Naomi Watts is an English-Australian actress who made a name for herself in 2001 with her breakthrough performance in Mulholland Drive.Born in Kent Naomi was raised in England with fourteen years before her family emigrated to Australia.Once in Australia Watts began attending acting schools, joining Nicole Kidman at the North Sydney Girls School.But her interest in acting faded a little in the mid eighties and she took up modelling in Japan. The job lasted just four months as she did not have the requirements to be a catwalk model and she returned home.She began her acting career, as so many do, in Australian television appearing in Home and Away and Brides of Christ.Her big screen debut came in 1991 in Indie film Flirting with Thandie Newton and Nicole Kidman who were also trying to establish themselves in the industry.

This sequel to director John Duigan's poignant The Year My Voice Broke follows anti-hero Danny Embling (Noah Taylor) to the boy's boarding school in rural Australia.

Danny is a clever misfit, teased by his schoolmates for his bizarre tastes and his shy stutter, and misunderstood by his cane-wielding teachers at the rigorous St. Albans.

Danny's sense of humour and rebellious spirit attracts the attention of Thandiwe (Thandie Newton), a sophisticated African-English girl who attends the neighbouring girl's boarding school across the river.

Thandiwe is an outcast as well, ostracized for the colour of her skin. The two loners find understanding in one another, defying the rules of their schools and society, to meet with one another and share secrets, stories, and heartache, as well as a burgeoning sense of desire.

After Flirting she moved to Hollywood a began landed work on a string of B-movies before she starred in Mullholland Drive, directed by David Lynch, in 2001.

In the film, a mysterious dark-haired woman (Laura Elena Harring) emerges from an accident with a purse full of cash and a head full of amnesia.

Meanwhile, Betty Elms (Naomi Watts), a wide-eyed gal from Deep River, Ontario, has just landed in Los Angeles with dreams of movie super stardom.

When Betty finds the nameless beauty in her aunt's apartment, she is deeply intrigued by the situation and offers to help her.

This sends the two women on a bizarre search for the truth through the macabre, sun-soaked streets of the City of Angels, where the mob, a young film director (Justin Theroux), a studio executive with a tiny head, and an enigmatic figure named the Cowboy all float into the picture, then out again, until there is no longer any distinction between what is dream and what is reality.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001 and was met by critical acclaim and Lynch won the Best Director prize.

Just two years later Watts landed a role in Alejandro González Iñárritu's 21 Grams with Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro.

College professor Paul Rivers (Sean Penn) and his wife Mary (Charlotte Gainsbourg) find their union precariously balanced between life and death.

He is mortally ill and awaiting a heart transplant, while she hopes to become pregnant with his child through artificial insemination.

Cristina Peck (Naomi Watts), having matured since her reckless past, is a beloved older sister to Claudia (Clea DuVall), a good wife to Michael (Danny Huston) and loving mother to two little girls. Her family radiates hope and joy.

Much farther down the socioeconomic scale, ex-con Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro) and his wife Marianne (Melissa Leo) struggle to provide for their two children while Jack reaffirms his commitment to religion.

A tragic accident that claims several lives places these couples in each other's orbit. In the aftermath, Paul confronts his own mortality, Cristina takes action to come to terms with her present and perhaps her future, and Jack's faith is put to the test.

Her performance earnt her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress as well as nominations at the Baftas and Screen Actors Guild.

The actress has followed up this performance with roles in The Pained Veil, The Ring, King Kong and The Assassination of Richard Nixon.

Her new movie is a scene for scene remake of Michael Haneke's successful German picture Funny Games.

Funny Games is released 4th April.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

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