While she's more typically known for her movies, Nicole Kidman has done a lot of work on television in more recent years, particularly in prestige shows, so here's a look at Kidman's TV shows ranked from worst to best, including Nine Perfect Strangers. Kidman began her career on television in the early 1980s, and, now, her role as a wellness guru in Nine Perfect Strangers sees Kidman starring alongside many other household names. Like a lot of her fellow Hollywood stars, Kidman has recently traded in some of her big movie roles in favor of taking on the small screen, starting with the HBO hit series Big Little Lies, for which the actor won an Emmy. Kidman followed that role up with Sundance Channel’s Top Of The Lake before returning to HBO in The Undoing.
Nine Perfect Strangers is adapted from the book of the same name by Liane Moriarity. This is the second Moriarity television adaptation Kidman has starred in, and the show marks Kidman’s third TV project with creator David E. Kelley. Nicole Kidman first worked with the showrunner in her Emmy Award-winning role as Celeste Wright in Big Little Lies alongside a star-studded ensemble cast including Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, and Alexander Skarsgård. Kidman seems to have become a fan of the limited and miniseries TV show model from there. Of course, Kidman hasn’t given up big movie roles altogether, as the star will also portray Lucille Ball in the biopic Being the Ricardos, which began filming in March of 2021. For now, Kidman fans will have to settle for seeing her on the small screen.
Since Big Little Lies season 2 wrapped, Kidman has also starred in streaming programs with other big-name actors, such as Elisabeth Moss in Top Of The Lake and Hugh Grant in The Undoing. In both series, Kidman portrays a wife and mother whose life is not what it seems. One of the things Kidman’s characters in all three of these roles have in common is that they are all mothers from affluent, yet complicated backgrounds, and all of her latest TV roles are in shows that involve some element of mystery and murder, including Nine Perfect Strangers. Kidman’s character in her latest TV role is also a departure from her previous ones as she transforms into a wellness guru - complete with a grey-blonde wig and Russian accent. Here are all of Nicole Kidman’s TV shows ranked worst to best, including Nine Perfect Strangers.
5. Bangkok Hilton
Before diving into her more recent performances, Kidman got her start in several Australian TV movies and miniseries, including the 1987 series Vietnam, directed by Chris Noonan and John Duigan. Kidman played Megan Goddard, the rebellious teen daughter of a conservative public administrator. The show won a Logie Award for Most Popular Miniseries, Australia's equivalent to an Emmy. In 1989, Kidman starred in a second miniseries revolving around Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, Bangkok Hilton. In the series, Kidman portrays Kat Stanton, who is imprisoned in North Vietnam during the war. Kidman's early roles in the '80s were still great, but the actress has naturally increased her skills during her decades-long career. That said, by the time she starred in Bangkok Hilton, Kidman had also already earned an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Supporting Actress in the feature film, Emerald City, and she moved on to bigger movie roles from there.
4. The Undoing
In the HBO miniseries The Undoing, Kidman once again finds herself playing the role of a dutiful wife and mother, Grace Fraser. Her seemingly charmed life as a psychiatrist married to a charismatic, but potentially devious husband, played by Hugh Grant, is slowly breaking apart at the seams before her eyes. One of the interesting things about Grace is the irony of a character whose job is to help other people unpack their own emotional trauma and face their fears, and yet, she can't see the demons she's yet to face in her own life. Her denial happens both internally, through self-denial, and externally, by being unable to see past her husband's outward charm to the man he truly is inside. It's clear that Nicole Kidman has a type when it comes to the TV show roles she is drawn to, and it is her adept and capable skill at playing these types of complex characters with rich inner worlds that make her TV show performances a must-see, no matter the role.
That said, the level of depth seen in her previous television roles was somewhat lacking in The Undoing, though that seems to have more to do with the writing than Kidman's performance. The series was adapted from Jean Hanff Korelitz's psychological thriller novel, leading audiences to wonder if that depth of character got lost in translation in The Undoing. Kidman did the most with what she had to work with here. Even so, its pulpy thrills don't quite match up to the rest on this list.
3. Nine Perfect Strangers
Based on Liane Moriarty's book of the same name, Hulu's 8-part mini-series Nine Perfect Strangers stars Nicole Kidman as Masha Dmitrichenko, the mysterious and charismatic wellness director at Tranquillium House, who is tasked with watching over the guests during a 10-day retreat at the resort. The show received mixed reviews and likely suffered from its release immediately following HBO's The White Lotus, which tackled similar subjects more successfully. Kidman's last three roles have been in shows based on novels, and sometimes adapting those stories to the screen can be more difficult to pull off than others. In this case, David E. Kelley's adaptation of Moriarty's Big Little Lies was more successful. Still, it's easy to see what attracted Kidman to the role of Masha, given her inclination for playing characters with an air of mystery about them.
Kidman's performance remained one thing that made Nine Perfect Strangers fun to watch, and it was nice to see her playing a different role from that of a wealthy American wife and mother. Although Masha could also be seen as a "motherly" figure of sorts, keeping in line with Kidman's other TV roles, playing the Russian wellness director allowed the actor to stretch her skills more than in her previous role in The Undoing.
2. Top Of The Lake
In the second installment of Jane Campion's slow-burning crime drama, Top of The Lake, Nicole Kidman plays Julia Edwards, the adoptive mother of Detective Robin Griffin's (Elisabeth Moss) biological daughter, who is now a teenager. Kidman plays a much older character than the actor herself, and her physical transformation for the role included wearing a grey wig and prosthetic makeup. Like her previous role in Big Little Lies, Kidman once again portrays a woman who is all too familiar with repression and battling a difficult home life. After having an affair with a teacher at her daughter's school, Julia finds herself estranged from her family, living with her lover, and fighting not to lose her daughter for good. It's a smaller role than the ones Kidman is used to playing now, but the character is representative of the kind of role Kidman does best. So much of her excellence lies in what she doesn't say, and her mastery of the subtle, yet powerful delivery of emotions that makes the performance so powerful in Top Of The Lake: China Girl.
1. Big Little Lies
Though she filmed Top Of The Lake prior to Big Little Lies, the first time audiences saw Kidman back on the small screen was in the HBO drama based on Liane Moriarty's book of the same name. Kidman's Celeste Wright is a wife and mother who seems to have it all, but – as is to be expected with Kidman's TV shows in recent years – also has a dark secret. Though she's outwardly calm and put together, Celeste's husband, Perry (Alexander Skarsgård), has a charming exterior that hides his true nature as a violent and abusive husband – fitting for an actor who was just seen this year playing Stephen King's ultimate villain, Randall Flagg, in The Stand miniseries. Kidman is adept at playing a character whose emotions are often repressed, hiding her reality behind a shiny façade, and she thrives in roles like this one, where less is more. Her emotive silent stares tell the audience everything they need to know. Unquestionably the most successful of her TV show pursuits to date, Big Little Lies won the Emmy for Outstanding Limited Series. It also happens to be Nicole Kidman's best TV show performance to date. Both Kidman and her co-star Reese Witherspoon were nominated for Emmys for their roles in Big Little Lies season 1, and Kidman took home the gold. Audiences can now see Nicole Kidman in her latest TV role in Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu.