Nicole Kidman can do it all. The 58-year-old Australian actor, who graduated from rising star and tabloid fodder to one of the industry’s most respected heavyweights, has, over the course of her more-than-four-decade-long career, shimmied her way through exuberant musicals, captivated us in spine-tingling horror, dazzled in prestige dramas, and set our pulses racing in pacy thrillers. Best of all, though, for every more conventional, awards-friendly turn she’s delivered, there’s also been a big, bold swing that takes both audiences and critics by surprise.
In honor of her November 2025 Vogue cover—and as we look eagerly ahead to Practical Magic 2—we revisit her best roles to date.
Dead Calm (1989)
A 21-year-old Kidman—with her signature curly red hair and natural Australian accent—broke out in Phillip Noyce’s heart-pumping tale of a couple who are sailing through the Pacific when a mysterious stranger (Billy Zane) comes onboard, claiming to have escaped a sinking ship. As violence ensues, this seemingly wide-eyed young innocent quickly proves her worth.
To Die For (1995)
The part that catapulted her to superstardom, though? That of the vampy, endlessly ambitious, and deliciously ruthless weather presenter Suzanne Stone, who plots to knock off her husband (Matt Dillon) in Gus Van Sant’s satirical romp. She’s charming and chilling in equal measure, scoring both a Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Award.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Under the direction of Stanley Kubrick and opposite her then-husband Tom Cruise, the actor sizzles in this divisive psychosexual drama, playing the wife of a doctor who spirals after she confesses to fantasizing about another man. Cue his descent into a sinister underworld full of masked orgies—and all hell breaking loose.
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
From the second she drops down from the ceiling to belt out a coquettish rendition of “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend,” Kidman’s impossibly glamorous courtesan Satine has Ewan McGregor’s wide-eyed writer Christian (and the audience) wrapped around her finger in Baz Luhrmann’s glitter-strewn musical. It resulted in the actor’s first Oscar nod as well as her second Golden Globe win, and remains one of her most iconic performances to date.
The Others (2001)
Intensely creepy and increasingly unhinged, Alejandro Amenábar’s supernatural chiller owes much to Kidman’s unwavering commitment as a distressed, shotgun-wielding mother trying to protect her children from the hauntings plaguing their remote country house in ’40s Jersey. By turns fragile and steely, despondent and then defiant, she’s so much more than your typical scream queen.
The Hours (2002)
With a mousy brown mane, that prosthetic nose, and a wardrobe of floral tea dresses, the actor disappeared completely into the part of Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry’s profoundly moving Michael Cunningham adaptation, about three women whose lives are connected by Mrs. Dalloway. A virtuosic powerhouse, the turn brought Kidman a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and a best-actress Oscar, taking her career to a whole new level.
Dogville (2003)
Rather than resting on her laurels after all of the awards and acclaim, the actor went bolder, taking center stage in Lars von Trier’s arthouse shocker tracking a troubled woman hiding out from her volatile gangster father in a rural Colorado community that eventually turns against her. The result is truly jaw-dropping.
Birth (2004)
Who else but Kidman could convincingly play a grieving widow who believes that a 10-year-old boy is the reincarnation of her deceased husband? With a delicate and layered performance, weaving together suspicion, hope, doubt, and sorrow, she secured yet another Golden Globe nomination for this Jonathan Glazer-helmed mood piece.
Rabbit Hole (2010)
A couple (Kidman and Aaron Eckhart) process the accidental death of their young son in John Cameron Mitchell’s devastating tearjerker, which gives the actor ample room to swing expertly between anger, numbness, hopelessness, and stoicism. Naturally, a third Oscar nomination followed.
Big Little Lies (2017)
As the enigmatic Celeste, the most envied woman in Monterey who, in reality, harbors a deep, dark secret, Kidman was the heart and soul of David E. Kelley’s small-screen sensation. It landed the actor two Emmys, two Golden Globes, two Critics’ Choice Awards (for starring and producing), and a SAG Award, and sparked something of a TV renaissance in her career. She went on to star in The Undoing, Nine Perfect Strangers, and, most recently, Expats.
Babygirl (2024)
In Halina Reijn’s hair-raising workplace thriller, you see Kidman as you never have before: raw, vulnerable, and sexually liberated as a strung-out CEO drawn into an illicit affair with an intern (Harris Dickinson). It’s a testament to her complete fearlessness, a quality that has defined her work since the very beginning.
