title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 2018, Freeman narrated "Alpha", a historical drama set in the last ice age. He then starred in Disney's "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms", a retelling of E. T. A. Hoffmann's short story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" and Marius Petipa's and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet "The Nutcracker". Finally, he had an uncredited role as Jerome in the biographical drama "Brian Banks", a high-school football player who was falsely accused of rape and upon his release attempted to fulfill his dream of making the NFL. In 2019, Freeman starred opposite John Travolta in "The Poison Rose", an adaptation of the novel by Richard Salvatore. In "Angel Has Fallen", Freeman reprised his role as Allan Trumbull, the third installment in the "Has Fallen" film series, following "Olympus Has Fallen" and "London Has Fallen". Although critical reception was mixed, the film was a box office success, earning $147.5 million worldwide.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Freeman next appeared alongside an ensemble cast in George Gallo's crime comedy "The Comeback Trail" (2020) and in "Coming 2 America" (2021), a sequel to the 1988 film.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: On 20 November 2022, Freeman performed with Ghanim Al-Muftah at the opening ceremony of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 2004, Freeman helped form the Grenada Relief Fund to aid people affected by Hurricane Ivan on the island of Grenada. The fund has since become PLANIT NOW, an organization that seeks to provide preparedness resources for people living in areas affected by hurricanes and severe storms. In 2014, he narrated a clip titled "What's Possible", which debuted at the United Nations climate summit. Freeman has donated to the Mississippi Horse Park in Starkville, Mississippi, part of Mississippi State University and Freeman has several horses that he takes there.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: After learning about the decline of honeybees, Freeman decided to turn his 124-acre ranch into a bee sanctuary in July 2014, starting with 26 beehives.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 2005, Freeman criticized the celebration of Black History Month, saying: "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history." He opined that the only way to end racism is to stop talking about it, and he noted that there is no "white history month". In an interview with "60 Minutes"s Mike Wallace, Freeman said: "I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man." Freeman supported the defeated proposal to change the Mississippi state flag, which incorporated the Confederate battle flag at the time. In an interview on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight", Freeman drew controversy when he accused the Tea Party movement of racism. Regarding the 2015 Baltimore protests, Freeman said he was "absolutely" supportive of the protesters. "That unrest [in Baltimore] has nothing to do with terrorism at all, except the terrorism we suffer from the police. ... Because of the technology—everybody has a smartphone—now in reaction to the death of Freddie Gray we can see what the police are doing. We can show the world, 'Look, this is what happened in that situation.' So why are so many people dying in police custody? And why are they all Black? And why are all the police killing them white? What is that? The police have always said, 'I feared for my safety.' Well, now we know. OK. You feared for your safety while a guy was running away from you, right?"


title: Morgan Freeman

text: During the 2008 presidential election, Freeman endorsed Barack Obama's presidential bid, although he said he would not join Obama's campaign. He provided the voice of the narrator for Disney World's The Hall of Presidents when Obama was added to the exhibit, and when The Hall of Presidents re-opened on July 4, 2009, at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. On day four of the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Freeman provided the voiceover for the video introduction of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. On September 19, 2017, Freeman appeared in a video by the Committee to Investigate Russia group, in which he declared "we [United States] are at war" and accusing Russia of "launching cyber attacks and spreading false information".


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In June 2021, he donated $1 million along with University of Mississippi Professor Linda Keena to the university in order to establish the Center for Evidence-Based Policing and Reform.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 1997, Freeman and business partner Lori McCreary founded Revelations Entertainment, a film production company. They also founded ClickStar in 2006, a film download company, with investment from Intel Corporation. ClickStar ceased operations in 2008. Freeman owns and operates Ground Zero, a blues club in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and is the former co-owner of Madidi, a fine dining restaurant in the same city.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Freeman was married to Jeanette Adair Bradshaw from October 22, 1967, until November 18, 1979, and subsequently married Myrna Colley-Lee on June 16, 1984. The couple separated in December 2007 and divorced on September 15, 2010. Freeman has four children: Alfonso, Deena, Morgana, and Saifoulaye. Freeman and Colley-Lee also raised Freeman's step-granddaughter from his first marriage, E'dena Hines. On August 16, 2015, 33-year-old Hines was murdered in New York City.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Freeman resides in Charleston, Mississippi, and maintains a home in New York City. He earned a private pilot's license at age 65 and owns or has owned at least three private aircraft, including both a Cessna Citation 501 and Cessna 414, and an Emivest SJ30.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: When asked if he believed in God, Freeman said: "It's a hard question because as I said at the start, I think we invented God. So if I believe in God, and I do, it's because I think I'm God." Freeman later said that his experience working on "The Story of God with Morgan Freeman" did not change his views on religion. He is a practicing Zoroastrian.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: On the evening of August 3, 2008, Freeman was injured in an automobile crash when his 1997 Nissan Maxima was involved in a rollover near Ruleville, Mississippi. He and his passenger, Demaris Meyer, had to be cut free from the vehicle with hydraulic tools. Freeman was conscious after the crash and joked with a photographer at the scene. He was taken via helicopter to The Regional Medical Center (The Med) hospital in Memphis. His left shoulder, arm, and elbow had been broken in the accident, and he received surgery on August 5. Doctors operated on him for four hours to repair nerve damage in his shoulder and arm. His publicist announced he was expected to make a full recovery. Although alcohol was not considered a factor in the crash, Meyer sued Freeman for negligence, claiming that he had been consuming alcohol, but the suit was eventually settled for an undisclosed amount. Since the incident, Freeman suffers from fibromyalgia.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In December 2010, Freeman joined President Bill Clinton, President of the United States Soccer Federation Sunil Gulati, and soccer player Landon Donovan in Zurich for a presentation to bid for the U.S hosting rights for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: On May 24, 2018, CNN published an investigation in which eight women accused Freeman of being "overly flirtatious" by "making inappropriate comments" while on the set of films or at his production company. In response, Freeman issued a statement: "Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy. I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected—that was never my intent." The spokesperson for Lori McCreary, Freeman's business partner, did not respond to CNN's request for comment.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Several journalists spoke out in response to the story, including Tyra Martin who stated, "I’m not, never was [a victim]. CNN totally misrepresented the video and took my remarks out of context.” Freeman's lawyer demanded that CNN retract the story. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) did not take any action against Freeman. On December 8, 2020, "La Opinión" reported on a Spanish-language blog post from 2018 that alleged that CNN fabricated their report on Freeman.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Freeman's deep voice is considered to be distinctive, iconic, and recognizable, which frequently makes him a preferable choice for narration in films and documentaries. The journalist Radhika Sanghani writes that his "deeply reassuring voice, with its mellifluous tones and authoritative presence, is why an entire generation still hear his trademark tones when they think of the almighty". Freeman said that his voice developed in this way while taking speech classes in college; he found that most people speak in a voice either too fast or too high and he developed a commanding voice by speaking in a lower octave and enunciating each word.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: According to author Miriam DeCosta-Willis, Freeman is an intuitive actor. He likes to select his roles carefully, and study the character to ensure he portrays them with depth, sensitivity, and substance. Commenting on Freeman's persona, Beverly Todd, who co-starred with him in "Lean on Me" (1989) and "The Bucket List" (2007), said: "The world knows he is such a consummate actor. He's a very sharing actor and such a nice guy. He's not the kind of actor who demands that he has all of the scenes and all the dialogues and all the emphasis is on him". Freeman has said he is interested in playing character roles, and values the importance of listening carefully while filming scenes: "The big danger in acting is to wait for your line. That's what I never do. I always listen, no matter how many times we do it."


title: Morgan Freeman

text: On October 28, 2006, Freeman was honored at the first Mississippi's Best Awards in Jackson, Mississippi with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in film and theatre. He received an honorary Doctor of Arts and Letters degree from Delta State University during the school's commencement exercises on May 13, 2006. In 2013, Boston University presented him with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. On November 12, 2014, he was bestowed the honor of Freedom of the City by the City of London.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 2008, Freeman was chosen as a Kennedy Center Honoree at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. In 2011, he received the AFI Life Achievement Award in recognition of his contribution to the film industry. Those who honored Freeman included Sidney Poitier, Samuel L. Jackson, Forest Whitaker, Rita Moreno, Helen Mirren, Clint Eastwood, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Matthew Broderick. In 2012, he was awarded the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, which recognizes lifetime achievement in the film industry. In August 2017, he was named the 54th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. His co-star Rita Moreno from "The Electric Company" presented him the award in the following January.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Prolific in film since 1964, Freeman's most acclaimed and highest-grossing films, according to the online portal Box Office Mojo and the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, include:


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Freeman has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the following performances:


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Freeman has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, winning one for Best Actor in "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989). He has also been nominated for three Screen Actors Guild Awards, winning one for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in "Million Dollar Baby" (2004)"." He earned an Obie Award for each theatre role in "Coriolanus" (1979)", Mother Courage and Her Children" (1980), and "Driving Miss Daisy" (1987–90).


title: Brittany Murphy

text: Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack (née Bertolotti; November 10, 1977 – December 20, 2009) was an American actress and singer. Born in Atlanta, Murphy moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and pursued a career in acting. Her breakthrough role was as Tai Frasier in "Clueless" (1995), followed by supporting roles in independent films such as "Freeway" (1996) and "Bongwater" (1998). She made her stage debut in a Broadway production of Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge" in 1997 before appearing as Daisy Randone in "Girl, Interrupted" (1999) and as Lisa Swenson in "Drop Dead Gorgeous" (1999).


