"I remember with 'To Die For,' " the Australian star, 34, says, "everyone said to me, 'Oh, you'll be nominated, you'll be nominated.' And I kind of invested emotionally in it and thought 'Oh, cool.' And then I got the phone call saying, 'Uhhh, sorry. It didn't happen.' "

During the years she was conspicuously not receiving nominations, her ex- husband, Tom Cruise, got three Oscar nods: first for "Born on the Fourth of July," later for "Jerry Maguire" and "Magnolia." Ironically, it wasn't until Kidman was divorced from Cruise last year, and came off as the startled victim of her husband's loss of affection, that Oscar finally paid attention to her.

Until the nominations were announced Feb. 12, no one was sure if Kidman would be recognized for playing Satine, the dying courtesan in "Moulin Rouge," or Grace, the haunted mother in "The Others," since Oscar rules allow actors to be nominated only once per category. She received best-actress Golden Globe nominations for both films, but in separate categories (musical or comedy, which she won, and drama).

During a news conference at the Sundance Film Festival in January, Kidman said she didn't care which of the two films brought an Oscar nomination. "Beggars can't be choosers," she joked.

Given the surprise success of "Moulin Rouge" - it's the first Kidman movie to be nominated as best picture - it's likely that her nomination has as much to do with the film's Oscar momentum as it does with her performance.

" 'Moulin Rouge' was not going to be a blockbuster," she recalled. "I mean, when we set out to make it, it was a huge risk for the studio and for everyone involved. Now it's gone on and done extremely well, so it's perceived (as a success). But it was really nerve-racking because we were singing and dancing and there hadn't been a musical film that was a success since 'Grease.' "

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)