Name: Kate Winslet
Overview
Date of Birth: 5 October
1975, Reading,
Berkshire, England, UK
Birth Name: Kate Elizabeth Winslet
Nicknames: English Rose, Corset Kate
Height: 5' 6½" (1.69 m)
Spouse
(3)
Ned Rocknroll
|
(5
December 2012 - present) (1 child)
|
Sam Mendes
|
(24
May 2003 - 3
October 2010) (divorced) (1 child)
|
Jim Threapleton
|
(22
November 1998 - 13 December 2001) (divorced) (1
child)
|
| Bio Data: Ask Kate Winslet what she liked about any of her characters, and the word "ballsy" is bound to pop up at least once. The British actress has made a point of eschewing straightforward pretty-girl parts in favor of more devilish damsels; as a result, she's built an eclectic resume; that runs the gamut from Shakespearean tragedy to modern-day mysticism and erotica. |
Still a relative unknown, Winslet attended a cattle call audition the next year for Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility (1995). She made an immediate impression on the film's star, Emma Thompson, and beat out more than a hundred other hopefuls for the part of plucky Marianne Dashwood. Her efforts were rewarded with both a British Academy Award and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Winslet followed up with two more period pieces, playing the rebellious heroine in Jude (1996) and Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996).
The role that transformed Winslet from art house attraction to international star was Rose DeWitt Bukater, the passionate, rosy-cheeked aristocrat in James Cameron's Titanic (1997). Young girls the world over both idolized and identified with Winslet, swooning over all that face time opposite heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio and noting her refreshingly healthy, unemaciated physique. Winslet's performance also garnered a Best Actress nomination, making her the youngest actress to ever receive two Academy Award nominations.
After the swell of unexpected attention surrounding Titanic (1997), Winslet was eager to retreat into independent projects. Rumor has it that she turned down the lead roles in both Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Anna and the King (1999) in order to play adventurous soul searchers in Hideous Kinky (1998) and Holy Smoke (1999). The former cast her as a young single mother traveling through 1970s Morocco with her daughters in tow; the latter, as a zealous follower of a guru tricked into a "deprogramming" session in the Australian outback. The next year found her back in period dress as the Marquis de Sade's chambermaid and accomplice in Quills (2000). Kate holds the distinction of being the youngest actor ever honored with four Academy Award nominations (she received her fourth at age 29).
Off camera, Winslet is known for her mischievous pranks and familial devotion. She has two sisters, Anna Winslet and Beth Winslet (both actresses), and a brother, Joss.
In 1998, she married assistant director Jim Threapleton. They had a daughter, Mia Honey Threapleton, in October 2000. They divorced in 2001. She later married director Sam Mendes in 2003 and gave birth to their son, Joe Alfie Winslet-Mendes, later that year. After seven years of marriage, Kate announced that she and Sam amicably separated in February 2010. She was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her accomplishments in film and television.
Trivia:
Kate met her now ex-1st husband Jim Threapleton
on the set of her movie Hideous Kinky
(1998), where he was working as an assistant director.
Won Best Spoken Word Album for Children, Grammy Awards,
shared with Graham
Greene (2000).
Turned down the Gwyneth Paltrow
role in Shakespeare
in Love (1998) and the Jodie Foster
role in Anna and
the King (1999).
At age 11, she began attending the acting school Redroofs in
Maidenhead, England, UK.
Sister of Anna Winslet,
Joss Winslet and Beth
Winslet. Kate is the second child.
Her first acting job was dancing with the Honey Monster in a
commercial for Sugar Puffs cereal.
Nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Manchester Evening
News Award for her theatre role in "What the Butler Saw" as Geraldine
Barclay (1994).
Chosen by People (USA) magazine as one of the 50 Most
Beautiful People in the World (1996).
She has a younger brother: Joss Winslet.
Parents are Roger Winslet
(actor) and Sally Bridges-Winslet.
After her first success in the film Heavenly Creatures
(1994), a reviewer predicted that she would always be associated with that
character and would never be a big star.
Recorded a song for the soundtrack for the movie Christmas Carol:
The Movie (2001). Producers were so impressed at her efforts they have
decided to release the ballad - called "What If?" - as a single. It
reached the top ten in the United Kingdom, peaking at number six. [June 2001]
(September 3, 2001) Announced that she and husband Jim Threapleton
are separating.
Purchased a $3 million (US) home in London with boyfriend
(later husband) Sam
Mendes. They also bought a home in New York City.
