Top 25 Best Nicole Kidman Movies, Ranked
25. Bombshell (2019)
Nicole Kidman embodies Gretchen Carlson with poised fire in this explosive newsroom drama, which unmasked Roger Ailes’s empire of abuse. No doubt the powerhouse actress was the right choice to play the woman bold enough to ignite the reckoning that toppled a giant. Surrounded by Charlize Theron and Margot Robbie, Kidman’s grounded strength adds gravity, reminding us all that courage often begins with one voice refusing silence.
24. Days of Thunder (1990)
In Tony Scott’s roaring NASCAR saga, Nicole Kidman’s Dr. Claire Lewicki was no mere love interest. Cool, brainy, and unafraid to tame Tom Cruise’s reckless racer, she added gravitas to the high-octane spectacle. No one can deny Kidman’s elegance and steel in the chaos. Well, even in a testosterone-fueled speed fest, she always knew how to command the spotlight with undeniable magnetism.
23. Babygirl (2024)
Kidman’s return to the erotic thriller burns with dangerous allure in this offering. As Romy Mathis, a powerful CEO entangled with her much younger intern, she spirals into forbidden passion and intoxicating ruin. Opposite Harris Dickinson and Antonio Banderas, Kidman weaponizes vulnerability and desire, commanding every frame. It’s a daring performance, of course…totally seductive, unsettling, and a definite proof that she still thrives on risk.
22. Being the Ricardos (2021)
Taking on Lucille Ball—one of television’s most beloved icons—was no easy task, but Kidman dove in with fearless intensity. Her performance captured not just the legend’s charm but also the cracks beneath the laughter: a turbulent marriage, impossible expectations, and relentless scrutiny. Paired with Javier Bardem’s Desi Arnaz, Kidman gave us Lucy, not as a myth, but a woman.
21. Cold Mountain (2003)
In Cold Mountain, Kidman’s Ada is a society woman shattered by war, who undergoes transformation into a survivor by grit and love. Awaiting Jude Law’s Inman with unwavering devotion, she learns to farm, fight, and endure. The sweeping romance thrums with old Hollywood grandeur, and Kidman infuses the story with ferocity and grace. She definitely makes epic melodrama feel intimate, even elemental.
20. Destroyer (2018)
Unrecognizable beneath weathered skin and weary eyes, Nicole Kidman tore down her glamour to embody Detective Erin Bell. In Karyn Kusama’s gritty noir, she prowls Los Angeles with vengeance and regret. It’s a performance of brutal honesty—hollow, haunted, and raw. Kidman flips the archetypal hard-boiled cop on its head, crafting a character both tragic and terrifyingly human.
19. The Paperboy (2012)
Camp, pulp, and sweat drip from Lee Daniels’ lurid thriller, The Paperboy. And, Kidman dives in headfirst into the romp. As Charlotte Bless, a trashy vixen obsessed with a death-row inmate, she is outrageous, magnetic, and gloriously unhinged. The infamous prison-visit scene still shocks, but it’s Kidman’s gleeful abandon that makes it unforgettable. She turned scandal into art, and no one could look away.
18. Practical Magic (1998)
Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock conjure a witchy cult classic as the Owens sisters, cursed in love but bound by family. As the fiery Gillian, Kidman radiates danger and charm, her reckless energy perfectly complementing Bullock’s steadiness. Between murder, magic, and sisterly devotion, Kidman’s performance crackles. Light as a spell yet rooted in real emotion, the film remains timeless.
17. Margot at the Wedding (2007)
As Margot, Kidman strips herself of vanity, inhabiting a prickly, neurotic writer who can wound with a glance. Noah Baumbach’s biting dramedy thrives on discomfort, and Kidman leans into every sharp edge, making her character simultaneously unbearable and mesmerizing. Beneath the acidity lies deep fragility, which Kidman exposes with surgical precision. It’s ugly, brave, and utterly brilliant.
16. Paddington (2014)
Behind the film’s heartwarming sweetness lurks Kidman’s icy villain, Millicent Clyde, whose obsession with taxidermy threatens the beloved bear. In a story about kindness and acceptance, she’s the cutting edge of menace. Kidman is well versed in the skill of sharpening elegance into cruelty. Her magnetic presence makes Paddington’s peril feel palpable. The result? Even in a family film, Kidman can dominate.
15. The Beguiled (2017)
Set in the smoldering tension of the American Civil War, The Beguiled shows Kidman’s Miss Farnsworth reigning over a secluded girls’ school like a steel trap wrapped in silk. When Colin Farrell’s wounded soldier arrives, desire and danger weave a chilling web. Kidman, quite unsurprisingly, commands the screen with restrained power…her soft Southern cadence masking a survivalist ruthlessness.
14. My Life (1993)
Few performances capture grief as delicately as Kidman’s Gail, a wife bracing for widowhood while awaiting new motherhood. Standing beside Michael Keaton’s dying husband, she delivers quiet devastation with heartbreaking authenticity. There’s raw fragility of love in the shadow of loss, and Kidman embodies both anguish and resilience in My Life. Definitely, one of her most underrated turns.
