Naomi Watts as Susan Carpenter

Two-time Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts (Susan Carpenter) has garnered several impressive accolades throughout her career. Her first Oscar nomination for Best Actress was for her performance in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s 21 Grams, also for Focus Features, where she starred alongside Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro. Ms. Watts’ performance also garnered her Screen Actors Guild, Satellite, Critics’ Choice, and BAFTA Award nominations; and Best Actress prizes from multiple critics’ groups. 21 Grams was honored with a Special Distinction Award from the Independent Spirit Awards. 

She later was an Oscar nominee for Best Actress for her role in J.A. Bayona’s The Impossible, starring with Ewan McGregor, also receiving Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Critics’ Choice Award nominations as well as the Desert Palm Achievement Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. 

Ms. Watts earned a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Theodore Melfi’s St. Vincent, in which she starred alongside Bill Murray and Jaeden Lieberher of The Book of Henry. Reunited with Alejandro González Iñárritu, she starred in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), which won four Academy Awards including Best Picture and for which she shared with her fellow actors the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. 

She will soon be seen in Destin Cretton’s The Glass Castle, with Brie Larson and Woody Harrelson, as well as Philippe Falardeau’s boxing drama Chuck, with Liev Schreiber and Elisabeth Moss, which world-premiered at the 2016 Venice International Film Festival. Ms. Watts is currently shooting Netflix’s series Gypsy and will be seen in David Lynch’s highly anticipated Twin Peaks revival airing on Showtime. 

She most recently starred in Farren Blackburn’s psychological thriller Shut In, with Jacob Tremblay of The Book of Henry; Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young; Gus Van Sant’s The Sea of Trees; Jean-Marc Vallée’s Demolition; Gaby Dellal’s 3 Generations, alongside Elle Fanning and Susan Sarandon; and two movies in the Divergent franchise, based on the popular best-selling novels written by Veronica Roth. 

Ms. Watts’ acclaimed turn in David Lynch’s controversial drama Mulholland Drive earned her Best Actress awards from a number of critics’ organizations, including the National Society of Film Critics. In addition to starring in Peter Jackson’s epic remake of King Kong, her movie credits include John Curran’s We Don’t Live Here Anymore, which she starred in and produced, and The Painted Veil; Niels Mueller’s The Assassination of Richard Nixon, opposite Sean Penn and Don Cheadle; Gore Verbinski’s The Ring and Hideo Nakata’s The Ring 2; Merchant Ivory’s Le Divorce; David O. Russell’s I Heart Huckabees; Michael Haneke’s Funny Games; David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises, also for Focus Features; Tom Tykwer’s The International, with Clive Owen; Woody Allen’s You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger; Doug Liman’s Fair Game, with Mr. Penn; Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar; and Rodrigo García’s Mother and Child, for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination. 

Born in England, Ms. Watts moved to Australia at the age of 14 and began studying acting. Her first major film role came in John Duigan’s Flirting. She produced and starred in the short film Ellie Parker, which screened in competition at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. In 2005, a full-length feature version of the short debuted at Sundance. 

She was honored for her entire body of work at the 2011 Deauville Film Festival.