Nicole Kidman
Birth Place: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Date of Birth: June 20th, 1967
Full Name: Nicole Mary Kidman
Famous for: Moulin Rouge!, Eyes Wide Shut, and many other movies.  

The ravishing redhead was thrown into the Hollywood limelight as Tom Cruise's wife, but Nicole Kidman has become an A-list actress and a household name on the strength of her acting abilities, not because of the wedding ring on her finger.

Many would be fooled into thinking that Nicole was born down under because of her noticeable Australian accent, but they would be wrong. Nicole Mary Kidman was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 20, 1967. The Kidmans lived in the U.S. because Nicole's biochemist father was conducting research on breast cancer. Once Nicole was 4 years old, her family moved to Australia, where Nicole and her younger sister were raised under strict rules. Anthony and Janelle Kidman were extremely politically active, and instilled certain values into their daughters. The Kidman girls were even required to discuss a political issue or current affair with their parents at the end of every day.

Nicole made her acting debut in 1983, in the Australian film Bush Christmas. She made quite a lasting impression on her fellow Australians, who still watch the film on television every December. By the time she dropped out of high school to pursue a full-time acting career and tend to her mother who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, Nicole had already become a star Down Under. She soon became recognized across the globe in the United States, when she appeared in the 1989 thriller, Dead Calm.

Finally growing into her figure and becoming the red headed beauty we know today, Nicole next appeared in the film Days of Thunder, which would mold her life in more ways than one. In the racecar flick, she stole co-star Tom Cruise's heart both on and off screen. The couple were married after a brief courtship in 1990, although have since separated amid much media attention.

Nicole and Tom starred as husband and wife (not too much of a stretch) in the psychosexual drama Eyes Wide Shut, classic director Stanley Kubrick's final film. The much anticipated film drew mixed reviews, despite the fact that it took most of 1997 to film.