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The Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress is one of nineteen awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Broadcast Film Critics Association.

Notes[link]

• "†" indicates an Academy Award-winning performance.
• "‡" indicates an Academy Award nomination

List of winners and nominees[link]

• 1995: Nicole Kidman – To Die For as Suzanne Stone
• 1996: Frances McDormand – Fargo as Marge Gunderson †
• 1997: Helena Bonham Carter – The Wings of the Dove as Kate Croy ‡
• 1998: Cate Blanchett – Elizabeth as Queen Elizabeth I ‡
• 1999: Hilary Swank – Boys Don't Cry as Brandon Teena †

2000s[link]

• 2000: Julia Roberts – Erin Brockovich as Erin Brockovich †

• 2001: Sissy Spacek – In the Bedroom as Ruth Fowler ‡
  • Nicole Kidman – Moulin Rouge! as Satine ‡
  • Renée Zellweger – Bridget Jones's Diary as Bridget Jones ‡

• 2002: Julianne Moore – Far from Heaven as Cathy Whitaker ‡
  • Salma Hayek – Frida as Frida Kahlo ‡
  • Nicole Kidman – The Hours as Virginia Woolf †

• 2003: Charlize Theron – Monster as Aileen Wuornos †
  • Jennifer Connelly – House of Sand and Fog as Kathy Nicolo
  • Diane Keaton – Something's Gotta Give as Erica Jane Barry ‡
  • Nicole Kidman – Cold Mountain as Ada Monroe
  • Samantha Morton – In America as Sarah Sullivan ‡
  • Naomi Watts – 21 Grams as Cristina Peck ‡

• 2004: Hilary Swank – Million Dollar Baby as Maggie Fitzgerald †
  • Annette Bening – Being Julia as Julia Lambert ‡
  • Catalina Sandino Moreno – Maria Full of Grace (María llena eres de gracia) as Maria Álverez ‡
  • Imelda Staunton – Vera Drake as Vera Drake ‡
  • Uma Thurman – Kill Bill: Volume 2 as Beatrix Kiddo
  • Kate Winslet – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as Clementine Kruczynski ‡

• 2005: Reese Witherspoon – Walk the Line as June Carter †
  • Joan Allen – The Upside of Anger as Terry Wolfmeyer
  • Judi Dench – Mrs. Henderson Presents as Mrs. Laura Henderson ‡
  • Felicity Huffman – Transamerica as Sabrina "Bree" Osbourne ‡
  • Keira Knightley – Pride and Prejudice as Lizzie Bennett ‡
  • Charlize Theron – North Country as Josey Aimes ‡

• 2006: Helen Mirren – The Queen as Queen Elizabeth II †
  • Penélope Cruz – To Return (Volver) as Raimunda ‡
  • Judi Dench – Notes on a Scandal as Barbara Covett ‡
  • Meryl Streep – The Devil Wears Prada as Miranda Priestly ‡
  • Kate Winslet – Little Children as Sarah Pierce ‡

• 2007: Julie Christie – Away from Her as Fiona Anderson ‡
  • Amy Adams – Enchanted as Princess Giselle
  • Cate Blanchett – Elizabeth: The Golden Age as Queen Elizabeth I ‡
  • Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose as Edith Piaf †
  • Angelina Jolie – A Mighty Heart as Marianne Pearl
  • Ellen Page – Juno as Juno MacGuff ‡

• 2008: Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married as Kym Buchman (tie) ‡
• 2008: Meryl Streep – Doubt as Sister Aloysius Bouvier (tie) ‡
  • Kate Beckinsale – Nothing But the Truth as Rachel Armstrong
  • Cate Blanchett – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as Daisy Fuller (adult)
  • Angelina Jolie – Changeling as Christine Collins ‡
  • Melissa Leo – Frozen River as Ray Eddy ‡

• 2009: Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side as Leigh Anne Tuohy (tie) †
• 2009: Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia as Julia Child (tie) ‡
  • Emily Blunt – The Young Victoria as Queen Victoria
  • Carey Mulligan – An Education as Jenny Miller ‡
  • Saoirse Ronan – The Lovely Bones as Susie Salmon
  • Gabourey Sidibe – Precious as Claireece "Precious" Jones ‡

2010s[link]

• 2010: Natalie Portman – Black Swan as Nina Sayers/the Swan Queen †
  • Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right as Nic ‡
  • Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole as Becca Corbett ‡
  • Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone as Ree Dolly ‡
  • Noomi Rapace – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as Lisbeth Salander
  • Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine as Cindy ‡

• 2011: Viola Davis – The Help as Aibileen Clarke ‡
  • Elizabeth Olsen – Martha Marcy May Marlene as Martha
  • Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady as Margaret Thatcher †
  • Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk about Kevin as Eve Khatchadourian
  • Charlize Theron – Young Adult as Mavis Gary
  • Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn as Marilyn Monroe ‡

Multiple Nominees[link]

5 Nominations

• Nicole Kidman

4 Nominations

• Meryl Streep

3 Nominations

• Cate Blanchett
• Charlize Theron

2 Nominations

• Annette Bening
• Judi Dench
• Angelina Jolie
• Hilary Swank
• Kate Winslet
• Michelle Williams

Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to:

Film award[link]

