AFI Life Achievement Award could be Oscar good luck charm for Nicole Kidman (‘Babygirl’)
Although Nicole Kidman recently accepted the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award in recognition of her four-decade acting career, there is no indication that her life’s work is anywhere near finished. Indeed, according to Gold Derby’s racetrack odds, the 56-year-old is well on her way to picking up her sixth Oscar nomination for her lead performance in the critically acclaimed “Babygirl,” which would make her the 13th AFI honoree to subsequently earn film academy recognition in a competitive category.
The fact that Kidman’s life achievement award was presented by her pal and costar, Meryl Streep, is quite fitting given that she’s the only woman to go from being an AFI recipient to an Oscar contender. Since receiving the AFI honor in 2004, she has racked up a whopping eight bids, including a successful one for “The Iron Lady” (2012). A previous champ for “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1980) and “Sophie’s Choice” (1983), Streep joined Jack Nicholson in having won Oscars before and after an AFI tribute; 2003 Best Actress victor Kidman (“The Hours”) is looking to do the same.
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Aside from Nicholson, whose third Oscar win for “As Good As It Gets” (1998) came four years after his AFI ceremony, the institute’s only other male honoree who later won over the academy as a performer is Henry Fonda (“On Golden Pond,” 1982). The remaining three life achievement award recipients who subsequently won Oscars are directors Steven Spielberg (“Saving Private Ryan,” 1999) and Martin Scorsese (“The Departed,” 2007) and director-producer Clint Eastwood (“Million Dollar Baby,” 2005).
Of the additional six male AFI awardees who went on to contend at the Oscars (albeit unsuccessfully) only two – Robert De Niro and John Williams – did so more than once. The one-time post-AFI contenders are Tom Hanks, Al Pacino, Denzel Washington, and the late John Huston. Since Williams is the only one on the entire list whose AFI tribute and first subsequent Oscar bid were separated by less than two years, Kidman has a chance to make history as the first entrant with a gap of less than 12 months.
With the lone exception of Steve Martin, almost every AFI honoree had previously been nominated for a competitive Oscar, with all but 20% (including Fonda and Scorsese) having already bagged at least one. Those who collected honorary Oscars after winning the AFI prize are Kirk Douglas and earlier competitive victors James Stewart, Billy Wilder, Elizabeth Taylor, Sidney Poitier, and Mel Brooks.
In addition to her single triumph, Kidman’s Academy Awards resume presently consists of lead bids for “Moulin Rouge!” (2002), “Rabbit Hole” (2011), and “Being the Ricardos” (2022) as well as a supporting one for “Lion” (2017). Following her Volpi Cup win at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, she currently ranks fifth on our odds-based Best Actress predictions list behind Mikey Madison (“Anora”), Karla Sofía Gascón (“Emilia Pérez”), Angelina Jolie (“Maria”), and Amy Adams (“Nightbitch”).
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