Kate Elizabeth Winslet, CBE is a British Actress. Often regarded by film critics as one of the "preeminent actresses of her generation", she is known for her work in independent films, particularly period dramas, and usually portrays headstrong, complicated women. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three British Academy Film Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Grammy Award.
Winslet studied drama at the Redroofs Theatre School. Her first screen appearance, at age 15, was in the British television series Dark Season (1991). She made her film debut playing a teenage murderess in Heavenly Creatures (1994), and went on to win a BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for playing Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1995). Global stardom followed soon after with her leading role as Rose DeWitt Bukater in the epic romance Titanic (1997), which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which at age 22 made her the fourth-youngest Best Actress nominee at the time. Titanic was the highest-grossing film of all time to that point, after which she eschewed parts in blockbusters in favour of critically acclaimed period pieces, including Quills (2000) and Iris (2001).
The science fiction romance Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), in which Winslet was cast against type in a contemporary setting, proved to be a turning point in her career, and she gained further recognition for her performances in Finding Neverland (2004), Little Children (2006), Revolutionary Road (2008), and The Reader (2008). For playing a former Nazi camp guard in the latter, she won another BAFTA Award and her first Academy Award for Best Actress. In the 2010s, Winslet played a single mother in 1930s America in the miniseries Mildred Pierce (2011), joined the Divergent film series, and portrayed Joanna Hoffman in Steve Jobs (2015). She won a Primetime Emmy Award for the former and a third BAFTA Award for the lattermost. In 2021, she starred in the HBO crime drama miniseries Mare of Easttown.
For her narration of a short story in the audiobook Listen to the Storyteller (1999), Winslet won a Grammy Award. She performed the song "What If" for the soundtrack of her film Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001). A co-founder of the charity Golden Hat Foundation, which aims to create autism awareness, she has written a book on the topic, The Golden Hat: Talking Back to Autism (2010). Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2009, and in 2012, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Divorcing the film directors Jim Threapleton and Sam Mendes, Winslet has been married to businessman Edward Abel Smith since 2012. She has a child from each marriage.
Early Life[]
Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born on 5 October 1975 in Reading, Berkshire to Sally Anne (née Bridges) and Roger John Winslet. She is of British descent, and also has Irish ancestry on her father's side and Swedish ancestry on her mother's side. Her mother worked as a nanny and waitress, and her father, a struggling actor, took labouring jobs to support the family. Her maternal grandparents were both actors and ran the Reading Repertory Theatre Company. Winslet has two sisters, Anna and Beth, both of whom are actresses, and a younger brother, Joss.The family had limited financial means; they lived on free meal benefits and were supported by a charity named the Actor's Charitable Trust. When Winslet was ten, her father severely injured his foot in a boating accident and found it harder to work, leading to more financial hardships for the family. Winslet has said her parents always made them feel cared for and that they were a supportive family.
Winslet attended St Mary and All Saints' Church of England primary school. Living in a family of actors inspired her to pursue acting from a young age.She and her sisters participated in amateur stage shows at school and at a local youth theatre, named Foundations. When she was five, Winslet made her first stage appearance as Mary in her school's production of the Nativity. She describes herself as an overweight child; she was nicknamed "blubber" by her schoolmates and was bullied for the way she looked. She said she did not let this defeat her. At eleven, Winslet was accepted into the Redroofs Theatre School in Maidenhead. The school also functioned as an agency and took students to London to audition for acting jobs. She appeared in a Sugar Puffs commercial and dubbed for foreign films. At school, she was made head girl, took part in productions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and played the lead role of Wendy Darling in Peter Pan. She worked simultaneously with the Starmaker Theatre Company in Reading. She participated in over twenty of their stage productions, but was rarely selected as the lead due to her weight. Nonetheless, she played key roles as Miss Agatha Hannigan in Annie, the Mother Wolf in The Jungle Book, and Lena Marelli in Bugsy Malone.
