Early roles and struggling career (1986–2000) Watts's career began in television, where she made brief appearances in commercials. In 1990 she appeared in two episodes of the
fourth season of the Australian sitcom
Hey Dad..!. At the 1989 premiere of her friend Nicole Kidman's film
Dead Calm, Watts met
John Duigan, who invited her to take a supporting role in his 1991 indie film
Flirting. The film received critical acclaim and was featured on American critic
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 at a Catholic school in Sydney, in the mini-series
Brides of Christ. She also had a recurring role in the soap opera
Home and Away as the handicapped
Julie Gibson. Watts was 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". She later said that decision was "naïve". Throughout the rest of the decade, Watts took mostly supporting roles in films. Occasionally she 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; She had the lead role in
Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering, in which children in a small town become possessed under the command of a wrongfully murdered
child preacher. In 1999, she played Alice in the romantic comedy
Strange Planet and the Texan student
Holly Maddux in
The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer. This was based on the true effort to capture
Ira Einhorn, who was charged with Maddux's murder. In 2000, while
David Lynch was developing the rejected pilot of
Mulholland Drive as 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. It was broadcast in March of that year. In 2002 Watts recalled her early career in an interview. She had lost a role she wanted in
Meet the Parents in 2000. She said, "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."
Rise to prominence (2001–2002) at the
2001 Cannes Film Festival In 1999, director
David Lynch began casting for his psychological thriller
Mulholland Drive. He interviewed Watts after looking at her headshot, and offered her the lead role. Conceived as a pilot for a television series, Lynch shot a large portion of the film 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."
Emanuel Levy wrote, "... 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 and Watts received numerous awards and nominations, including the
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress and a nomination for the
American Film Institute Award for Best Actress. The surrealist film explored the story of aspiring actress Betty Elms, played by Watts. Also in 2001, Watts starred in two short films,
Never Date an Actress and
Ellie Parker, and the horror film
Down, director
Dick Maas's remake of his 1983 film
The Lift. Watts portrayed
Rachel Keller, a journalist investigating the strange deaths of her niece and other teenagers after they watched a mysterious videotape and received a phone call announcing their deaths in seven days. Her performance was praised by critics, including Paul Clinton of
CNN.com, who said 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." In the same 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 Outsider, a western.
Established actress (2003–2007) 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. She also starred in the
Merchant-Ivory film
Le Divorce. She portrayed 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". Her performance opposite
Sean Penn and
Benicio del Toro in
Alejandro González Iñárritu's psychological drama
21 Grams (2003) earned Watts numerous award nominations, including her first nominations for the
Academy Award for Best Actress, the
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and the
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role. In the story, told in a non-linear manner, she portrayed Cristina Peck, a grief-stricken widow living a suburban life after her husband and two children were killed by Jack Jordan (Benicio del Toro). She became involved in a relationship with Paul Rivers (Sean Penn), an academic mathematician who was critically ill. 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." In 2004, Watts starred alongside
Mark Ruffalo in the independent film ''
We Don't Live Here Anymore, She reunited with Sean Penn in The Assassination of Richard Nixon'', playing the wife of the would-be presidential assassin
Samuel Byck (Penn). She 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. Over the next four years, it was expanded into a feature-length production. 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." Watts starred in the sequel to
The Ring,
The Ring Two (2005), which, despite a negative critical response, made more than 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, and no other actors were considered. In preparation for her role, Watts met with Wray, who was to make a cameo appearance and say the final line of dialogue. Wray died at the age of 96 during pre-production.
King Kong proved to be Watts's most commercially successful film yet. Helmed by director
Peter Jackson, who had made
The Lord of the Rings, the film won high praise and grossed US$550 million worldwide (equivalent to US$ million in ). The
Seattle Post-Intelligencer praised Watts's 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." Watts reprised her role as Darrow in the
video game adaptation of
King Kong, for which her voice performance garnered her significant praise. She was nominated for a
Spike Video Game Award for Best Performance by a Female. Watts and the game's other cast members also won an award for Best Cast. Her other 2005 film release was
Marc Forster's psychological thriller
Stay, alongside
Ewan McGregor,
Ryan Gosling and
Bob Hoskins. She is not prepared when her husband goes to Hong Kong, then a British colony, for work and then forces her to mainland China to a region suffering a cholera epidemic. Comparing her portrayal with
Greta Garbo's in the original movie adapted from the same novel, 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. In the same year, she was announced as the new face of the jewelers
David Yurman and completed a photoshoot that was featured in the 2007
Pirelli Calendar. 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 ). Also that year she was a producer and starred in
Michael Haneke's
Funny Games (2007). She played a mother who, with her family, is held hostage by a pair of sociopathic teenagers. It was a remake of
Haneke's 1997 film of the same name. According to the UK's
The Daily Telegraph, the director said that he agreed to make the film on condition that he be allowed to cast Watts. The film was largely unnoticed by critics and audiences.
Newsweek said that Watts "hurls herself into her physically demanding role with heroic conviction".
Biographical and independent films (2009–2014) 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. in 2011 Her next film, the
Woody Allen-directed
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. 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." 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". 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),
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".
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 learned 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 earned a nomination for the
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role. 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.
Film and television work (2015–present) Watts played rebel leader
Evelyn Johnson-Eaton in
Insurgent (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,
Allegiant, released on 18 March 2016, to negative reviews and lackluster box office sales. 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. Like
St. Vincent and ''While We're Young
the previous year, Watts starred in two films—Demolition and Three Generations— which screened 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. 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. 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. She played Queen Gertrud in
Ophelia. 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. In 2022, Watts played a lead in Netflix's
The Watcher as Nora Brannock alongside
Bobby Cannavale, who played Dean Brannock. In 2024, she starred in the anthology series
Feud: Capote vs. The Swans as
Babe Paley, for which she received a
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie nomination. In 2025, she received a
Hollywood star. In 2026, it was announced that filming would begin on "Margot & Rudy." The film tells the story of the relationship between
Rudolf Nureyev and
Margot Fonteyn. Naomi Watts will play Margot. == Other work ==