She holds a unique position in Academy Awards history: Only
twice have two actresses been nominated for playing the same character in the
same film. The first two were Gloria Stuart
and Kate in Titanic
(1997). The second two were Judi Dench and
Kate in Iris
(2001).
Married director Sam Mendes in a
private ceremony whilst on holiday in the West Indies. [May 2003]
Daughter Mia's name is Italian for "my".
Prefers to wear boots rather than ordinary shoes because it
makes her feel that her feet are "firmly on the ground".
Missed the premiere of Titanic (1997)
because she was attending the funeral of close friend and former boyfriend, Stephen Tredre.
Resides in both London, England and New York City, USA.
However, her main home is in Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, England.
Has a nephew: George Bryn Mawr Winslet Jones. His mother is Beth Winslet.
Sprained her ankle on the set of Romance &
Cigarettes (2005). [May 2004]
She sold her North London home in Belsize Park to Gwyneth Paltrow
and Chris Martin.
Was considered for the role of Bridget Jones in Bridget Jones's
Diary (2001), but it was then decided she was too young to portray the
role.
On the day she had to film the straitjacket scene in Hamlet (1996),
she learned she had won the role of Rose DeWitt Bukater in Titanic
(1997).
While serving as host of Saturday Night
Live (1975) one week after Ashlee Simpson's
"recorded song malfunction", she opened the show by singing and
dancing live.
Was born in the same hospital as her ex-husband, Sam Mendes.
Filmed her 2005 American Express commercial in Camden Town,
London, England.
First screen kiss was with Melanie Lynskey
in Heavenly
Creatures (1994).
Her performance as Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine
of the Spotless Mind (2004) is ranked #81 on Premiere Magazine's 100
Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
Her daughter Mia had to be delivered by Cesarean section, which
made Kate feel she hadn't given birth properly. She admitted to it only after
giving birth to her son Joe (who had been delivered naturally).
Was offered the role of Eowyn in The Lord of the
Rings: The Two Towers (2002), which went to Miranda Otto.
Kate married Sam Mendes, who
was childhood friends with Tom Hollander,
with whom he went to Cambridge University and whom he directed in several
plays. Tom and Kate were both in the film Enigma (2001).
Nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Premiere magazine for
Sense and
Sensibility (1995)) (1995).
Won Best Film Actress, Smash Hits magazine (1998).
Won Sexiest Actress, Entertainment Insider Awards (1998).
Won Film Actress of the Year, Variety Club of Great Britain
(1999).
Nominated for Best Actress, Roughcut.com Internet Movie
Award for Holy
Smoke (1999) (2000).
When interviewed on Good Morning
America (1975) to promote her film The Holiday
(2006), they surprised her by showing a clip which was supposedly Winslet on
the Sugar Puff Commercial in 1987. However, the girl in the clip shown was not
her. Winslet did not point out the error because she did not want to embarrass
the researcher and get the person fired. She was then praised by the media for
her caring and consideration of other people (2006).
Her performance in Eternal Sunshine
of the Spotless Mind (2004) is her personal favorite.
Along with Claude Rains
(for Mr.
Skeffington (1944)), Vanessa Redgrave
(for Julia
(1977)), Mare
Winningham (for Georgia
(1995)) and Philip
Seymour Hoffman (for The Master
(2012)), she is one of the few performers to be nominated for an Supporting
Oscar (for Iris
(2000)) for playing the title role in a movie. As of 2013, Redgrave is the only
one to win.
As of January 2009, she is the youngest actress to rack up
six Academy Award nominations.
Won Best Actress, Toronto Film Festival for Heavenly Creatures
(1994), shared with Melanie Lynskey
(1995).
Runner-Up for Best Actress, New York Film Critics Circle for
Holy Smoke
(1999) (1999).
Nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Rec.Arts.Movies.*
Critics Circle for Quills (2000)
(2000).
Runner-Up for Best Actress, National Society of Film Critics
for Holy Smoke
(1999) (2000).
Runner-Up for Best Actress, New York Film Critics Circle for
Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) (2004).
Chris Tookey, of the British newspaper "Daily Mail",
chose her as Best Actress of the Year for her roles in The Holiday
(2006) and Little
Children (2006) (2006).
Is a huge fan of Rufus Wainwright's
CD, "Poses" (mentioned in one of her ads for AmEx).
