Everyone ages, but not everyone gets old. Naomi Watts, the talented British actress with a coy smile and magnetic gaze, turns 50 this month and somehow still exudes the youthful energy of a woman half her age. The two-time Academy Award nominee (for 21 Grams and The Impossible) first burst onto U.S. audiences’ radar in David Lynch’s 2001 psychological thriller Mulholland Drive. In the 2002 horror film The Ring, she cemented her status as one of the most versatile and bankable actors on the silver screen. She’s since gone on to play a slew of complicated, dark, and kooky characters in both movies and on television series. Even half a century in, there’s no slowing her down. The mother of two sons (with former partner Liev Schreiber) makes aging look easy, if not downright fun. In honor of the lovely Ms. Watts’ milestone birthday, we’ve gathered together GIFs of her most outstanding movies. They’re not candles on a cake, but they’re the next best thing.
Cover Photo: Alison Cohen Rosa/Netflix/Universal Television/NBCU Photo Bank (Getty Images)
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Naomi Watts
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'21 Grams'
Watts plays a recovering addict whose family is killed in a hit-and-run accident in this devastating film from Alejandro González Iñárritu.
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'The Ring'
In this supernatural horror film, Watts is a journalist trying to unravel how four teenagers died after watching a cursed videotape.
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'Mulholland Drive'
Watts plays an actress new to Los Angeles who assists an amnesiac car accident victim to rediscover her identity in this legendary mystery.
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'King Kong'
In this monster epic, Watts plays a vaudeville actress who wins over the giant gorilla Kong after being offered up for sacrifice.
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'Birdman'
Watts plays a Broadway actress who struggles with the emptiness of success in this black comedy.
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'The Impossible'
In this tsunami film set in Thailand, Watts plays a mother on vacation with her husband and three sons.
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'While We're Young'
In this Woody Allen-esque dramedy, Watts plays a childless, middle-aged woman who, along with her husband, becomes fascinated with a younger couple.
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'St. Vincent'
Watts plays a pregnant Russian sex worker in this Bill Murray-led comedy.
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'Adore'
In this steamy film, Watts plays an older woman who embarks on an affair with her best friend's adult son at the same time that her best friend has an affair with her adult son.
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'The Painted Veil'
In this romantic drama, Watts plays the unfaithful wife of a scientist who drags her into a cholera-striken region of China as punishment for her affair.
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'The Glass Castle'
In this film based on the memoir of the same name, Watts plays an artistic but out-to-lunch mother who becomes estranged from her children.
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'Diana'
In this biopic, Watts plays Princess Diana during her love affair with Dodi Fayed.
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'Luce'
Watts' latest film features her as the mother of an adopted son who's been accused of writing a controversial essay in high school.
