Elegant blonde 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.

Kidman is the daughter of Janelle Ann (Glenny), a nursing instructor, and Antony David Kidman, a biochemist and clinical psychologist. She is of English, Irish, and Scottish descent. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to Washington, D.C., where Nicole's father pursued his research on breast cancer, and then, three years later, made the pilgrimage back to her parents' native Sydney in Australia, where Nicole was raised. 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). That appearance touched off a flurry of film and television offers, including a lead in BMX Bandits (1983) and a turn as a schoolgirl-turned-protester in the miniseries Vietnam (1987) (for which she won her first Australian Film Institute Award). With the help of an American agent, she eventually made her US debut opposite Sam Neill in the at-sea thriller Dead Calm (1989).

Trivia

2000: She and her husband Tom Cruise donated to Hillary Clinton's campaign for a seat in the U.S. Senate representing New York state.
Suffered a broken rib while rehearsing a dance routine for the movie Moulin Rouge! (2001). Production was halted while she recovered.
Chosen by People Magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 1996, 1999 and 2002. In 2004, she was one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People for Most Wanted Skin". She ranked as #69 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement and in August 2008 she was voted the fifth Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine.
Wore a corset while filming The Portrait of a Lady (1996) to take her waist down to 19".
Spent two weeks in bed after filming of The Portrait of a Lady (1996) - diagnosed as suffering from "emotional stress".
10/99: Crusader against child abuse. "Children should be allowed to grow up without fear of cruelty.".
Listed in "People Weekly"s "Most Intriguing People" list of 1995. In 2001, she was awarded "Celebrity of the Year" by E!, "Entertainer of the Year" by Entertainment Weekly and named one of People Magazine's "25 Most Intriguing People of 2001". Also, Premiere Magazine ranked her as #48 on a list of the "Greatest Movie Stars of All Time" in their 2005 feature "Stars in Our Constellation". Finally, she ranked #31 in Premiere's annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #83 in 2002.

[August 2000, on her marriage to Tom Cruise] Every day there is a compromise. Living with somebody requires a lot of understanding. But I love being married. I really love it. Sometimes I try to downplay it a bit because people are like, "God you guys!" I just feel so fortunate that I have found someone who will put up with me and stay with me.
[on husband Tom Cruise] I wouldn't want to be married to me, but luckily he does.
[8/01, commenting on her break-up with Tom Cruise] Now I can wear heels.
It's so bizarre, I'm not scared of snakes or spiders. But I'm scared of butterflies. There is something eerie about them. Something weird!
[on winning the Academy Award for The Hours (2002)] And I am standing in front of my mother, and my whole life I have wanted to make my mother proud. And now I'm going to make my daughter proud.
When I heard about the Suzanne role in To Die For (1995), I thought, "I'll never get it - it'll be offered to someone else." So I called Gus [Gus Van Sant] at home, and he took my call, thank God. I told him I'd seen Drugstore Cowboy (1989), and I really wanted to work with him. I said I was destined to work with him.
I think it's important that we don't all have to hold our heads high all the time saying everything's fine.
These different people that I play become the loves of my life.