Nicole Kidman's 11 Worst Wigs Fans Couldn't Ignore

In the annals of celluloid lore — or, at the least, in recent decades — there hasn't been another leading lady quite like Nicole Kidman. Her turn as Virginia Woolf in 2002's "The Hours" was as heartbreaking as it was inspiring, netting her an Academy Award win for best actress the following year, and she continues to bring the same passion she showed then to each new role she takes on.

Her innate abilities notwithstanding, Kidman has been aided in the transformation from Hollywood A-lister to whatever character she's playing at the moment by tailoring her look — and, more specifically, her hair — to the role with the help of wigs. Her hair transformations for 1998's "Practical Magic" and 2001's "The Others" are the stuff of legend, and the sheer number of different looks she has employed has become difficult to track.

That said, not all wigs are created equal, and even though her acting ability always shines through, her wigs have occasionally inspired the wrong kind of chatter; the same kind of chatter that has also landed Kidman on the worst-dressed list a handful of times. Here's our list of 11 wigs that Kidman wore that missed the mark for one reason or another.

1. Nicole Kidman's daughter wanted to keep her Paddington wig

In 2024, one X user joked about Nicole Kidman's follicle follies, writing, "a Nicole Kidman wig is less about quality or realism. More about the way in which it consumes & alters her spirit." There's no denying that she fundamentally altered herself for her villainous turn in 2014's "Paddington."

As Millicent Clyde — a crazed taxidermist determined to capture the titular talking bear for her private collection — Kidman committed fully to the character's unfettered madness. Along the way, she fulfilled what was apparently a lifelong ambition to portray a fairy tale baddie, saying at the film's premiere (via Sky News), "I was the kid that loved the wicked witch in 'The Wizard Of Oz,' so of course I grew up to be the girl who wants to play the villain in a movie."

However, while the pristine platinum bob may have matched Millicent's steely demeanor, it didn't exactly come off as swimmingly as Kidman's portrayal. If anything, it hearkened back to Julia Roberts' faux bob in 1990's "Pretty Woman," a look that was meant to appear as a cheap wig. Still, Kidman can find solace in the fact that at least one person loved the look — her daughter, Sunday Rose. "My daughter is like, 'Get that wig and bring it home!'" Kidman said of her child's response to E! News.

2. Nicole Kidman's Nine Perfect Strangers look was changed for Season 2 after her first wig drew double takes

In the Hulu series, "Nine Perfect Strangers," Nicole Kidman embodies an entirely different brand of bad as Masha Dmitrichenko, a Russian wellness guru whose methods miss the ethical mark. As ever, Kidman committed herself full bore to embodying the character. During a Television Critics Association panel (via Today), Kidman revealed that she remained in character even when the cameras weren't rolling. "I'd only respond as Masha," she said of her on-set interactions. And, like Masha, she fully believed in what she was doing. "I remember going over to people and sort of putting my hand on their heart, holding their hand, they would talk to me or use my name Nicole when I would completely ignore them."

Alas, the wig she wore to become Masha during the show's 1st season was difficult to ignore, too, for an altogether different reason. The blonde locks gave off distinct Halloween-store vibes and have been changed for the show's 2nd season. According to Kidman, the decision to change Masha's hair was made easily. "It's very quick," Kidman said about picking the first wig to Variety. "We just came up with the character and vibe, how she should be and what she should look for." The new look may be as divisive as the original, though. Asked one fan, via Facebook, "Is anyone else offended by the terrible wig Hulu put Nicole Kidman in for Nine Perfect Strangers Season 2!?"

3. The Perfect Couple wig was too much for some fans

Murder is afoot in the Netflix limited series, "The Perfect Couple," which sees Nicole Kidman portraying novelist Greer Garrison Winbury. Kidman threw herself into the role here once again, making us believe that the deep-seated issues in Greer's marriage to Tag Winbury (Liev Schreiber) are at least as real as the perceived red flags in Kidman's marriage to Keith Urban. Unfortunately, the top of Kidman's head and the hairline created by her curled blonde wig were similarly at odds throughout the series. The look may have made sense for Greer, but it quite literally failed to connect for some viewers.

One fan with an eye for the aesthetics was compelled to comment on the look via Instagram, posting a screen capture from the show and writing, "As a hairstylist and makeup artist, I always notice a bad wig or a poor makeup job. I think they could've done a better job with her wig. In most series, her wigs always look very obvious, especially in this one. I think a better choice could have been made, especially the wig." Say what you will about the quality of the show, it's safe to say that Kidman's wig wasn't in keeping with the series' lofty ambitions. Said another fan, via X: "I think the real crime in 'The Perfect Couple' was Nicole Kidman's wig."

