 10 years younger, it doesn't bother Watts. "I think it's about life experience and not about age," she tells In Style. "I fell in love with a soul and a person, and his life experience was rich enough that it stimulated me."
October
Cash Registers Ring
Watts takes the lead in the American remake of the Japanese horror film The Ring. She plays Rachel Keller, a journalist trying to save herself and her young son from a killer videotape. The movie grosses $129 million domestically, making Watts a bankable star. She signs on for the 2005 sequel.
- 2003
September 30
Until We Meet Again
- 2004
January 27
Weighty Acclaim
Watts receives an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her heartbreaking performance opposite Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro in Alejandro González Iñárritu's21 Grams. Director Peter Jackson tells Vanity Fair, "Naomi has the ability to draw an audience into the interior life of the characters she plays and yet she manages to conceal more than she reveals, so you're always wanting more."
October
A Heart Break
Watts gives her usual dramatic roles a break, laughing it up in the existential comedy I Heart Huckabees. She plays a ditzy, bikini-clad spokeswoman Dawn Campbell opposite Jude Law and Dustin Hoffman.
- 2005
May
Hello, Liev
Watts and The Manchurian Candidate star Liev Schreiber are seen around New York eating cupcakes and going to concerts. The two begin dating.
December 14
Monkey Love
Watts plays Ann Darrow in director Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong. The film grosses $400 million worldwide and is Watts' most commercial film yet. Her friend director David Lynch tells In Style, "Whoever sits in the palm of King Kong is a movie star for life!"
- 2006
November
Calendar Girl
After lending her face to jeweler David Yurman, Watts appears alongside Sophia Loren and Hilary Swank in the infamously sexy Pirelli Calendar and stars inThe Painted Veil opposite real-life boyfriend Liev Schreiber and actor Edward Norton. The actress is also named a special representative to the United Nations for HIV and AIDS.
- 2007
February 25
Red Carpet Reveal
Watts walks the red carpet in a yellow Escada dress and noticeable bump with fellow Academy Award show presenter and friend Nicole Kidman. Though she hasn't confirmed she's pregnant, Escada's publicist releases a statement saying, "The Escada gown set off her most precious new asset – the baby she is expecting with longtime boyfriend Liev Schreiber." One day later, Schreiber tells Late Night host Conan O'Brien he's going to be a dad.
July 25
Watts & Schreiber Welcome Alexander
Watts gives birth to her and Schreiber's first child, Alexander Pete. The healthy baby boy weighs 8 lbs., 4 oz, and is 22.5 inches long. The weekend before Alexander's birth, the couple had a baby shower with Watts' Le Divorce costar Kate Hudson in attendance.
- 2008
December 13
Here Comes Sam!
Watts and Schreiber add another blond baby boy to their brood, with the birth of son, Samuel Kai. "There is much less fear this time," Watts tells PEOPLE. "You are much more old-hand at it."
- 2010
Naomi's Model Life
At 41, Watts returns to her modeling roots, lending her face (and enviable figure!) to Ann Taylor’s fall ad campaign. "I just melt into the cardigans," the mom of two says of her favorite items. "You can wear them all day and feel cozy."
- 2012
February 09
Royal Role
Watts lands the role of the late Princess Diana inCaught in Flight, an upcoming movie focusing on the last two years of the Princess of Wales's life. "It is such an honor to be able to play this iconic role," she says in a statement. "Princess Diana was loved across the world, and I look forward to rising to the challenge of playing her on screen."
- 2013
January 10
Impossible Performance
Watts earns a best actress Oscar nomination for her role in The Impossible as Maria Belón, a mother-of-three whose family is torn apart during a 2004 vacation to Thailand when the Indian Ocean tsunami hits. "Watts and [Ewan] McGregor give performances that are inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time," PEOPLE critic Alynda Wheat raves of the film, which is based on true events.
"Mulholland Dr."
Watts moved to Australia at age 14 and made a beeline for a career in acting by attending several acting schools. Early on, she struggled to get by - and even went to Japan for a brief stint as a model. She started with work in TV and commercials and made her way to small parts in underground and B movies.
Then Watts was cast in the film "Mulholland Dr", the 2001 movie by director David Lynch - famed for "Blue Velvet" and "Twin Peaks". She received a number of awards, including the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress, and rocketed to fame.
In the film, Watts plays an aspiring actress who comes to Hollywood and falls for an amnesiac that she chances to meet. Like all other Lynch productions, "Mulholland Dr." is a complex film in which Watts unfailingly demonstrates her true thespian strength by faithfully acting two starkly different roles.
Naomi Watts has been close friends with Nicole Kidman ever since the two were in Sydney together working to break into the industry. It is rumored that after Kidman first found her way into fame, she told Watts, "Just one movie can change your life...You can't give up!" Indeed, "Mulholland Dr" proved to be that movie.
Tokio Wrestling
AWARDS
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2001 | Mulholland Dr. | | Won |
| 2003 | 21 Grams | 3rd Place |
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2001 | Mulholland Dr. | | Runner-up |
| 2003 | 21 Grams | Runner-up |
New York Film Critics Online Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2001 | Mulholland Dr. | | Won |
Online Film & Television Association Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2001 | Mulholland Dr. | - Best Breakthrough Performance – Female
| Won |
| Nominated |
| 2003 | 21 Grams | Nominated |
| Nominated |
| 2005 | King Kong | | Nominated |
| 2012 | The Impossible ("The Tsunami") | Nominated |
| Nominated |
Online Film Critics Society Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2001 | Mulholland Dr. | | Won |
| Won |
| 2003 | 21 Grams | Won |
| 2005 | King Kong | Nominated |
Outfest Awards[edit]
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2001 | Mulholland Dr. | - Screen Idol – Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
| Won |
Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2003 | 21 Grams | | Won |
| 2012 | The Impossible | Won |
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards]
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2003 | 21 Grams | | Won |
| Won |
| 2012 | The Impossible | Nominated |
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards[edit]
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2001 | Mulholland Dr. | | Won |
| 2003 | 21 Grams | | Won |
| 2012 | The Impossible | Nominated |
Santa Barbara International Film Festival Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2006 | Herself | | Won |
Satellite Awards[edit]
Saturn Awards
Scream Awards[edit]
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2006 | King Kong | | Nominated |
Screen Actors Guild Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2003 | 21 Grams | | Nominated |
| 2012 | The Impossible | Nominated |
Seattle International Film Festival Awards[edit]
Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards[edit]
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2003 | 21 Grams | | Won |
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards[edit]
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2010 | Fair Game | | Nominated |
| 2012 | The Impossible | | Won |
Teen Choice Awards[edit]
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2005 | The Ring Two | - Choice Movie Scream Scene
| Nominated |
| 2013 | The Impossible | - Choice Movie Actress – Drama
| Nominated |
Utah Film Critics Association Awards[edit]
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2003 | 21 Grams | | Runner-up |
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2005 | King Kong | | Nominated |
| 2007 | Eastern Promises | | Nominated |
Venice Film Festival Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2003 | 21 Grams | - Audience Award – Best Actress
| Won |
| Won |
| Le Divorce |
Village Voice Film Poll Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2001 | Mulholland Dr. | | Won |
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards[edit]
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|
| 2003 | 21 Grams | | Won |
WIKIPEDIA
FILMOGRAPHY
![]()
