On both personal and professional levels, Nicole Kidman s story is a fascinating one. Now 34, arguably the most famous actress in the world with a string of successful films behind her, an Oscar nomination for Moulin Rouge and a clutch of movies in 2002, her career could not be starrier. But, bruised from her divorce from Tom Cruise, she finds herself suddenly single with two adopted children to care for. And yet she has blossomed as she has emerged from being Mrs Tom Cruise.

From her comfortable Australian background in a highly political family, through a youthful obsession with ballet to personal encouragement from award-winning director Jane Campion and an early career in television, Kidman was bent on an acting career. And, when she met Cruise on Days of Thunder, on marrying him. Ewbank and Hildred, the bestselling biographers of David Jason, tell her remarkable story.