The 49-year-old actress is mother to Isabella, 23, and Connor, 21, who she adopted with ex-husband Tom Cruise when they were together. She also has two biological children, eight-year-old Sunday and five-year-old Faith, with husband Keith Urban.

But when it comes to parenthood, Nicole sees no difference in her feelings for her adopted kids and her biological ones, insisting in a new interview with Vogue Australia magazine that she was determined to have children, regardless of the way she went about it.

"I always knew I’d adopt, I just always wanted a child. I think from a very early age, I wanted a child," she told the publication. "I knew that I was going to have a child and that it didn’t matter (how), I actually didn’t know if I was ever going to give birth to a child. So that was the least of it for me. And what I did first was adopt."

Nicole explores adoption in new movie Lion, which tells the true tale of young boy Saroo Brierley, adopted by an Australian family after becoming separated from his mother and brothers as a child in India. Years later, he tracked down his lost relatives using the Google Earth app.

And the film's message about the power of motherhood in any capacity was an important one for Nicole, who plays Saroo's adoptive mother Sue in the film.

"That’s what I love about this movie, and what I keep trying to say," she added. "Once the bond is there between a mother and a child, the biological part of it is sort of the least important part. I think when that bond forms, it’s astounding how powerful it is."

Nicole has become one of Hollywood’s most popular actresses since starting out, with movies like Moulin Rouge!, The Others and The Hours under her belt. And there's one particular aspect of her job that she loves the most.

“Acting has given me the most extraordinary opportunities to meet certain people in my life, who I stay connected to forever: that’s probably the greatest thing that acting has given me,” she smiled.