Background and career
Naomi Ellen Watts (born 28 September 1968) is a British actress. Known for her work in predominantly independent films, she has received various accolades, including an Actor Award, a Critics' Choice Award and two Saturn Awards, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards.
After her family moved to Australia, Watts made her film debut in the drama For Love Alone (1986). She then appeared in three television series, Hey Dad..! (1990), Brides of Christ (1991), and Home and Away (1991), and the film Flirting (1991). Ten years later, she moved to the United States, where she initially struggled as an actress. After appearing in a number of small-scale productions, she received the breakthrough role of an aspiring actress in David Lynch's mystery film Mulholland Drive (2001), which brought her to international attention.
Watts played a tormented journalist in the horror remake The Ring (2002). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of a grief-stricken mother in Alejandro González Iñárritu's 21 Grams (2003) and for playing Maria Bennett in the disaster film The Impossible (2012). Watts' other film credits include starring roles in I Heart Huckabees (2004), King Kong (2005), Eastern Promises (2007), The International (2009), Birdman (2014), St. Vincent (2014), While We're Young (2015), The Glass Castle (2017), and Luce (2019). She also appeared in the Divergent franchise (2015–2016).
Watts returned to television with the third season of Lynch's mystery series Twin Peaks (2017) and the biographical miniseries The Loudest Voice (2019). She then starred in the Netflix thriller series The Watcher (2022), the FX anthology series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans (2024) and the Hulu legal drama series All's Fair (2025–present). For her portrayal of Babe Paley in Feud, she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Watts is an ambassador for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. She shares two children with Liev Schreiber and is married to Billy Crudup.
How Naomi Watts makes money
Directed by Gore Verbinski, the film, which also starred Martin Henderson and Brian Cox, received favourable reviews and grossed around US$129 million domestically (equivalent to US$230.9 million in 2025). 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$906.7 million in 2025).
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (2024-03-28), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
