Naomi Watts

Born in Shoreham, England, Naomi Watts moved to Australia when she was 14 years old. She acquired the acting bug at an early age while watching her stage actress mother perform. Naomi subsequently started acting in school plays.

Following school, Naomi worked as assistant fashion editor at a fashion magazine in Sydney and began taking acting lessons at The Actor's Center on the side. Although she had landed a couple of small roles on the large and small screens, her first noticed role was in the Aussie flick, Flirting (1991), starring Nicole Kidman and Thandie Newton.

Inspired by Kidman's success in Hollywood, Naomi ventured to the States to make her fortune, but her dreams were cut short with parts in films that ranged from being largely ignored by the viewing public like Gross Misconduct (1993), to the big budget bomb, Tank Girl (1995).

With a film career that was going nowhere fast, she took refuge in television films like Sleepwalkers and Children of the Corn IV. She returned to features in the late '90s, landing a supporting role in the well-received drama Dangerous Beauty. Her luck continued with a strong performance in the telefilm, The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer in 1999, and a multi-award winning performance in David Lynch's telefilm-turned-feature Mulholland Dr. (2001).

In 2004, Naomi received a big career boost when she was nominated for an Oscar for her leading role in 21 Grams (2003). She received a second nomination in 2013 for her leading role in The Impossible (2012). She also turned in an incredible performance in St. Vincent (2014) opposite Bill Murray, for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. Other projects include the drama Demolition (2016), the sci-fi sequel Allegiant (2016), the horror flick Shut In (2016), the drama 3 Generations (2017) with Elle Fanning, the thriller The Book of Henry (2017) and family drama The Glass Castle (2017).

She reunited with David Lynch when she appeared in ten episodes of the 2017 continuation of Twin Peaks, playing Janey-E Jones alongside returning cast member Kyle MacLachlan.

The next year, she played Gertrude in Ophelia (2018) with Daisy Ridley. In 2019, she played Gretchen Carlson in the miniseries The Loudest Voice with Russell Crowe, Sienna Miller, and Seth MacFarlane.

In 2020, she appeared in Boss Level with Frank Grillo, Mel Gibson, and Michelle Yeoh, and was the lead in Penguin Bloom. Some of her other films include The Desperate Hour (2021), This Is the Night (2021), Infinite Storm (2022), and Goodnight Mommy (2022).

In 2022, Naomi played the lead in Netflix’s The Watcher opposite Bobby Cannavale. In 2024, she starred in the second season of the anthology series Feud: Capote vs. the Swans. She was praised for her performance and was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie at the Emmy Awards.

That same year, she appeared in Emmanuelle (2024) and The Friend (2024) with Bill Murray.

In 2025, she starred alongside Glenn Close and Sarah Paulson in the series All’s Fair, which follows a successful divorce lawyer and the owner of an all-female law firm in Los Angeles.

Naomi, a vegetarian, resides in Los Angeles. She dated fellow Australian Heath Ledger from 2002 to May 2004. She and longtime boyfriend, Liev Schreiber, have two sons together. After 11 years together, however, the couple announced their split on September 26, 2016.

Filmography:

Emmanuelle (2024)
The Friend (2024)
Goodnight Mommy (2022)
Infinite Storm (2022)
This Is the Night (2021)
The Desperate Hour (2021)
Penguin Bloom (2020)
Boss Level (2020)
Luce (2019)
The Wolf Hour (2019)
Vice (2018)
Ophelia (2018)
The Glass Castle (2017)
3 Generations (2017)
The Book of Henry (2017)
Shut In (2016)
The Divergent Series: Allegiant (2016)
Demolition (2016)
The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015)
While We're Young (2015)
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
St. Vincent (2014)
Adore (2013)
Diana (2013)
The Impossible (2013)
J. Edgar (2011)
Dream House (2011)
Fair Game (2010)
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
Mother and Child (2009)
The International (2009)
Funny Games / Drôles de jeux (2007)
Eastern Promises (2007)
Inland Empire (2006)
The Painted Veil (2006)
King Kong (2005)
The Ring 2 (2005)
Stay (2005)
Ellie Parker (2005)
The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004)
I Heart Huckabees (2004)
We Don’t Live Here Anymore (2004)
Ned Kelly (2003)
21 Grams (2003)
Le divorce (2003)
Plots with a View (2002)
Rabbits (2002)
The Ring (2002)
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Down (2001)
Strange Planet (1999)
Babe: Pig in the City (1998) (voix)
Dangerous Beauty (1998)
Under the Lighthouse Dancing (1997)
Persons Unknown (1996)
Tank Girl (1995)
The Custodian (1993)
Gross Misconduct (1993)
Wide Sargasso Sea (1993)
Matinee (1993)
Flirting (1991)
For Love Alone (1986)