• Academy Award for Best Actress
• Ariel Award for Best Actress
• Asianet Fim Award for Best Actor - Female
• Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
• Australian Film Institute International Award for Best Actress
• BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
• Bavarian Film Awards (Best Acting)
• Bengal Film Journalists' Association – Best Actress Award
• Best Actress (Golden Rooster Awards)
• Best Actress Award (Annecy Film Festival)
• Best Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival)
• Best Actress Award (Shanghai International Film Festival)
• Best Actress Award (Vietnam Film Festival)
• BET Award for best Actor & Actress of the year
• BIFA Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film
• Black Reel Award: Best Actress
• Bollywood Movie Award – Best Actress
• Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
• Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
• César Award for Best Actress
• Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
• Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress
• Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
• David di Donatello for Best Actress
• Edda Award for Best Leading Actor or Actress
• Empire Award for Best Actress
• Empire Award for Best British Actress
• European Film Award for Best Actress
• Filmfare Award for Best Actress
• Filmfare Award for Best Actress (Kannada)
• Filmfare Award for Best Actress (Malayalam)
• Filmfare Best Actress Award (Tamil)
• Filmfare Best Actress Award (Telugu)
• Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
• Genie Award for Best Performance by a Foreign Actress
• Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
• GIFA Best Actress Award
• GIFA Critics Best Actress Award
• Golden Arena for Best Actress
• Golden Calf for Best Actress
• Golden Eagle Award for Best Leading Actress
• Golden Eagle Awards (China) for Best Actress
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
• Golden Horse Best Actress award
• Goya Award for Best Actress
• Goya Award for Best New Actress
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress
• Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress
• IIFA Award for Best Actress
• Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
• Italian Online Movie Award for Best Actress
• ITFA Best Actress Award
• ITFA Best New Actress Award
• Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
• Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
• Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress
• Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
• List of Best Actress winners by age
• London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
• Nandi Award for Best Actress
• Nastro d'Argento Best Actress
• National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
• National Film Award for Best Actress
• National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
• NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
• NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
• New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
• Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
• Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
• Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
• Polish Academy Award for Best Actress
• San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
• San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
• Santosham Best Actress Award
• Sarasaviya Best Actress Award
• Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
• Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
• Saturn Award for Best Actress
• Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
• Seattle Film Critics Award for Best Actress
• Shanghai Film Critics Award for Best Actress
• Silver Bear for Best Actress
• Silver Hugo Award for Best Actress
• Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
• St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
• Star Screen Award for Best Actress
• Star Screen Award for Best Actress (Critics)
• Star Screen Award for Best Actress (Popular Choice)
• Stardust Best Actress Award
• Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress
• Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
• Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
• Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a Canadian Film
• Vijay Award for Best Actress
• Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
• Zee Cine Award – Critics' Choice Best Actress
• Zee Cine Award for Best Actor – Female

• Adult Broadcasting Award for Best Actress
• Asian Film Award for Best Actress
• CineMAA Award for Best Actress
• Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
• Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
• FAMAS Award for Best Actress
• Jutra Award for Best Actress
• Myanmar Motion Picture Academy Award for Best Actress
• Montreal World Film Festival Award for Best Actress
• New York International Independent Film and Video Festival Award for Best Actress
• Nigar Awards for Best Actress
• Photoplay Award for Best Actress
• Pink Grand Prix Award for Best Actress
• Pinky Ribbon Award for Best Actress
• Tokyo International Film Festival Award for Best Actress

Television award[link]

• Australian Film Institute Award for Best Lead Actress in Television Drama
• Best Leading Actress in a Mini-series (Golden Bell Awards)
• Best Leading Actress in a Television Series (Golden Bell Awards)
• Black Reel Award for Best Actress: T.V. Movie/Cable
• British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy
• NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series
• NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
• Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
• Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television
• Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
• Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama
• Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy
• Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
• Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
• Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
• Sun Kudumbam Best Actress Award
• TVB Anniversary Award for Best Actress

• British Soap Award for Best Actress
• Ewwy Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series
• Ewwy Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series
• TV Quick and Choice Award for Best Soap Actress

Theatre award[link]

• Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress
• Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical
• Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
• Molière Award for Best Actress
• NAACP Theatre Award for Best Lead Female – Equity
• NAACP Theatre Award for Best Lead Female – Local
• The Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress
• Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
• Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
• Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
• Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

• Alfréd Radok Award for Best Actress
• Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress
• Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best Actress In A Leading Role

Other[link]

• Best Actress (film), a 2000 film starring Thomas Calabro and Jaime Pressly

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

The Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, commonly called the Critics' Choice Awards, are bestowed annually by the Broadcast Film Critics Association to honor the finest in cinematic achievement. Nominees are selected by written ballots in a week-long voting period, and are announced in December. The winners are revealed at the annual Critics' Choice Awards ceremony in January. The awards are currently broadcast live on the VH1 television network. The 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 Awards were at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, the 2010 event—renamed The Critics' Choice Movie Awards—was held at the refurbished historic Hollywood Palladium on January 15, 2010. Special awards are given out at the discretion of the BFCA Board of Directors.

The Broadcast Film Critics Association prides itself on its ability to anticipate Academy Award nominations: between 1997 and 2004, the Critics' Choice nominations predicted all but two of 35 Academy Award nominations for Best Picture. By comparison, the Golden Globe Awards were three times more likely to differ during the same period.^{[citation needed]} However, the fact that the BFCA—which typically nominates nine or ten films for Best Film—chooses more than the five nominations of the Academy Awards and Golden Globes may account for some of this greater predictive power. The nominations for the 2012 Awards were announced on December 13, 2011.

External links[link]

• Broadcast Film Critics Association website

Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman at the 2010 Country Music Awards
Born	Nicole Mary Kidman (1967-06-20) 20 June 1967 (age 45) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.
Residence	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Citizenship	Australian and American (dual)
Occupation	Actress, singer, producer[1]
Years active	1983–present
Spouse	Tom Cruise (1990–2001) Keith Urban (2006–present)
Children	4
Relatives	Antonia Kidman (sister)
Website
www.nicolekidmanofficial.com

