Kate Winslet Bio
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Kate Winslet BioThis Kate Winslet biography contains information believed to be accurate as extracted from sources around the internet including Wikipedia. If you believe there are errors or omissions in this Kate Winslet bio, please let us know so that we can correct any inaccuracies.
Kate Elizabeth Winslet (born October 5, 1975) is a five-time Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe-nominated, Emmy Award-nominated, BAFTA, Grammy and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning English actress. She is noted for having played a wide range of diverse characters over her career, but is probably best-known for her critically acclaimed performances as Juliet Hulme in Heavenly Creatures (1994), Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility, Rose DeWitt Bukater in the highest-grossing film of all time, Titanic (1997), and Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). She is the winner of a BAFTA and SAG Award, and a five-time Oscar nominee. At the age of 22, she broke the record for the youngest person to receive two Oscar nominations, and each of her subsequent nominations has broken a further record: the youngest person to receive three, four, and five nominations. Kate Winslet: Life and careerKate Winslet - Early lifeKate Winslet was born in Reading, Berkshire, England to Roger John Winslet, a swimming-pool contractor, and Sally Ann Bridges, a barmaid; both of her parents were also actors. Her maternal grandparents, Linda (Plumb) and Archibald Oliver Bridges, founded and operated the Reading Repertory, and her uncle, Robert Bridges, appeared in the original West End production of Oliver! Her sisters are Beth Winslet and Anna Winslet, also actresses. Winslet, raised as an Anglican, began studying drama at the age of eleven at the Redroofs Theatre School, a co-educational independent school in Maidenhead, Berkshire, where she was head girl and was soon cast as a spokesperson for a cereal in television commercials. Throughout her adolescence, she was severely bullied for being overweight and having exceptionally large feet (which she inherited from her mother). Kate Winslet - CareerWinslet's career began on television, with a co-starring role in the BBC children's science fiction serial Dark Season in 1991. This was followed by appearances in the made-for-TV movie Anglo-Saxon Attitudes in 1992 and an episode of the medical drama Casualty in 1993, also for the BBC. Her film career took off with praise and recognition in 1994 when she starred in a joint leading role, as Juliet Hulme in director Peter Jackson's critically acclaimed Heavenly Creatures, playing a vivacious and imaginative teen who helps her best friend (played by Melanie Lynskey), murder her mother when they are not allowed to be together. This role was followed by the successful film Sense and Sensibility (co-starring Emma Thompson), which made her well-known, especially in the UK. Winslet became famous world-wide after the 1997 release of Titanic, a massive hit which holds the record as highest-grossing film in history (not accounting for inflation) at more than US$1 billion in box-office worldwide. It went on to win 11 Academy Awards. Winslet has been regarded as something of a critics' darling, generally receiving positive reviews for every one of her films. Despite Titanic's success, she has continued making lower-budget, independent films, including Hideous Kinky and Holy Smoke!; her roles in these smaller, more artistic films appear to be one of choice-she turned down the lead in Shakespeare in Love to make Hideous Kinky; ironically, she appeared as Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh's version of Hamlet. She was even considered for the role of Satine in "Moulin Rouge!". Throughout her career, she has often turned down other roles in high profile films, such as Anna Anna and the King and Eowyn in Lord of the Rings. She has also taken several roles in studio "period dramas" like Quills, Titanic and Finding Neverland. For a time, she was given the nickname "Corset Kate". Kate Winslet at the Palm Spring Film Festival.In 2005, Winslet appeared in a television commercial for American Express. As part of the "My Life, My Card" campaign, the ad shows Winslet strolling around Camden Lock, in London, as she makes references to all the events that have happened to her film characters: going to prison for murder (Heavenly Creatures), being penniless and heartbroken (Sense and Sensibility), almost drowning (Titanic), losing her mind (Iris), having her memory erased (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), and being in Neverland (Finding Neverland). During the ad, she is shown holding items relating to her films; during the reference to Sense and Sensibility she thumbs through a copy of the book, and when she references Finding Neverland, she's holding a hook. When