Nominated for Best Actress in a Dramatic Performance,
Excellent Dynamic Activism (EDA) Awards/The Alliance of Women Journalists for Little Children
(2006) (2006).
In an interview for the London Evening Standard, she
revealed she has taken a year off (from April 2006 to April 2007) from her
career, to spend more time with her family (2007).
Official celebrity spokesperson for Lancôme (2007).
Her children refer to very close friend Leonardo DiCaprio
as "Uncle Leo". He also bought Kate an inscribed gold ring, after
they filmed Revolutionary
Road (2008). However, Winslet keeps the inscription a secret.
Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful in
the World (2005).
Auditioned for the role of Elizabeth in Kenneth Branagh's
Frankenstein
(1994). Helena
Bonham Carter got the role, but Branagh was so impressed by Winslet that he
offered her the role of Ophelia in Hamlet (1996).
Involved, along with Sherilyn Fenn, Rufus Sewell, Miranda Richardson
and Paul McGann
in the 1998 film project "Johnny Hit and Run Pauline". The film was
to be executive produced by Emma Thompson,
and written and directed by Fay Efrosini
Lellios. The shooting was set to start in June 1998 in New Hampshire. The
film was canceled due to financial withdrawal (1998).
Placed third equal (with Anne Hathaway)
for Best Actress, New York Film Critics Circle for Revolutionary Road
(2008) (2008).
The Holiday
(2006) was the first movie that Kate used her own accent and did not develop a
special voice for her character.
Sister-in-law of Edmund Harcourt.
Only the third person in history to win two acting Golden
Globes in the same year (Best Actress, Drama for Revolutionary Road
(2008) and Best Supporting Actress for The Reader
(2008)).
As of 2009, she is only one of six performers who won a
Golden Globe Award as Best Lead Actor/Actress in a Motion Picture Drama without
being nominated for an Oscar for that same role (hers for Revolutionary Road
(2008)). The others are Spencer Tracy
in The Actress
(1953), Anthony
Franciosa in Career
(1959), Omar
Sharif in Doctor
Zhivago (1965), Shirley MacLaine
in Madame
Sousatzka (1988), Jim Carrey in The Truman Show
(1998). However, of those six performers, Winslet is the only one to be
nominated and win an Academy Award for a leading role but for a different role,
in a same year.
The producers of the The Reader
(2008) tried to promote Winslet as Supporting Actress during the Oscar race
2009 in order to enhance her chances to get nominated twice (for Best
Supporting Actress for The Reader
(2008) and Best Lead Actress for her role in Revolutionary Road
(2008)). The Academy overthrew this plan by nominating Winslet for Best Lead
Actress for her performance in The Reader
(2008), leaving aside her performance in Revolutionary Road
(2008), although she won several other award nominations in both categories for
the respective movies. According to Academy rules, an actor is eligible for
only one nomination in a single category.
Is one of 11 actresses to have won the Academy Award, BAFTA
Award, Critics' Choice Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same
performance. The others in chronological order are Julia Roberts
for Erin
Brockovich (2000), Renée Zellweger
for Cold
Mountain (2003), Reese Witherspoon
for Walk the
Line (2005), Helen
Mirren for The
Queen (2006), Jennifer
Hudson for Dreamgirls
(2006), Mo'Nique
for Precious
(2009), Natalie
Portman for Black
Swan (2010), Octavia
Spencer for The
Help (2011), Anne
Hathaway for Les
Misérables (2012) and Cate Blanchett
for Blue
Jasmine (2013).
Was originally cast as Nola Rice in Woody Allen's Match Point
(2005), but dropped out at the last minute, so she could spend her time with
her child. The role went to Scarlett Johansson.
Was considered for the role of Satine in Moulin Rouge!
(2001) but Nicole
Kidman, who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her
performance, was cast instead.
Returned to work 11 months after giving birth to her
daughter Mia in order to begin filming The Life of David
Gale (2003).
Returned to work 5 months after giving birth to her son Joe
in order to begin filming Romance & Cigarettes
(2005).
Born at 7:15 am-BST.
(March 15, 2010) Announced that she had separated amicably
from husband Sam
Mendes two months previously.
Is just 12 years older than Evan Rachel Wood,
who played her daughter on Mildred Pierce
(2011).
Virgin Group billionaire Richard Branson
credited Kate with 'helping to carry' his 90-year-old mother out of his burning
Caribbean-island house, where Winslet, her boyfriend 'Ned Rocknroll' and her
two children were staying. [August 2011]
Ranked as having one of the "Most Beautiful Famous
Faces" by "The Annual Independent Critics List of the 100 Most
Beautiful Famous Faces From Around the World" for 17 consecutive years.