Nicole Mary Kidman, AC (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian actress, singer, film producer,^[1] and humanitarian. Kidman began her career in 1983, starring in various Australian film and television productions until her breakthrough in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm. Following several films over the early 1990s, she came to worldwide recognition for her performances in Days of Thunder (1990), Far and Away (1992), and Batman Forever (1995). Kidman followed this with other successful films in the late 1990s. It was her performance in the musical, Moulin Rouge! (2001) which earned Kidman her second Golden Globe Award and first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Her performance as Virginia Woolf the following year in the drama film The Hours (2002) received critical acclaim and earned Kidman the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Kidman's other notable films include To Die For (1995), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Cold Mountain (2003), The Interpreter (2005), and Australia (2008). Her performance in 2010's Rabbit Hole (which she also produced) earned Kidman further accolades including a subsequent Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Kidman has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF since 1994^[2] and for UNIFEM since 2006.^[3] Kidman's work has earned her a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, three Golden Globe Awards, one BAFTA, and an Academy Award. In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia's highest civilian honor,^[4] and was also the highest-paid actress in the motion picture industry.^[5] As a result of being born to Australian parents in Hawaii, Kidman has dual citizenship in Australia and the United States.^[6]

Early life[link]

Kidman was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her parents were in the United States on educational visas at the time. Kidman can thus claim both U.S. and Australian citizenship.^[7] Her father, Dr. Antony David Kidman, is a biochemist, clinical psychologist, and author, with an office in Lane Cove, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.^[8][9] Her mother, Janelle Ann (née Glenny), is a nursing instructor who edits her husband's books and was a member of the Women's Electoral Lobby. Kidman's ancestry includes Scottish and Irish.^[10] At the time of Kidman's birth in 1967, her father was a graduate student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He soon after became a visiting fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health of the United States. Opposed to the War in Vietnam, which was causing social unrest in both Australia and the United States, Kidman's parents participated in anti-war protests while they were living in Washington, DC.^[11] The family returned to Australia when Kidman was four and her parents now live on Sydney's North Shore. Kidman has a younger sister, Antonia Kidman, a journalist and TV presenter.

Kidman attended Lane Cove Public School and North Sydney Girls' High School. She was enrolled in ballet at three and showed her natural talent for acting in her primary and high school years.^[12] Kidman revealed she was timid as a child, saying, "I am very shy – really shy – I even had a stutter as a kid, which I slowly got over, but I still regress into that shyness. So I don’t like walking into a crowded restaurant by myself; I don’t like going to a party by myself".^[13] In 1984, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, which caused Kidman to temporarily halt her education and help provide for the family by working as a massage therapist at age 17.^[12] She studied at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Victoria, and at the Phillip Street Theatre in Sydney, with actress and friend Naomi Watts who had attended the same high school as she did.^[12][14] This was followed by attending the Australian Theatre for Young People.^[12] Here she took up drama, mime and performing in her teens, finding acting to be a refuge. Due to her fair skin and naturally red hair, the Australian sun forced the young Kidman to rehearse in halls of the theatre. A regular at the Phillip Street Theatre, she received both encouragement and praise to pursue acting full-time.^[15]

Career[link]

1983-1994[link]

In 1983, aged 16, Kidman made her film debut in the Australian holiday season favourite, Bush Christmas.^[15] By the end of 1983, she had a supporting role in the television series Five Mile Creek and began gaining popularity in the mid-1980s after appearing in several film roles, including BMX Bandits, Watch the Shadows Dance, and the romantic comedy Windrider (1986), which earned Kidman attention due to her racy scenes. Also during the decade, she appeared in several Australian productions, including the soap opera A Country Practice and the miniseries Vietnam (1986). She also made guest appearances on Australian television programs and TV movies. She also appeared in Sesame Street.

In 1988, Kidman appeared in Emerald City, based on the play of the same name. The Australian film earned her an Australian Film Institute for Best Supporting Actress. After appearing in the Australian miniseries Bangkok Hilton, Kidman starred in Dead Calm (1989) as Rae Ingram, playing the wife of a naval officer. The thriller garnered strong reviews and brought Kidman to international recognition; Variety commented: "Throughout the film, Kidman is excellent. She gives the character of Rae real tenacity and energy."^[16] Meanwhile, critic Roger Ebert noted the excellent chemistry between the leads, stating, "Kidman and Zane do generate real, palpable hatred in their scenes together."^[17] She moved on to star alongside her then-boyfriend and future husband, Tom Cruise, in the 1990 auto racing film Days of Thunder, playing a young doctor who falls in love with a NASCAR driver. This was Kidman's American debut and was among the highest-grossing films of the year.^[18]

In 1991, she co-starred with former classmate and friend Naomi Watts and Thandie Newton in the independent film Flirting. Kidman and Watts portrayed two high school girls in this coming of age story, which won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film.^[19] That same year, her work in the film Billy Bathgate earned Kidman her first Golden Globe Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress. The New York Times, in its film review, called her "a beauty with, it seems, a sense of humor".^[20] The following year, she and Cruise re-teamed for Ron Howard's Irish epic Far and Away (1992), which was a modest critical^[21][22] and commercial^[23] success. In 1993, she starred in My Life opposite Michael Keaton and the thriller, Malice opposite Alec Baldwin.

1995–2003[link]

In 1995, Kidman appeared in her highest-grossing live-action film as of 2011,^[24] playing Dr. Chase Meridian, the damsel in distress, in the superhero film Batman Forever, opposite Val Kilmer as the film's title character. That same year Kidman appeared in Gus Van Sant's critically acclaimed To Die For, earning praise for her portrayal of murderous newscaster Suzanne Stone Maretto.^[25][26]

Kidman next appeared in The Portrait of a Lady (1996), based on the novel the same name, alongside, Barbara Hershey, John Malkovich and Mary-Louise Parker. The following year she appeared in the action-thriller The Peacemaker (1997) as White House nuclear expert Dr. Julia Kelly, opposite George Clooney. The film received mixed reviews but grossed some $110,000,000 worldwide.^[27][28] That same year she appeared opposite Sandra Bullock in the poorly received fantasy Practical Magic as a modern-day witch.^[29] Kidman returned to her work on stage the same year in the David Hare play The Blue Room, which opened in London.

