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 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
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.