Nicole Kidman Turns 50: A Look Back at Her Amazing Career and Best Year Ever

Nicole Kidman is the epitome of fab at 50!

The Australian actress is celebrating the milestone amid what is shaping up to be her biggest year yet, as she continues to slay across both film and television.

EXCLUSIVE: Nicole Kidman Talks ‘Low Key’ 50th Birthday Plans

ET first caught up with the red-haired beauty when she was just 22 and buzzing over landing a life-changing role in the 1990 hit Days of Thunder.

Tom Cruise, whom Kidman would later marry and adopt two children with, had spotted her in the Australian film Dead Calm and subsequently cast her as Dr. Claire Lewicki in the action flick.

“I rang my mother and sort of screamed down the telephone and said, ‘I don't believe this, I'm gonna do a film over here!’" she told ET at the time. “It’s a really good role for me and it's the only female role in the whole film, so hopefully it will be a stepping stone for me to do some other work here.”

Following that role, the Hawaii-born star quickly rose to fame and took on films including To Die For and Batman Forever.

“I just loved the idea of doing something that was completely unpredictable for me,” she told ET about the 1995 superhero flick. “People didn't expect me to do this kind of movie, so that's why I wanted to do it!”

NEWS: Reese Witherspoon Shares Sweet Birthday Post to Nicole Kidman on Her 50th

While her marriage to Cruise hit the rocks and the couple divorced in 2001, Kidman’s career continued to soar. In 2003 she won the Best Actress Oscar for her barely recognizable role as author Virginia Woolf in The Hours.

“It's been a really long journey for me… to culminate in this at this time is pretty special,” she said of the win.

Memorable roles in films including Cold Mountain, Bewitched and Lion followed, but it’s in recent months that she has really been killing it, thanks to her HBO series Big Little Lies, as well as roles in four films featured at the recent Cannes Film Festival.

"[This year has been] unbelievable," she gushed to ET at the 2017 CMT Awards earlier this month. "I can't believe it. If someone had told me that this year of my life everything would come together like this, I would have gone, 'No way.'"

"So, I just say, 'Wow,'" she added. "A big wow!"

It’s not just Kidman’s professional life that’s hitting a high!

The actress and New Zealand-born country crooner Keith Urban will mark their 11th wedding anniversary on Sunday. The couple have two adorable daughters, Sunday and Faith, and Urban
-- who will also turn 50 this year -- has had a birthday surprise in the works for Kidman for months.

"I'm planning stuff right now that I can't talk about!" he dished to ET at the GRAMMY Awards in February. "I feel incredibly lucky and blessed, definitely."

EXCLUSIVE: Keith Urban Dishes on Plans for Nicole Kidman’s 50th Birthday

When ET most recently caught up with Kidman, at the Los Angeles premiere of her new film The Beguiled on June 12, she admitted she was embracing the big 5-0 but hoping to enjoy a “low-key” celebration with her family.

“I try to embrace all parts of my life now, because I think you just go, 'Wow,'” she said. “So lucky, so blessed, and really making an effort to go back and see my mom in Australia and spend time and take the time. I've got the whole summer off, so I'm just kind of relaxing.”

See more on Kidman’s 50th below.

EXCLUSIVE: Nicole Kidman Is 'Absolutely Embracing' Turning 50!

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