In 1999, Kidman reunited with then husband, Tom Cruise, to portray a married couple in Eyes Wide Shut, the final film of Stanley Kubrick. The film opened to generally positive reviews but was subject to censorship controversies due to the explicit nature of its sex scenes.^[30] The film received further attention following Kubrick's death shortly before its release. After brief hiatus and a highly publicized divorce from Cruise,^[31] Kidman returned to the screen to play a mail-order bride in the British-American drama Birthday Girl.

Kidman at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival promoting her film, Moulin Rouge!

In 2001, Kidman appeared in two of her most critically and commercially successful films. In the first she played the cabaret actress and courtesan Satine in Baz Luhrmann's musical Moulin Rouge!, opposite Ewan McGregor. Subsequently, Kidman received her second Golden Globe Award, for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, as well as other acting awards. She also received her first Academy Award nomination, for Best Actress. Also in 2001, she had a well-received starring role in Alejandro Amenábar's Spanish horror film The Others as Grace Stewart. Grossing over $210,947,037 worldwide, the film also earned several Goya Awards award nominations, including a Best Actress nomination for Kidman. Additionally she received her second BAFTA and fifth Golden Globe nominations.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, Kidman won critical praise for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry's The Hours, which also featured Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore. Kidman wore prosthetics that were applied to her nose making her almost unrecognisable playing the author during her time in 1920s England, and her bouts with depression and mental illness while trying to write her novel, Mrs. Dalloway. The film earned positive notices and several nominations, including for an Academy Award for Best Picture. The New York Times wrote that, "Kidman tunnels like a ferret into the soul of a woman besieged by excruciating bouts of mental illness. As you watch her wrestle with the demon of depression, it is as if its torment has never been shown on the screen before. Directing her desperate, furious stare into the void, her eyes not really focusing, Ms. Kidman, in a performance of astounding bravery, evokes the savage inner war waged by a brilliant mind against a system of faulty wiring that transmits a searing, crazy static into her brain".^[32] Kidman won numerous critics' awards, including her first BAFTA, third Golden Globe, and the Academy Award for Best Actress. As the first Australian actress to win an Academy Award, Kidman made a teary acceptance speech about the importance of art, even during times of war, saying, "Why do you come to the Academy Awards when the world is in such turmoil? Because art is important. And because you believe in what you do and you want to honour that, and it is a tradition that needs to be upheld."^[33]

Following her Oscar win, Kidman appeared in three very different films in 2003. The first, a leading role in Dogville, by Danish director Lars von Trier, was an experimental film set on a bare soundstage. The second was an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel The Human Stain, opposite Anthony Hopkins. Her third film, Anthony Minghella's war drama Cold Mountain, was a critical and commercial success. Kidman appeared opposite Jude Law and Renée Zellweger, playing Southerner Ada Monroe, who is in love with Law's character and separated by the Civil War. TIME magazine wrote, "Kidman takes strength from Ada's plight and grows steadily, literally luminous. Her sculptural pallor gives way to warm radiance in the firelight".^[34] The film garnered several award nominations and wins for its actors; Kidman received her sixth Golden Globe nomination at the 61st Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress.

2004–2008[link]

In 2004 she appeared in the film, Birth, which received controversy over a scene in which Kidman shares a bath with her co-star, 10-year old Cameron Bright. At a press conference at the Venice Film Festival, Kidman addressed the controversy saying, "It wasn't that I wanted to make a film where I kiss a 10-year-old boy. I wanted to make a film where you understand love".^[35] Though the film received negative to mixed reviews, Kidman earned her seventh Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actress – Motion Picture. That same year she appeared in the black comedy-science-fiction film The Stepford Wives, a remake of the 1975 film of the same name. Kidman appeared in the lead role as Joanna Eberhart, a successful producer. The film, directed by Frank Oz, was critically panned and a commercial failure. The following year, Kidman appeared opposite Sean Penn in the Sydney Pollack thriller The Interpreter, playing UN translator Silvia Broome. Also that year she starred in Bewitched, based on the 1960s TV sitcom of the same name, opposite Will Ferrell. Both Kidman and Ferrell earned that year's Razzie Award for "Worst Screen Couple". Neither film fared well in the United States, with box office sales falling well short of the production costs, but both films fared well internationally.^[36][37]

In conjunction with her success in the film industry, Kidman became the face of the Chanel No. 5 perfume brand. She starred in a campaign of television and print ads with Rodrigo Santoro, directed by Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann, to promote the fragrance during the holiday seasons of 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008. The three-minute commercial produced for Chanel No. 5 made Kidman the record holder for the most money paid per minute to an actor after she reportedly earned US$12million for the three-minute advert.^[38] During this time, Kidman was also listed as the 45th Most Powerful Celebrity on the 2005 Forbes Celebrity 100 List. She made a reported US$14.5 million in 2004–2005. On People magazine's list of 2005's highest paid actresses, Kidman was second behind Julia Roberts, with US$16–17 million per-film price tag.^[39] Nintendo in 2007 announced that Kidman would be the new face of Nintendo's advertising campaign for the Nintendo DS game More Brain Training in its European market.^[40]

Kidman portrayed photographer Diane Arbus in the biography Fur (2006), opposite Robert Downey Jr.. Though the film was released to mixed reviews, both Kidman and Downey Jr. received praise for their performances. She also lent her voice to the animated film Happy Feet (2006), which grossed over US$384 million worldwide. In 2007, she starred in the science-fiction movie The Invasion directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, a remake of the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers that proved a critical and commercial failure. She also played opposite Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack Black in Noah Baumbach's comedy-drama Margot at the Wedding, released to positive reviews and earning Kidman a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy. She then starred in the commercially successful fantasy-adventure, The Golden Compass (2007), playing the villainous Marisa Coulter. In 2008, she reunited with Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann in the Australian period film Australia, set in the remote Northern Territory during the Japanese attack on Darwin during World War II. Kidman played opposite Hugh Jackman as an Englishwoman feeling overwhelmed by the continent. Despite the film's mixed reviews, the acting was praised and the movie was a box office success worldwide.^[41] Kidman was originally set to star in the post-World War II German drama, The Reader, working with previous collaborators Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella, but due to her pregnancy prior to filming she had to back out.^[42] The role went to Kate Winslet, who ultimately won the Oscar for Best Actress, which Kidman presented to her during the 81st Academy Awards.

