About Naomi Watts:
Naomi Watts (born 28 September 1968) is a British-Australian actress. Her screen debut was in the 1986 drama For Love Alone and her career began in Australian television, where she appeared in the series Hey Dad..! (1990), Brides of Christ (1991) and Home and Away (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).
Watts gained critical acclaim for her work in David Lynch's
psychological thriller Mulholland Drive (2001). The following year, she
received public recognition for her role in the box office hit horror
film The Ring (2002). She received nominations for the Academy Award and
the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of
Cristina Peck in Alejandro González Iñárritu's neo-noir 21 Grams (2003).
Her subsequent films include the remake of King Kong (2005), 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 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 the Golden 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.
Early life and education
Watts was born in Shoreham, Kent, England. She is the daughter of Myfanwy Edwards (née Roberts), a Welsh antiques dealer and costume and set designer, and Peter Watts, an English road manager and sound engineer who worked with Pink Floyd. Her parents divorced when she was four years old. After the divorce, Watts and her brother, Ben Watts, continued to live in the family home with their mother. Peter Watts left Pink Floyd in 1974, and he and Myfanwy were later reconciled. Two years later, in August 1976, he was found dead in his flat, in Notting Hill, of an apparent heroin overdose.
Following his death, Watts' mother moved the family to Llanfawr Farm in Llangefni, on Anglesey in North Wales, where they lived with Watts' maternal grandparents, Nikki and Hugh Roberts, for three years, while Myfanwy moved to London in search of a career. During this time, Watts attended a Welsh language school, Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni, where she carried out her studies for several years. She later said of her time in
Wales: "We took Welsh lessons in a school in the middle of nowhere while
everyone else was taking English. Wherever we moved, I would adapt and
pick up the regional accent. It's obviously significant now, my being an
actress. Anyway, there was quite a lot of sadness in my childhood, but
no lack of love." Watts and her brother then moved to London where her
mother bought a home in Putney. Watts has stated that she wanted to
become an actress after seeing her mother performing on stage and from
the time she watched the 1980 film Fame.
In 1978, her mother remarried (though she would later be divorced again) and in 1982, when Watts was 14, she moved to Sydney, New South Wales in Australia (her maternal grandmother was Australian) with her mother, brother and stepfather. Myfanwy established a career in the burgeoning film business, working as a stylist for television commercials, then turning to costume designing, ultimately working for the soap opera Return to Eden. After emigrating, Watts was enrolled in acting lessons by her mother, where she met and befriended actress Nicole Kidman. She also auditioned for and starred in television advertisements.
She attended Mosman High School and North Sydney Girls High School.
Watts failed to graduate from school, afterwards working as a papergirl,
a negative cutter, and managing a Delicacies store in Sydney's affluent
North Shore. She decided to become a model when she was 18. She signed
with a models agency that sent her to Japan, but after several failed
auditions she returned to Sydney.[5] There, she was hired to work in
advertising for a department store, that exposed her to the attention of
Follow Me, a magazine which hired her as an assistant fashion editor. A
casual invitation to participate in a drama workshop returned Watts to
acting, and prompted her to quit her job and to seek success as an
actress. Watts obtained her first role in the 1986 drama film For Love
Alone, based on the novel of the same name by Christina Stead, and
produced by Margaret Fink. Her mother was a set dresser on this
production.
Regarding her nationality, Watts has stated: "I consider myself British and have very happy memories of the UK. I spent the first 14 years of my life in England and Wales and never wanted to leave. When I was in Australia I went back to England a lot." She also has expressed her nationalism for Australia, declaring: "I consider myself very connected to Australia, in fact when people say where is home, I say Australia, because those are my most powerful memories."
Career
Watts' career began in American television, where she made brief appearances in commercials. The 1986 drama For Love Alone, set in the 1930s and based on Christina Stead's 1945 best-seller novel of the same name, marked her debut in film. After a five-year absence from films, Watts met director John Duigan during the 1989 premiere of Kidman's film Dead Calm and he invited her to take a supporting role in his 1991 indie film Flirting. She starred opposite future Hollywood up-and-comers Nicole Kidman and Thandie Newton. The film received critical acclaim and was featured on Roger Ebert's list of the 10 best films of 1992. The same year, she took the part of Frances Heffernan, a girl who struggles to find friends behind the walls of a Sydney Catholic school, in the award winning mini-series Brides of Christ and had a recurring role in the soap opera Home and Away as the handicapped Julie Gibson. Watts was then offered a role on the drama series A Country Practice but turned it down, not wanting to "get stuck on a soap for two or three years", a decision she later called "naïve".
Watts then decided to move to America, to pursue her career further. In 1993 she had a small role in the John Goodman film Matinee and temporarily returned to Australia to star in three Australian films: another of Duigan's pictures, Wide Sargasso Sea; the drama The Custodian; and had her first leading role in the film Gross Misconduct, as a student who accuses one of her teachers (played by Jimmy Smits) of raping her. Watts then moved back to America for good but the difficulty of finding agents, producers and directors willing to hire her during that period frustrated her initial efforts.
