Born in Hawaii and raised in Australia, she studied dance and drama from childhood and made her film debut in Bush Christmas (1983) at the age of 14. Her performance in the 1985 Australian miniseries "Vietnam" made her a star in that country and won her several awards. Other credits include BMX Bandits (1983), Wills and Burke: The Untold Story (1985), Windrider (1986, as a rock star), Emerald City (1989), and the miniseries "Five Mile Creek" (1985) and "Bangkok Hilton" (1990). Her performance as a snooty upperclasswoman in Flirting (1990) was duly noted when American moviegoers got to see the film in 1992. She came to America for Days of Thunder (1990), in which she was conveniently cast as a doctor for leading man Tom Cruise. Since then, she has played Dutch Schultz's moll in Billy Bathgate (1991), an Irish immigrant in Far and Away (1992, reteamed with Cruise), an American spouse (who's a psychopath in reality), in the overheated Malice and an expectant mother in the tearjerker My Life (both 1993). In 1995, Kidman starred in Batman Forever and To Die For. One People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" for most wanted skin (2004).