2009–present[link]

Kidman at Tropfest 2012

Kidman appeared in the 2009 Rob Marshall musical Nine, portraying the Federico Fellini-like character's muse, Claudia Jenssen. She was featured alongside fellow Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz and Sophia Loren. Kidman's, whose screen time was brief compared to the other actresses, performed the musical number "Unusual Way" alongside Day-Lewis. Although the film was released to mixed reviews, it received several Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, and earned Kidman a third Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, as part of the Outstanding Cast. Also in 2009, Kidman was the face of an international Schweppes advertisement.^[43] In 2010, she starred with Aaron Eckhart in the film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Rabbit Hole, for which she vacated her role in the Woody Allen picture You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger.^[44] She lent her voice to a promotional video that Australia used to support its bid to host the 2018 World Cup. The five-minute video was broadcast at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.^[45]

TV Guide reported in 2008 that Kidman will star in The Danish Girl, a film adaptation of the novel of the same name, playing Lili Elbe, the world's first postoperative transsexual.^[46] Screen Daily reported that shooting would begin in Germany in July 2011.^[47] However the project has been delayed following the exit of the director, Lasse Hallström and Kidman's co-star Rachel Weisz.^[48] In 2009, Variety said that she would produce and star in a film adaptation of the Chris Cleave novel Little Bee, in association with BBC Films.^[49][50]

In June 2010, TV Guide announced that Kidman and Clive Owen will star in an HBO film about Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with Martha Gellhorn. entitled Hemingway & Gellhorn. The film, directed by Philip Kaufman,^[51] began shooting in March 2011, with an air date scheduled for 2012.^[52] She also stars alongside Nicolas Cage in director Joel Schumacher's action-thriller Trespass, with the stars playing a married couple taken hostage.^[53]

On 17 September 2010, ContactMusic. com said Kidman will return to Broadway to portray Alexandra Del Lago in David Cromer's revival of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth, with Scott Rudin producing^[54] On 30 August 2011 Cromer spoke to the The New York Times and explained that the production will not meet its original fall 2011 revival date but that it remains an active project.^[55] In February 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported Kidman is in talks to join the cast of Park Chan Wook's Stoker.^[56] In May 2011 it was reported that Kidman would star and produce in Spectre, a supernatural thriller directed by James Wan. The film closed major territory deals at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.^[57] In June Kidman was cast in Lee Daniels' upcoming adaptation of the Pete Dexter novel, The Paperboy^[58] and began filming the thriller on 1 August 2011.^[59] On 2 November 2011, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Kidman is attached to star in My Wild Life, a Philip Noyce-directed biopic of conservationist, Daphne Sheldrick. Production for the project is scheduled for the first quarter of 2012.^[60]

In April 2012, various sources, including Variety, announced that Kidman was in talks to star in upcoming Grace Kelly biopic Grace of Monaco. The film will focus on the 1962 crisis, in which Charles de Gaulle blockaded the tiny principality, angered by Monaco's status as a tax haven for wealthy French subjects.^[61]

Singing[link]

Her collaboration with Ewan McGregor on "Come What May" peaked at No.27 in the UK Singles Chart.^[62] Later she collaborated with Robbie Williams on "Somethin' Stupid", a cover of Williams' swing covers album Swing When You're Winning. It peaked at No.8 in the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart, and at No.1 for three weeks in the UK.^[63]

In 2006, while voicing a role in the animated movie Happy Feet, she provided vocals for Norma Jean's "heartsong", a slightly altered version of "Kiss" by Prince.^{[citation needed]} Kidman sang in Rob Marshall's movie musical Nine.

Personal life[link]

Relationships and children[link]

Kidman has been married twice, first to actor Tom Cruise, and then to singer Keith Urban. She has an adopted son and daughter with Cruise, as well as two biological daughters with Urban.

She met Cruise in November 1989 on the set of their 1990 movie Days of Thunder. Kidman and Cruise were married on Christmas Eve 1990 in Telluride, Colorado. The couple adopted a daughter, Isabella Jane (born 22 December 1992),^[64] and a son, Connor Anthony (born 17 January 1995).^[64] On February 5, 2001, the couple's spokesperson announced their separation.^[65] Cruise filed for divorce two days later, and the marriage was dissolved in August of that year, with Cruise citing irreconcilable differences.^[66] Kidman was three months pregnant at the time; shortly afterward, she suffered a miscarriage.^[67] In Marie Claire, Kidman said she had an ectopic pregnancy early in their marriage.^[68] In the June 2006 Ladies' Home Journal, she said she still loved Cruise: "He was huge; still is. To me, he was just Tom, but to everybody else, he is huge. But he was lovely to me and I loved him. I still love him." In addition, she has expressed shock about their divorce.^[69]

Nicole Kidman in August 2006, prior the start of filming as Marisa Coulter in The Golden Compass

Prior to marrying Cruise, Kidman cohabited with Australian stage actor Marcus Graham in the late 1980s.^[70] In the mid-1980s, Kidman dated her Windrider co-star Tom Burlinson,^[71][72] with whom she lived with on and off for three years, according to biographer Andrew Morton.^[73] She dated musician Lenny Kravitz from 2003 to 2004.^[74] Robbie Williams stated that he had a short romance with Kidman on her yacht during the summer of 2004. In a 2007 interview, Kidman revealed that she was secretly engaged to someone between her marriages to Cruise and Urban, but did not identify who.^[75]