When I came to America there was so much promise of good stuff
and I thought, I've got it made here. I'm going to kick ass. Then I went
back to Australia and did one or two more jobs. When I returned to
Hollywood, all those people who'd been so encouraging before weren't
interested. You take all their flattery seriously when you don't know
any better. I basically had to start all over again. I get offered some
things without auditioning today, but back then they wouldn't even fax
me the pages of a script because it was too much of an inconvenience. I
had to drive for hours into the Valley to pick up three bits of paper
for some horrendous piece of shit, then go back the next day and line up
for two hours to meet the casting director who would barely give me eye
contact. It was humiliating. ”
Though her financial situation never led her to taking a job out of the film industry, she experiencing problems like being unable to pay the rent of her apartment and losing her medical insurance. "At first, everything was fantastic and doors were opened to me. But some people who I met through Nicole [Kidman], who had been all over me, had difficulty remembering my name when we next met. There were a lot of promises, but nothing actually came off. I ran out of money and became quite lonely, but Nic gave me company and encouragement to carry on."
She then landed a supporting role in the futuristic 1995 film Tank Girl, winning the role of of "Jet Girl" after nine auditions. While the film was met with mixed reviews, it flopped at the box office, although it has gone on to become something of a cult classic. Throughout the rest of the decade, she took supporting roles in films. In 1996, she starred alongside Joe Mantegna, Kelly Lynch and J.T. Walsh in George Hickenlooper's action-thriller Persons Unknown; alongside James Earl Jones, Kevin Kilner and Ellen Burstyn in the period drama Timepiece; in Bermuda Triangle, a TV pilot that was not picked up for a full series, where she played a former documentary filmmaker who disappears in the Bermuda Triangle; and as the lead role in Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering, in which children in a small town become possessed under the command of a wrongfully-murdered child preacher.
In 1997, she starred in the Australian ensemble romantic drama Under the Lighthouse Dancing and also played the lead role in the short-lived television series Sleepwalkers. In 1998, she starred alongside Neil Patrick Harris and Debbie Reynolds in the TV film The Christmas Wish, played the supporting role of Giulia De Lezze in Dangerous Beauty and provided some voice work for Babe: Pig in the City. She said in an interview in 2012, "That really should not be on my résumé! I think that was early on in the day, when I was trying to beef up my résumé. I came in and did a couple days' work of voiceovers and we had to suck on [helium] and then do a little mouse voice. But I was one in a hundred, so I'm sure you would never be able to identify my voice. I probably couldn't either!"
In 1999, she played Alice in the romantic comedy Strange Planet and the Texan student Holly Maddux in The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer, which was based on the effort to capture Ira Einhorn, who was charged with Maddux's murder. In 2000, while David Lynch was expanding the rejected pilot of Mulholland Drive into a feature film, Watts starred alongside Derek Jacobi, Jack Davenport and Iain Glen in the BBC TV film The Wyvern Mystery, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Sheridan Le Fanu that was broadcast in March of that year.
Much of her early career is filled with near misses in casting, as she was up for significant roles in films such as 1997's The Postman and 2000's Meet the Parents, which eventually went to other actresses.[29] In an interview in 2012, Watts said, "I came to New York and auditioned at least five times for Meet the Parents. I think the director liked me but the studio didn't. I heard every piece of feedback you could imagine, and in this case, it was 'not sexy enough." Watts recalled her early career in an interview in 2002, saying, "It is a tough town. I think my spirit has taken a beating. The most painful thing has been the endless auditions. Knowing that you have something to offer, but not being able to show it, is so frustrating. As an unknown, you get treated badly. 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 shit."
Naomi Watts (born 28 September 1968) is a British-Australian actress. Her screen debut was in the 1986 drama For Love Alone and her career began in Australian television, where she appeared in the series Hey Dad..! (1990), Brides of Christ (1991) and Home and Away (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).
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.
Early life and education
Watts was born in Shoreham, Kent, England. She is the daughter of Myfanwy Edwards (née Roberts), a Welsh antiques dealer and costume and set designer, and Peter Watts, an English road manager and sound engineer who worked with Pink Floyd. Her parents divorced when she was four years old. After the divorce, Watts and her brother, Ben Watts, continued to live in the family home with their mother. Peter Watts left Pink Floyd in 1974, and he and Myfanwy were later reconciled. Two years later, in August 1976, he was found dead in his flat, in Notting Hill, of an apparent heroin overdose.
