Nicole Kidman honored with AFI Life Achievement Award

Nicole Kidman has said that “making movies is a privilege” after being honored with an American Film Institute (AFI) Life Achievement Award.

Kidman, 56, is the first Australian actor to be given the organization’s highest honor.

The Moulin Rouge actress was presented with the prestigious award by Meryl Streep in Hollywood.

Other stars in attendance included her husband, singer Keith Urban, and Big Little Lies co-star Reese Witherspoon.

Accepting the award in a floor-length shimmering gold Baleniaga gown, Kidman thanked all the directors she has worked with.

She said, “It’s a privilege to make films. And it’s an honor to make films and television with these storytellers, who gave me the opportunity to be free and play all these unconventional women.”

“Thank you for making me better at my art and giving me a place in this world, even if it is temporary.”

During the ceremony, Kidman had tears in her eyes as her husband said he showed her “what love really looks like” after his substance abuse problems surfaced shortly after their marriage in 2006.

“We’ve been married for four months, I’ve been in rehab for three months,” Urban said, addressing Kidman and their two teenage daughters.

“Nick listened to every negative voice, I’m sure including some of his own, and he chose love. And here we are 18 years later.”

Australian actors Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and Cate Blanchett also posted video tributes to their country’s first actor to win the award.

Previous winners of the award, which AFI calls “the highest honor in American cinema”, include Streep, Julie Andrews, Denzel Washington, Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.

Kidman achieved Hollywood success with Tom Cruise in 1990’s Days of Thunder – marrying him the same year.

She divorced him in 2001, but after this her stardom continued to grow.

She received her first Oscar nomination in 2001 for Moulin Rouge, before winning the Best Actress Oscar for The Hours in 2003.