2001

Natalie Imbruglia first experienced fame as an actress in her native Australia. She appeared in the landscape of now legendary daytime soap operas (Neighbours and Home and Away) which also gave us the babe-fest of Kylie Minogue, Kimberly Davies, Nicola Charles, Holly Valance and Emma Harrison. If we're to believe Australian soaps, gorgeous girls are queueing up to work in cafes and chip shops for crappy wages. We want to believe, we really do :-)

Natalie decided that this wasn't what she wanted, and left the series, and Australia, for the bright lights of London, UK. Just as the hierarchy of cartoon animals goes mouse... cat ... dog, the lifecycle of the ozzie soap bubble goes daytime soap actress to singer. The story goes that Nat spent her time in London living in poverty and writing songs. This is not, let's face it, very likely. Then in 1998, she released her debut album on a major record label. Espousing how proud she was to have been signed on the strength of her songs alone, "before anyone had seen me" (?? you were on the telly, ya daft bint!!) her album Left of the Middle enjoyed the kind of promotional campaign that the average singer/songwriter can only dream of. Fuelled by one excellent cover version, and a few catchy tunes, Nat went stateside, and took them by storm. The original album cover had sly glimpses of Nat caught in mirrors. Once it took off, it was repackaged in a cover that focused squarely on a big pic of Natalie doing that little-girl-lost look she perfected.

While Nat makes much ado in copious interviews about her desire to be taken seriously as an artist, and her displeasure at being seen as "just a pretty face", it didn't stop her from appearing on every magazine cover (including Cosmopolitan) for the few months of the promotional blitz.

The thing about Natalie is that she is gorgeous .. all sly smiles and fluttery eyelashes. Her acting abilities were put to far better use in the video for Torn than any soap opera.

2003 (June)

For this June 2003 update, we thought we'd ask "where is Natalie now?" And the answer is "back acting again."
After the release of Left of the Middle Nat was everywhere - there were many TV appearances with her band, and no magazine cover seemed complete without her coquetteish face. Then - nothing, except for pics of Nat passing her time at fashion shows. After a long silence, her "difficult second album" White Lillies Island appeared. It received a more low-key reception than its predecessor, and the record company must have been asking "where is the little street-cred dynamo we signed?" Well, she was still there, but was now sporting sexy, sophisticated clothes, rather than the streetware she had favoured a few years before. This, however, did not seem to win over audiences as much as before, and the subsequent single release seemed to fade away.

Then in early 2003, trailers for the Rowan Atkinson comedy Johnny English appeared, and there as our Nat back in acting shoes again. Having explained in many post-debut-album interviews how music was her true calling, and her Neighbours days were behind her, a disappointing second album was all it took to return her to the screen.

And what would her young-strong-woman core fanbase make of her appearance in TV commercials for skin cream? Explaining that she was "facing 30" (despite the caption that read Natalie Imbruglia, 27) she set forth her stall, stating that she "wants perfect skin." Well, she has perfect skin, and when you're 27, why the hell not? But there must have been many fans feeling that the young woman in sneakers and a hoodie with the tell-it-like-it-is attitude had died and gone to sell-out hell.

But here at Euroeros we're not bothered. The chance to see Nat v2.0 - Sex Symbol on screen is reason enough to look past the sell-out. And it didn't come as much of a surprise either. Just check out our initial article on Nat above to see that we always took the Nat v1.0 - Serious Artist with a pinch of salt.

2005 (Feb)

It's funny to go back to update these pages. Nat was the very first one we ever created. In fact, she was one of the inspirations behind setting up a wallpaper website. Since then Nat herself has changed radically. From soap actress to street-cred Nat to actor Natalie, and now back to singer again. She has a new video in rotation on MTV. She looks very different, and sounds... well, to be honest, I can't remember - the song is completely forgettable. It just serves to remind us how much Torn did for her back in the day. And how much she needs another killer song like it.

Music Videos:


Live Performance:

• Kylie Minogue : the original Australian soap actress turned singer
• Kimberley Davies : another Australian soap actress
• Holly Valance : third generation Australian soap actress, turned singer

• Euroeros Aussie Babe feature

• Natalie's official site
• Search with Google

Nat does the patented shy-flirty-little-girl-lost thing 1024 x 768