WHEN Tom Cruise saw a private screening of the film Dead Calm he asked one question: "Who's that girl?" writes Angela Kelly

The actress in question was Nicole Kidman, then little known outside her native Australia where she had been on TV and film since she was a leggy schoolgirl.

Cruise was already a Hollywood superstar though, with the kind of clout to influence the choice of co-stars. Now, he was teaming up once more with Top Gun producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson for a new film about stock car racing, provisionally titled Daytona.

As soon as he watched the willowy redhead in the tense screen thriller, he was massively impressed. In fact, he urged scriptwriter Robert Towne to see the film, and later -- after he had met her -- to write in a special role.

The outcome of this moment was not only Days of Thunder starring Cruise and Kidman, but an off-screen romance between them that led to the altar...and to them becoming a hugely famous celebrity couple.

But, as a new biography* of Ms Kidman reveals, her background had already groomed her well for such superstardom.

Young Nicole was from a comfortable background, a member of a highly political family where discussion and personal views were encouraged, and with a strong role model in her mother, Janelle.

Teased as a youngster about her height, her freckles and her curly red hair, "The Stork" as she was nicknamed, proved popular because of her sense of humour. She liked to laugh, and she was funny.

These attributes stood her in good stead through an early modelling career which blossomed into acting. But, although she had a strong reputation in her native country she was virtually unknown in the film-making capital of America, until Dead Calm.

The next decade or so saw Kidman making a clutch of successful films, including Far and Away with husband Tom, Batman Forever with Val Kilmer, To Die For with Matt Dillon, The Peacemaker with George Clooney and Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock.

While, with her stunning looks and presence, she could have been in danger of being typecast as the perennial girlfriend, she stepped out of the mould whenever she could.

She was not afraid to try the film adaptation of Henry James' Portrait of a Lady, or sing and dance in the mega-hitMoulin Rouge.

Cruise had been busy making his own hits like the Mission Impossible films, and the couple seemed to settle into a happy married life which included adopting two children.

Sadly, while their stars rose into the ascendancy, their private lives did not soar companionably. After 11 romantic years together, the fairytale was over.

Whether it was their nomadic lifestyle with homes around the world, their individual careers or whatever else was to blame, Tom and Nicole decided to part.

Now, her elegant, slim figure is still high profile as she rebuilds herlife, and concentrates on her family.

For Kidman fans, this is an excellent and incisive book chronicling her life and career so far (she is 34).

Although it is sparse on real insight into the personalities of either Nicole or Tom Cruise, this may be due more to the private nature of mega-stars -- and to the strength of the characters involved.

* Nicole Kidman: The Biography by Stafford Hildred and Tim Ewbank, published by Headline (£17.99)