title: Brittany Murphy

text: In the 2000s, Murphy appeared in "Don't Say a Word" (2001) alongside Michael Douglas, and alongside Eminem in "8 Mile" (2002), for which she gained critical recognition. Her later roles included "Riding in Cars with Boys" (2001), "Spun" (2002), "Just Married" (2003), "Uptown Girls" (2003), "Sin City" (2005), and "Happy Feet" (2006). Murphy also voiced Luanne Platter on the animated television series "King of the Hill" (1997–2010). Her final film, "Something Wicked", was released in April 2014.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: On December 20, 2009, Murphy died under disputed circumstances at the age of 32. The coroner's verdict was pneumonia, exacerbated by anemia and misuse of various prescription medicines.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: Brittany Anne Bertolotti was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Sharon Kathleen Murphy and Angelo Joseph Bertolotti, who divorced when she was two years old. Murphy was raised by her mother in Edison, New Jersey. Bertolotti was not named as her father on Brittany's first death certificate. Prior to her enrolling at Edison High School, the family moved to Los Angeles in 1991 so that Murphy could pursue an acting career.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: Murphy said her mother never tried to stifle her creativity, and she considered her mother a crucial factor in her later success: "When I asked my mom to move to California, she sold everything and moved out here for me. She always believed in me." Murphy's mother is of Irish and Slovakian descent and her father is of Italian ancestry. She was raised a Baptist and later became a non-denominational Christian. She had two older half-brothers and a younger half-sister.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: Murphy attended Verne Fowler School of Dance and Theatre Arts in Colonia, New Jersey, in 1982. From the age of four, she trained in singing, dancing, and acting until her move to California at thirteen. Murphy made her Broadway debut in 1997, as Catherine, in a revival of Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge" opposite veteran actors Anthony LaPaglia and Allison Janney.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: Murphy landed her first job in Hollywood when she was thirteen, starring as Brenda Drexell in the series "Drexell's Class". She then went on to play Molly Morgan in the short-lived "The Torkelsons" spinoff "Almost Home". Murphy also guest-starred on several television series, including "Parker Lewis Can't Lose", "Blossom", "seaQuest 2032", "Murder One" and "Frasier". She also had recurring roles on "Party of Five", "Boy Meets World", and "Sister, Sister".


title: Brittany Murphy

text: Murphy's breakthrough role was in her second feature film, the teen comedy "Clueless" (1995), directed by Amy Heckerling, which developed a cult following. She followed this with roles in "Freeway" (1996), with Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland, and the independent comedy "Bongwater" (1998). In 1999, she had a supporting role in James Mangold's "Girl, Interrupted" as a troubled psychiatric patient alongside Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie; and as an aspiring beauty queen in "Drop Dead Gorgeous". She also voiced the character Luanne Platter on Fox's animated sitcom "King of the Hill" for the entirety of the show's run from 1997 to 2009, and Joseph Gribble until the fifth season. She was nominated for an Annie Award for voice acting in the "King of the Hill" episode "Movin' On Up".


title: Brittany Murphy

text: She began the 2000s with a leading role in "Don't Say a Word" (2001) alongside Michael Douglas; the TV adaptation of the novel "The Devil's Arithmetic" (2001); "8 Mile" (2002), for which she received critical acclaim; and "Uptown Girls" (2003). In 2003, she starred in the romantic comedies "Just Married" and "Little Black Book" (2004) and the critically acclaimed "Sin City" (2005). Film critic Roger Ebert frequently acclaimed Murphy's acting talent and comedic timing, giving good reviews to several of her films and comparing her to Lucille Ball:


title: Brittany Murphy

text: Murphy followed with several independent films, including as "Spun" (2002), "Neverwas" (2005), and Karen Moncrieff's "The Dead Girl" (2006), as well as two Edward Burns films: "Sidewalks of New York" (2001) and "The Groomsmen" (2006). She returned to voice acting with the critically acclaimed 2006 animated feature "Happy Feet", as Gloria Penguin. In 2009, she was cast in the Lifetime TV movie "Tribute", as the main character, Cilla. Murphy completed the thriller/drama "Abandoned" in June 2009 and it was released in 2010, after her death. In November 2009, Murphy left the production of "The Caller", which was being filmed in Puerto Rico, and was replaced by Rachelle Lefevre. Murphy denied media reports that she had been fired from the project after being difficult on set, and cited "creative differences". "Something Wicked", her final film, was released in 2014.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: Murphy's career also included work as a singer. She commented: "My singing voice isn't like my speaking voice...I've just always kept it a secret and never taken credit because I wanted to learn how to work behind the microphone in a recording studio, and some of the singers don't even know it was me recording on their albums."


title: Brittany Murphy

text: She was in a band called Blessed Soul with fellow actor Eric Balfour in the early 1990s. On June 6, 2006, Murphy and Paul Oakenfold released the single "Faster Kill Pussycat", from the album "A Lively Mind". The song became a club hit and hit number one on "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Play chart. It also hit number seven in Oakenfold's native United Kingdom in June 2006.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: She dabbled in music again with the release of the film "Happy Feet", in which she covered Queen's "Somebody to Love" and Earth, Wind & Fire's "Boogie Wonderland". Murphy said about her character, Gloria, "Oddly enough, of all the characters I've played, Gloria is the most like me. And she's a penguin! George Miller always wanted one person to do both [the speaking and the singing]. I said, 'I can sing,' and I asked him to give me a shot. I don't think he took me very seriously, because most actors say they can do most things."


title: Brittany Murphy

text: In late 2002, Murphy began dating Ashton Kutcher, her co-star in "Just Married". Previously engaged to talent manager Jeff Kwatinetz, Murphy became engaged to Joe Macaluso in December 2005, a production assistant she met while working on the film "Little Black Book". In August 2006, they ended their engagement. In May 2007, Murphy married British screenwriter Simon Monjack in a private Jewish ceremony in Los Angeles.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: In the early 2000s, Murphy lost a large amount of weight, which led to rumors of a cocaine addiction. In 2005, Murphy disputed such claims to "Jane" magazine, saying, "No, just for the record I have never tried it in my entire life."


title: Brittany Murphy

text: At 8:00 a.m. on December 20, 2009, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to "a medical request" at the Los Angeles home Murphy and Monjack shared. She had apparently collapsed in a bathroom. Firefighters attempted to resuscitate Murphy on the scene. She was transported to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she died at 10:04 a.m. after going into cardiac arrest.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: An autopsy was performed the day after she died. The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, in a report issued February 2010, said that the manner of death was accidental and that the cause of death was pneumonia, with secondary factors of severe iron-deficiency anemia and multiple drug intoxication. The coroner found a range of over-the-counter and prescription medications in Murphy's system, with the most likely reason being to treat a cold or respiratory infection. These included "elevated levels" of hydrocodone, acetaminophen, L-methamphetamine, and chlorpheniramine, all of which are legal. The report observed: "the possible adverse physiological effects of elevated levels of these medications cannot be discounted, especially in her weakened state."


title: Brittany Murphy

text: In January 2010, Murphy's husband, Simon Monjack, and her mother, Sharon Murphy, claimed that she did not use alcohol or other drugs, and that drugs did not cause her death; instead they attributed it to a heart condition, mitral valve prolapse.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: On May 23, Monjack was found dead at the same Hollywood Hills residence. The coroner's report attributed his death to acute pneumonia and severe anaemia. It was reported that the Los Angeles County Department of Health had considered toxic mold in their house as a possible cause of the deaths, but this was dismissed by Los Angeles Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter, who stated that there were "no indicators" that mold was a factor. Sharon Murphy described the reports of mold contributing to the deaths as "absurd" and went on to state that inspecting the home for mold was never requested by the Health Department.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: In December 2011, Sharon Murphy changed her stance, announcing that toxic mold was indeed what killed her daughter and son-in-law, and filed a lawsuit against the attorneys who represented her in an earlier suit against the builders of the home where her daughter and son-in-law died.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: In January 2012, her father Angelo Bertolotti applied to the Superior Court of California requesting that the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office be required to hand over samples of his daughter's hair for independent testing. The suit was dismissed seven months later, after Bertolotti failed to attend two separate hearings.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: In November 2013, Bertolotti claimed that a toxicology report showed that deliberate poisoning by heavy metals, including antimony and barium, was a possible cause of his daughter's death. Sharon Murphy described the claim as "a smear".


title: Brittany Murphy

text: In January 2010, Murphy's mother, Sharon, and her widower, Simon Monjack, established the Brittany Murphy Foundation, a charitable fund for children's arts education, as well as supporting the USO and cancer research.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: The Foundation was launched on February 4, 2010, at a fundraising event at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. After a records search revealed that the foundation's not-for-profit status had not been filed, the foundation refunded any donations received. In an official letter on the foundation's website, they stated that in an effort to get the foundation set up as quickly as possible, they had established it as a private foundation with plans to apply for nonprofit status later. However, they said that they had decided to wait until the foundation's nonprofit status was approved before going any further in order to truly honor Murphy and the foundation's charitable goals.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: On November 10, 2013, the Brittany Murphy Foundation was officially relaunched by her father Angelo Bertolotti, according to a press release posted at the foundation's website.


title: Brittany Murphy

text: In October 2021, HBO Max aired a documentary titled "What Happened, Brittany Murphy?", covering the mystery surrounding Murphy's death. In the documentary, Murphy's "8 Mile" co-star Taryn Manning remembered her as "free-spirited, whimsical and full of laughter". After the documentary premiere, Daniel Fienberg wrote for "The Hollywood Reporter" that the documentary was "20 percent a reminder of Murphy's transcendent talent, 30 percent a dead-ended investigation into the mystery of her death, and 50 percent an unenlightening examination of Murphy's late husband", and concluded his review saying that "[Murphy] deserved better than the treatment she received in the media, which probably contributed to [Monjack's] ability to control her in the way he did."