13. Dead Calm (1989)
Alone on an isolated yacht with two men and a mounting sense of dread, Kidman’s Rae Ingram proves unforgettable. In this taut psychological thriller, her shift from vulnerability to fierce survival is electrifying. Dead Calm established Kidman as a force to be reckoned with—fragile yet formidable, a woman who refuses to surrender even in terror.
12. Malice (1993)
Kidman burns with enigmatic intensity as Tracy, a woman whose secrets run deeper than the thriller’s plot twists. Paired against Alec Baldwin’s powerhouse surgeon, she radiates both innocence and steel. Malice thrives on deception, and Kidman’s magnetic ambiguity keeps audiences perpetually guessing. It’s a performance that lures you close before cutting sharp with betrayal.
11. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
Kidman thrives in Yorgos Lanthimos’s unsettling world, her Anna an inscrutable wife navigating an unfathomable curse. With clinical detachment and suppressed horror, she mirrors the chilling strangeness of Barry Keoghan’s sinister teen. Her stillness is terrifying, her control absolute. In a film built on unease, Kidman becomes its quiet, menacing heartbeat.
10. The Northman (2022)
Kidman unleashes primal fire as Queen Gudrún, a mother both victim and architect of betrayal. When Alexander Skarsgård’s vengeful son seeks to reclaim her, the reunion twists into something far darker than rescue. Kidman’s performance is molten in this period drama tale—imperious, merciless, and monstrous. She doesn’t just play a queen; she devours the throne, commanding every brutal frame.
9. Lion (2016)
As Sue Brierley, Kidman channels unshakable maternal devotion, crafting an Oscar-nominated performance that aches with honesty. Adopting Saroo may have saved his life, but her tenderness and complexity make the bond transcendent. She blends fierce protectiveness with quiet heartbreak, offering one of her most humane portrayals. Every scene with Dev Patel is soaked in love, and there’s no escape.
8. Rabbit Hole (2010)
Kidman’s Becca Corbett embodies grief incarnate—aching, brittle, and sharp as glass. Rabbit Hole is a harrowing exploration of parental loss, and she crafts a performance so raw it feels almost invasive. Kidman deftly exposes both the cruelty and the necessity of healing. Her Oscar nomination was earned, for Kidman turned anguish into devastatingly beautiful art.
7. Dogville (2003)
Stripped of sets and scenery, Kidman’s Grace stands bare against Lars von Trier’s ruthless lens. Her arrival in a small town spirals into exploitation and cruelty, testing the limits of forgiveness. Kidman is an enigma here, unraveling with each betrayal. It’s a daring act of trust and transformation. A fearless artist, indeed.
6. The Hours (2002)
In a haunting metamorphosis, Kidman vanishes into Virginia Woolf—prosthetic nose, quivering voice, and all. Her performance is spellbinding, capturing Woolf’s brilliance and despair with aching precision. Flanked by Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep, Kidman anchors the film’s interwoven tragedies. Winning the Oscar was inevitable; she etched Woolf’s legacy onto cinema with piercing brilliance.
5. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Stanley Kubrick’s final film is steeped in erotic mystery, and Kidman’s Alice Harford is its intoxicating soul. Opposite Tom Cruise, she dismantles illusions of marital fidelity with chilling honesty. Seductive, enigmatic, and unflinching, Kidman dominates even when silent. Under Kubrick’s meticulous gaze, she reveals desire’s dangerous depths, ensuring the film’s legacy as a hypnotic fever dream.
4. Birth (2004)
With one lingering close-up, Kidman’s face carries the weight of grief, disbelief, and forbidden hope. As Anna, a widow confronted by a boy claiming to be her dead husband, she is luminous in restraint. Her subtle shadings of longing and terror make the surreal believable. Few actresses dare such vulnerability, and Kidman makes it mesmerizing. Right?
3. The Others (2001)
Nicole Kidman is unforgettable as Grace Stewart, a mother guarding her children from unseen horrors in The Others. Set in a fog-drenched mansion, her descent into gothic terror crackles with raw fear. Balancing fragility and ferocity, she makes the supernatural intimate. Alongside her Moulin Rouge triumph the same year, Kidman proved she could be the queen of any genre.
2. To Die For (1995)
Kidman detonated onto the Hollywood A-list as Suzanne Stone, the weather girl who’d kill for fame. With wide-eyed charm masking ruthless ambition, she’s intoxicating, hilarious, and chillingly unhinged. If you’ve watched the movie, you’d agree that Gus Van Sant’s satire gleams with her electric energy. Kidman makes narcissism magnetic, embodying the dangerous allure of celebrity obsession. Every glory was her due for this one.
1. Moulin Rouge! (2001)
As Satine, the sparkling courtesan of Baz Luhrmann’s kaleidoscopic musical, Nicole Kidman delivered a performance that remains equal parts enchantment and devastation. Her chemistry with Ewan McGregor pulses with joy and sorrow, her every note dripping with aching grandeur. Moulin Rouge isn’t just a spectacle; it’s rightly Kidman’s coronation. Here, she cemented herself as one of cinema’s true immortals.
