Naomi Watts Biography

Actress Naomi Watts has been up for an Oscar twice, for 2003’s 21 Grams and 2012’s The Impossible, but she’s known to broader audiences as the star of the hit horror films The Ring (2002) and The Ring Two (2005).

Watts was born in England but grew up in Australia.

She made her film debut in the 1986 Australian feature For Love Alone, and followed that with several years of lesser roles in films and TV programs, in both Australia and the United States.

Watts gained international attention when she was widely praised for her leading role in David Lynch‘s Mulholland Drive (2001).

She then starred in The Ring, a surprise horror hit, and landed the lead in Peter Jackson‘s 2005 remake of King Kong.

Her other films include Flirting (1991, co-starring Nicole Kidman), The Kelly Gang (2003, co-starring Orlando Bloom), The Painted Veil (2006, based on a story by Somerset Maugham), Eastern Promises (2007, starring Viggo Mortensen), You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2003, by Woody Allen), Fair Game (2010, opposite Sean Penn), J. Edgar (2011, starring Leonardo DiCaprio), Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance (2014), and Vice (2018).