Career[]
Winslet was among 175 girls to audition for Peter Jackson's psychological drama Heavenly Creatures (1994), and was cast after impressing Jackson with the intensity she brought to her part. The New Zealand-based production is based on the Parker–Hulme murder case of 1954, in which Winslet played Juliet Hulme, a teenager who assists her friend, Pauline Parker (played by Melanie Lynskey), in the murder of Pauline's mother. She prepared for the part by reading the transcripts of the girls' murder trial, their letters and diaries, and interacted with their acquaintances. She has said she learnt tremendously from the job.Jackson filmed in the real murder locations, and the experience left Winslet traumatised. She found it difficult to detach herself from her character, and said that after returning home, she often cried. The film was a critical breakthrough for Winslet; Desson Thomson, a reviewer for The Washington Post, called her "a bright-eyed ball of fire, lighting up every scene she's in". Winslet recorded "Juliet's Aria" for the film's soundtrack. Also that year, she appeared as Geraldine Barclay, a prospective secretary, in the Royal Exchange Theatre production of Joe Orton's farce What the Butler Saw.
inslet was included on People magazine's "Most Beautiful People" listing in 2005. Her beauty and sex appeal have been picked up by several other publications, including Harper's Bazaar, Who, and Empire magazines. She has said she does not subscribe to the beauty ideal of Hollywood, and uses her celebrity to empower women to accept their appearance with pride. She has spoken against Botox and plastic surgery. In an effort to encourage natural ageing, she formed the British Anti-Cosmetic Surgery League, alongside fellow actresses Emma Thompson and Rachel Weisz. She instructs magazines and brands not to digitally smooth her wrinkles in photographs. Winslet is reluctant to discuss the gender pay gap in the film industry as she dislikes talking publicly about her salary. She has expressed an aversion to elaborate press junkets and red carpet events, terming them a waste of money.
In 2009, Forbes reported her annual salary to be $2 million, a majority of that stemming from her endorsement deals. Also that year, the UK Film Council calculated that she had earned £20 million from her acting roles since 1995. Time magazine named Winslet one of the 100 most influential people in the world in the same year. Madame Tussauds in London unveiled a wax statue of Winslet in 2011. The following year, she received an Honorary César award, and in 2014, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Winslet was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for her services to drama.
Personal Life[]
While filming Dark Season, fifteen-year-old Winslet began a romantic relationship with actor-writer Stephen Tredre, who was twelve years her senior. She considered him a major influence in her life and they lived together in London. They broke up in 1995, but remained close until he died of bone cancer two years later. Winslet skipped the premiere of Titanic to attend his funeral. In a 2008 interview, she admitted to having never got over his death.
A year after Tredre's death, Winslet met Jim Threapleton on the set of Hideous Kinky, on which he served as an assistant director. They married in November 1998 at her primary school in Reading, and their daughter, Mia, was born in 2000. Describing her marriage to Threapleton as a "mess", Winslet later said she had lost control of her instincts during this period. They divorced in 2001. Soon after separating from Threapleton, she met director Sam Mendes when he offered her a part in a play; she turned down the offer but began dating him. Dismayed at the way the British tabloids portrayed her personal life, she relocated to New York City. Winslet and Mendes married in May 2003 on the island of Anguilla, and their son, Joe, was born later that year. The family divided their time in New York with frequent visits to their estate in the Cotswolds, England. Amidst intense media speculation of an affair between Mendes and actress Rebecca Hall, the pair announced their separation in 2010 and were divorced a year later. Winslet admitted to being heartbroken by the split, but affirmed her determination to look after her children in spite of her marital breakups. After divorcing Mendes, she briefly dated model Louis Dowler.
While holidaying at Richard Branson's estate on Necker Island in 2011, Winslet met his nephew Edward Abel Smith (legally known as Ned Rocknroll from 2008 to 2019) during a house fire, and Smith became her third husband. The couple married in December 2012 in New York, and their son, Bear, was born the following year. After moving back to England, Winslet purchased a property worth £3.25 million by the sea in West Wittering, Sussex, where she lives with Smith and her children as of 2015. In a 2015 interview, she commented on how much she enjoyed living in the countryside.
Filmography[]
Anime Dubbing[]
Anime Films[]
- Mary & the Witch's Flower (2017) - Madame Mumblechook
External Links[]
- Kate Winslet at the Internet Movie Database
- Kate Winslet at the Anime News Network's encyclopedia