Nicole Kidman at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival

Nicole Kidman was awarded the 2011 Cinema Vanguard Award by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.  She has had quite the career, and this year a powerful role in ‘Rabbit Hole‘.

There was a large crowd waiting for her arrival and she didn’t disappoint.  She looked awesome in an all-white outfit and greeted the fans with autographs and posing for pictures before starting down the red carpet:

Here are some images as she walked the carpet:

And this look back is my favorite image from the night!

When the program started, executive director of the Film Festival, Roger Durling was the commentator.  It was fun to learn that as a kid, all of Kidman’s friends went to the beach, but because her skin was so pale, her parents made her stay inside.  So from a young age, for fun, she turned to books and pretending she was various characters in them…paving the way for a life-long acting career.

Senior Writer of ‘Entertainment Weekly’, Dave Karger gave a great speech before presenting the award to Kidman:

She was gracious and appreciative for the award…  Makes me want to watch ‘Moulin Rouge‘ again! Congratulations on this award and good luck in the Oscars! (Kidman is nominated for ‘actress in a leading role’)