"For the record, I am actually British as well as Australian. People always think I'm Australian but I'm happy for the Brits to claim me back. I'm offering myself up." Naomi Watts

Biography

      Although she had been acting for more than fifteen years, Naomi Watts broke through to stardom when she was tapped by David Lynch to portray an aspiring starlet in "Mulholland Dr." (2001), his darkly nightmarish vision of Los Angeles. Originally made as a pilot for a projected television series, the film found a second life when producer Alain Sarde and Studio Canal joined forces to provide funding for Lynch to re-imagine his vision as a feature film. After its premiere at Cannes, "Mulholland Dr." went on to confound or captivate critics and audiences, but nearly all were certain that Watts emerged as an actress of force and presence.

      Born in Shoreham, Kent, England, UK on September 28th, 1968, the leggy blonde suffered the trauma of losing her father, Peter Watts, when she was only ten years old. Her mother, Miv, continued to raise Naomi and Naomi's older brother, Benjamin Watts. The small family lived in England before moving four years later to Australia and where Naomi began to study acting. Eventually, she began going on auditions (at one she met her best friend Nicole Kidman) and landed her first film role in "For Love Alone" (1986). Watts enjoyed her first substantial part alongside best pal Kidman in "Flirting" (1991), the John Duigan(who also directed: Head in the Clouds, Molly, Sirens and Wide Sargasso Sea) sequel to "The Year My Voice Broke". Cast as a snobby schoolgirl, the teen actress made an impression and her career was born. Watts went on to co-star with Oscar-winner Brenda Fricker, Josephine Byrnes, Kym Wilson and a young Russell Crowe in the Australian miniseries "Brides of Christ" (1991). Duigan tapped her once again when he cast her in a supporting role in "Wide Sargasso Sea" (1992). Moving to the USA, Watts acted in her first Hollywood movie, the comedy "Matinee" (also 1992) in a bit role as an aspiring movie star. She enjoyed a cult hit as Jet Girl in the film adaptation of the comic book "Tank Girl" (1995) but box-office success and that seminal role to catapult her to stardom still eluded her.

      Watts appeared in a string of TV productions of varying quality, from the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" drama "Timepiece" (CBS, 1995) to the failed 1997 NBC series "Sleepwalkers" to the above average miniseries "The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer" (CBS, 1999). Between small screen gigs, the actress was cast as the wife of a Venetian nobleman in "Dangerous Beauty" (1998){review} and as a fragile, morally upright young woman in "Strange Planet" (1999), Emma-Kate Croghan's ensemble film about a group of friends struggling to cope with modern life. Watts was then cast in what was hoped would be her breakthrough, an ABC TV series created by and directed by David Lynch. Although the network passed on the quirky drama, Lynch was able to shoot additional material and create a strange, trippy picture that painted a dark look at the dream factory of Hollywood. Indeed her dual role as perky wannabe Betty Elms and the cynical Diane Selwyn provided Watts with rich and complex material that she skillfully handled. If anyone had any doubts about her capabilities, one scene in particular clinched it: Betty auditions for a movie role and while the dialogue is trite, her reactions to her scene partner (Chad Everett) and her approach to the part allowed Watts to play many layers and moods at once. That astonishing scene alone made critics and audience take notice.

      Watts displayed a similar charisma in the Sundance-screened short "Ellie Parker" (2001), about an Australian actress trying to carve a career in L.A. Having to switch gears from auditioning for the role of a Southern belle to trying out for the part of a street junkie, she displayed her amazing range and prodigious talent. Casting agents and directors began to take notice following this one-two punch and Watts found herself being offered choice roles. She starred as a frontier widow who harbors an outlaw in the Showtime original "The Outsider" (lensed 2001) and played a pair of journalists, first as a TV newswoman investigating a rash of elevator accidents in "The Shaft" (2001) and then as a reporter who discovers a cursed videotape in audience favorite "The Ring" (2002) and reprised Rachel Keller in "The Ring Two"(2002).

      After being in the business for 20 years, she finally received much over-do recongnition with an Academy Award Nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role for "21 Grams". For the last two years Naomi has made eight films. Look for later this year with fiance' Levi Schrieber in "The Painted Veil".

Her current project is Eastern Promises with Viggo Mortensen due in 2007.

Liev (Schrieber) & Naomi welcomed their son Alexander Peter Schrieber at the end of July in 2007.