Kidman met her second husband, New Zealand country singer Keith Urban, at G'Day LA, an event honouring Australians, in January 2005. They married on 25 June 2006, at Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel in the grounds of St Patrick's Estate, Manly in Sydney.^[76][77] They maintain homes in Sydney, Sutton Forest, New South Wales, Los Angeles, California,^[78] and Nashville, Tennessee.^[79] The couple's daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, was born on 7 July 2008, in Nashville.^[80] Kidman's father said the daughter's middle name was after Urban's late grandmother, Rose.^[81] On 28 December 2010, Kidman and Urban welcomed his second daughter and her third daughter, Faith Margaret Kidman Urban, via gestational carrier^[82] at Nashville's Centennial Women's Hospital. The child is biologically Kidman and Urban's. Faith's middle name is after Kidman's late grandmother.^[83][84]

Religious and political views[link]

Kidman is a practicing Roman Catholic.^[85] She attended Mary Mackillop Chapel in North Sydney. Following criticism of The Golden Compass by Catholic leaders^[86] as anti-Catholic,^[87] Kidman told Entertainment Weekly that "the Catholic Church is part of her 'essence'", and that her religious beliefs would prevent her from taking a role in a film she perceives as anti-Catholic.^[88]

During her divorce from Tom Cruise, she stated that she did not want their children raised as Scientologists.^[89] She has been reluctant to discuss Scientology since her divorce.^[90]

Kidman has donated to U.S. Democratic party candidates.^[91]

Wealth, philanthropy, and honours[link]

Kidman signing autographs at the premier of The Golden Compass in 2007

In 2002, Kidman first appeared on the Australian rich list published annually in the Business Review Weekly with an estimated net worth of A$122 million.^[92] In the 2011 published list, Kidman's wealth was estimated at A$304 million, down from A$329 million in 2010.^[93]

Kidman has raised money for, and drawn attention to, disadvantaged children around the world. In 1994, she was appointed a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF,^[2] and in 2004, she was honoured as a "Citizen of the World" by the United Nations.^{[citation needed]} Kidman joined the Little Tee Campaign for breast cancer care to design T-shirts or vests to raise money to fight the disease;^[94] motivated by her mother's own battle with breast cancer in 1984.^[95]

On Australia Day 2006, Kidman received Australia's highest civilian honor when she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia. The citation acknowledged Kidman's service to the performing arts as an acclaimed motion picture performer, to health care through contributions to improve medical treatment for women and children and advocacy for cancer research, to youth as a principal supporter of young performing artists, and to humanitarian causes in Australia and internationally.^[96]

Kidman was appointed goodwill ambassador of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in 2006.^[2] In this capacity, Kidman has addressed international audiences at UN events, raised awareness through the media and testified before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs to support the International Violence against Women Act. Kidman visited Kosovo in 2006 to learn about women's experiences of conflict and UNIFEM's support efforts. She is the international spokesperson for UNIFEM's Say NO – UNiTE to End Violence against Women initiative.^[97] Kidman and the UNIFEM executive director presented over five million signatures collected during the first phase of this to the UN Secretary-General on 25 November 2008.^[98]

In the beginning of 2009, Kidman appeared in a series of postage stamps featuring Australian actors. She, Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe, and Cate Blanchett each appear twice in the series: once as themselves and once as their Academy Award-winning character.^[99] On 8 January 2010, Kidman, alongside Nancy Pelosi, Joan Chen and Joe Torre, attended the ceremony to help Family Violence Prevention Fund break ground on a new international center located in the Presidio of San Francisco.^[100][101]

Filmography[link]

As of November 2010^[update], Kidman's movies have grossed more than $2 billion (US), with 17 movies making more than $100 million.^[102]

Awards[link]

Kidman at 83rd Academy Awards

In 2003, Kidman received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition to her 2003 Academy Award for Best Actress, Kidman has received Best Actress awards from the following critics' groups or award-granting organisations: the Hollywood Foreign Press (Golden Globes), the Australian Film Institute, Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, Empire Awards, Golden Satellite Awards, Hollywood Film Festival, London Critics Circle, Russian Guild of Film Critics, and the Southeastern Film Critics Association. In 2003, Kidman was given the American Cinematheque Award. She also received recognition from the National Association of Theatre Owners at the ShoWest Convention in 1992 as the Female Star of Tomorrow and in 2002 for a Distinguished Decade of Achievement in Film.

Government honours[link]

In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia's highest civilian honour, for "service to the performing arts as an acclaimed motion picture performer, to health care through contributions to improve medical treatment for women and children and advocacy for cancer research, to youth as a principal supporter of young performing artists, and to humanitarian causes in Australia and internationally."^[109] However, due to film commitments and her wedding to Urban, it was 13 April 2007 that she was presented with the honour.^[110] It was presented by Governor-General of Australia, Major General Michael Jeffery in a ceremony at Government House, Canberra.^[111]

Discography[link]

• "Come What May" single (Duet with Ewan McGregor – October 2001) AUS #10, UK #27
• "One Day I'll Fly Away" – October 2001 (Moulin Rouge! soundtrack)
• "Sparkling Diamonds" (with Caroline O'Connor) – October 2001 (Moulin Rouge! soundtrack)
• "Hindi Sad Diamonds" – October 2001 (Moulin Rouge! soundtrack)
• "Somethin' Stupid" single (Duet with Robbie Williams – December 2001) AUS #8, UK #1
• "Kiss" / "Heartbreak Hotel" – Nicole Kidman / Hugh Jackman – November 2006 (Happy Feet soundtrack)
• "Unusual Way" – December 2009 (Nine soundtrack)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Thomson, David (2006). Nicole Kidman. Knopf. ISBN 1-4000-4273-9. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nicole Kidman

