Our 10 Favorite Nicole Kidman Movies

Nicole Kidman has been an A-lister in Hollywood for three decades now, but it’s evident that the Australian actress has been on a hot streak the last several years. Not only does she have the critically acclaimed Boy Erased that opened in theaters this month, but she has two more films coming out before the end of 2018! The indie crime drama Destroyer opens Christmas day, and she’ll play Queen Atlanna in the upcoming superhero film, Aquaman.

Capable of delivering powerful dramatic performances on par with Hollywood legends like Meryl Streep and Katharine Hepburn, Kidman elevates just about any movie she’s in. If you need further proof of how captivating Nicole Kidman can be on screen, here are eight films featuring Kidman at her best.

1. Cold Mountain
Release Date: 2003
Director: Anthony Minghella
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Jude Law

Nicole Kidman didn’t win an Oscar for her performance in this Civil War epic — that went to Renée Zellweger — but she delivers one of her best performances. Based on the 1997 novel of the same name, it follows a wounded deserter of the Confederate army (Jude Law) as he struggles over perilous terrain to make it back to the woman he loves in North Carolina.

2. Lion
Release Date: 2016
Director: Garth Davis
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Dev Patel, Rooney Mara

Based on a true story, this powerful film centers around an adopted man from India (Dev Patel) who seeks to find the biological parents he lost contact with decades earlier in India. The movie delivers powerful performances from all the actors and is poignant example of a parent’s love and support. Both Patel and Kidman received Oscar nominations for their acting work.

3. Secret in Their Eyes
Release Date: 2015
Director: Billy Ray
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Chiwetel Ejiofor

This remake of a 2009 Argentine film of the same name centers on a team of Los Angeles investigators who learn that the child of one of their team members has been murdered. The team soon begins to fray as they come to grips with the idea that justice in the case may put their morals to the test.

4. The Others
Release Date: 2001
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Christopher Eccleston

The only horror film on our list, The Others isn’t so much a jump out of your seat type of scary movie, but more just extra spooky. Kidman plays a mother who soon becomes convinced that the old home she shares with her young children is also inhabited by the spirits of the home’s previous owners. The creepy mystery helped Kidman receive a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a drama.

5. Moulin Rouge!
Release Date: 2001
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo

This period film was one of the biggest box office hits of the early 2000s, pulling in nearly $180 million and being nominated for eight Oscars. The musical romantic comedy centers around a British poet (Ewan McGregor) who becomes enraptured with a sultry courtesan (Kidman) and quickly finds himself caught up in a love triangle with a psychotic Duke.

6. To Die For
Release Date: 1995
Director: Gus Van Sant
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, Joaquin Phoenix

Loosely based on real-life events, the film has a healthy dose of both humor and drama and shows just how far some people will go to be famous. Kidman plays an aspiring journalist who aims to make her own big big break by recruiting a young criminal to orchestrate the perfect crime news story. Needless to say, things don’t go as planned.

7. The Hours
Release Date: 2002
Director: Stephen Daldry
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore

This British-American drama nabbed Nicole Kidman an Oscar for Best Actress, which speaks volumes when you consider that Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore are part of the cast. The movie focuses on three generations of women who are connected together by one of author Virginia Woolf’s (Kidman) novels.

8. Rabbit Hole
Release Date: 2010
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest

Don’t watch this movie without a box of tissue within arms reach, because it’s gonna bring all the feels. The film is both heartbreakingly sad and a reminder of the perseverance of the human spirit. A married couple deals with the heartbreak and eventual coming to terms with the death of their young son.

9. Dead Calm
Release Date: 1989
Director: Phillip Noyce
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill, Billy Zane

This late 1980s thriller helped Kidman catch the attention of critics and audiences alike. A couple on their boat in the middle of the ocean takes in a man who is deserted at sea, but soon learn that their castaway has very malicious intentions. As the trailer’s narration sums it up, it’s “a voyage into fear.”

10. Eyes Wide Shut
Release Date: 1999
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise

The final film of renowned director Stanley Kubrick is an incredibly strange and mysterious thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end. Kidman and then-real-life husband Tom Cruise play a wealthy Manhattan couple who have a heated argument about infidelity. Cruise’s character soon finds himself venturing into the night on a journey of sexual escapades more twisted than anything he could have imagined.