Nicole Kidman will join the likes of George Clooney, John Williams, Jane Fonda, and Mel Brooks in receiving the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award.
The 55-year-old will become the first Australian and 49th overall recipient of the honour, which will be presented on June 10 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Kidman’s career spans nearly 100 credits across four decades, during which she has received five Academy Award nominations, winning the Best Actress prize in 2003 for The Hours, while also being recognised for her performances in Moulin Rouge, Rabbit Hole, Lion and Being the Ricardos.
With her breakout role in Brian Trenchard-Smith’s 1983 comedy actioner BMX Bandits, other films of note include Dead Calm, Eyes Wide Shut, Dogville, Cold Mountain, The Stepford Wives, Australia, and Paddington.
For her work in television, she also has two Emmys for Big Little Lies and a Golden Globe nod for The Undoing.
In theatre, Kidman made her London stage debut in the fall of 1998, starring with Iain Glen in The Blue Room, David Hare’s modern adaptation of Schnitzler’s La Ronde, a performance for which she won London’s Evening Standard Award and was nominated in the Best Actress category for a Laurence Olivier Award.
Outside of the arts, the Sydney-raised actress has served as a Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women for nearly two decades, while also assisting the fundraising efforts of Stanford Women’s Cancer Program, a world-renowned center for research into the causes, treatment, prevention, and eventual cure of women’s cancer.
AFI board of trustees chair Kathleen Kennedy described Kidman as a “force both brave in her choices and bold in each performance”.
“Nicole Kidman has enchanted audiences for decades with the daring of her artistry and the glamour of a screen icon,” she said.
“AFI is honored to present her with the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award.”