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Nicole Kidman

• Official website
• Nicole Kidman at the Internet Movie Database
• Nicole Kidman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Nicole Kidman at AllRovi
• Nicole Kidman at Yahoo! Movies
• Nicole Kidman at People.com
• Nicole Kidman's charity work

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Heath Ledger
Ledger at the 2006 Berlin International Film Festival
Born	Heath Andrew Ledger (1979-04-04)4 April 1979 Perth, Western Australia
Died	22 January 2008(2008-01-22) (aged 28) New York City, New York, US
Cause of death	Accidental overdose
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1992–2008
Partner	Michelle Williams (2004–2007)
Children	Matilda Ledger

Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger left his homeland for the United States in 1998 to develop his film career. His work comprised nineteen films, including 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), The Patriot (2000), A Knight's Tale (2001), Brokeback Mountain (2005), and The Dark Knight (2008).^[1] In addition to acting, he produced and directed music videos and aspired to be a film director.^[2]

For his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, Ledger won the 2005 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the 2006 "Best Actor" award from the Australian Film Institute and was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor^[3] as well as the 2006 BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.^[4] Posthumously he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the ensemble cast, the director, and the casting director for the film I'm Not There, which was inspired by the life and songs of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. In the film, Ledger portrayed a fictional actor named Robbie Clark, one of six characters embodying aspects of Dylan's life and persona.^[5] Ledger received numerous accolades for his critically acclaimed portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a Best Actor International Award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards, for which he became the first actor to win an award posthumously,^[6] the 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor^[7] and the 2009 BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[4]

Ledger died on 22 January 2008,^[3][8] from an accidental "toxic combination of prescription drugs".^[9][10][11] A few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his penultimate performance, as the Joker in The Dark Knight, his death coming during editing of the film and casting a shadow over the subsequent promotion of the $180 million production.^[12] At the time of his death, he had completed about half of his work^[13] performing the role of Tony in Terry Gilliam's film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Early life[link]

Heath Ledger was born in Perth, Western Australia, the son of Sally Ledger (née Ramshaw), a French teacher, and Kim Ledger, a racing-car driver and mining engineer, whose family established and owned the Ledger Engineering Foundry.^[14] The Sir Frank Ledger Charitable Trust is named after his great-grandfather.^[14] He was half Scottish on his mother's side and his father has English ancestry.^[15] Ledger attended Mary's Mount Primary School, in Gooseberry Hill,^[16] and later Guildford Grammar School, where he had his first acting experiences, starring in a school production as Peter Pan at age 10.^[3][14] His parents separated when he was 10 and divorced when he was 11.^[17] Ledger's older sister Kate, an actress and later a publicist, to whom he was very close, inspired his acting on stage, and his love of Gene Kelly inspired his successful choreography, leading to Guildford Grammar's 60-member team's "first all-boy victory" at the Rock Eisteddfod Challenge.^[14][18] Heath's and Kate's other siblings include two half-sisters, Ashleigh Bell (b. 1990), his mother's daughter with her second husband and his stepfather Roger Bell, and Olivia Ledger (b. 1997), his father's daughter with second wife and his stepmother Emma Brown.^[19]

Career[link]

1990s[link]

After sitting for early graduation exams at 16, Ledger left school to pursue an acting career.^[17] With Trevor DiCarlo, his best friend since he was three years old, Ledger drove across Australia from Perth to Sydney, returning to Perth to take a small role in Clowning Around (1992), the first part of a two-part television series, and to work on the TV series Sweat (1996), in which he played a gay cyclist.^[14] From 1993 to 1997, Ledger also had parts in the Perth television series Ship to Shore (1993); in the short-lived Fox Broadcasting Company fantasy-drama Roar (1997); in Home and Away (1997), one of Australia's most successful television shows; and in the Australian film Blackrock (1997), his feature film debut.^[14] In 1999, he starred in the teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You and in the acclaimed Australian crime film Two Hands, directed by Gregor Jordan.^[14]

2000s[link]

From 2000 to 2005, he starred in supporting roles as Gabriel Martin, the eldest son of Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson), in The Patriot (2000), and as Sonny Grotowski, the son of Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton), in Monster's Ball (2000); and in leading or title roles in A Knight's Tale (2001), The Four Feathers (2002), The Order (2003), Ned Kelly (2003), Casanova (2005), The Brothers Grimm (2005), and Lords of Dogtown (2005).^[1] In 2001, he won a ShoWest Award as "Male Star of Tomorrow".^[20]

Ledger received "Best Actor of 2005" awards from both the New York Film Critics Circle and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle for his performance in Brokeback Mountain,^[21][22] in which he plays Wyoming ranch hand Ennis Del Mar, who has a love affair with aspiring rodeo rider Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal.^[23] He also received a nomination for Golden Globe Best Actor in a Drama and a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor for this performance,^[24][25] making him, at age 26, the ninth-youngest nominee for a Best Actor Oscar. In The New York Times review of the film, critic Stephen Holden writes: "Both Mr. Ledger and Mr. Gyllenhaal make this anguished love story physically palpable. Mr. Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears beneath the skin of his lean, sinewy character. It is a great screen performance, as good as the best of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn."^[26] In a review in Rolling Stone, Peter Travers states: "Ledger's magnificent performance is an acting miracle. He seems to tear it from his insides. Ledger doesn't just know how Ennis moves, speaks and listens; he knows how he breathes. To see him inhale the scent of a shirt hanging in Jack's closet is to take measure of the pain of love lost."^[27]

After Brokeback Mountain, Ledger costarred with fellow Australian Abbie Cornish in the 2006 Australian film Candy, an adaptation of the 1998 novel Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction, as young heroin addicts in love attempting to break free of their addiction, whose mentor is played by Geoffrey Rush; for his performance as sometime poet Dan, Ledger was nominated for three "Best Actor" awards, including one of the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards, which both Cornish and Rush won in their categories. Shortly after the release of Candy, Ledger was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.^[28]

Heath Ledger posing with Charlotte Gainsbourg at the 64th Venice Film Festival in 2007.