4. The Lucille Ball wig may have distracted from her performance

As a veritable screen icon, Nicole Kidman has to put in serious work not to outshine the characters she plays; the fact that she succeeds with such regularity is truly a feat, and one that has been recognized to the tune of five Academy Award nominations (including the aforementioned win for her work in "The Hours"). The task was different, though, when she became Lucille Ball in Aaron Sorkin's 2021 biographical drama, "Being the Ricardos." Even now, over seven decades after the heyday of "I Love Lucy," Ball remains one of the most recognizable figures in American television history. Kidman embodied that same aura while retelling some of the intense events from Ball's occasionally sad, real-life story.

Despite her best efforts, Kidman's sterling portrayal of Ball in the film was arguably playing second fiddle to the wigs she was wearing. When Glam ranked Kidman's wigs in 2025, the outlet opined that "other than Lucy herself, very few people can pull off the combo of micro bangs and curls." It's a sentiment that rings true, and it's a shame, given the great care that went into crafting Kidman's look. In 2021, hair department head Teressa Hill told the Motion Picture Association, "We set those wigs every night according to the way they set their hair back then. Women would go to the beauty parlor once a week. Then, every night they set their hair in rollers or pin curls."

5. She was also on-point in Boy Erased, even if her wig wasn't

Although an Oscar nomination eluded her, Nicole Kidman's turn as Nancy Eamons in the 2018 biopic/drama "Boy Erased," which was based on the Garrard Conley memoir of the same name, drew rave reviews, and netted her best supporting actress recognition from a veritable bonanza of organizations. The praise was especially loud in her native Australia, where the Australian Film Critics Association and the Australian Film Institute both awarded her best supporting actress trophies.

Even Martha Conley, the woman upon whom Nancy was based, had praised Kidman's nuanced portrayal. In 2018, she told Extra that Kidman was something of a dream casting, saying, "I jokingly said, 'Do you think you could get Nicole Kidman to play me? She's my favorite' ... I still feel like I'm gonna wake up and find out that she didn't really play me."

Her spot-on portrayal of a Southern mother coming to grips with her son's homosexuality notwithstanding, the wig was a miss in the opinion of some. "The 'Boy Erased' trailer is a haunting story of the complicated relationship between Nicole Kidman and wigs," wrote one fan, via X, in response to the film's trailer, while the official X account for Peacock joked, "And the award goes to ... Nicole Kidman's wig in Boy Erased."

6. Nicole Kidman's look may have been too fierce for Bombshell

In 2019's "Bombshell" — which is based on the stories of women working at Fox News who accused the network's then-CEO, Roger Ailes, of sexual harassment — Nicole Kidman plays former "Fox & Friends" co-anchor Gretchen Carlson, who would eventually go through one of the most controversial Fox News exits of all time. The real Carlson, who was a Miss America winner before her foray into cable news, accused Ailes in 2016 of a decade-long pattern of sexually harassing her in the workplace. She was later inspired by the experience to write and publish the best-selling memoir, "Be Fierce: Stop Harassment and Take Your Power Back."

While Kidman employed her usual flair in tackling the role, the wig that she wore for production was, perhaps, too fierce for fans. "#Bombshell, the movie, is very good, indeed. Charlize as @megynkelly is scary dead on, but this movie BELONGS to Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman's monumental wig," one fan appraised on X. Meanwhile, another fan openly questioned some of the accolades the film received for the hair and makeup that was featured, asking on X, "How did bombshell win best hair and makeup with Nicole Kidman's wig like this?" Kidman's Carlson-inspired look is just another in a long line of wig choices that failed to land with some moviegoers.

7. Her crimson curls were not quite how we remembered them in The Undoing

During the early days of her career, Nicole Kidman was instantly identifiable by her naturally curly auburn locks. Her signature mane was on full display in 1990's "Days of Thunder" and 1992's "Far and Away," films which saw her share the screen with future ex-husband Tom Cruise. As time wore on and her star grew, though, Kidman's natural hair color and style gave way to straighter, blonder hair with increasing regularity.

In hindsight, Kidman admitted that she regrets everything she did to her hair to curate that "Aussie beach girl" look. "I really wanted to have that suntanned skin and long blonde hair and look like the girl who is in the Coca-Cola commercial," she told Who magazine in 2017. "I always say this to girls now: the things you think are your flaws are going to be the things that make you ... I wish I had my curls back, I tortured them to death."

