Before she became a staple of American cinema,
@naomiwatts was alone in Los Angeles, hustling to transform her dream of acting into a career. “I thought maybe I could become a yoga teacher,” she confides to her friend
@derekblasberg in her CULT100 cover story. “It was a lonely time. It was a hard time.”
Though rocky, Watts’s story ultimately resembles a Hollywood fairy tale: She met Nicole Kidman at her first ever casting (the pair ended up splitting a cab home), and made her breakthrough in David Lynch’s ‘Mulholland Drive,’ a project that cemented her status in the annals of avant-garde and auteur cinema.
Link in bio to read Watts’s conversation with Blasberg now, and order your copy of the 2026 CULT100 issue before the full list drops on April 23.
All clothing and accessories by
@maisonvalentino . All jewelry by
@brionyraymondnewyork .
Editor-in-Chief:
@sarahgharrelson
Photography:
@frenchgold
Styling:
@jeanannwilliams
Hair:
@rebekahforecast
Makeup:
@marywilesmakeup
Nails:
@theginaviviano
Lighting Direction:
@alexeitopounov
Digital Tech: Michael Vick
Set Design:
@colinphelan
Production:
@jennypio
// The 100 individuals on CULTURED’s third annual CULT100 list span disciplines and generations. Some are household names, others operate behind the scenes. All of them are choosing risk over reward, curiosity over cynicism, and are shaping culture in real time. Each offers something that the algorithm never will. //
