Kate Winslet knew she
wanted to become an actress at a very early age. "Being cast as the Virgin Mary was
my first acting buzz, if you like," Kate says. "I was only five years old but I
took it very, very seriously. I remember really, really being Mary. Really, really feeling
it." Kate was born on October
5th, 1975, in Reading, England, 50 miles from London. Her family was of theatrical heritage, this practically made
her an actress.
When Kate was 11, she attended the Redroofs Theatre School in Maidenhead,
which she would eventually leave at the age of 16. She got her first job appearing in a Sugar Puffs commercial, dancing with the Honey Monster. She
made her television debut in the British television drama Shrinks (1988). To find
out the rest of her talented acting career go to my Filmography
portion of this site.
"Since I was thirteen
or fourteen, I've always felt older than I actually am," Kate recalls. She had to
battle a weight problem and depression. At age 15, standing 5'6", Kate weighed as
much as 185 lb. and was nicknamed 'Blubber' in high school. Kate was still determined to
become actress though, inspite her problems.
When she left
Maidenhead, she landed a role on the British television sitcom Get Back, just
eight days after completing her examinations. Kate had also found romance at sixteen with
actor Stephen Tredre from Dark Season, whom she remained in a relationship with
for five years. Their engagement was broken off recently when Tredre was diagnosed with
cancer and started to undergo chemotherapy. "He was with me all the time," says
Kate. "Even when I was 13 stone he never, ever asked me to lose weight." She has
also been quoted in interviews as saying that the actor was "the other half of my
soul."
Kate's big break would eventually come when she was cast as Juliet Hulme in the
critically-acclaimed ('Not many have seen, but much discussed') movie Heavenly Creatures (1994). She was working behind the
counter of the Traiteur Pagnol delicatessen in Primrose Hill, London when her life
changed. "I was making pastrami and dill sandwiches when I received the call telling
me I had the role in Heavenly Creatures," Kate said. Her debut won her
international recognition and awards (New Zealand Film and
Television Award, Toronto Film Festival Award, and Empire Magazine Award), along with
movie scripts from Hollywood in abundance.
While Kate was busily promoting Heavenly Creatures in the U.S., an American
representative from the William Morris agency came to see her at the Four Seasons Hotel in
New York at 11 o'clock one evening and signed her. She would follow up her debut with an
unexpected role as Princess Sarah in A Kid in King Arthur's Court
(1995). Many reviewers simply dismiss the movie, but later the same year Kate would redeem
herself by appearing in the heart-warming, Oscar-nominated role of Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1995), having convinced producer
Lindsay Doran that she was right for the part by out-reading everyone at her audition.
Kate heard about her Oscar nomination while traveling in a car: "A girlfriend was
driving when my agent phoned by mobile to say congratulations. I threw myself on the floor
of the car in excitement." The people at William Morris were now busy helping to make
her a household name. All of sudden, Kate Winslet found herself 'hot' in Hollywood, having
achieved 'sex symbol' status amongst critics and gossipers.
The next year, Kate would return to the silver screen with back-to-back performances as
Sue Bridehead in Jude (1996) and Ophelia in Hamlet (1996). These two roles were very well-received by
critics but inexplicably passed over for Academy Award nominations.
Kate is one of the most talented, up-and-coming young actresses working in Hollywood. She
has been featured on the cover of Vanity Fair in the company of Cameron Diaz, Claire
Danes, and other actresses with brilliant careers ahead of them. Los Angeles magazine has
put her on their "The 40 Most Important People Under 40 list," and People
magazine has declared Kate one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in the world.
So far, Kate's rise to stardom (acquiring such titles as 'English Rose' and 'Starlet
Express') has given her a resume consisting entirely of period films, thus earning her the
nickname 'Corset Kate'. Kate has expressed her desire to do a modern film to break this
stereotype and "throw away the corset. I really want to be a Valley Girl in a
feel-good American movie," she says. "I'd love to do some big action
number."
Presently, Kate can be seen in Titanic (1997), playing
the role of Rose Dewitt Bukater, an upper-class Philadelphian who falls for working-class
Leonardo Dicaprio aboard the ill-fated oceanliner. A favorite of critics and audiences
worldwide, Titanic has become the third highest grossing film of all time.
Kate recently completed
filming Hideous Kinky due out in 1998. Kate plays the
young mother of two children traveling through Africa with their mother. The film is based
on a novel by Esther Freud, and was filmed throughout Morocco.
Right now Kate is
planning to take a break from work to spend time with her family and friends in London.
Until I write my
own, this biography courtesy of The Kate
Winslet Show.