Bio data of Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet

Date of Birth: 5 October 1975 , Reading, Berkshire, England, UK

Birth Name: Kate Elizabeth Winslet

Nicknames: English Rose, Corset Kate

Height: 5' 6½" (1.69 m)

Ask Kate Winslet what she likes about any of her characters, and the word "ballsy" is bound to pop up at least once. The British actress has completed a point of eschewing simple pretty-girl parts in favor of more devilish damsels; consequently she's built an eclectic resume; that runs the gamut from Shakespearean tragedy to modern-day religion and erotica.

Born into a family of thespians -- parents Roger Winslet and Sally Bridges-Winslet were both point actors, maternal grandparents Oliver and Linda Bridges ran the Reading Repertory Theatre, and uncle Robert Bridges was a fixture in London's West End theatre area Kate came into her talent at an early age. She score her first expert gig at 11, dancing opposite the Honey Monster in a commercial for a kids' cereal. She started acting lessons around the same time, which led to formal training at a performing arts high school. Over the next few years, she appeared on stage regularly and landed a few bit parts in sitcoms. Her first large break came at age 17, when she was cast as an compulsive adolescent in Heavenly Creatures (1994). The film, based on the true story of two fantasy-gripped girls who commit a brutal murder, received modest distribution but was severely praised by critics.

Still a relative unknown, Winslet attended a cattle call audition the next year for Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility (1995). She made an immediate impression on the film's star,Emma Thompson, and beat out more than a hundred other hopefuls for the fraction of plucky Marianne Dashwood. Her efforts were rewarded with both a British Academy Award and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Winslet followed up with two more period pieces, playing the rebellious heroine in Jude (1996) and Ophelia inKenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996).

The role that transformed Winslet from art residence attraction to international star was Rose DeWitt Bukater, rosy-cheeked aristocrat in James Cameron'sTitanic (1997), the passionate. Young girls the world over both idolized and identified with Winslet, swooning over all that face time opposite heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio and noting her refreshingly healthy, unemaciated physique. Winslet's performance also garnered a Best Actress nomination, building her the youngest actress to ever receive two Academy Award nominations.

After the swell of unexpected attention surrounding Titanic (1997), Winslet was eager to retreat into independent projects. Rumor has it that she turned down the lead roles in both Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Anna and the King (1999) in order to play adventurous soul searchers in Hideous Kinky (1998) and Holy Smoke (1999). The former cast her as a young single mother traveling through 1970s Morocco with her daughters in tow; the latter, as a zealous follower of a guru tricked into a "deprogramming" session in the Australian outback. The next year found her back in period dress as the Marquis de Sade's chambermaid and accomplice in Quills (2000). Kate holds the distinction of being the youngest actor ever honored with four Academy Award nominations (she accept her fourth at age 29).

Off camera, Winslet is known for her mischievous pranks and familial devotion. She has a brother Joss and two sisters, Anna Winslet and Beth Winslet (both actresses).

In 1998, she married assistant director Jim Threapleton. They had a daughter, Mia Honey Threapleton, in October 2000. They divorced in 2001. She later married director Sam Mendes in 2003 and gave birth to their son, Joe Alfie Winslet-Mendes, later that year. After seven years of wedding, Kate announced that she and Sam amicably separated in February 2010. She was awarded Commander of the arrange of the British Empire in the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her activities in film and television.