Angel face: Naomi Watts

Naomi Watts came to Hollywood from Sydney, Australia, and gave herself five years to become a star. But instead of working in feature films, she toiled in commercials, modelling and small TV roles while her best friend, Nicole Kidman - who was married to Tom Cruise at the time - rose to the top of the Hollywood food chain as half of L.A.'s power couple. Watts was just about to turn around and head home when she got the part of Betty Elms/Diane Selwyn in David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. At 33 years old (about 66 in Hollywood-actress years), her star was finally on the rise.

Today, like Kidman, Watts can choose the kind of films she wants to do. And, like Gwyneth Paltrow, she enjoys the kind of brand cachet that brings her lucrative cosmetics endorsement deals that allow her to take a break from filmmaking and focus on babymaking. (Watts and her partner, Liev Schreiber, are expecting their second child.)

Representing Angel - Thierry Mugler's monster fragrance - at the age of 40 has been an unexpected but welcome career opportunity for Watts. Wearing a stunning black vintage Thierry Mugler dress with a peplum jacket that cleverly disguises her pregnancy and four-inch black stilettos, Watts slowly descends the tricky steps of the penthouse suite at the Hotel on Rivington on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Despite her penchant for dark roles that focus on human despair, Watts' golden blond hair - styled à la Veronica Lake - and delicate features give her an aura of vulnerability. Or, maybe her low-key persona today can be attributed to jet lag, having just flown in from Sydney via Los Angeles in time for the annual Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (She will wear the white "star" dress from the Mugler archives that she's wearing on ELLE's cover this month.)

Watts is here to meet the international fashion and beauty press and talk about her role as the new icon for Angel. The commercial, directed by Bill Condon, shows a curvy Watts as an ethereal being in a Muglerian universe of blue desert sky adorned with thousands of twinkling bottles of Angel perfume. "It was amazing to wear that dress [a sparkling blue-lace confection]," recalls Watts, "but Mugler designs for women with an hour-glass figure. Mine isn't quite so hourglass - it's pretty straight - so I had to wear a corset. People were literally having to rope me in for 12 hours a day!"

Watts says she received good advice from Kidman about the need to be selective with endorsement deals. The Angel collaboration is only the second one she has agreed to do - after an ad campaign for David Yurman jewellery.

"I met with Thierry [Mugler] in London to discuss the project," she says. "In the past, I've been approached to do other campaigns, but I've admired Thierry's work over the years, so this offer was a no-brainer. And Thierry himself is larger than life. He had a very clear vision of what he wanted: a woman who is angelic and sexy. Everyone likes to be thought of as angelic - especially in the eyes of men - but you shouldn't be afraid of your strengths either. This perfume is soft and gentle at first, but it really stays on you. Listen, I'm turning 40 this year, so after seeing my face on the poster, I feel quite chuffed, really."

Image courtesy of Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage.com