title: Naomi Watts

text: Naomi Ellen Watts (born 28 September 1968) is a British actress. After her family moved to Australia, she made her film debut there in the drama "For Love Alone" (1986) and then appeared in three television series, "Hey Dad..!" (1990), "Brides of Christ" (1991), and "Home and Away" (1991), and the film "Flirting" (1991). After moving to the United States, Watts initially struggled as an actress, taking roles in small-scale films until she starred in David Lynch's psychological thriller "Mulholland Drive" in 2001 as an aspiring actress. This role started her rise to international prominence.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Watts then played a tormented journalist in the horror remake "The Ring" (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" (2003). Her profile continued to grow with starring roles in "I Heart Huckabees" (2004), "King Kong" (2005), "Eastern Promises" (2007), and "The International" (2009).


title: Naomi Watts

text: For her role as Maria Bennett in the disaster film "The Impossible" (2012), Watts received another Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In the 2010s, she starred in such films as "Birdman" (2014), "St. Vincent" (2014), "While We're Young" (2015), "The Glass Castle" (2017), and "Luce" (2019). Watts also continued to act in blockbusters, with appearances in the "Divergent" franchise (2015–2016), and she ventured into television with the Showtime mystery drama series "Twin Peaks" (2017) and the biographical limited series "The Loudest Voice" (2019).


title: Naomi Watts

text: Watts is particularly known for her work in remakes and independent productions with dark or tragic themes, as well as portrayals of characters that endure loss or suffering. Magazines such as "People" and "Maxim" have included her on their lists of the world's most beautiful women. She has been an ambassador for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and Pantene's Beautiful Lengths. Despite significant media attention, Watts is reticent about her personal life. From 2005 to 2016 she was in a relationship with American actor Liev Schreiber, with whom she has two sons.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Naomi Ellen Watts was born on 28 September 1968, in Shoreham, Kent, England. She is the daughter of Myfanwy (Miv) Edwards (née Roberts), an antiques dealer and costume and set designer, and Peter Watts (1946–1976), a road manager and sound engineer who worked with Pink Floyd. Watts's maternal grandfather was Welsh.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Watts's parents divorced when she was four years old. After the divorce, Watts and her elder brother, Ben Watts, moved several times across South East England with their mother. Peter Watts left Pink Floyd in 1974 and remarried in 1976. In August 1976, he was found dead in a flat in Notting Hill, of an apparent heroin overdose.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Following his death, Watts's mother moved the family to Llanfawr Farm in Llangefni and Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, towns on the island of Anglesey in North Wales, where they lived with Watts's maternal grandparents, Nikki and Hugh Roberts, for three years. During this time, Watts attended a Welsh medium school, Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni. She later said of her time in Wales: "We took Welsh lessons in a school in the middle of nowhere while everyone else was taking English. Wherever we moved, I would adapt and pick up the regional accent. It's obviously significant now, me being an actress. Anyway, there was quite a lot of sadness in my childhood, but no lack of love." In 1978, her mother remarried (though she later divorced) and Watts and her brother then moved to Suffolk, where she attended Thomas Mills High School. Watts has stated that she wanted to become an actress after seeing her mother performing on stage and from the time she watched the 1980 film "Fame".


title: Naomi Watts

text: In 1982, when Watts was 14, she moved to Sydney in 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.


title: Naomi Watts

text: In Australia, Watts attended Mosman High School and North Sydney Girls High School. She failed to graduate from school, afterwards working as a papergirl, a negative cutter and managing a Delicacies store in Sydney's affluent North Shore.


title: Naomi Watts

text: She decided to become a model when she was 18. She signed with a models 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.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Regarding her nationality, Watts has stated: "I consider myself British and have very happy memories of the UK. I spent the first 14 years of my life in England and Wales and never wanted to leave. When I was in Australia I went back to England a lot." She also has expressed her ties to Australia, declaring: "I consider myself very connected to Australia, in fact when people say where is home, I say Australia, because those are my most powerful memories."


title: Naomi Watts

text: Watts's career began in television, where she made brief appearances in commercials. The 1986 film "For Love Alone", set in the 1930s and based on Christina Stead's 1945 best-selling novel of the same name, marked her debut in film. She then appeared in two episodes of the fourth season of the Australian sitcom "Hey Dad..!" in 1990. After a five-year absence from films, Watts met director John Duigan during the 1989 premiere of her friend Nicole Kidman's film "Dead Calm" and he invited her to take a supporting role in his 1991 indie film "Flirting". The film received critical acclaim and was featured on Roger Ebert's list of the 10 best films of 1992. Also in 1991, she took the part of Frances Heffernan, a girl who struggles to find friends behind the walls of a Sydney Catholic school, in the award-winning mini-series "Brides of Christ" and had a recurring role in the soap opera "Home and Away" as the handicapped Julie Gibson. Watts was then offered a role in the drama series "A Country Practice" but turned it down, not wanting to "get stuck on a soap for two or three years", a decision she later called "naïve".


title: Naomi Watts

text: Watts then took a year off to travel, visiting Los Angeles and being introduced to agents through Kidman. Encouraged, Watts decided to move to America, to pursue her career further. In 1993 she had a small role in the John Goodman film "Matinee" and temporarily returned to Australia to star in three Australian films: another of Duigan's pictures, "Wide Sargasso Sea"; the drama "The Custodian"; and had her first leading role in the film "Gross Misconduct", as a student who accuses one of her teachers (played by Jimmy Smits) of raping her. Watts then moved back to America for good but the difficulty of finding agents, producers and directors willing to hire her during that period frustrated her initial efforts. Though her financial situation never led her to taking a job out of the film industry, she experienced problems like being unable to pay the rent of her apartment and losing her medical insurance. "At first, everything was fantastic and doors were opened to me. But some people who I met through Nicole [Kidman], who had been all over me, had difficulty remembering my name when we next met. There were a lot of promises, but nothing actually came off. I ran out of money and became quite lonely, but Nic gave me company and encouragement to carry on."


title: Naomi Watts

text: She then won a supporting role in the futuristic 1995 film "Tank Girl", winning the role of "Jet Girl" after nine auditions. The film was met with mixed reviews and flopped at the box office, although it has gone on to become something of a cult classic. Throughout the rest of the decade, she took mostly supporting roles in films and occasionally considered leaving the business, but: "there were always little bites. Whenever I felt I was at the end of my rope, something would come up. Something bad. But for me it was 'work begets work'; that was my motto." In 1996, she starred alongside Joe Mantegna, Kelly Lynch and J.T. Walsh in George Hickenlooper's action-thriller "Persons Unknown"; alongside James Earl Jones, Kevin Kilner and Ellen Burstyn in the period drama "Timepiece"; in "Bermuda Triangle", a TV pilot that was not picked up for a full series, where she played a former documentary filmmaker who disappears in the Bermuda Triangle; and as the lead role in "", in which children in a small town become possessed under the command of a wrongfully murdered child preacher.


title: Naomi Watts

text: In 1997, she starred in the Australian ensemble romantic drama "Under the Lighthouse Dancing" starring Jack Thompson and Jacqueline McKenzie. She also played the lead role in the short-lived television series "Sleepwalkers". In 1998, she starred alongside Neil Patrick Harris and Debbie Reynolds in the TV film "The Christmas Wish", played the supporting role of Giulia De Lezze in "Dangerous Beauty", and provided some voice work for "". She said in an interview in 2012, "That really should not be on my résumé! I think that was early on in the day, when I was trying to beef up my résumé. I came in and did a couple days' work of voiceovers and we had to suck on [helium] and then do a little mouse voice. But I was one in a hundred, so I'm sure you would never be able to identify my voice. I probably couldn't either!" In 1999, she played Alice in the romantic comedy "Strange Planet" and the Texan student Holly Maddux in "The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer", which was based on the real life effort to capture Ira Einhorn, who was charged with Maddux's murder. In 2000, while David Lynch was expanding the rejected pilot of "Mulholland Drive" into a feature film, Watts starred alongside Derek Jacobi, Jack Davenport and Iain Glen in the BBC TV film "The Wyvern Mystery", an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Sheridan Le Fanu that was broadcast in March of that year.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Much of her early career is filled with near misses in casting, as she was up for significant roles in films such as 1997's "The Postman" and "The Devil's Advocate" and 2000's "Meet the Parents", which eventually went to other actresses. In an interview in 2012, Watts said, "I came to New York and auditioned at least five times for "Meet the Parents". I think the director liked me but the studio didn't. I heard every piece of feedback you could imagine, and in this case, it was 'not sexy enough'." Watts recalled her early career in an interview in 2002, saying, "It is a tough town. I think my spirit has taken a beating. The most painful thing has been the endless auditions. Knowing that you have something to offer, but not being able to show it, is so frustrating. As an unknown, you get treated badly. I auditioned and waited for things I did not have any belief in, but I needed the work and had to accept horrendous pieces of shit." Watts studied the Meisner Technique.


title: Naomi Watts

text: 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, an intelligence—possibilities for a lot of different roles, so it was a beautiful full package." Conceived as a pilot for a television series, Lynch shot a large portion of it in February 1999, planning to keep it open-ended for a potential series. However, the pilot was rejected. Watts recalled thinking at the time, "just my dumb luck, that I'm in the only David Lynch programme that never sees the light of day." Instead, Lynch filmed an ending in October 2000, turning it into a feature film which was picked up for distribution.


title: Naomi Watts

text: "Mulholland Drive", also starring Laura Harring and Justin Theroux, premiered at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival to high critical acclaim and marked Watts's breakthrough. Reviewing her performance, Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" stated that "Watts's face metamorphoses miraculously from fresh-faced beauty to a frenzied, teary scowl of ugliness."; Emanuel Levy wrote, "... Naomi Watts, in a brilliant performance, a young, wide-eyed and grotesquely cheerful blonde, full of high hopes to make it big in Hollywood." The film received a large number of awards and nominations, including the Best Actress Award for Watts from the National Society of Film Critics and a nomination for Best Actress from the American Film Institute. The surrealist film following the story of the aspiring actress Betty Elms, played by Watts, sparked controversy over its strong lesbian theme.


