Kate Winslet Biography
Biography
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Although Kate Winslet has not won an Academy Award, she has been highly favoured by the Academy, and holds two records in that area: the youngest person to receive two Oscar nominations, and the most Oscar nominations of any actor before the age of 30 (having received a total of four nominations by that age).
Winslet was born in Reading, Berkshire to Roger Winslet and
Sally Bridges, both of whom were actors. Her maternal
grandparents, Oliver and Linda 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.
Kate, raised an Anglican, began studying drama at the age of
eleven at Redroofs stage school, and was soon cast as a
spokesperson for a cereal in television commercials.
Winslet's career began on television, with a co-starring role in
the BBC children's science-fiction serial Dark Season in 1991,
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.
Kate Winslet's film career took off 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 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, which was the most expensive film of
all time, and became the highest-grossing film of all time after
several months in release, grossing $600 million at the United
States box office.
Winslet has also enjoyed a brief taste of success as a singer,
with her single What If? from soundtrack of Christmas Carol: The
Movie, which reached #1 in Ireland and #6 in the UK. More
recently, she 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 Andanti, in her film Heavenly Creatures, which is
featured on the film's soundtrack.
Kate Winslet has since become regarded as something of a
critics' darling, having received generally positive reviews for
every one of her films. Despite Titanic's success, Winslet has
continued making lower-budget films, including Hideous Kinky and
Holy Smoke; her roles in smaller, more artistic films appears to
be one of choice, as she turned down the lead in Shakespeare in
Love to make Hideous Kinky. She has also taken several roles in
studio "period drama"s like Quills, Iris and Finding Neverland.
For a time, she became associated with such films and given the
nickname "Corset Kate". Winslet has most recently appeared in
several American films, including the well-reviewed quirky
comedy Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the dramatic
thriller The Life of David Gale.
In 2005, Kate appeared in a television commercial for the
American Express credit card. 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 - such as going to prison for
murder (Heavenly Creatures), almost drowning (Titanic), and
having her memory erased (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless
Mind). 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.
Kate Winslet also appeared in an episode of BBC's comedy series
Extras in August of 2005, as '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 she's been nominated four times, and
that everyone who does a film about the Holocaust wins an Oscar.
Ricky Gervais later said on NPR that she was his favorite guest
star.
In February 2006, Kate Winslet announced that she will
collaborate with her husband, director Sam Mendes, on a film
version of the Richard Yates novel, Revolutionary Road.
Despite being married to one of the UK's best-known theatre
directors, Kate is not a stage actress.
On November 22, 1998, Kate Winslet married director Jim
Threapleton. The two have a daughter, Mia Honey, who was born on
October 12, 2000. After a divorce in 2001, Winslet began a
relationship with director Sam Mendes, whom she married on May
24, 2003, on the island of Anguilla in the Caribbean. Their son,
Joe Alfie, was born on December 22, 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 GQ magazine published photographs of Winslet which
had been airbrushed to make her look dramatically thinner than
she really was; Winslet issued a statement saying that the
alterations were made without her consent.
Kate Winslet home town of Reading has named a street – Winslet
Place – in her honor, built on the site of a demolished cinema.
Winslet has earned four Oscar nominations and four Golden Globe
nominations, as well as one BAFTA Award and three further BAFTA
nominations. Premiere Magazine named her performance as
Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
the 81st greatest film performance of all time.
Kate has also received numerous awards and nominations from
other organizations, including the Screen Actors Guild and the
Evening Standard British Film Awards. A more comprehensive list
can be found here
On January 25, 2005, Kate Winslet was nominated for an Oscar for
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind where she eventually lost
to
Hilary Swank. She surpassed Marlon Brando's record for the
youngest actor to have received four Oscar nominations. Her
Titanic nomination secured her the record for the youngest ever
double-Oscar-nominee. Her Academy Award nominations to date are
as follows:
- 1995 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Sense and Sensibility
- 1997 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Leading Role - Titanic
- 2001 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Iris
- 2005 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Leading Role - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Winslet has received Golden Globe nominations for Sense and
Sensibilty (Best Supporting Actress), Titanic (Best Actress,
Drama), Iris (Best Supporting Actress), and Eternal Sunshine of
the Spotless Mind (Best Actress, Musical or Comedy).
Winslet won a BAFTA Award as Best Supporting Actress for her
role in Sense and Sensibility. She also received a nomination as
Best Supporting Actress for Iris, and a double nomination for
Best Actress in 2005, for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
and Finding Neverland. She lost to Jennifer Connelly and Imelda
Staunton, respectively.
In 2000 she won a Grammy Award for the 'Best Spoken Word Album
for Children' for Listen To the Storyteller.
On July 6, 2006, Kate Winslet was nominated for an Emmy Award
for her guest appearance, playing herself, on an episode of
"Extras" that premiered in 2004.
Kate Winslet's body figure has been the subject of numerous
conversation in the media. She has been accused of being
overweight, often with an emphasis on her "fat ass". These
accusations have been mostly put forward by the press in the UK.
Winslet has always appeared very comfortable in her skin, having
appeared completely nude in a variety of films (including an
infamous childbirth scene in the movie Jude, in which a
complicated prosthetic device makes it appear that Winslet is
actually delivering a baby on camera).
This Kate Winslet Biography Page is Copyright The Planets © 2004 - 2006 Chuck Ayoub