31 Never-Before Known Facts About Nicole Kidman That Every Fan Should Know

Often considered as one of Hollywood’s top Australian imports, Nicole Kidman is the first Australian actress to have won an Academy Award. Unbelievably, Kidman was a shy kid who suffered from speech problems including stuttering. Despite the remarkable highs and the incredible lows of her life and career, she is nowhere near slowing down, pushing onward with an open heart about everything. Here are few interesting things to know about the actress and occasional singer:

1. She initially turned down the role of Evelyn Stoker in the “Stoker,” as she wanted to spend time with her kids and husband, though she very much wanted to work with director Chan-wook Park. However, the director chose the setting in Nashville, at a house just five minutes far from Kidman’s house, making it really easy for her start filming once she wrapped “The Paperboy.”
2. For the movie “Bombshell” which Charlize Theron starred and produced, she reportedly had Nicole Kidman as her top pick for the role of Gretchen Carlson.
3. She appeared in a series of postage stamps, once as herself and once as her Academy-Award-nominated character – Satine from “Moulin Rouge!” in the beginning of the year 2009.
4. During the filming of “Destroyer” she got the flu, but is said to have powered through with it. In fact, for the scene with her character’s daughter, she was so sick that she could not even stand.
5. According to the “AquaMan” director James Wan, Kidman is said to have immediately accepted the role of Atlanna when she was told that she could wear “Mother-of-Pearl and be a Mermaid Warrior.”
6. With her movies “The Upside” and “Aquaman” she earned a rare feat of two of her films landing first and second place at the box office in the same weekend.
7. Director Sofia Coppola of “The Beguiled,” is said to have written the screenplay of the movie, keeping Kidman in mind. She went on to add that it was more than what she imagined to see the actress bring the role to life.
8. During the filming of “How To Talk To Girls at Parties,” she and her co-star Alex Sharp reportedly rehearsed their scenes in her dressing room at the Michael Grandage Theater in London, as she was busy finishing the West End run of her play “Photograph 51”.
9. In the movie “Lion,” Kidman was handpicked by the real-life Sue Brierley to play the part in the movie, who actually met with Kidman at her Sydney apartment to discuss the role. The duo forged a close bond and discovered that they were both deeply maternal and loved their adoptive and biological children in equal measures.
10. Once the film was over, the real Sue Brierley was quite happy with the overall adaptation, except for the frumpish demeanor in her portrayal by Kidman. Brierley was also disappointed that the actual clothing items she and Sarro wore were never used in the production.
11. It was reported that she begged director Werner Herzog of the movie “Queen of the Desert” to include a scene of her character, Gertrude Bell, bathing in the desert, to which he had happily obliged. The scene was written immediately on the set and was shot.
12. For the role of Atlanna in the “Aquaman” movie, she was reportedly the first choice of director James Wan. The duo were supposed to work together on a remake of “At the End of the Spectra,” which was scrapped. Kidman was a long-time supporter of Wan’s career.
13. Motivated by her own mother’s breast cancer battle, Kidman supported the Little Tee Campaign for breast cancer care, through which T-shirts or vests were designed to raise money to fight the disease, in the year 1984.
14. It took weeks for her to get immersed in her role of Erin Bell in the movie “Destroyer,” and even many more months for it to wear off. She claimed that she would find herself shuffling, and think that it’s because Erin is still there.
15. During the filming of the sponge scene in “The Beguiled,” she is said to have sponged her co-star Colin Farrell for almost two hours, as it required several takes as the afternoon light inflicted the cinematography.
16. She reportedly agreed to star in the movie “Australia” without even reading the script, and even told her co-star Hugh Jackman to forget about the script, because Baz Luhrmann was directing. She even prepared for the role Lady Sarah Ashley, by touring the country with her family, riding horses, and even castrating bulls.
17. The dance scene in “The Paperboy,” between her and Zac Efron, is said to have been an improvisation on her part. Her co-star Efron claims filming the scene was “the moment” he became a man.
18. She met Tom Cruise in the sets of “Days of Thunder” in November 1989, and they were married on Christmas Eve in Telluride, Colorado.
19. The couple separated after a decade-long relationship on February 5, 2001. The duo adopted a daughter, Isabella Jane Cruise, and a son Connor Antony.
20. She turned down Woody Allen’s offer for a role in “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger,” due to her commitment to produce as well as star in the 2010 movie “Rabbit Hole.” It took her a total of four and a half years to develop the film.
21. Her father Antony Kidman visited her on the sets of “The Family Fang,” in which she starred as well as produced, in New York. That was said to be the last time she met her father before he passed away in September 2014.
22. In preparation for her role of Christine in the movie “Before I Go to Sleep,” she studied amnesiacs, and even watched a documentary on Clive Wearing.
23. Since the year 1994, she has been a Goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and from 2006 for UNIFEM. She was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia in the year 2006.
24. She was initially supposed to collaborate with Sofia Coppola, playing a wicked sea witch in “The Little Mermaid,” her abandoned adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. But when the project fell apart, Coppola searched for another project to collaborate with her.
25. She claims that her first inspiration to become an actress was after watching Margaret Hamilton’s performance as the Wicked Witch of the West in “The Wizard of Oz.”
26. In preparation to her role as Virginia Woolf in her Award Winning movie “The Hours, she reportedly read all of the famous author’s personal letters, which she claims gave her a greater access to her character, than the novels.
27. While filming the movie “Queen of the Desert,” the director Werner Herzog found a vulture on a tower, with its owner by the side of the road, by coincidence, and decided to add it to the movie. The vulture, being not trained for screen roles, tried to peck Kidman, but was on a leash.
28. In the “The Paperboy,” she herself created the “trashy” look of Charlotte, as the movie’s budget could not allow a make-up assistant, leaving her to do her own make-up.
29. On the sets of the movie “Australia,” she saved her co-star Hugh Jackman from a poisonous scorpion crawling up his leg. She asked him to stay calm and not move, squatted down, scooped the scorpion into her hat, and released it to the woods.
30. For the movie “Rabbit Hole,” which she produced, she handpicked Aaron Eckhart to play the role of her husband, Howie. She offered the role of Jason to Miles Teller, as he blushed and quivered during his audition, stating “he was real.”
31. Nicole Kidman Net Worth: $130 Million