Top 10 Interesting Facts about Naomi Watts

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Top 10 Interesting Facts about Naomi Watts

Noami was born on September 28, 1968, in Shoreham, Kent, England. Her mother is an antique dealer and her father was a road manager and sound engineer.

Her family moved to Australia and that was where she made established her career as an actress.

After settling in Sydney, Australia with her mother, brother, and stepfather, Myfanwy established a career in the burgeoning film business, working as a stylist for television commercials, then turning to costume design, ultimately working for the soap opera Return to Eden.

After emigrating, Watts was enrolled in acting lessons by her mother; she auditioned for numerous television advertisements, where she met and befriended actress Nicole Kidman.

Watts obtained her first role in the 1986 drama film, For Love Alone, based on the novel of the same name by Christina Stead, and produced by Margaret Fink.

She decided to become a model when she was 18. She signed with a model agency that sent her to Japan, but after several failed auditions, she returned to Sydney.

There, she worked in advertising for a department store, which led Follow Me magazine to hire her as an assistant fashion editor. 

A casual invitation to participate in a drama workshop inspired Watts to quit her job and pursue acting. She made great achievements in acting where she first made her film debut in the drama, For Love Alone.

Further, she appeared in three television series Hey Day…! Brides of Christ, and Home and Away. What’s more, she was also featured in the film Flirting.

Naomi is known for her work in independent productions with tragic themes. She was voted for the Academy Award for Best Actress after she made a great performance in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film 21 Grams in the year 2003.

1. Early Life

When Naomi was four years old, her parents had a divorce causing her to move around with her mother and her elder brother.  She went to several schools until 1982 when she moved to Sydney, Australia.

She attended Mosman High School and North Sydney Girls High School, however, she failed to graduate and ended up working as a papergirl.

She became a model when she was 18 years old, and her agency sent her to Japan. After several failed auditions, she returned to Sydney.

2. Her Struggling Career

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 At the start of her career, she made small appearances in commercials. She was in two episodes of Hey Dad…! in 1990. Her career in Sydney was booming, giving her a great start as an actress.

She later visited Los Angeles and was introduced to agents through Nicole Kidman, this encouraged her to move to America in order to take her career to the next step. Naomi went through financial problems causing her to take jobs outside the world of acting.  

In the 2000s, she auditioned five times for a role in the movie Meet The Parents the directors liked but the role eventually went to other actresses. She had endless auditions that ended in her not getting the role or even the callback.

3. Her First Debut in Australia

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Immediately after her family moved to Australia, Naomi made some tremendous achievements in her career as an actress.

Her debut in the film For Love Alone was in 1986. She later appeared in three television series namely: Hey Dad…! in 1990, Brides Of Christ in 1991, and Flirting in 1991. 

4. Rise To Fame

Naomi got the lead role for David Lynch’s psychological thriller Mullholland Drive.  The film received a large number of awards and nominations and Naomi received the Best Actress Award.

The role was her breakthrough, she was able to be acknowledged as an actress worth hiring. In 2002, she starred in one of the biggest box office remakes of the Japanese horror film Ring.  

In 2003, Naomi starred in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s drama 21 Grams which earned numerous award nominations, and in the next years worked with Mark Ruffalo in a film called We Don’t Here Anymore. 

5. Her 2005 Peek

She acted in the remake of King Kong. 

6. Academy Award

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Watts then played a tormented journalist in the horror remake of The Ring in the year 2002. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as a grief-stricken mother in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film 21 Grams in 2003.

Her profile continued to grow with starring roles in I Heart Huckabees in 2004, King Kong in 2005, Eastern Promises in the year 2007, and later the International in 2009.

7. Her Interview with David Lynch

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In 1999, director David Lynch began casting for his psychological thriller Mulholland Drive. He interviewed Watts after looking at her headshot, without having seen any of her previous work, and offered her the lead role. 

Lynch later said about his selection of Watts, “I saw someone that I felt had a tremendous talent, and I saw someone who had a beautiful soul, and intelligence—possibilities for a lot of different roles, so it was a beautiful full package.”

8. Starred in two Short Films

Also in 2001, she starred in two short films, Never Date an Actress and Ellie Parker, and the horror film The Shaft, director Dick Maas’s remake of his 1983 film De Lift.

In 2002, she starred in one of the biggest box office hits of that year, The Ring, the English language remake of the Japanese horror film Ring. It was directed by Gore Verbinsky.

However, the film also starred Martin Henderson and Brian Cox and received incredible reviews amounting to a turnover of US$129 million domestically, an equivalent to US$194.3 million in 2022.

9. Praised by Critics

She portrayed Rachel Keller, a journalist investigating the strange death of her niece and other teenagers. This was after watching a mysterious videotape and subsequently receiving a phone call that brought the news of their deaths in seven days.

Her performance was praised by critics, including Paul Clinton of CNN.com.

Paul stated that she “is excellent in this leading role, which proves that her stellar performance in Mulholland Drive was not a fluke. She strikes a perfect balance between skepticism and the slow realization of the truth in regard to the deadly power of the videotape.”

10. Showtime Miniseries assignment

In 2019, Watts portrayed Gretchen Carlson in the Showtime miniseries The Loudest Voice based on the book The Loudest Voice in the Room about Roger Ailes’s sexual harassment of Carlson.

She will next star in the films Penguin Bloom, Boss Level, and This Is The Night. Watts is still very active in her present career. 

For example, she starred in Rabbits, a series of short films directed by David Lynch; alongside several other famous British actors in the black comedy Plots with a View; and with Tim Daly in the western The Outsider.