Naomi Watts is a popular British actress who has established herself in Hollywood over the years as well. She has received numerous accolades for her stellar acting and has been nominated twice for the Best Actress Oscar. In this post, we will find out more about her. Let’s get started.

Naomi Watts: All You Need To Know

When was Naomi Watts born?

Naomi Watts was born in the UK, in the town of Shoreham, located in Kent on September 28, 1968. Myfanwy Roberts, the mother of the future film actress, was engaged in buying and selling antiques. Father Peter Watts at the time of his daughter’s birth worked as the manager of a little known band (at that time) called Pink Floyd. 

Why did Naomi Watts grow up in Australia?

When the girl was 4 years old, her parents divorced, and 3 years later Peter Watts died of a drug overdose. Myfannwy and her two children tried to gain a foothold in the cities of the UK, taking on almost any available job. But after some time, the woman decided to move to Australia, where she was from.

How did Naomi Watts develop an interest in acting?

The theater stage attracted little Naomi from childhood. The girl saw the performances of her mother, who played in amateur productions and tried to appear on stage herself in school plays. In Australia, Watts began attending a theater studio and acting classes and later went to various castings and auditions.

Why did Naomi Watts move to Japan?

Having not received a single serious role by the age of 18, the girl signed a contract with a modeling agency and went to work in Japan. It took Naomi a year to realize that she actually wanted to do something different. While working as a reporter for a fashion magazine in her youth, Watts continued to visit film studios. The experience of working as a fashion model allowed her to get on the TV screen.

How did Naomi Watts make her movie debut?

The first appearance of Watts in the movie was in the continuation of the melodramatic series “Return to Eden”, where the actress didn’t have any dialogue, posing in a bathing suit in front of the camera of one of the film’s characters. At the same time, the performer managed to get a small role in the historical film “Only For the Sake of Love.” Later, she received acting gigs in TV series of various genres, as well as secondary characters in the drama “Boundless Sargasso Sea” and the thriller “Immoral Behavior”.

Why did Naomi Watts move to America?

Watts decided that it would be more difficult to come to the fore in Australia than in Hollywood, and went to the USA. Naomi’s first American project was the comedy “Daytime Show”, but neither this nor the next 20 films made the artist recognizable.

Mulholland Drive

The turning point in her career occurred in 2001, when David Lynch’s psychological thriller Mulholland Drive was released, in which Naomi played the central character. The director chose Watts and her colleague Laura Elena Harring from their photographs and also conducted a half-hour interview with each. The Briton came to the audition straight from the airport, in jeans and without makeup – Lynch asked the contender for the role to come again and in a more glamorous way. As a result, the actress was hired, and for her work, she received the Chicago Film Critics Association Award, the Online Film Critics Society for Breakthrough of the Year, and a nomination for the first prize of the American Film Institute.

The director dedicated the film to Jennifer Syme, a close friend of Keanu Reeves. The image of Syme was also involved in the tragicomedy “Ellie Parker”, in which Naomi Watts acted as a producer and performer in the leading role.

Rise to stardom

As a producer, the actress also worked on projects, among which were “We Don’t Live Here Anymore”, “Painted Veil” (where she starred in a bright duet with Edward Norton ), and “Secret Attraction”. In the latter, Watts’ company on the set was Robin Wright. Over time, the artist honed her skills, easily getting used to diverse characters, and more offers appeared to play the central heroines.

Naomi was entrusted with the main characters in the horror film “Elevator” with James Marshall, the psychological thriller “The Ring”, the crime action film about the national hero of Australia “The Kelly Gang” with Heath Ledger, and Orlando Bloom.

First Oscar nomination

In 2003, the drama 21 Grams premiered, for which Watts received the Audience Award at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar, Sputnik, BAFTA, and Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. The actress’s partners Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro took their share of the awards.

King Kong

This was followed by leading roles in the biographical drama “Kill the President. The assassination attempt on Richard Nixon,” the melodrama “You Will Meet a Mysterious Stranger,” and the thriller “Stay.” In 2005, together with Adrien Brody and Tom Hanks’ son Colin, Naomi Watts starred in the cult fantasy action film King Kong. Film academics and critics paid tribute to the film’s visual effects, and Naomi was personally awarded the Saturn Award and the title of “Best Actress” from the English film magazine Empire.

Princess Diana

In 2013, the performer appeared before the public in the role of Princess Diana. She agreed to play the “queen of hearts” after much hesitation and reflection:

“I was captivated by the idea of ​​the film; it is truly a great love story. I love playing complex women, full of contradictions, and Diana was just that, and even more. She could appear strong and rebellious, but she could also be mocking, flirtatious, mischievous, and very sensible. I find it interesting to watch these female character traits on screen. And in real life, there are many of my friends like that.”

The same year, fans saw Naomi in the comedy almanac Movie 43, where she got the role of Samantha in the episode “Homeschooling.” The project received negative reviews from critics but allowed the British woman to work with a brilliant ensemble of Hollywood stars.

Among the artist’s obvious film successes was the comedy “Birdman,” recognized as one of the best films of 2014 and awarded 4 Oscars and 2 Golden Globes. Here Edward Norton again acted as one of the actress’s partners. But Watts’ box office failures included the later released dystopia “Divergent, Chapter 2: Insurgent” and the drama “Sea of ​​Trees,” in which the performer played the wife of Matthew McConaughey’s character.

Soon Naomi was invited to the main role of the film “Locked Up”. Having completed the work, in an interview with The Daily Mail, the celebrity admitted that it was difficult for her to see herself on screen. 

Watts also took part in the filming of the new season of Twin Peaks. This legendary mystical film, directed by David Lynch, was first seen by the public in 1990. Fans said that their favorite was surprised by the passing role of a Las Vegas resident because the actress had previously ignored such projects.

In mid-2018, filming began on the dramatic film Once Upon a Time on Staten Island, in the center of which is a teenager who became a fan of the film Rocky 3 with Sylvester Stallone. Naomi Watts and Frank Grillo played the boy’s parents. The director was James DeMonaco, creator of the famous thriller “The Purge” starring Lena Headey.

Bloodmoon

Then the performer began filming in the spin-off of the cult series “Game of Thrones” called “Bloodmoon” The plot of the film was kept secret, but it became known that the action takes place a thousand years before the events of Game of Thrones. However, to the disappointment of fans, work on the project was suspended.

In 2021, the movie star continued her creative career, expanding her filmography. With the participation of Watts, fans saw the fantastic action movie “Trigger Day”. The film starred Mel Gibson, Annabelle Wallis, and Frank Grillo, with whom Naomi Watts had already worked several times.