Following his death, Watts' mother moved the family to Llanfawr Farm in Llangefni, on Anglesey in North Wales, where they lived with Watts' maternal grandparents, Nikki and Hugh Roberts, for three years, while Myfanwy moved to London in search of a career. During this time, Watts attended a Welsh language school, Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni, where she carried out her studies for several years. She later said of her time in
In 1978, her mother remarried (though she would later be divorced again) and in 1982, when Watts was 14, she moved to Sydney, New South Wales in Australia (her maternal grandmother was Australian) with her mother, brother and stepfather. Myfanwy established a career in the burgeoning film business, working as a stylist for television commercials, then turning to costume designing, ultimately working for the soap opera Return to Eden. After emigrating, Watts was enrolled in acting lessons by her mother, where she met and befriended actress Nicole Kidman. She also auditioned for and starred in television advertisements.
Regarding her nationality, Watts has stated: "I consider myself British and have very happy memories of the UK. I spent the first 14 years of my life in England and Wales and never wanted to leave. When I was in Australia I went back to England a lot." She also has expressed her nationalism for Australia, declaring: "I consider myself very connected to Australia, in fact when people say where is home, I say Australia, because those are my most powerful memories."
Career
Watts' career began in American television, where she made brief appearances in commercials. The 1986 drama For Love Alone, set in the 1930s and based on Christina Stead's 1945 best-seller novel of the same name, marked her debut in film. After a five-year absence from films, Watts met director John Duigan during the 1989 premiere of Kidman's film Dead Calm and he invited her to take a supporting role in his 1991 indie film Flirting. She starred opposite future Hollywood up-and-comers Nicole Kidman and Thandie Newton. The film received critical acclaim and was featured on Roger Ebert's list of the 10 best films of 1992. The same year, she took the part of Frances Heffernan, a girl who struggles to find friends behind the walls of a Sydney Catholic school, in the award winning mini-series Brides of Christ and had a recurring role in the soap opera Home and Away as the handicapped Julie Gibson. Watts was then offered a role on the drama series A Country Practice but turned it down, not wanting to "get stuck on a soap for two or three years", a decision she later called "naïve".
Watts then decided to move to America, to pursue her career further. In 1993 she had a small role in the John Goodman film Matinee and temporarily returned to Australia to star in three Australian films: another of Duigan's pictures, Wide Sargasso Sea; the drama The Custodian; and had her first leading role in the film Gross Misconduct, as a student who accuses one of her teachers (played by Jimmy Smits) of raping her. Watts then moved back to America for good but the difficulty of finding agents, producers and directors willing to hire her during that period frustrated her initial efforts.
Though her financial situation never led her to taking a job out of the film industry, she experiencing problems like being unable to pay the rent of her apartment and losing her medical insurance. "At first, everything was fantastic and doors were opened to me. But some people who I met through Nicole [Kidman], who had been all over me, had difficulty remembering my name when we next met. There were a lot of promises, but nothing actually came off. I ran out of money and became quite lonely, but Nic gave me company and encouragement to carry on."
She then landed a supporting role in the futuristic 1995 film Tank Girl, winning the role of of "Jet Girl" after nine auditions. While the film was met with mixed reviews, it flopped at the box office, although it has gone on to become something of a cult classic. Throughout the rest of the decade, she took supporting roles in films. In 1996, she starred alongside Joe Mantegna, Kelly Lynch and J.T. Walsh in George Hickenlooper's action-thriller Persons Unknown; alongside James Earl Jones, Kevin Kilner and Ellen Burstyn in the period drama Timepiece; in Bermuda Triangle, a TV pilot that was not picked up for a full series, where she played a former documentary filmmaker who disappears in the Bermuda Triangle; and as the lead role in Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering, in which children in a small town become possessed under the command of a wrongfully-murdered child preacher.
In 1997, she starred in the Australian ensemble romantic drama Under the Lighthouse Dancing and also played the lead role in the short-lived television series Sleepwalkers. In 1998, she starred alongside Neil Patrick Harris and Debbie Reynolds in the TV film The Christmas Wish, played the supporting role of Giulia De Lezze in Dangerous Beauty and provided some voice work for Babe: Pig in the City. She said in an interview in 2012, "That really should not be on my résumé! I think that was early on in the day, when I was trying to beef up my résumé. I came in and did a couple days' work of voiceovers and we had to suck on [helium] and then do a little mouse voice. But I was one in a hundred, so I'm sure you would never be able to identify my voice. I probably couldn't either!"
Much of her early career is filled with near misses in casting, as she was up for significant roles in films such as 1997's The Postman and 2000's Meet the Parents, which eventually went to other actresses.[29] In an interview in 2012, Watts said, "I came to New York and auditioned at least five times for Meet the Parents. I think the director liked me but the studio didn't. I heard every piece of feedback you could imagine, and in this case, it was 'not sexy enough." Watts recalled her early career in an interview in 2002, saying, "It is a tough town. I think my spirit has taken a beating. The most painful thing has been the endless auditions. Knowing that you have something to offer, but not being able to show it, is so frustrating. As an unknown, you get treated badly. 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 shit."
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