Nicole Kidman has a new gig.

The Academy Award-winning actress whose oeuvre spans from “The Hours” to “Moulin Rouge” and TV shows like “Big Little Lies” and “Nine Perfect Strangers,” is Clé de Peau Beauté’s newest global brand ambassador.

Kidman has had a lot on her plate. In addition to featuring in a campaign for the brand, she’s in the throes of filming the sequel to cult-favorite “Practical Magic” alongside Sandra Bullock. She also made the rounds to Balenciaga’s fall 2025 couture show in Paris in July, and took home the 2025 Kering Women in Motion award at the Cannes Film Festival earlier in the year. All of that said, Kidman told WWD in a wide-ranging interview that her relationship with beauty has always been essential to her.

“Because I grew up with a mother that was always adamant about taking care of skin, she would slather me in sunscreen when I was little,” said Kidman. “When I started experimenting with makeup and skin care myself, I went through so many different stages: lots of masks, this and that. I learned I can change aspects of my face, augment things, and it became much more creative and exciting.”

Her career has also played a role with her understanding of beauty, as have past collaborators. “When you’re working with someone like Baz Luhrmann and [costume designer] Catherine Martin, there’s a very specific look they want for the character,” she said. “I started to realize, as I was being created by others and experimenting, they were teaching me how to use makeup in particular ways and create characters. I could then go and use that in real life.”

She’s been a brand devotee since long before her ambassadorship, calling out the eye makeup remover, the serum, body cream, different foundations and a mask as her favorites. The lipsticks, too, are a favorite with shade 26 being her preferred. “I’d already been using so many of their products. It wasn’t like I was going to have to discover them, and I was in.”

Mizuki Hashimoto, Clé de Peau’s chief brand officer, described Kidman as “someone who truly embodies purpose, artistry and strength in a way that feels both authentic and aspirational, and she brings fresh perspective to her story and a powerful connection to the women that we serve around the globe.”

Those consumers still have a high appetite for Clé de Peau, and the brand is a bright spot for parent company Shiseido amidst broader challenges. “We have been able to secure growth last year, and the first quarter of 2025 as well,” Hashimoto said. “In the last two years, the cosmetics industry is going through a kind of a reset that is mainly driven by trends in China especially.”

Globally, however, “the brand is keeping a very high growth momentum throughout Asia, with Japan being the core market for us. In North America and EMEA, we’re committed to growth of these two markets in coming years to establish our position as a global luxury brand,” said Hashimoto.

More locally to North America, the brand is outpacing the luxury skin care market, which has seen a deceleration in the U.S. more broadly. “The key to our success is the consumer looking for science-backed skin care, they want to understand what the product is going to deliver for them,” said Virginie Bourliere, senior vice president of U.S. marketing for Shiseido and Clé de Peau Beauté. “We’re fueled by over 40 years of skin cell research. We continue to fuel it through our research, and the other thing that’s fueling our growth are hero products.”

The brand’s cult-favorite eye cream is still its top seller, Bourliere said, and it’s growing double digits. Makeup, though, boasts the most consumer loyalty across the range, which she credits to the skin care benefits infused in the formulas.

She posited that the U.S. is only becoming a more significant market for the brand. “The U.S. is poised to become the main driver of growth,” she said. “Most people in the U.S. don’t know that Clé de Peau is the top skin care brand in Japan, it has huge awareness and it’s by far the favorite. The biggest opportunity we see is to build this awareness here in the U.S.”

As that relates to Kidman, she has “a very broad reach and engaged audience in the U.S.,” Bourliere said, noting the push will be paramount to raising awareness. “But when we raise awareness, we want to build it around our products and also about our values. What appealed to us is that we do share common values with her. She’s an advocate for women, she’s a U.N. Women Goodwill Ambassador. And we’ve been partnering with UNICEF for six years now and have donated $11.6 million to support the education and empowerment of women. It really is the perfect alignment of values.”

Hashimoto agreed, adding that she evaluated the opportunity with Kidman both qualitatively and quantitatively. “It’s beyond sales. Her ambassadorship is a broader marketing strategy. She’s very committed as an individual to social causes, being a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, and that resonates with our brand’s values.”

Kidman shared a similar rationale for taking on the partnership, as well. “What is the company in general, what do they believe in, what are their values? Are they nice? Are they contributors to the world? I met them, and we talked about what we wanted to do with the brand,” she said. “This is actually just a partnership that’s based in belief, good will and care.”