What is it? Kidman stars as a woman left devastated after her son is killed in a road accident. She and her husband, played by Sam Neill, pick up a hitch-hiker at sea who it later transpires is a dangerous paranoid-schizophrenic.
What The Times said: "The good fortune and phenomenal resourcefulness by which the couple win through demand some suspension of disbelief; but [director] Noyce is skilful enough to hold you with this tall, but gripping, tale."
Impact: The film made The New York Times Best 1000 Movies list, with Kidman's portrayal of Rae praised as "excellent throughout" by Vanity Fair.
What is it? A psychological thriller, in which Kidman stars alongside Bill Pullman as a newly wed couple plagued by fertility problems, who take in a brash doctor (Alec Baldwin) as a lodger. A dark twist reveals there is more to the domestic woes than meets the eye.
What The Times said: "[A] shallow, serpentine and stupefying thriller."
Impact: Baldwin's deposition speech , in which he rails: "You ask me if I have a God complex. Let me tell you something: I am God," was nominated by the American Film Institute as one of their greatest movie quotes of the past 100 years in 2005. The film was scripted by a young writer named Aaron Sorkin.
What is it? Based on the real-life story of Pamela Smart, an American woman who conspired to kill her husband with the help of her 15-year-old lover and three of his friends, Gus Van Sant's mockumentary was a critical breakthrough for Kidman.
What The Times said: "The film's success...hinges on Kidman's ruthless heroine. She plays it cool and tight, and you quickly relish her wicked ways."
Impact: Kidman's performance made her a bona-fide leading lady, and earnt her a Bafta nomination and Golden Globe win in the process.
What is it? David Hare's adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's 1900 work Reigen, better known by its French name, La Ronde. It explores issues such as class through a series of encounters between pairs shown either before or after a sexual encounter.
What The Times said: "Kidman is excellent . . .varying from a sensuous au pair to a power mad diva, from a drugged-up model to a politician's wife behind whose quiet resentment there is still a touching nostalgia for their honeymoon days."
Impact: In what has become an enduring phrase, theatre critic Charles Spencer described Kidman's West End debut as "pure theatrical Viagra." The production proved to be a commercial hit, and later transferred to Broadway with the same cast.
What is it? A horror film set in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. Kidman plays Grace, the mother of two children with a rare photosensitive disease that confines them to a life indoors. But when three new servants arrive, mysterious happenings begin.
What The Times said: "Kidman . . . improves and subdues until, by the end, you are aching for her and her children, with a heart as heavy as lead."
Impact: The low-key film was a critical and commercial hit, with Kidman collecting Golden Globe and Bafta nominations for Best Actress, as well as a double win at the London Film Critics Circle Awards for The Others and Moulin Rouge!.
What is it? A bohemian writer (played by Ewan McGregor) arrives in Montmartre and is quickly taken by Kidman's Satine, a charming courtesan. His infatuation only grows upon learning that she has been promised to a wealthy duke – high kicks and catastrophe inevitably ensue.
What The Times said: "Kidman's mesmerising performance would not have been out of place in Hollywood's Golden Age."
Impact: Her portrayal of Satine garnered Kidman an Oscar nomination for Best Actress – one of eight nods for the film – as well as a Golden Globe win.
What is it? The lives of three women, all of whom have some connection to Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs Dalloway, are explored, largely within the timeframe of a single day, decades apart. Kidman stars as Woolf herself, who is battling in the aftermath of several nervous breakdowns and an existence under the watchful eye of her husband.
What The Times said: "Virginia Woolf . . . is played with throaty, hot-eyed, finger-twisting brilliance by Nicole Kidman, wearing a nose which makes her resemble a feminist Pinocchio and a haircut straight out of Jane Eyre."
Impact: Of its nine Academy Award nominations, the sole win came for Kidman, who picked up the Best Actress statuette. She also won the Golden Globe and Bafta for her portrayal of the troubled Bloomsbury writer.
What is it? The suitcase-toting kid-lit favourite is brought to life – or at least very accomplished 3D – when Paddington arrives stranded in London. In this imagining, he must fend off the attentions of a wicked taxidermist, played by Kidman, who is hellbent on killing exotic animals.
What The Times said: 'Kidman plays a scalpel-wielding psychopath in stilettos looking to stuff our hero and she will not be defeated merely by a hard stare.'
Impact: The film was a hit, with reviewers praising its easy charm and Kidman's highly enjoyable hamming.