title: Naomi Watts

text: 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". Directed by Gore Verbinski, the film, which also starred Martin Henderson and Brian Cox, received favourable reviews and grossed around US$129 million domestically (equivalent to US$ million in ). Watts portrayed Rachel Keller, a journalist investigating the strange deaths of her niece and other teenagers after watching a mysterious videotape, and receiving a phone call announcing their deaths in seven days. Her performance was praised by critics, including Paul Clinton of "CNN.com", who 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 realisation of the truth in regard to the deadly power of the videotape." That year, she also 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".


title: Naomi Watts

text: In 2003, Watts took the part of Julia Cook in Gregor Jordan's Australian film "Ned Kelly" opposite Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush; as well as starring in the Merchant-Ivory film "Le Divorce", portraying Roxeanne de Persand, a poet who is pregnant and abandoned by her husband Charles-Henri de Persand. Roxeanne and her sister Isabel (played by Kate Hudson) dispute the ownership of a painting by Georges de La Tour with the family of Charles-Henri's lover. "Entertainment Weekly" gave the film a "C" rating and lamented Watts's performance: "I'm disappointed to report that Hudson and Watts have no chemistry as sisters, perhaps because Watts never seems like the expatriate artiste she's supposed to be playing".


title: Naomi Watts

text: Conversely, her performance opposite Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro in director Alejandro González Iñárritu's 2003 drama "21 Grams" earned Watts numerous award nominations, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, later that year. In the story, told in a non-linear manner, she portrayed Cristina Peck, a grief-stricken woman living a suburban life after the killing of her husband and two children by Jack Jordan (Benicio del Toro), who became involved in a relationship with the critically ill academic mathematician Paul Rivers (Sean Penn). She has said of the nomination, "It's far beyond what I ever dreamed for – that would have been too far fetched". "The New York Times" praised her: "Because Ms. Watts reinvents herself with each performance, it's easy to forget how brilliant she is. She has a boldness that comes from a lack of overemphasis, something actresses sometimes do to keep up with Mr. Penn". The "San Francisco Chronicle" wrote: "Watts is riveting, but she's much better in scenes of extreme emotion than in those requiring subtlety."


title: Naomi Watts

text: In 2004, Watts starred alongside Mark Ruffalo in the independent film "We Don't Live Here Anymore", based on short stories by Andre Dubus, which depicts the crisis of two married couples, reunited with Sean Penn in "The Assassination of Richard Nixon", playing the wife of the would-be presidential assassin Samuel Byck (Penn), and teamed up with Jude Law and Dustin Hoffman in David O. Russell's ensemble comedy "I Heart Huckabees". She headlined and produced the semi-autobiographical drama "Ellie Parker" (2005), which depicted the struggle of an Australian actress in Hollywood. The film began as a short film that was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001 and was expanded into a feature-length production over the next four years. Film critic Roger Ebert praised Watts's performance: "The character is played by Watts with courage, fearless observation and a gift for timing that is so uncanny it can make points all by itself."


title: Naomi Watts

text: Watts starred in the sequel to "The Ring", "The Ring Two" (2005), which despite a negative critical response, made over US$161 million worldwide gross (equivalent to US$ million in ). In 2005, Watts also headlined the remake of "King Kong" as Ann Darrow. She was the first choice for the role, portrayed by Fay Wray in the original film, with no other actors considered. In preparation for her role, Watts met with Wray, who was to make a cameo appearance and say the final line of dialogue, but she died during pre-production at the age of 96. "King Kong" proved to be Watts's most commercially successful film yet. Helmed by "The Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson, the film won high praise and grossed US$550 million worldwide (equivalent to US$ million in ). The "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" praised her performance: "The third act becomes a star-crossed, "Beauty and the Beast" parable far more operatic and tragic than anything the original filmmakers could have imagined, exquisitely pantomimed by Watts with a poignancy and passion that rates Oscar consideration." Alongside the movie, she reprised her role as Darrow in the video game adaptation of "King Kong", for which she was nominated for a Spike Video Game Award for Best Performance by a Female. Her other 2005 film release was Marc Forster's psychological thriller "Stay", alongside Ewan McGregor, Ryan Gosling and Bob Hoskins. At this point in her career, Watts stated the following:


title: Naomi Watts

text: The romantic drama "The Painted Veil" (2006), with Edward Norton and Liev Schreiber, featured Watts as the daughter of a lawyer who marries a man for his reputation as a physician and bacteriologist. Comparing her portrayal with Greta Garbo's in the original movie, the "San Francisco Chronicle" wrote "Watts makes the role work on her own terms – her Kitty is more desperate, more foolish, more miserable and more driven . . . and her spiritual journey is greater. Watts also provided the voice of a small role, Suzie Rabbit, in David Lynch's psychological thriller "Inland Empire". That year, she was announced as the new face of the jewellers David Yurman and completed a photoshoot which was featured in the 2007 Pirelli Calendar.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Watts portrayed a Russian-British midwife who delivers the baby of a drug-addicted 14-year old prostitute in David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises" (2007), with Viggo Mortensen. In its review, "Slate" magazine observed that she "brings a wounded radiance to the overcurious midwife Anna. Though it's a bit of a one-note role, it's a note she's long specialised in, a kind of flustered moral aggrievement". "Eastern Promises" grossed US$56 million worldwide, (equivalent to US$ million in ). She was one of the producers and starred as a mother who, along with her family, are held hostage by a pair of sociopathic teenagers in Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" (also 2007), a remake of Haneke's 1997 film of the same name. The director said that he agreed to make the film on condition that he be allowed to cast Watts, according to UK's "The Daily Telegraph", but it went largely unnoticed by critics and audiences. Nevertheless, "Newsweek" felt that Watts "hurls herself into her physically demanding role with heroic conviction".


title: Naomi Watts

text: After a short hiatus from acting following the birth of her two children, Watts returned to acting in 2009, starring alongside Clive Owen in the political action thriller "The International", in which she played a Manhattan assistant district attorney who partners with an Interpol agent to take down a merchant bank. The production was a moderate commercial success, grossing over US$60 million (equivalent to $ million in ) worldwide. She next appeared in the drama "Mother and Child", portraying the role of a lawyer who never knew her biological mother. "ViewLondon" found her to be "terrific as [her character], delivering a powerful performance that [...] isn't afraid to be unsympathetic". She was nominated for the Best Actress award at the Australian Film Institute Awards and for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Her next film, the Woody Allen dramedy "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger", opened at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, and saw her portray Sally, a woman who has a troubled marriage with author Roy (played by Josh Brolin). It made over US$26 million (equivalent to $ million in ). Her portrayal of Valerie Plame in the biographical thriller "Fair Game" followed, and marked the third pairing of Watts with Sean Penn after "21 Grams" and "The Assassination of Richard Nixon". The film earned Watts a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actress. In 2011, she appeared with Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz in Jim Sheridan's psychological horror film "Dream House", as the neighbour of a murdered family, and with Leonardo DiCaprio in Clint Eastwood's biographical drama "J. Edgar", playing secretary Helen Gandy. While "Dream House" flopped, "J. Edgar" had a more favorable reception.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Watts starred in "The Impossible" (2012), a disaster drama based on the true story of María Belón and her family's experience of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami; she played the lead role, with her name changed to Maria Bennett. The film was a critical darling, had the highest-grossing opening weekend for a film in Spain, and made US$180.2 million (equivalent to $ million in ) globally. Deborah Young of "The Hollywood Reporter" stated that "Watts packs a huge charge of emotion as the battered, ever-weakening Maria whose tears of pain and fear never appear fake or idealised," while Justin Chang of "Variety" magazine remarked that she "has few equals at conveying physical and emotional extremis, something she again demonstrates in a mostly bedridden role." Damon Wise of "The Guardian" felt that "Watts is both brave and vulnerable, and her scenes with the young Lucas [...] are among the film's best." Watts went on to be nominated for the Academy Award, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress.


title: Naomi Watts

text: In "Adore" (2013), Watts starred with Robin Wright as two childhood friends who fall in love with each other's sons. On the film, critics concluded that Watts and Wright "give it their all, but they can't quite make "Adore"'s trashy, absurd plot believable". She obtained the FCCA Award for Best Actress in 2014 for her role. The anthology comedy "Movie 43" (2013) featured Watts as a devoted mother, alongside Liev Schreiber. "Movie 43" was universally panned by critics, with Richard Roeper calling it "the "Citizen Kane" of awful".


title: Naomi Watts

text: In Laurie Collyer's independent drama "Sunlight Jr." (2013), Watts starred with Matt Dillon as a struggling working-class couple. The "San Francisco Chronicle", praising Watts and Dillon, wrote in its review for the film that they are "formidable actors at the top of their game here [...] exhibiting a remarkable chemistry". Watts portrayed the title role in Oliver Hirschbiegel's "Diana" (her final film released in 2013), a biographical drama about the last two years of the life of Diana, Princess of Wales. Released amid much controversy given its subject, the film was a critical flop. James Berardinelli found the film to be a "dull, pointless" production and remarked that while Watts did a "decent job encapsulating the look and feel of Diana", her portrayal was "a two-dimensional recreation".


