Nicole Kidman Early Life

Nicole Kidman was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Dr. Anthony David Kidman and Janelle Ann (nee MacNeille), who were of Scottish and Irish descent respectively, and were both born in Australia. At the time, her father was a cancer research specialist in Washington, D.C. The family returned to Australia when Nicole was four years old, when Tony Kidman took on a lectureship at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Kidman started taking ballet lessons when she was four, and this led to studies at St. Martin's Youth Theatre in Melbourne, the Australian Theatre for Young People in Sydney, and then at the Philip Street Theatre, where she majored in voice production and theatre history. Living in Longueville, NSW, she studied at North Sydney Girls High School, but dropped out when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer; Kidman concentrated on her family responsibilities until her mother's recovery.

Her first appearance on film came in 1983 when, as a 15 year-old, she appeared in the Pat Wilson music video for the song "Bop Girl". By the end of the year she had secured a supporting role in the television series Five Mile Creek, and four film roles, including BMX Bandits and Bush Christmas. During the 1980s she appeared in several Australian movies and TV series, notably including the soap opera A Country Practice, the mini-series Vietnam (1986), Emerald City (1988), and Bangkok Hilton (1989). In 1989 she appeared in the successful thriller Dead Calm as Rae, the wife of naval officer John Ingram (Sam Neill), held captive on a Pacific yacht trip by the psychotic Hughie Warriner (Billy Zane). The role gained her considerable notice in the United States.