Naomi Watts Biography

news-detailsNaomi Ellen Watts indeed had gone through such a rocky and steep path before she has ultimately succeeded to reach eminence and popularity in her acting career. Fifteen years in the Hollywood film industry is certainly such a long period, yet she struggled hard with all the diligence and persistence to finally emerge as a notable actress.

Being the only daughter of Peter and Myfanwy "Miv" Watts, Naomi was born on September 28, 1968 in Shoreham, Kent, England. After the death of her father, her mother took her to her grandparents' residence in Llanfawr Farm, Northern Wales. Together with her brother, Ben, she spent her early life there before moving to Sydney, Australia at the age of 14. Growing a deep love in acting upon seeing her mother's performance on stage, she successfully convinced Miv to let her took an acting class. During her study, she began to join auditions and got several appearances in commercials.

The year of 1986 marked Naomi's venture to the big screen through a small role in "For Love Alone." She afterwards turned her attention to modeling and went to Japan to develop a career in this particular field. However, she gradually realized that it did not suit her, thus she returned to Australia and worked as a fashion editor in Follow Me Magazine. Unable to resist the desire to act, she once again landed her feet on the film industry, starring in "Flirting" (1991) alongside her best friend, Nicole Kidman. She then was seen in TV mini series of "Brides of Christ" (1991) while also joining the cast of TV series entitled "Home and Away" (1988) in the same year.

In 1993, Naomi made her way to Hollywood, playing a minor character in "Matinee." Her hope rose when she secured a supporting role in "Tank Girl" (1995), but it quickly faded as the movie failed to become a box-office hit. Nevertheless, she kept moving on, taking parts in either TV or film projects, such as "Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering" (1996), "Sleepwalkers" (1997), "Dangerous Beauty" (1998), and "The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer (1999)." By this time, she unfortunately was still far enough from the spotlight. Despite this gloomy condition, she continued looking for an opportunity to make a breakthrough in her career.

Her determination and persistence were not spent in vain when director David Lynch offered her a leading role in "Mulholland Drive" (2001). Through this particular movie, she eventually was able to gain public attention as critics hugely praised her brilliant performance as Betty Elms/Diane Selwyn. Furthermore, it led her to earn several awards from the prestigious film associations, although she was ignored at the Academy Awards. 2001 apparently has become a glorious year for this charming actress as she made her first step as a film producer in "Ellie Parker," which she also starred in.

Naomi's career received a boost when she portrayed Rachel Keller in the remake of Japanese horror, "The Ring" (2002). The movie instantly scored more than 129 million U.S. dollars, making it one of the box-office hit of the year. This undoubtedly directed her to be established as one of the promising Hollywood actresses. As a result, she became busier in the following year, starring in several well-known movies, namely "Ned Kelly," opposite her then-sweetheart, Heath Ledger, and "Le Divorce," alongside Kate Hudson, Glenn Close, and Stockard Channing.

Much to Naomi's joy, her star gloriously got way far shinier when she managed to present a superb performance in "21 Grams" (2003). Not only she was critically acclaimed, but also received a nomination for Best Actress at both Academy Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards in the same year. With an improved acting quality, she went more steadily in 2004, starring in "We Don't Live Here Anymore", "The Assassination of Richard Nixon", and "I Heart Huckabees" before coming back as Rachel Keller in "The Ring 2" (2005).

Next seeing her independent movie "Ellie Parker" (2001) land a re-release also in 2005, Naomi smoothly continued to display her acting knack as seen in "Stay" and "King Kong", which both came up in the same year. Her big screen credits kept growing afterwards as she then became the female lead in "The Painted Veil" (2006) alongside Edward Norton followed by others in "Eastern Promises" (2007), "Funny Games" (2008), and "The International" (2008). More of her big screen appearances came forward in 2009, among others were "The Birds", "%Kicked, Bitten and Scratched%", and "Need", which paired her with Kidman.

Taking a look into her romantic journey, Naomi was found to previously date director Daniel Kirby, playwright Jeff Smeenge, and director Stephen Hopkins, but finally gave her heart to her "Painted Veil" co-star Liev Schreiber. Together since 2005, the pair officially announced they were happily expecting their first child on February 26, 2007 during Schreiber's appearance on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." The baby, named Alexander Peter Schreiber, finally arrived on July 25, 2007 weighing 8 pounds, 4 ounces and having 22 1/2 inches in length.