In the 2020 HBO series, "The Undoing," Kidman rocked a throwback look with wavy, deep red locks. However, the look couldn't hold a candle to the hair that took Hollywood by storm in the early 1990s. Wrote one Tumblr user with a penchant for reviewing wigs, "The wig is a tangled mess but the true horror is the seamwork — the part is from places not real and also imagined and the texture is something close to a Halloween fright wig." Ouch.

8. Top of the Lake: China Girl was a full-on transformation

In a career that has been defined by transformations, Nicole Kidman's hair and overall look in "Top of the Lake: China Girl" somehow managed to stand apart. To help bring the character of Julia Edwards to life in the 2nd season of the BBC series, Kidman and hair and makeup artist Noriko Watanabe employed a prosthetic nose, gapped teeth, freckles, and a veritable mop of silvery ringlets.

The wig was the cornerstone of the look — which Watanabe explained to Vulture was an homage to American artist Kiki Smith, whose art deals with "themes of sex, birth, and regeneration" and fit in perfectly with the show's premise – that was brought to bear with the aid of the heralded wig-maker and "Lord of the Rings" alum Peter Owen. Whether the wig made its mark in the end is a point for debate, but it was undoubtedly a departure from Kidman's typical style and memorable look overall. One X user wrote, "just watched Top of the Lake 2 and mostly I can't stop thinking about Nicole Kidman's hair and makeup."

9. Nicole Kidman's self-styled look in the The Paperboy hit a hot-mess home run

Her myriad of talents notwithstanding, Nicole Kidman would be the first to admit that it typically takes a team of people to pull off her head-turning transformations. However, when she starred as death-row groupie Charlotte Bless — alongside fellow A-listers Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, and John Cusack — in Lee Daniels' 2012 thriller, "The Paperboy," she was given the proverbial keys to the kingdom.

As she recounted at the Cannes Film Festival (via Digital Spy), Kidman went all in on landing the role, but Daniels made it clear to her along the way that he didn't have the budget for the kind of makeover that had become the Kidman standard. Instead, it would be up to Kidman herself to throw something together, so that's just what she did. ”Lee said, 'Look, we've got no money, you're going to have to do your own hair and makeup,'" Kidman recalled. ”So, I actually went into my bathroom and I got out the fake tan and put on fake eyelashes and got a hairpiece thing that was platinum, threw it all on and texted a photo to Lee in all these different provocative positions."

In the end, that's the look moviegoers got in the finished picture; a suitably trashy ensemble for a character that lent itself to the salacious. In other words, Kidman's wig was so bad on this occasion that it was perfect for the part.

10. She channeled Cruella de Vil in How to Talk to Girls at Parties

To be alive and punking in London during the 1970s was truly a one-of-a-kind experience, and one that director John Cameron Mitchell did his best to capture — with an interplanetary twist — in his 2017 sci-fi rom-com "How to Talk to Girls at Parties." In the film, Nicole Kidman personified the aging punker as Queen Boadicea. It's a name befitting the wild look that Kidman sported throughout the film. Her fluffy black-and-white wig and scene-inspired attire give off the distinct vibes of Cruella de Vil attending a Sex Pistols concert, Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie, or the human embodiment of one of those old-timey feather dusters after a good spring cleaning.

For his part, Mitchell dug the look and Kidman's performance in general, telling W in 2018, "Most of my time is guiding her but letting her run. She's like a unicorn — she just runs in a certain direction. And if she's a little bit finished with that run, I'll step in and say, 'Do you need me, Nicole?' That's my code for, 'I have a new idea.' She might say yes, or she might say no because she's trying something else on her own. A gorgeous, self-directing creature that's truly magical."

11. Nicole Kidman had a wig kerfuffle in Cannes

As the old saying goes, "life imitates art." Unfortunately for Nicole Kidman, who has something of a checkered on-screen history with wigs, that saying proved true during the 2025 Cannes Film Festival when the Oscar winner suffered what one might characterize as a mop-top malfunction. As reported by several eagle-eyed tabloids, Kidman's wig was doing some strange things while she walked the red carpet at the Kering Women In Motion Awards. Although many may have missed the snafu, keen-eyed observers noticed that several of her natural strands had found their way out from under her extensions. What's more, there was a clear discrepancy in color between the two.

Of all the wig situations on this list, the Cannes kerfuffle is the one that arguably had the biggest impact in the mainstream press. Despite the follicle failure, though, Kidman still managed to stun in her lacy, red gown — a screen queen through and through, even with the wonky hairdo.

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