title: Naomi Watts

text: Alejandro González Iñárritu's dark comedy "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" (2014) featured Watts as the actress of a play mounted by a faded Hollywood actor (played by Michael Keaton). The film was the subject of widespread acclaim, and won four awards at the 87th Academy Awards including Best Picture; Watts and the other cast members earned the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture. Her other two awaiting projects were screened at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. The dramedy "St. Vincent" starred Watts as a Russian prostitute. She learnt the accent by spending time with Russian women in a West Village spa during a six-week period. "Los Angeles Times" reported a dividing reaction towards her performance, asserting that her part "put off some critics with its outrageousness", but "earned plenty of plaudits too". Watts nabbed a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress. In "While We're Young", Watts starred with Ben Stiller as a New York City-based married couple who begin hanging out with a couple in their 20s. That film was an arthouse success and Watts received praise for her on-screen chemistry with Stiller.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Watts played rebel leader Evelyn Johnson-Eaton in "" (2015), the second film in "The Divergent Series", which is based on Veronica Roth's best-selling young adult novel of the same name. Despite mixed reviews, the film was a commercial success, grossing US$274.5 million worldwide. Watts reprised her role in the series's third instalment, "", released on 18 March 2016, to negative reviews and lackluster box office sales.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Watts starred in Gus Van Sant's mystery drama "The Sea of Trees", opposite Matthew McConaughey, as the wife of an American man who attempts suicide in Mount Fuji's "Suicide Forest". The film premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival where it competed for the Palme d'Or, but was heavily panned by both critics and audiences, who reportedly booed and laughed during its screening. Critic Richard Mowe stated the audience reaction should "give the film's creative team pause for reflection about exactly where they went so badly awry." Justin Chang of "Variety" also criticised the film, but commended Watts's performance for being "solidly moving and sometimes awesomely passive-aggressive." "The Sea of Trees" did not find an audience in theaters.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Like "St. Vincent" and "While We're Young" the previous year, Watts had two starring vehicles —"Demolition" and "Three Generations"— screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, in 2015. In "Demolition", directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, Watts played a customer service representative and the interest of a grieving investment banker (Gyllenhaal). "The Wrap" felt that she "empathetically captures [her] harried single mom" role as she played "both the wit and the sadness with grace". In "Three Generations", directed by Gaby Dellal, she appeared with Susan Sarandon and Elle Fanning as the mother of a young transgender man (Fanning). Pulled from the schedule days before its intended initial release, the film subsequently opened on selected theatres in May 2017.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Watts played Linda, the second wife of heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner (played by Liev Schreiber) in the biographical sport drama "The Bleeder" (2016), revolving around the life of Wepner and his 1975 fight with Muhammad Ali. "Variety" wrote in its review: "Slightly out of place as the feisty bartender who gives Wepner a second chance at his downest and outest, a spirited Naomi Watts nonetheless gives proceedings her best Amy Adams in "The Fighter"." She headlined the thriller "Shut In" (also 2016), playing a psychologist isolated with her child in a rural house during a winter storm. The film received largely negative reviews and made US$8 million worldwide.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Watts appeared in "Twin Peaks", a limited event television series and a continuation of the 1990 show of the same name. It was broadcast on Showtime in 2017, to critical acclaim. Watts starred as "a therapist who begins to develop dangerous and intimate relationships with the people in her patients' lives" in the Netflix drama series "Gypsy" (also 2017), and served as one of its executive producers. While response was mixed, "Gypsy" was cancelled by Netflix after one season. In "The Book of Henry" (2017), Watts portrayed the mother of young genius who plans save the girl next door from abuse. The film polarized critics and audiences, but "Rolling Stone" described her as "a plus in any movie" and found her to be "excellent" in the role. In her other 2017 film, "The Glass Castle" opposite Brie Larson, and Woody Harrelson. An adaptation of Jeannette Walls's best selling memoir of the same name, Watts played the nonconformist mother of the author.


title: Naomi Watts

text: 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 next starred in the films "Penguin Bloom", "Boss Level", and "This Is The Night".


title: Naomi Watts

text: In 2022, Watts played a lead in Netflix's "The Watcher" as Nora Brannock alongside Bobby Cannavale, who played Dean Brannock.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Watts received an endorsement deal with David Yurman jewelry. She served as the ambassador to Thierry Mugler's "Angel" fragrance from 2008 until 2011 when Eva Mendes overtook the role. The pair later coincidentally fronted a campaign for Pantene hair care products. Watts also appeared in a campaign for Ann Taylor in 2010. She was announced as a new 'face' of L'Oréal in 2014. Watts also founded the skincare company Onda Beauty in 2016 and appeared in a campaign for Fendi in 2020.


title: Naomi Watts

text: In January 2021, it was announced that Watts was an early investor in Thirteen Lune, an e-commerce site focused on makeup, skincare, haircare and wellness products owned by people of color and ally brands.


title: Naomi Watts

text: In 2006, Watts became a goodwill ambassador for Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, which helps raise awareness of issues relating to the disease. She has used her high profile and celebrity to bring attention to the needs of people living with this disease. Watts has featured in campaigns for fundraising, events and activities, including the 21st Annual AIDS Walk. On 1 December 2009, Watts met United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at a public event commemorating World AIDS Day 2009.


title: Naomi Watts

text: In 2011, Watts attended a charity polo match in New York City along with Australian actors Hugh Jackman and Isla Fisher, which was intended to raise money to help victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. In 2012, she became an ambassador for Pantene's Beautiful Lengths, a programme that donates real-hair wigs to women with cancer. She has visited the St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney to meet some of the women the programme helps.


title: Naomi Watts

text: In 2016, Watts collaborated with Sportscraft and children's charity Barnardos to produce a range of namesake coats, with a percentage of sales going to the charity, and was one of the public figures photographed by Italian photographer Fabrizio Ferri for Bulgari's digital campaign "Raise Your Hand". In November 2018, she hosted the Worldwide Orphans 14th Annual Gala in NYC, and teamed up with McDonald's, to serve as a McHappy Day ambassador, making a special appearance and stepping behind the counter in Haberfield, Sydney.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Watts converted to Buddhism after having gained an interest in that religion during the shooting of "The Painted Veil" (2006), and became a strong proponent of Transcendental Meditation.


title: Naomi Watts

text: Watts had a relationship with Australian actor Heath Ledger from August 2002 to May 2004. In 2005, Watts began a relationship with American actor Liev Schreiber. Their first child, son Alexander 'Sasha' Pete, was born in 2007, and their second son, Samuel Kai, was born in 2008. On 26 September 2016, Watts and Schreiber announced their split after 11 years together. Since 2017, Naomi has been dating American actor Billy Crudup after they met on the set of the Netflix drama series "Gypsy".


title: Naomi Watts

text: In 2016, Watts became the honorary president of Glantraeth F.C., a small football club in Malltraeth, Anglesey, Wales, near her grandparents' farm, where she spent time as a child.


title: The Black Phone

text: The Black Phone is a 2021 American coming-of-age supernatural horror film directed by Scott Derrickson and written by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, who both produced with Jason Blum. It is an adaptation of the 2004 short story of the same name by Joe Hill. The film stars Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, James Ransone, and Ethan Hawke. In the film, an abducted teenager (Thames) uses a mysterious telephone to communicate with the previous victims of his deranged captor (Hawke).


title: The Black Phone

text: Derrickson came on board to direct "The Black Phone" after departing Marvel Studios' "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" over creative differences. Filming occurred over two months in Wilmington and surrounding counties in the state of North Carolina. The film premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 25, 2021, and was theatrically released by Universal Pictures on June 24, 2022. A critical and commercial success, it grossed $161 million and received praise for its performances and faithfulness to the source material.


title: The Black Phone

text: In 1978, a serial child abductor nicknamed "The Grabber" prowls the streets of a Denver suburb. Siblings Finney and Gwen Blake live in the area with their abusive, alcoholic father. At school, Finney is frequently bullied and harassed. He has a friendship with a classmate, Robin, who fends off the bullies. A boy that Finney knew, Bruce, is abducted by the Grabber. Gwen, who has psychic dreams much like her late mother, dreams of Bruce's kidnapping. Detectives Wright and Miller interview Gwen at school, believing she has inside knowledge. She refuses to help, but is still punished by the siblings' father for speaking with the detectives. Shortly after, the Grabber abducts Robin.


title: The Black Phone

text: Days later, the Grabber kidnaps Finney. He awakens in a soundproofed basement. On the wall is a disconnected black rotary phone. Later, Finney hears the phone ring and answers it. Bruce's ghost tells Finney about a floor tile he can remove to dig a tunnel to escape.


title: The Black Phone

text: The police search for Finney is unsuccessful. The Grabber brings Finney food and leaves the door unlocked. Finney is tempted to sneak out. Billy, another boy on the phone calls and explains this is a game that the Grabber plays. He is waiting to punish Finney if he leaves the basement. Billy instructs him to use a cord to get out via the basement window. His attempts breaks the bars on the window grate, preventing him from climbing back up. Gwen dreams of Billy being abducted and confides in her father.


title: The Black Phone

text: Wright and Miller speak to an eccentric man called Max who is staying in the area with his brother. It is revealed Finney is in the clueless Max's basement, and the Grabber is his brother. Finney speaks to another victim, Griffin, on the phone. Griffin gives Finney the lock combination and informs him the Grabber is asleep upstairs. Finney sneaks upstairs and unlocks the door but the Grabber's dog alerts him of the escape. Finney is quickly recaptured.


title: The Black Phone

text: Finney hears from another victim, a delinquent called Vance, whom Finney was scared of. Following Vance's instructions, Finney breaks a hole in the wall and enters the back of the freezer in the adjacent storage room, but the freezer door is locked tight. The phone rings one more time. Robin comforts Finney and encourages him to stand up and fight for himself. He teaches Finney to punch and to pack dirt inside the phone receiver to use as a weapon.


title: The Black Phone

text: Gwen has a vision of the Grabber's house. She contacts Wright and Miller. Max realizes Finney is being held in the house and rushes to the basement to free him, only for his brother to kill him with an axe. The police rush to the house that Gwen found. In the basement, they find the buried bodies of the victims. Deciding it is time to end the game with Finney, the Grabber attacks him with the axe. Using the byproducts from his failed escape attempts, Finney immobilizes the Grabber. As the ghosts taunt the Grabber over the phone, Finney beats and kills him.