She was ranked #55 in 2013, #65 in 2012, #50 in 2011, #31 in 2010, #22 in 2009,
#12 in 2008, #15 in 2007, #18 in 2006, #21 in 2005, #13 in 2004, #11 in 2003,
#14 in 2002, #4 in 2001, #11 in 2000, #20 in 1999, #17 in 1998, and #27 in
1997.
She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the
British Empire) in the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to
drama.
Kate was the first actress considered for the role of River
Song in Doctor
Who (2005). The role went to Alex Kingston.
(November 22, 2012) Was awarded the CBE, by Queen Elizabeth II,
for her services to acting.
(December 26, 2012) Announced that she and Ned Rocknroll,
whom she has been engaged to since July 2012, married in a secret ceremony in
New York with just Winslet's children, Mia and Joe, and 6 friends present. Leonardo DiCaprio
gave the bride away.
Niece-in-law of Richard Branson.
One of her maternal great-great-grandfathers, Alfred Lidman,
was Swedish.
Was working in a deli when she landed her first film role, Heavenly Creatures
(1994).
She has appeared on more than 300 magazine covers around the
world.
Gave birth to her 1st child at age 25, a daughter Mia Honey
Threapleton on October 12, 2000. Child's father is her now ex-1st husband, Jim Threapleton.
Wrote the book "The Golden Hat: Talking Back to
Autism" to raise awareness and support for autism. The book has personal
statements and self-portraits from various celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio,
Marion Cotillard
and Michael
Caine. All revenues will go to The Golden Hat Foundation, a non-profit
organization founded by Winslet [2012].
As of 2014, has appeared in four films that were nominated
for the Best Picture Oscar: Sense and
Sensibility (1995), Titanic
(1997), Finding
Neverland (2004) and The Reader
(2008). Titanic
(1997) won in the category.
Gave birth to her 2nd child at age 28, a son Joe Alfie
Winslet Mendes on December 22, 2003. Child's father is her now ex-2nd husband, Sam Mendes.
Gave birth to her 3rd child at age 38, a son Bear Blaze
Winslet on December 7, 2013. Child's father is her 3rd husband, Ned Rocknroll.
Gave her 3rd son name Bear after her old friend's nickname
and a nickname Blaze because she and her husband met in a house fire.
She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6262
Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on March 17, 2014.
Turned down the female lead role in Transcendence
(2014) due to her dual conflicts with A Little Chaos
(2014) and Divergent
(2014). Rebecca
Hall got the role instead.
Was the 134th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won
the Best Actress Oscar for The Reader
(2008) at The
81st Annual Academy Awards (2009) on February 22, 2009.
Completed on filming A Little Chaos
(2014) when she was three months pregnant with her son, Bear Blaze.
Was five months pregnant with her third child, Bear Blaze,
while filming Divergent
(2014). Despite only being on set for four weeks, it got to a point where
shooting above her waist was required as well as her carrying folders, files
and iPads to cover the bump in master shots.
Returned to work 5 months after giving birth to her son Bear
Blaze, to begin filming Insurgent
(2015). [May 2014]
Personal Quotes (24)
[on her screen debut in Heavenly Creatures
(1994)]: I was reading the script in the back of the car and I turned to my dad
and yelled, "I've GOT to get this!". And he replied, "Then you
will." And I thought, "Yep, that's it. I'm bloody well going
to." And that was it. I was so determined. It was something crucial to my
life. I just so communicated with her, the story and their relationship. And
when I found out, I just couldn't believe it. I was so happy, I cried. I
remember I was working part-time at a deli at the time because I didn't have
any money and was in the middle of making a sandwich when they phoned and said
I'd got the job. I burst into tears and had to leave work because I couldn't
control myself. It was absolutely brilliant.
In 2002, she had this to say about doing nude scenes: I like
exposing myself. There's not an awful lot that embarrasses me. I'm the kind of
actress that absolutely believes in exposing myself.
I'd rather do theatre and British films than move to L.A. in
hopes of getting small roles in American films.
It's very important for me to make the statement that I am
English and just because I've done one really big film, it doesn't mean that I
don't want to keep a finger in the fantastic British film industry and do films
like this.
On her spur-of-the-moment marriage to Sam Mendes: We
hadn't been planning to do it but we thought it was rather a good idea, so we
just did it.
