Naomi Ellen Watts (born September 28, 1968) is a British actress. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Actress for her performances as a grief-stricken mother in Alejandro González Iñárritu's film 21 Grams (2003), and as Maria Bennett in the disaster film The Impossible (2012). After her family moved to Australia, she made her film debut there in the drama For Love Alone (1986) and then appeared in three television series, Hey Dad..! (1990), Brides of Christ (1991), and Home and Away (1991), and the film Flirting (1991). After moving to the United States, she initially struggled as an actress, taking roles in small-scale films until she starred in David Lynch's psychological thriller Mulholland Drive in 2001 as an aspiring actress. This role started her rise to international prominence.
