Aussie Confidential

By Harriet Barovick

Australians have been the talk of Hollywood this year, snapping up prestigious film and TV honors, threatening to rule the Academy Awards (Oscar hopefuls include Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman) and generally inspiring feelings of inadequacy in less hearty actors from other nations. Yet many of those who now claim the immigrant-rich country as their own were not born Down Under: a guide.

--By Harriet Barovick

MEL GIBSON (We Were Soldiers) Born: Peekskill, N.Y. Moved: 1968, age 12 "The longest I've ever been away is a couple of years...I'll always come back."

RUSSELL CROWE (A Beautiful Mind) Born: Wellington, New Zealand Moved: 1968, age 4 "I need a country as big as Australia to reclaim myself."

GUY PEARCE (The Time Machine) Born: Cambridgeshire, England Moved: 1971, age 4 "There's a kind of sensibility in Australia that I sort of configurate into."

NAOMI WATTS (Mulholland Drive) Born: Shoreham, England Moved: 1982, age 14 "I have the reserve of the English, but I love the outgoing way of the Aussies."

NICOLE KIDMAN (Moulin Rouge) Born: Honolulu Moved: c. 1970, age 3 "There's something about the place; it's the smell of the gum leaves. Australia's in my blood, it's in my humor...I love [Sydney's] zest for life and the openness of us Aussies." KYLIE MINOGUE (new album, Fever) Born: Melbourne, Australia! But currently lives in London, visiting home twice a year "My poor parents have three kids living about as far away from them as you can get--and they're very cool."