title: The Black Phone

text: Distracting the dog with meat from the freezer, Finney exits the house, which turns out to be across the street from the burial site. He reunites with Gwen. The siblings' father arrives and tearfully begs forgiveness for his earlier treatment of them. Back at school, a confident Finney sits next to his crush in class and says to her she can call him Finn.


title: The Black Phone

text: Rebecca Clarke plays Donna, Finney's school friend and crush while J. Gaven Wilde as Moose, Spencer Fitzgerald as Buzz, Jordan Isaiah White as Matty, and Brady Ryan as Matt, portray bullies at the school Finney, Gwen, and Robin attend.


title: The Black Phone

text: Scott Derrickson and frequent collaborator C. Robert Cargill decided to adapt Joe Hill's short story "The Black Phone" into a feature film while the former was working on "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness", a sequel to "Doctor Strange", which he had directed and co-written with Cargill. Cargill promised to postpone the project until Derrickson, who had a commitment with Marvel Studios, became available to direct. In January 2020, Derrickson came on board to helm "The Black Phone" soon after departing from the "Doctor Strange" sequel due to creative differences.


title: The Black Phone

text: "The Black Phone" was officially announced in October, with child actors Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw set to star. Thames said his audition took place over Zoom soon after the COVID-19 pandemic began: "It was quite weird and we had bad Wi-Fi. I'd say a line and it would take a few seconds for them to say something back. It got a bit awkward. Eventually I got a callback." In early 2021, Jeremy Davies, Ethan Hawke, and James Ransone were added to the cast. Hawke said he was initially hesitant on playing the villain because he did not want to be remembered for a "scary" performance for the rest of his career, but changed his mind after realizing he was in his 50s. "Villains might be my future", he added.


title: The Black Phone

text: The film was shot on a $16–18 million budget. Principal photography began on February 9, 2021, and concluded on March 27. Filming took place at EUE/Screen Gems in Wilmington, North Carolina, and around the counties of New Hanover, Brunswick, and Columbus, under the working title "Static". Mark Korven composed the score during post-production, and the film was completed by December 2021.


title: The Black Phone

text: For the construction of the film, Derrickson was inspired by the films "The 400 Blows" (1959), "The Devil's Backbone" (2001), "Rosemary’s Baby" (1968), and the novel "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving.


title: The Black Phone

text: The marketing campaign from Universal Pictures for "The Black Phone" began with the release of a trailer on August 25, 2021, at CinemaCon. "Variety" said the film looked "scarier than the COVID-19 delta variant" and called it "the next possible franchise for Universal and Blumhouse." "Screen Rant" described the reactions to the trailer at CinemaCon as "intense". The film's poster was released on September 25, 2021. "Screen Rant" found it to be "terrifying" and said it would be "interesting to see if the film lives up to the hype". "Collider" said the mask in the poster evoked Lon Chaney's character from "London After Midnight" (1927). "MovieWeb" said the poster would "be behind your eyelids as you fall asleep tonight. ... we won't be able to see Ethan Hawke again without thinking of him as the terrifying and twisted Grabber. I've heard tell of his 'no villains rule', but clearly he's thrown that out the window." The trailer was released online on October 13, 2021. It was described by "Vulture" as a "stranger danger PSA". "The A.V. Club" said it looked like Hawke was "having a ball as the Pennywise-meets-Wonka child killer."


title: The Black Phone

text: "The Black Phone" was theatrically released in the United States by Universal Pictures on June 24, 2022. It was originally set for release on January 28 and later February 4 before being delayed again to June 24. The film had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 25, 2021, closed the Overlook Film Festival on June 5, 2022, and screened at the Tribeca Festival on June 18, 2022. The film was released for VOD on July 14, 2022 and made available to stream through Peacock on August 12, 2022. The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on August 16, 2022 by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.


title: The Black Phone

text: "The Black Phone" grossed $89.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $71.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $161.2 million.


title: The Black Phone

text: "The Black Phone" was released alongside "Elvis", and was projected to gross $15–20 million from 3,150 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $10.2 million on its first day, including $3 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to make $23.6 million in its first three days, finishing fourth at the box office, and an additional $12.5 million from 45 international markets for a $35.8 million global debut. Women made up 51% of the audience during its opening, with those in the age range of 18–34 (its target audience) comprising 64% of ticket sales and those below 25 comprising 53%. The film then made $14.2 million over the four-day Independence Day weekend, finishing fifth.


title: The Black Phone

text: Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak gave the film an 86% overall positive score, with 67% saying they would definitely recommend it.


title: The Black Phone

text: "Screen Rant" described the critical response as generally positive, with some criticism for the pacing and "number of scares" but praise for its faithfulness to the source material, Derrickson's direction, and Hawke's performance. Heidi Venable of "CinemaBlend" agreed, pointing out reviews complimenting the child actors, musical score, and screenplay, and wrote, "It sounds like this Joe Hill adaptation should please moviegoers, as long as audiences know they're in for something deeper than just tried-and-true jump scares."


title: The Black Phone

text: In June 2022, Derrickson said that while Hill was protective of his story, the author had pitched him a "wonderful idea" for a sequel that he was open to directing if the first film was a success. In August, Derrickson and Hill confirmed that there were discussions with the studio to make a sequel. Derrickson referred to the financial success of "The Black Phone" as one of the catalysts for the development of the project. Hill said his inspiration to writing a sequel was based on the "iconic imagery" of the Grabber's masks.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: 365 Days () is a 2020 Polish erotic thriller film directed by Barbara Białowąs and Tomasz Mandes. Based on the first novel of a trilogy by Blanka Lipińska, the plot follows a young Warsaw woman (Anna-Maria Sieklucka) in a spiritless relationship falling for a dominant Sicilian man (Michele Morrone), who imprisons and imposes on her a period of 365 days for which to fall in love with him.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: The film was released theatrically in Poland on 7 February 2020 and was later made available on Netflix on 7 June 2020. It quickly gained global attention, becoming one of the most watched items in numerous territories on multiple continents, and having one of the longest periods as the most watched item in Netflix's history in the United States. Despite this popularity, the film received universally negative reviews, with criticism aimed at its perceived glorification of the Mafia and heavy use of sex sequences that included sexual violence, drawing comparisons to the "Fifty Shades" trilogy.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: After a meeting between the Torricelli Sicilian Mafia crime family and black market dealers, Massimo Torricelli watches a beautiful woman on a beach and talks with his father, the mafia boss. Suddenly, the dealers shoot Massimo and his father; Massimo survives while his father dies from his injuries.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: Five years later, Massimo is the leader of the Torricelli crime family. In Warsaw, Laura Biel is unhappy in her relationship with her boyfriend, Martin. Laura celebrates her 29th birthday in Italy with Martin and her friend Olga, but after Martin visits Etna without her, she goes for a walk and runs into Massimo, who kidnaps her.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: At his villa, Massimo reveals to Laura that she was the woman at the beach five years ago and that when he was injured, all he could think about was her. After searching for years and finally spotting her, he kidnapped her, intending to keep her as a prisoner for 365 days in the hopes that she will fall in love with him. He also promises her that he will not touch her intimately without her consent while he is physically and sexually aggressive towards her.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: As they spend time together, Laura teases him and then refuses to have sex with him. At a hotel in Rome, she begins to tease him again and he cuffs her to the bed. Massimo then makes Laura watch him receive oral sex from another woman. Afterward, he claims he is going to penetrate her but changes his mind and orders her to get dressed for a club.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: At the club, Laura flaunts herself to Massimo and his friends, angering him. When she begins to flirt with a man from the rival mafia family, the man gropes her. Massimo draws his weapons and Laura is taken out of the club. The following morning, she awakens on a yacht to Massimo and his fellow mafioso, Mario, arguing. Massimo confesses that he shot the man's hand who had groped Laura, inciting a war between the two families. Laura attempts to apologize, but Massimo blames her for the incident. They argue and Laura falls into the water and starts to panic. Massimo jumps in to save her. When she regains consciousness, he admits he was scared she might not make it and does not want to lose her. Laura begins to fellate Massimo and the two engage in sex repeatedly.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: Later that evening, Massimo and Laura attend a masquerade ball, where a woman named Anna threatens Laura. Massimo reveals that he dated Anna, but told her that he would leave if he found Laura, and did so when he recognized Laura at the airport.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: After the ball, Massimo and Laura have sex again. He tells her he is sending her to visit her loved ones in Warsaw and promises to join her after finishing up business. He then tells her he loves her.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: On the car ride to the airport, Domenico, another one of Massimo's mafiosos, tried to reassure a nervous Laura that Anna won't hurt her but gets a phone call, tells Laura to wait in Warsaw, and rushes away.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: In Warsaw, Laura waits for Massimo for days with no contact. She reconnects with her best friend Olga and they go clubbing. She runs into Martin, who says he has been looking for her to apologize. He attempts to convince her to reconcile and follows her back to her apartment, where Massimo is unexpectedly waiting. Martin leaves and Laura and Massimo have sex. When Laura opens his shirt, she discovers his wounds from the ongoing conflict. She confesses to him that she loves him. The following morning, Massimo proposes and she accepts. However, she asks him to keep his "occupation" a secret from her parents.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: Back in Italy, Mario informs Massimo of rising tensions. Laura mentions feeling unwell but brushes off seeing a doctor. They discuss their upcoming wedding that her family is not allowed to attend, as she does not want them to discover what Massimo does. However, Massimo allows Olga to come as Laura's bridesmaid. When Olga visits, Laura reveals she is pregnant. Olga urges her to tell Massimo about the pregnancy. Laura calls him and asks if they can talk after dinner. Meanwhile, Mario receives a phone call from a Torricelli informant that the rival mafia family is about to kill Laura. Laura's car enters a tunnel but does not come out the other side. Mario rushes to find Massimo just as Laura's call drops. Realizing the implications, Massimo breaks down. A police car blocks the entrance of the tunnel.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: The film scenes were primarily shot in Poland (Warsaw, Krakow and Niepołomice) and in Italy (Sanremo).


