“By a nose,” Denzel Washington rather impolitely quipped as he drew Kidman's name from the Best Actress envelope at the 2002 Academy Awards, cementing a season's worth of jokes about her prosthetic hooter for posterity. It's a shame that this has become such a go-to reference, since this reverse-rhinoplasty job is the least transformative aspect of her Virginia Woolf: far more striking is her uncharacteristically direct stare and lowered vocal range, projecting an above-the-neck calm betrayed by restive tics below. Like most great actors, Kidman didn't win the Oscar for her greatest or even most representative performance, but it is among her most technically fascinating.

Awards: Best Actress, Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, Berlin Film Festival, Las Vegas Critics; Best Actress (Drama), Golden Globes; Best Actress nominee, SAG Awards, Broadcast Film Critics, Chicago Film Critics, Dallas-Fort Worth Critics, Phoenix Film Critics, Seattle Film Critics, Southeastern Film Critics, Vancouver Film Critics, Satellite Awards.