Winslet talks about nearly drowning at age 20 in Titanic, she is walking over a bridge with water underneath it, in reference to the iceberg and water seen in the film. Winslet also appeared in an episode of BBC's comedy series Extras in August 2005, as a satirical version of 'herself'. She memorably told Andy and Maggie, the two characters who star in the series, that she was doing a film about the Holocaust because she was tired of losing out on Oscars, as at the time she had been nominated four times, and that everyone who does a film about the Holocaust wins an Oscar. She also (while dressed as a nun) was shown giving phone sex tips to the romantically challenged Maggie. Ricky Gervais (who is a native of the same town as Winslet, Reading) later said on NPR that she was his favorite guest star. Her performance in the episode did lead to her being nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Performance in a Comedy Series, but she did not win. As of March 2007, Leonardo DiCaprio signed to co-star in Revolutionary Road with Winslet as the Wheeler couple, a 1950s couple who appear content on the surface but are withering internally. The film will be the first to reunite the notable duo, who have remained close since their first pairing in Titanic. Oscar buzz websites are saying that Kate is likely to be nominated for an Academy Award for best actress for her performance in Revolutionary Road, and also a Academy Award for best supporting actress for her performance as Hanna Schmitz in Stephen Daldry's The Reader. If she is nominated and loses, she will tie the dubious record of being the most nominated actress without a win with legends Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter. If she is nominated for both films and loses, she will hold the record alone at 0-7. There are also talks that Winslet's husband, Sam Mendes and his production company, Neal Street Productions, purchased the film rights to the long-delayed biography of circus tiger tamer Mabel Stark. Winslet has stated that she has been eager to portray this complex woman for three years now and is looking forward to working with her husband on bringing this to the screen. (See Mabel Stark's page for more information on the project.) Kate Winslet - MusicWinslet has also enjoyed a brief taste of success as a singer, with her single "What If" from the soundtrack of Christmas Carol: The Movie, which reached #1 in Ireland and #6 in the UK (she also filmed a music video for the song). She has also participated in a duet with "Weird Al" Yankovic on the Sandra Boynton CD Dog Train, and sang in the 2006 film Romance and Cigarettes. She also sang an aria from La Boheme, called "Sono andati", in her film Heavenly Creatures, which is featured on the film's soundtrack. She was considered for the lead in Moulin Rouge! (which eventually went to Nicole Kidman); had she taken the part, she would have sung the full soundtrack. Kate Winslet - Personal lifeWhile on the set of Dark Season, Winslet shared a five-year romance with actor and writer Stephen Tredre. They moved to London during their relationship. After their romance, she began a relationship with Rufus Sewall. After filming Titanic, Tredre died of bone cancer. Winslet was not at the premier of Titanic because she was attending his funeral in London. On 22 November 1998, Winslet married director Jim Threapleton. The two have a daughter, Mia Honey, who was born on 12 October 2000. After a divorce in 2001, Winslet began a relationship with Sam Mendes, whom she married on 24 May 2003 on the island of Anguilla in the Caribbean. Their son, Joe Alfie, was born on 22 December 2003. The media, particularly in England, have enthusiastically documented her weight fluctuations over the years. Winslet has been outspoken about her refusal to lose weight in order to conform to the Hollywood ideal. In February 2003, the British edition of Gentlemen's Quarterly magazine published photographs of Winslet which had been digitally enhanced to make her look dramatically thinner than she really was; Winslet issued a statement saying that the alterations were made without her consent. GQ issued an apology in the subsequent issue. Winslet and her husband Mendes currently reside in New York City. They also own a manor house in the tiny village of Church Westcote in Gloucestershire, England. Winslet and Mendes spent £3 million on the secluded Westcote Manor, a rambling Grade II-listed house with eight bedrooms, set in 22 acres. They have reportedly spent more than £1 million on interior renovations, as well as restoring the original water garden, mulberry garden and orchard, all of which fell into disrepair when the former owner, equestrian artist Raoul Millais, died in 1999. As of 2006, it is reported Winslet and Mendes have a large lake house near Canandaigua Lake, in Canandaigua, New York. Winslet is very close friends with Titanic co-star Leonardo DiCaprio. |
