Show Business Articles

Kate Winslet: A Short Bio

Kate Winslet was born in Reading, U.K. on October 5, 1975 to Roger Winslet and Sally Bridges-Winslet. Her birth name was Kate Elizabeth Winslet. Having Blonde hair and hazel eyes Kate Winslet has proved herself to be one of the most beautiful and talented actresses to be around these days. The actress is popular for portraying courageous and straightforward pretty girl roles. The actress has built quite an impressive resume with movies ranging from Shakespearean tragedy to mystic movies to erotica. Acting was not difficult for her as she born in the family of stage actors. Her parents were stage actors, her maternal grandparents ran a theater and her uncle was a fixture in London's West End Theater. So, naturally it was easy for Kate to get into acting after having realized her acting talent at an early age. She started off doing gigs and she did her first gig at the age of eleven for kid's cereal. She took acting classes around the same age and also got formal training in a performing arts school. She kept doing regular stage shows for next few years. Ultimately this landed her into sitcoms doing bit roles.

Kate Winslet's first break in movies came at the age of seventeen when she took the role of an obsessive teenager in "Heavenly Creatures" released in 1994. Although the film got a lukewarm response at the box office it was highly acclaimed by the critics. Still a novice to Hollywood she attended a cattle call audition for Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" in 1995. Kate Winslet who outperformed hundreds of other aspirants immensely impressed the film's star Emma Thompson. She played the character of plucky Marianne Dashwood. She was rewarded for hard work with a British Academy Award and also an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress and she holds the distinction of being nominated at the youngest age. Her string of impressive performances continued and she worked in two more period movies "Jude" in 1996 and "Hamlet" in 1996.

The turning point of Kate Winslet's career was her role as Rose DeWitt Bukater in the record-breaking movie "Titanic" in 1997. The role won her an Oscar nomination again for the best actress once again creating a record to get nominated twice in Oscars at the youngest age. Winslet was over the cloud nine after the resounding success of Titanic, which made her the star in demand. She played the role of adventurous soul searchers in "Hideous Kinky" in 1998 and "Holy Smoke" in 1999. Her association with period never seems to be over when she was back with a period film again in 2000 in "Quills". There was no dearth of Oscar nominations for Winslet as she was nominated to Oscar for best actress for the movie "Iris" but the luck eluded her once again and she lost it to Jennifer Connelly for "A Beautiful Mind". Winslet struggled at box office in 2003 but had a better year in 2004 with Jim Carrey in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" for which she got nominated again for the best actress. Kate Winslet seems to have a particular liking for period films when she starred again in a period film called "Finding Neverland" in 2005.

In 2006 she gave her voice to animated movie "Flushed Away" and also starred in "All the King's Men" opposite Sean Penn. She was also part of the extremely successful "Little children" which won her an Oscar nomination again for the best actress.
Apart from being a successful person Kate Winslet is known to be a good person who plays mischievous pranks and is extremely devoted. She got married to James Threapleton with a daughter in 1998, but the marriage was short-lived and they divorced in 2001. She got married for the second time with director Sam Mendes in 2003 and also gave birth to a son. With the amount of talent this actress has one would hope that she is rightly rewarded with an Oscar at least this time.