Naomi Watts: Nicole Kidman Kept Me From Giving Up My Acting Dreams

USMagazine, Thursday, February 7, 2013, 4:30pm (PST)

That's what friends are for! Academy Award-nominated actress Naomi Watts had a tough time getting established in Hollywood when she first moved stateside in the early 90s, but The Impossible actress said some words of encouragement from already A-list pal (and fellow Australian ex-pat) Nicole Kidman helped her stay motivated. 

"She kept saying, 'It's just going to take one thing, one thing, Nay, and you know, if you're in a hit film…then everything changes,'" Watts said of Kidman's reassurance during an interview with CBS' Sunday Morning, set to air on Sunday, Feb. 10.

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The actress, 44, and Kidman, 45, co-starred in Australian indie film Flirting back in 1991, and have remained close ever since.

Watts explained that she first moved to Hollywood with a five-year plan, but the exhausting process of audition soon turned it into a 10-year plan. Despite setbacks, however, she ultimately decided to stick it out because she "didn't have a plan B, really."

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"Oh my God, I mean, I considered myself fairly sensitive, but I don't think a strong person could cope with it over and over again," she said. "There were moments when I was sure I was done. Oh yeah, but I didn't have a plan B really, I didn't."

Instead, the actress hit it big with 2001's acclaimed psychological thriller Mulholland Dr., which launched her into a string of films, including 2003's 21 Grams and 2005's King Kong remake. Her turn as the lead in 2012's The Impossible even earned her an Oscar nod for Best Actress (her second, after her Best Actress nomination for 21 Grams).

And Watts has found happiness in her personal life as well. She and longtime partner Liev Schreiber, 45, have two adorable sons together -- Alexander, 6, and Samuel, 5.

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Still, Watts says she has one more goal in mind: to find a way to collaborate with her longtime friend Kidman.

"We've been looking for a movie to do together for a long time now. But both of us have … picky tastes. It has to be the right thing," Watts told E! News last week, jokingly begging "somebody think of something, please!"

Both actresses will have leading roles in the eponymous biopics out in the next few years: Watts as Princess Diana in 2013's Diana and Kidman as Grace Kelly in Grace of Monaco, set for released in 2014.

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Naomi Watts: Nicole Kidman Kept Me From Giving Up My Acting Dreams