After Titanic (1997),
it would have been completely foolish for me to go and try and top that. I'm an
English girl, I've always loved England, I've never felt the desire to leave it
for any particular reason. And whilst I'm ambitious and care very much about
what I do, I'm not competitive. I also don't want to act every day of my life.
... So it was important to me after Titanic (1997)
to just remind myself of why it was that I was acting in the first place, which
is of course because I love it.
Since I was 13 or 14, I've always felt older than I actually
am.
I was on the tube just before Christmas and this girl turned
round to me and said, "Are you Kate Winslet?".
And I said, "Well, yes. I am actually." And she said, "And
you're getting the tube?". And I said, "Yes". And she said,
"Don't you have a big car that drives you around?". And I said,
"No". And she was absolutely stunned that I wasn't being driven round
in some flash car all the time. It was ludicrous.
People say to me, "You seem to have made this conscious
decision to do independent films." In reality, I haven't. After each
movie, I always think, how different can I possibly be?... Is this going to
challenge me, is this going to inspire me, and is this going to make me love my
job more than I already do?
There is no way we are going to move out of England. Some
might think that we want to live in Hollywood but that is not what we want at
all. We will go and live in New York when it is necessary because of work but
we prefer to be in England. I'm proud to be English - we both are. It's very
important to me to retain that. I am an English girl and I love England. I have
never felt the desire to leave. I am still ambitious and I will have to travel
and live elsewhere because of that but England is always home.
On a scene from the movie Holy Smoke
(1999): It was a difficult scene. When I read the script and I saw this scene
was there, I laughed hysterically. I just couldn't believe it. When it came to
shooting it, I had been sort of putting it off, and pretending it wasn't going
to happen. And suddenly, I am there naked, peeing and thinking "Oh
no!". It was really hard to do, but I've always loved the fact that it was
there, and it's such a sort of turning point for the character I play in the
movie that I've always felt sort of good, that it should be there.
On receiving her 4th Oscar nomination: I can't believe it. I
am ecstatic! This nomination means so much to me. To be remembered for a film
that was released a while ago, I am unbelievably honoured and completely
overwhelmed.
There's more to life than cheekbones.
Mum and dad were very much friends, and up to life. There
was no anxiety for anything when I was growing up, they just taught me to be
me.
Life is short, and it is here to be lived.
Loving someone is setting them free, letting them go.
I don't know if it's a skill, but I have been really lucky.
I've always got on with every actor I've had to work opposite. I just always
try and be as accepting of that person as I possibly can, and remain
non-judgmental about their process, because every actor works in a different
way.
I was a wayward child, very passionate and very determined.
If I made up my mind to do something, there was no stopping me.
On going to the 1996 Oscars: Emma Thompson
said to me "Listen, it's honestly just like going to see a fantastic
show", and actually it really is, because there are so many people to look
at and all those fabulous frocks and it's really fascinating. But mum and dad
and I did kind of amble through it a bit, a bit like the Beverly Hillbillies,
getting out the car, my mum stepping on my dress and I'm going "Mum,
mum!".
I'm really proud of being English, because I learned my job
in England, in English films with English actors. But I never dared dream of
such a success... it's more than a dream. I realize it's extraordinary for a
British actress. I feel good, but guilty at the same time, cause I wish I could
share this emotion with all my British actors' friends... I play the main
character in the most expensive and probably successful film, but that's not a
good reason to leave England and become a superstar. Not at all.
It seems daft that I'm famous and I've not really got to
grips with that.
On taking chances in Hollywood: If you're not still learning
and growing as an actor, then you have no backbone and no career. [November 2000]
My skin still crawls if you call me a movie star. I get
embarrassed. I think, don't be ridiculous. Maybe it's because I'm British. To
me, Julia Roberts
that's a movie star. But when people do call me one, that, I think, is an
enormous compliment but, my God, is that a responsibility!
[on being nominated in the same category as superstar Meryl Streep] It
feels unbelievable to be mentioned in the same breath as fellow actress Meryl
Streep. It's inconceivable to me that this would even happen in my lifetime at
all. It's such a dream.
| Titanic (1997) | $2,000,000 |
| Holy Smoke (1999) | £360,000 |
| Quills (2000) | £450,000 |
| Enigma (2001) | £300,000 |
| Finding Neverland (2004) | £6,000,000 |
| Movie 43 (2013) | $1,600 |
