Nicole Kidman is especially good at showing the effort behind a woman's confidence. We rate her willingness to look awkward and exposed, though too many of her parts give that attentive work too little to do.
Fi1m perspective
In Babygirl (2024), Nicole Kidman's Romy can chair a meeting but struggles to say what she wants in bed. The confidence is something she practises, and Kidman lets us see how much work goes into it. Halina Reijn gives her room to look awkward and exposed without treating either as a failure. It is a good, rather cautious erotic thriller, with a performance less guarded than the film around it.
Days of Thunder (1990) had already shown how much she could give a part that offered little in return. As Dr Claire Lewicki, she brings a firmness to the romance that Tony Scott's film scarcely develops. Hans Zimmer's insistent score makes those thinly written scenes feel more strained. After the breakthroughs of Dead Calm (1989) and Days of Thunder, To Die For (1995) and Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999) established her as a dramatic actor.
Her subsequent work has moved between independent films, blockbusters and television. In Scarpetta (2026), she plays the pathologist Kay as a tired woman whose precision at work gives way to impatience elsewhere. Jamie Lee Curtis plays her sister Dorothy at full volume. We laughed at the sisters' bickering; Kidman's impatience is funnier with Curtis loudly airing every grievance. The series around them remains muddled, and their scenes cannot put its competing timelines and distractions in order.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) gives her a motorised shark to ride and seems satisfied with that. Don Burgess's underwater photography leaves faces softened by digital effects. Production designer Bill Brzeski supplies a rusted seabed kingdom, but it barely gets time to be seen. A lighter part would be welcome if it offered more for her to do. Start with Babygirl if the attraction is her acting.
Biography
Nicole Kidman is an Australian-American actress. Born on 20 June 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii, she began her career in Australia with roles in the 1983 films Bush Christmas and BMX Bandits. Her breakthrough came with lead roles in Dead Calm (1989) and the miniseries Bangkok Hilton (1989).
She came to international prominence with a supporting role in Days of Thunder (1990). Kidman has appeared in films including Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Moulin Rouge! (2001), The Others (2001), The Hours (2002), Aquaman (2018) and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) as Atlanna, Lion (2016), and Babygirl (2024) as Romy. She stars as Kay Scarpetta in the series Scarpetta (2026). Her accolades include an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and six Golden Globe Awards.