As one of six actors embodying different aspects of the life of Bob Dylan in the 2007 film I'm Not There, directed by Todd Haynes, Ledger "won praise for his portrayal of 'Robbie [Clark],' a moody, counter-culture actor who represents the romanticist side of Dylan, but says accolades are never his motivation."^[29] Posthumously, on 23 February 2008, he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the film's ensemble cast, its director, and its casting director.^[30]

In his next to last film performance, Ledger played the Joker in The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan, first released, in Australia, on 16 July 2008, nearly six months after his death. While still working on the film, in London, Ledger told Sarah Lyall, in their interview published in the New York Times on 4 November 2007, that he viewed The Dark Knight's Joker as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."^[31]

To prepare for the role, Ledger told Empire, "I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary and experimented with voices – it was important to try to find a somewhat iconic voice and laugh. I ended up landing more in the realm of a psychopath – someone with very little to no conscience towards his acts"; after reiterating his view of the character as "just an absolute sociopath, a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown", he added that Nolan had given him "free rein" to create the role, which he found "fun, because there are no real boundaries to what the Joker would say or do. Nothing intimidates him, and everything is a big joke."^[32][33][34] For his work in The Dark Knight, Ledger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, his family accepting it on his behalf, as well as numerous other posthumous awards including the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, which Christopher Nolan accepted for him.^[35][36]

At the time of his death, on 22 January 2008, Ledger had completed about half of the work for his final film performance as Tony in Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,^[37][38] a film that was completed after Ledger's death by fellow actors Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell replacing him in different "fantasy transformations" of his character so that Ledger's final performance could eventually be seen in theaters.

Directorial work[link]

Ledger had aspirations to become a film director and had made some music videos, which director Todd Haynes praised highly in his tribute to Ledger upon accepting the ISP Robert Altman Award, which Ledger posthumously shared, on 23 February 2008.^[30] In 2006 Ledger directed music videos for the title track on Australian hip-hop artist N'fa's CD debut solo album Cause An Effect^[39] and for the single "Seduction Is Evil (She's Hot)".^[40][41] Later that year, Ledger inaugurated a new record label, Masses Music, with singer Ben Harper and also directed a music video for Harper's song "Morning Yearning".^[31][42]

At a news conference at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, Ledger spoke of his desire to make a documentary film about the British singer-songwriter Nick Drake, who died in 1974, at the age of 26, from an overdose of an antidepressant.^[43] Ledger created and acted in a music video set to Drake's recording of the singer's 1974 song about depression "Black Eyed Dog"—a title "inspired by Winston Churchill’s descriptive term for depression" (black dog);^[44] it was shown publicly only twice, first at the Bumbershoot Festival, in Seattle, held from 1 to 3 September 2007; and secondly as part of "A Place To Be: A Celebration of Nick Drake", with its screening of Their Place: Reflections On Nick Drake, "a series of short filmed homages to Nick Drake" (including Ledger's), sponsored by American Cinematheque, at the Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, in Hollywood, on 5 October 2007.^[45] After Ledger's death, his music video for "Black Eyed Dog" was shown on the Internet and excerpted in news clips distributed via YouTube.^{[43][46][47][48]}

He was working with Scottish screenwriter and producer Allan Scott on an adaptation of the 1983 novel The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis, for which he was planning both to act and to direct, which would have been his first feature film as a director.^[2][49][50] Ledger's final directorial work, in which he shot two music videos before his death, premiered in 2009.^[51] The music videos, completed for Modest Mouse and Grace Woodroofe,^[52] include an animated feature for Modest Mouse's song, "King Rat", and the Woodroofe video for her cover of David Bowie's "Quicksand".^[53] The "King Rat" video premiered on 4 August 2009.^[54]

Personal life[link]

Ledger at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival, 2006

Ledger was an avid chess player, winning Western Australia's junior chess championship at the age of 10.^[55] As an adult, he often played with other chess enthusiasts at Washington Square Park.^[56] Allan Scott's film adaptation of the chess-related 1983 novel The Queen's Gambit, by Walter Tevis, which at the time of his death he was planning to both perform in and direct, would have been Ledger's first feature film as a director. ^[2][49]

Among his most notable romantic relationships, Ledger dated actress Heather Graham for several months in 2000 to 2001,^[14] and he had a serious on-and-off-again long-term relationship with actress Naomi Watts, whom he met during the filming of Ned Kelly and with whom he lived at times from 2002 to 2004.^[57][58] According to the 10th Anniversary commentary by his co-stars for 10 Things I Hate About You, he and Julia Stiles began dating during the film and dated for several years. In the summer of 2004, he met and began dating actress Michelle Williams on the set of Brokeback Mountain, and their daughter, Matilda Rose, was born in October 2005 in New York City.^[59] Matilda Rose's godparents are Ledger's Brokeback co-star Jake Gyllenhaal and Williams's Dawson's Creek castmate Busy Philipps.^[60] In January, 2006, Ledger put his residence in Bronte, New South Wales up for sale,^[61] and returned to the United States, where he shared a house with Williams, in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, from 2005 to 2007.^[62] In September 2007, Williams' father confirmed to Sydney's Daily Telegraph that Ledger and Williams had ended their relationship.^[63] After his break-up with Williams, in late 2007 and early 2008, the tabloid press and other public media linked Ledger romantically with supermodels Helena Christensen and Gemma Ward and with former child star, actress Mary-Kate Olsen.^{[64][65][66][67]}