Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born October 5, 1975, in Reading, England. With acting deep-rooted into her genes, it was no wonder Kate herself would also turn to the dramatic arts.
Her grandparents, Oliver and Linda Bridges, founded and operated the Reading Repertory theater; father Roger Winslet and mum Sally were both actors; uncle Robert Bridges appeared in the original West End production of Oliver!; and both her sisters Beth and Anna are actors. Her younger brother Joss is probably the only Winslet that did not enter the family business.
She made her debut at age 11, when she co-starred with the "Honey Monster" in a commercial for a children's breakfast. After acting lessons and a graduation from a performing arts high school, Kate took to the stage in productions of Adrian Mole and Peter Pan.
Kate then took the television route, with appearances on sitcoms, most notably a recurring role on the British comedy, Get Back. Kate went from a rather dark role in the 1994 film Heavenly Creatures (as a teen involved in a murder), to the more children-oriented A Kid in King Arthur's Court, where she starred as Princess Sarah.
The British actress' career was about to rise, after Kate was cast as Marianne Dashwood in the adaptation of Jane Austen's period piece, Sense and Sensibility, sharing the screen with Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant.
The film's producers and director Ang Lee knew that Kate was the one for the part during her audition, and to underscore that decision, she received an Oscar Nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
She may have lost the Oscar, but she did win the Screen Actors Guild for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, and a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Supporting Actress Award, both for Sense and Sensibility.
As even more evidence that Kate was a natural in a corset, she next starred in 2 more period pieces in 1996: Jude (based on the novel Jude the Obscure), and Hamlet (the one with Kenneth Branagh), where she starred as the tragic Ophelia.
In 1997, Kate plunged into the icy waters and made movie history, as the heroine of James Cameron's mega movie Titanic. Her role as Rose DeWitt Bukater not only made her the envy of teenage girls worldwide (for getting to share breathing space with Leonardo DiCaprio), but it also marked her transition from artsy, independent films, to commercial blockbuster flicks. She received another Oscar nod, this time in the Best Supporting Actress category, making her the youngest actress to receive two Oscar nominations.
But Kate chose the road less traveled by supposedly refusing the lead roles of Shakespeare in Love (Gwyneth sure owes her a big thank you) and Anna and the King, in order to star in two more alternative, independent films: Hideous Kinky (1998) and Holy Smoke (1999).
2000 saw Kate in yet another period piece, only this time it featured her in the critically-acclaimed Quills, in the story of the Marquis de Sade. She will next be seen in Therese Raquin, opposite Judi Dench; the romantic thriller Enigma; and Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch; and heard in the animated feature Christmas Carol: The Movie, along with Nicolas Cage.
Delving into children-oriented films isn't a bad idea, since Kate is also mother to Mia, her daughter with husband Jim Threapleton since fall 2000. Kate and assistant director Jim Threapleton were married in 1998.
