There's an old story in Los Angeles about Naomi Watts being an "overnight success." She had her breakthrough role in David Lynch's 2001 film Mulholland Drive, but the fact is, by that time, she'd been making films in Australia and the U.S. for 15 years. Watts was born in England and moved to Sydney, Australia when she was 14. Once there, she met and befriended a pre-fame Nicole Kidman. Watts' first role was in the 1986 Australian film For Love Alone. After starring in a number of Aussie productions, Watts moved to Los Angeles to try her hand at Hollywood. Thanks to her friendship with Kidman, doors opened for her, and she landed a supporting role in 1995's Tank Girl.
More supporting roles in the U.S. and Australia followed, but it wasn't until 2001 that she'd be named an overnight success. The following year, she starred in 2002's hit cult horror remake The Ring. In 2003, she appeared opposite Heath Ledger in Ned Kelly. That same year, she starred opposite Sean Penn and Benicio Del Tory in 21 Grams, which earned Watts an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She had finally made it, nearly two decades after starring in her first film.
On a personal front, Watts was involved with the late Heath Ledger from 2002 to 2004. She then dated actor Liev Schreiber for 11 years. The couple has two sons together, Alexander and Samuel, and Watts has been dating Billy Crudup since 2017. She's not slowing down anytime soon, recently starring in The Desperate Hour, Infinite Storm, and Boss Level, and will be in season two of Feud.
7 King Kong
In 2005, Peter Jackson's King Kong hit theaters. Back then, I worked as a movie reviewer and had this to say about the film,"...this three hour plus epic film is the very definition of a director’s self-indulgence... when you cross the 180-minute mark, you run the risk of alienating a large part of the audience." I also pointed out that Naomi Watts' performance as Ann Darrow and her chemistry with Kong and with Adrien Brody's Jack Driscoll were the high points of the film. 17 years later, I stand by my assessment.
6 I Heart Huckabees
In 2004, Naomi Watts started in David O. Russell's ambitious film I Heart Huckabees. The all-star cast included Mark Wahlberg, Jude Law, Lily Tomlin, Dustin Hoffman, and Jason Schwartzman. This existential comedy followed people from an environmental group trying to prevent a big box department store called Huckabees from opening. Watts played Dawn Campbell the live-in girlfriend of a Huckabees executive. She is also the eye-candy of the film as the face and voice of all of Huckabee's ads, but her character's existential crisis is one of the best parts of the film.
5 Ned Kelly
Naomi Watts starred alongside Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom, and Geoffrey Rush in 2003's Ned Kelly. The film was based on the 1991 novel Our Sunshine by Robert Drewe and takes place in 19th century Australia amid rising tensions between Aussies and Irish immigrants. Watts played Julia Cook, the wife of a wealthy English landowner who befriends Ned. The two eventually become entangled in a passionate affair with each other. While Julia cannot provide Ned with an alibi due to her fear of being ostracized, she does help him and his gang by hiding them in a structure on her husband's farm while they try to evade capture by the authorities.
4 We Don’t Live Here Anymore
In 2004, Naomi Watts joined Mark Ruffalo, Laura Linney, and Peter Krause in the drama We Don't Live Here Anymore. The emotionally loaded drama was based on the short stories called We Don't Live Here Anymore and Adultery by Andre Dubus. Watts, Ruffalo, Linney, and Krause play two seemingly happy couples who meet regularly for dinner. However, drama and resentment bubble just beneath the surface leading Ruffalo to seek an extra-marital affair with Watts. It's an honest and realistic marriage movie, and a great character study.
3 Mulholland Drive
As mentioned in the introduction to this article, 2001's Mulholland Drive was Naomi Watts' breakout role. She was cast as the lead in the film by the director David Lynch saw her headshot. Originally conceived as a television series, the project became a feature film after television networks declined to air it. The film debuted at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim. Watts' performance as a young, wide-eyed aspiring actress named Betty Elms won her the Best Actress Award from the National Society of Film Critics and a Best Actress nomination from the American Film Institute, and she masterfully dominates the shocking twists and turns of the movie.
2 The Book of Henry
Naomi Watts played Susan, a waitress who is also trying to write children's books while being a single mother to an 11-year-old named Henry and his younger brother Peter in The Book of Henry. Henry meticulously documents the things he sees around him, particularly the abuse of his neighbor Christina at the hands of her stepfather, the local police commissioner. He details a plan to help his neighbor in a notebook but doesn't get a chance to enact his plan before he's diagnosed with a brain tumor and dies. Susan takes Henry's notebook and considers enacting the plan he laid out that had her killing the abusive police commissioner; while the movie was disliked, Colin Trevorrow's direction is great and Watts is phenomenal.
1 21 Grams
In 2003, Naomi Watts starred alongside Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Danny Huston in director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's film 21 Grams. The film deals with the fallout from a car accident. Watts played a grief-stricken mother, Penn played a terminally ill mathematician, and Del Toro played an ex-con who is a born-again Christian. The past, present, and future storylines of the characters are interwoven in the narrative. Watts was nominated for Best Actress and Del Toro was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at that year's Academy Awards for their performances in the film.