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: The film's theme song, "Feel It", along with the songs "Watch Me Burn", "Dark Room" and "Hard for Me", are sung by Morrone. The songs "I See Red", "Give 'Em Hell" and "Wicked Ways" were sung by Everybody Loves an Outlaw, a.k.a. Bonnie and Taylor Sims. "I See Red" made #1 on Spotify's Viral 50 chart in the US, with "Hard for Me" also in the top 5. Morrone and Everybody Loves an Outlaw entered the top 10 of Rolling Stone's Breakthrough 25 Chart.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: "365 Days" was released in Poland on 7 February 2020, grossing $9 million. In the United Kingdom, the film received a limited theatrical release on 14 February 2020, and grossed $494,181, before premiering on Netflix in June 2020.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: The film made the top three most viewed items on Netflix in numerous countries, including Germany, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey, Sweden, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, Romania, South Africa, Portugal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, UAE, UK, Mauritius, Canada, Israel, New Zealand, Malaysia, and USA. It was the first movie to have two multiday periods as Netflix's #1 movie in the US: it was #1 for 4 days, then replaced in that position by "Da 5 Bloods", but then, 3 days later, returned to #1. The film has thus had 10 days as #1, the second highest in the chart's history.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: "365 Days" drew parallels with the 2015 erotic drama "Fifty Shades of Grey". It was criticised for romanticising kidnapping and rape. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes collected reviews and identified of them as positive, with an average rating of .


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: Jessica Kiang of "Variety" described the film as "a thoroughly terrible, politically objectionable, occasionally hilarious Polish humpathon". "The Guardian", after citing other media – ""Variety" called it 'dumber-than-hair'. "Cosmopolitan" labelled it 'the worst thing I've ever seen'" – highlights the film's "dismal dialogue", poor character development and "unsexy" sex scenes.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: On June 17, 2020, "Collectif Soeurcières", a French feminist collective, started an online petition through Change.org, addressing Netflix France, to pull the film from streaming availability. As of August 16, it gained 40,000 signatures. On July 2, 2020, singer Duffy wrote an open letter, addressing Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, criticizing the film for glamorizing sexual violence. "This should not be anyone's idea of entertainment, nor should it be described as such, or be commercialized in this manner", she said. After this, another Change.org petition, initiated by social media influencer Mikayla Zazon, gained over 70,000 signatures. On July 8, 2020, PTC president Timothy F. Winter requested Netflix to remove the film from the platform.


title: 365 Days (2020 film)

text: Plans for a sequel, titled "This Day", were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2021, it was reported that Netflix had started filming two sequels concurrently, with several cast members returning. Morrone, Sieklucka and Lamparska are all confirmed as returning. The titles of the sequels were referred to as "365 Days Part 2" and "365 Days Part 3". The second movie, retitled to "", premiered on Netflix on April 27, 2022. The third movie, retitled to "The Next 365 Days", premiered on August 19, 2022.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor. Beginning in theatre and television, he landed his breakthrough role as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine in the 20th Century Fox "X-Men" film series (2000–2017), a role that earned him the Guinness World Record for "longest career as a live-action Marvel character", until his record was surpassed in 2021. Jackman has received various awards including two Tony Awards, a Grammy Award, a Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Jackman was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to performing arts and to the global community.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: During his career, Jackman has headlined films in various genres, including the romantic comedy "Kate & Leopold" (2001), the action-horror "Van Helsing" (2004), the drama "The Prestige" (2006), the period romance "Australia" (2008), the epic musical "Les Misérables" (2012), the thriller "Prisoners" (2013), the musical "The Greatest Showman" (2017), the political drama "The Front Runner" (2018), and the crime drama "Bad Education" (2019). For his role as Jean Valjean in "Les Misérables", Jackman was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and for "The Greatest Showman", he received a Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album. He also provided voice roles in the animated films "Flushed Away", "Happy Feet" (both 2006), "Rise of the Guardians" (2012), and "Missing Link" (2019).


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman is also known for his early theatre roles in "Oklahoma!" in 1998 and "Carousel" in 2002. On Broadway, Jackman won the 2004 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role in "The Boy from Oz". In 2021 he returned to the theatre as Harold Hill in the Broadway revival of "The Music Man". A four-time host of the Tony Awards, he won an Emmy Award for hosting the 2005 ceremony. He also hosted the 81st Academy Awards in 2009.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman was born in Sydney, New South Wales, to Grace McNeil (née Greenwood) and Christopher John Jackman, a Cambridge-educated accountant. His parents were English and had come to Australia in 1967 as part of the "Ten Pound Poms" immigration scheme. Thus, in addition to his Australian citizenship, Jackman holds British citizenship by virtue of being born to UK-born parents. One of his paternal great-grandfathers, Nicholas Isidor Bellas, was Greek, from the Ottoman Empire (now in Greece). His parents were devout Christians, having been converted by Evangelist Billy Graham after their marriage. Jackman has four older siblings and was the second of his parents' children to be born in Australia. He also has a younger half-sister, from his mother's remarriage. His parents divorced when he was eight, and Jackman remained in Australia with his father and two brothers, while his mother moved back to England with Jackman's two sisters. As a child, Jackman liked the outdoors, spending much time at the beach and on camping trips and school holidays all over Australia. He wanted to see the world, saying, "I used to spend nights looking at atlases. I decided I wanted to be a chef on a plane. Because I'd been on a plane and there was food on board, I presumed there was a chef. I thought that would be an ideal job."


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman went to primary school at Pymble Public School and later attended the all-boys Knox Grammar School on Sydney's Upper North Shore, where he starred in its production of "My Fair Lady" in 1985 and became the school captain in 1986. He spent a gap year in 1987 working at Uppingham School in England as a Physical Education teacher. On his return, he studied at the University of Technology, Sydney, graduating in 1991 with a BA in Communications. In his final year of university, he took a drama course to make up additional credits. The class did Václav Havel's "The Memorandum" with Jackman as the lead. He later commented, "In that week I felt more at home with those people than I did in the entire three years [at university]".


title: Hugh Jackman

text: After obtaining his BA, Jackman completed the one-year course "The Journey" at the Actors' Centre in Sydney. About studying acting full-time, he stated, "It wasn't until I was 22 that I ever thought about my hobby being something I could make a living out of. As a boy, I'd always had an interest in theatre. But the idea at my school was that drama and music were to round out the man. It wasn't what one did for a living. I got over that. I found the courage to stand up and say, 'I want to do it'." After completing "The Journey", he was offered a role on the popular soap opera "Neighbours" but turned it down to attend the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts of Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia, from which he graduated in 1994.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman has said he "always loved acting but when I started at drama school I was like the dunce of the class. It just wasn't coming right to me. Everyone was cooler, everyone seemed more likely to succeed, everyone seemed more natural at it and in retrospect, I think that is good. I think it is good to come from behind as an actor. I think it is good to go into an audition thinking, 'Man I've got to be at my best to get this gig.'"


title: Hugh Jackman

text: On the night of his final Academy graduation performance, Jackman received a phone call offering him a role on "Correlli": "I was technically unemployed for thirteen seconds." "Correlli", devised by Australian actress Denise Roberts, was a 10-part drama series on ABC, Jackman's first major professional job, and where he met his future wife Deborra-Lee Furness. Jackman stated that "Meeting my wife was the greatest thing to come out of it." The show lasted only one season. After "Correlli" Jackman went on the stage in Melbourne. In 1996, Jackman played Gaston in the local Walt Disney production of "Beauty and the Beast", and Joe Gillis in "Sunset Boulevard". During his stage musical career in Melbourne, he starred in the 1998 Midsumma festival cabaret production "Summa Cabaret". He also hosted Melbourne's Carols by Candlelight and Sydney's Carols in the Domain. Jackman's early film works include "Erskineville Kings" and "Paperback Hero" (1999), and his television work includes "Law of the Land", "Halifax f.p.", "Blue Heelers", and "Banjo Paterson's The Man from Snowy River".


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman became known outside Australia in 1998, when he played the leading role of Curly in the Royal National Theatre's acclaimed stage production of "Oklahoma!", in London's West End. The performance earned him an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Jackman said, "I totally felt like it can't get any better than this. On some level that production will be one of the highlights of my career." He also starred in the 1999 film version of the same stage musical, which has been screened in many countries.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman had his breakthrough role playing Wolverine in Bryan Singer's "X-Men" (2000)—a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics team of the same name. Co-starring Patrick Stewart, James Marsden, Famke Janssen and Ian McKellen, the film tells the story of a group of mutants, whose superhuman powers make them distrusted by normal humans, but who fight to protect humans from villains. The role was originally written for Russell Crowe who instead suggested Jackman for the part. Jackman says that his wife advised him against taking on the role, as she found it "ridiculous". He initially studied wolves to develop his character, as he thought that Wolverine alluded to wolves. "X-Men" was successful at the box-office, earning US$296 million. The role earned him a Saturn Award for Best Actor.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Wolverine was tough for Jackman to portray because he had few lines, but much emotion to convey in them. To prepare, he watched Clint Eastwood in the "Dirty Harry" movies and Mel Gibson in "Mad Max 2". "There were guys who had relatively little dialogue, like Wolverine had, but you knew and felt everything. I'm not normally one to copy, but I wanted to see how these guys achieved it." Jackman was adamant about doing his own stunts for the movie. "We worked a lot on the movement style of Wolverine, and I studied some martial arts. I watched a lot of Mike Tyson fights, especially his early fights. There's something about his style, the animal rage, that seemed right for Wolverine. I kept saying to the writers, 'Don't give me long, choreographed fights for the sake of it. Don't make the fights pretty." Jackman also had to get used to wearing Wolverine's claws. He said, "Every day in my living room, I'd just walk around with those claws, to get used to them. I've got scars on one leg, punctures straight through the cheek, on my forehead. I'm a bit clumsy. I'm lucky I didn't tell them that when I auditioned."


