(Photo by Universal/courtesy Everett Collection)
All Naomi Watts Movies Ranked
Unless you were some kind of Home and Away fanatic (in which case, you saw early appearances of Chris Hemsworth, Heath Ledger, and Isla Fisher on the Australian soap), or happened to catch her in the miniseries Brides of Christ, it seemed like Naomi Watts came out of nowhere when she delivered a commanding and unsettling lead performance in Mulholland Drive. And you’d be right in feeling so: The 10 years between that Aussie soap and David Lynch’s surreal masterpiece produced only bit parts for Watts in Hollywood, effectively making Mulholland her big debut and calling card.
One year later in 2002, Watts established her among the scream queen elite with The Ring, kicking off Tinseltown’s obsession with remaking Asian horror for years following. I Heart Huckabees and 21 Grams gave her further credit with the arthouse crowd, with the latter rewarding Watts with her first Best Actress Oscar nomination. Her second would come with gut-wrenching Indian Ocean tsunami disaster film The Impossible in 2012. In between noms, she would release her biggest movie (2005’s King Kong), and work with David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises), Michael Haneke (Funny Games), and Clint Eastwood (J. Edgar).
Watts, like apparently half of Hollywood A-listers, was also suckered into appearing Movie 43. Fortunately, Certified Fresh material in recent years like Birdman, St. Vincent, While We’re Young, and Chuck more than make up the difference. Her most recent film is also another Certified flick: Luce, an elevated drama that released in August. —Alex Vo
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