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman, at stands 30 cm taller than Wolverine, who is said in the original comic book to be . Hence, the filmmakers were frequently forced to shoot Jackman at unusual angles or only from the waist up to make him appear shorter than he actually is, and his co-stars wore platform soles. Jackman was also required to add a great deal of muscle for the role, and in preparing for the fourth film in the series, he bench-pressed over 136 kg (300 lb).


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman reprised his role in 2003's "X2", 2006's "", and the 2009 prequel "", where Troye Sivan played the younger version of James Howlett. He also cameoed as Wolverine in 2011's "". He returned for the role of Wolverine again in 2013's "The Wolverine", a stand-alone sequel taking place after the events of "X-Men: The Last Stand", and reprised the character in the 2014 sequel "" and briefly in the 2016 follow-up "". In 2015, Jackman announced that the 2017 sequel to "The Wolverine", "Logan", was the final time that he would play the role. It earned him the Guinness World Record of 'longest career as a live-action Marvel superhero'.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman starred as Leopold in the 2001 romantic comedy film "Kate & Leopold", a role for which he received a Best Actor Golden Globe nomination. Jackman plays a Victorian English duke who accidentally time-travels to 21st-century Manhattan, where he meets Kate (Meg Ryan), a cynical advertising executive. In 2001, Jackman also starred in the action/drama "Swordfish" with John Travolta and Halle Berry. This was the second time Jackman worked with Berry, and the two have worked together thrice more in the "X-Men" movies. He hosted an episode of "Saturday Night Live" in 2001.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: In 2002, Jackman sang the role of Billy Bigelow in the musical "Carousel" in a special concert performance at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke's. In 2004, Jackman won the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical for his 2003–2004 Broadway portrayal of Australian songwriter and performer Peter Allen in the hit musical "The Boy from Oz", which he also performed in Australia in 2006. In addition, Jackman hosted the Tony Awards in 2003, 2004, and 2005, garnering positive reviews. His hosting of the 2004 Tony Awards earned him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performer in a Variety, Musical or Comedy program.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: After 2003's "X2", Jackman played the title role of monster killer Gabriel Van Helsing in the 2004 film "Van Helsing". Jackman and the film were noted in Bruce A. McClelland's book "Slayers and Their Vampires: A Cultural History of Killing the Dead".


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman was asked to consider taking on the role of James Bond before Daniel Craig was chosen to play the character, but turned it down due to other commitments. Speaking to the British Press Association in 2011, Jackman said: "I was about to shoot X-Men 2 and Wolverine had become this thing in my life and I didn't want to be doing two such iconic characters at once."


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Alongside Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Scarlett Johansson, Jackman starred in "The Prestige" (2006), a mystery thriller from Christopher Nolan. Jackman portrayed Robert Angier, an aristocratic magician who builds up a rivalry with contemporary Alfred Borden (Bale) in an attempt to one-up each other in the art of deception. After reading the script, Jackman expressed interest in starring in the film, and Nolan believed that the actor had the qualities of the character. Jackman based his portrayal of Angier on 1950s-era American magician Channing Pollock. "The Prestige" was acclaimed and a box-office success.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman portrayed three different characters in Darren Aronofsky's science-fiction film "The Fountain": Tommy Creo, a neuroscientist, who is torn between his wife, Izzi (Rachel Weisz), who is dying of a brain tumor, and his work at trying to cure her; Captain Tomas Creo, a Spanish conquistador in 1532 Seville; and a future astronaut, Tom, travelling to a golden nebula in an eco-spacecraft seeking to be reunited with Izzi. Jackman said "The Fountain" was his most difficult film thus far due to the physical and emotional demands of the part.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman also starred in Woody Allen's 2006 film "Scoop" opposite Scarlett Johansson. That year he also reprised the role of Wolverine in "". He rounded out 2006 with two animated films: "Happy Feet", directed by George Miller, in which he voiced the part of Memphis, an emperor penguin; and "Flushed Away", where Jackman supplied the voice of a rat named Roddy who ends up being flushed down a family's toilet into the London sewer system. "Flushed Away" co-starred Kate Winslet and Ian McKellen (Jackman's fourth time working with him).


title: Hugh Jackman

text: In 2007, Jackman produced and guest-starred in the television musical-dramedy series "Viva Laughlin", which was cancelled by CBS after two episodes. In 2007, Jackman became the Patron of the Actors Centre Australia where he studied, and remains so.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: In 2008, director Baz Luhrmann cast Jackman to replace Russell Crowe as the male lead in his much-publicized epic film, "Australia", which co-starred Nicole Kidman. The movie was released in late November 2008 in Australia and the U.S. Jackman played a tough, independent cattle drover, who reluctantly helps an English noblewoman in her quest to save both her philandering husband's Australian cattle station and the mixed race Aboriginal child she finds there. Of the movie, Jackman said, "This is pretty much one of those roles that had me pinching myself all the way through the shoot. I got to shoot a big-budget, shamelessly old-fashioned romantic epic set against one of the most turbulent times in my native country's history, while, at the same time, celebrating that country's natural beauty, its people, its cultures... I'll die a happy man knowing I've got this film on my CV." That year, "People" Magazine named Jackman its 2008 "Sexiest Man Alive".


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman co-starred with Daniel Craig on Broadway at the Schoenfeld Theatre in a limited engagement of the play "A Steady Rain", which ran from 10 September 2009, to 6 December 2009.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman had a one-man show at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco from 3–15 May 2011. The production was a mixture of his favourite Broadway and Hollywood musical numbers, backed by a 17-piece orchestra, from shows including "Oklahoma" and "The Boy from Oz". The show had a run-time of approximately 100 minutes, and also included slide shows of Jackman's youth, family, and work, as well as some one-on-one interaction with the audience. Jackman was backed by fellow musical theatre veterans Merle Dandridge and Angel Reda. He later returned to Broadway in a new show, "" at the Broadhurst Theatre, which began performances on 25 October 2011 and concluded on 1 January 2012.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: In a November 2012 release, Jackman voiced the role of E.Aster Bunnymund (the Easter Bunny) in the animated film "Rise of the Guardians", while his image was licensed to represent the "Skulduggery Pleasant" character Saracen Rue in the spin-off novel "Tanith Low in... The Maleficent Seven", published December 2012. Jackman starred as Jean Valjean in Tom Hooper's "Les Misérables", an adaptation of the musical. The film opened on 25 December 2012. For the role, he lost 15 pounds and later had to regain 30 pounds to mirror his character's newfound success. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy in January 2013 for this performance and received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman appeared alongside Kate Winslet in "Movie 43", an ensemble comedy, in January 2013. Jackman (along with actress Kristen Wiig) was featured on "You've Got the Look", a song by comedy hip hop group The Lonely Island on their third album, "The Wack Album", released in June 2013. Jackman returned to Broadway in the new play, "The River", which ran at the Circle in the Square Theatre from October 2014 to February 2015.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: In November and December 2015, Jackman made a national tour of Australia with his show "Broadway to Oz". He performed a range of songs from Broadway musicals, from "Les Misérables" to a Peter Allen tribute (including classics such as "I Still Call Australia Home"), with his 150-piece orchestra, choir, and backup dancers. The show began at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena and proceeded to Qantas Credit Union Arena, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, and the Perth Arena.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman then portrayed the villain Blackbeard in the film "Pan", which revolved around the backstories of J.M. Barrie's characters Peter Pan and Captain Hook. The movie received generally negative reviews and was a failure at the box office. In 2016, Jackman played fictional ski coach, Bronson Peary, in "Eddie the Eagle", which portrayed how Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards became the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping in 1988.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: Jackman had an uncredited cameo as Wolverine in the 2016 film "". In 2017, he reprised the character for what was intended to be the final time in the third Wolverine film, "Logan." Jackman's performance and the film were critically acclaimed and it is regarded as one of the greatest superhero films of all-time. For his 17-year spanning long performance as Wolverine, Jackman topped "The Hollywood Reporter"'s Greatest Superhero Movie Performances of All Time list. That year, he also starred as P. T. Barnum in the musical "The Greatest Showman". He received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination for the film, his third Golden Globe nomination, and also received a Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album.


title: Hugh Jackman

text: In 2018, he starred as American senator Gary Hart in Jason Reitman's political drama film "The Front Runner", which chronicled the rise of Hart as a Democratic presidential candidate in 1988, and his subsequent fall from grace when media reports surfaced of his extramarital affair. In 2019, he voiced the character, Sir Lionel Frost, in the animated film, "Missing Link".


title: Hugh Jackman

text: In 2019, Jackman went on his first world tour called The Man. The Music. The Show. to perform songs from the album, "", and Broadway/Hollywood musical numbers. Comprising 88 shows, the tour visits North America, Europe, and Oceania. It began on 7 May 2019, in Glasgow, Scotland and concluded on 15 October 2019, in San Antonio, United States. In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours, Jackman was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia for "eminent service to the performing arts as an acclaimed actor and performer, and to the global community, particularly as an advocate for poverty eradication."


title: Hugh Jackman

text: He starred in the comedy drama "Bad Education" (2019), opposite Allison Janney. In April 2021, it was announced that Jackman and Laura Dern star together in Florian Zeller's film "The Son", adapting his stage play of the same name. He returned to Broadway in a revival of "The Music Man", playing Harold Hill, which began previews in December 2021 and opened on 10 February 2022. For his performance, Jackman received his second nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.