Kate Beckinsale

Profile
Name: Kate Beckinsale
Birth Name: Kate Beckinsale
Height: 5' 8''
Sex: F
Nationality: British
Birth Date: July 26, 1973
Birth Place: London, England, UK
Profession: Actress
Education: Godolphin and Latymer School in London, England
New College, Oxford University in Oxford, England (majored in French and Russian Literature; dropped out after third year)
Husband/Wife: Len Wiseman (director; met while filming Underworld; engaged on June 14, 2003; married on May 9, 2004)
Relationship: Michael Sheen (actor; born on February 5, 1969; together 1995-2003), Edmund Moriarty (dated while at Oxford)
Father: Richard Beckinsale (actor; born on July 6, 1947; married in 1977; died on March 19, 1979 of a heart attack)
Mother: Judy Loe (actress; born on March 6, 1947)
Half Sister: Samantha Beckinsale (actress; born on July 23, 1966; mother: Margaret Bradley)
Step Mother: Margaret Bradley (married in 1965; divorced in 1971)
Daughter: Lily Sheen (born on January 31, 1999; father: Michael Sheen)
Claim to fame: Feature film debut as a heroin in Kenneth Branagh's film version of Much Ado About Nothing (1993)

Biography
Kate Beckinsale Loe was born on July 26th, 1973, in London to two seasoned British television actors, and has spent most of her life in her place of birth. She made her acting debut in a television WWII drama called One Against the Wind and was soon cast in a short corporate film about industrial accidents. In 1991, Kate attended Oxford University's New College, where she majored in French and Russian Literature. She already knew that she was going to pursue a career in drama, but in order to broaden her horizons she decided to attend a regular university rather than a school geared towards drama and other fine arts.

In 1992, she landed the role of Hero in the film adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (co-starring Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, and Keanu Reeves). Upon receiving three more roles in European productions, Kate dropped out of her studies. Up next for Kate was a role in the 1994 BBC television satire, Cold Comfort Farm (with Ian McKellen), which opened to rave reviews in American art-house theaters and was a smash hit by indie standards. She continued performing in British theater for the next few years and added some more films to her resum, including Emma, Haunted, and Marie-Louise ou la permission.

In 1998, Kate returned to American shores in the film Brokedown Palace, with Claire Danes and Bill Pullman, and starred in the indie films Shooting Fish and The Last Days of Disco, co-starring Chlo? Sevigny. After a role in The Golden Bowl, Kate had a stellar year, being cast in the $150-million Touchstone pic, Pearl Harbor and the romantic comedy Serendipity, co-starring John Cusack. Kate also starred in the thriller Underworld, in which she plays a vampire warrior playing an assistant vampire hunter to Hugh Jackman in Van Helsing. Also, she is currently shooting a film entitled The Aviator, co-starring Cate Blanchett and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Filmography
Actress
2008 Winged Creatures
2008 Whiteout
2007 Snow Angels
2007 Vacancy
2006 Underworld: Evolution
2006 Click
2004 The Aviator
2004 Van Helsing
2003 Tiptoes
2003 Underworld
2002 Laurel Canyon
2001 Pearl Harbor
2001 Serendipity
2000 The Golden Bowl
1999 Alice Through the Looking Glass
1999 Brokedown Palace
1998 The Last Days of Disco
1997 Shooting Fish
1997 Emma
1995 Haunted
1995 Cold Comfort Farm
1994 Marie-Louise Ou La Permission
1994 Royal Deceit
1994 Uncovered
1993 Much Ado About Nothing
1991 Devices and Desires
1991 One Against the Wind

Awards
Year: 1999
Result: Won
Awards: ALFS Award
Category: British Supporting Actress of the Year
for: The Last Days of Disco (1998)

Year: 1997
Result: Won
Awards: Gran Angular Award
Category: Best Actress
for: Shooting Fish (1997)

Trivia

Is amused by her daughter's reaction to the Botoxed women in Hollywood, because she compares them to Lord Voldemort from HARRY POTTER series.

Is set to star in new comic book thriller WHITEOUT, which tells the story of a lone US marshal sent to investigate Antarctica's first murder. (February 9, 2007)

Is the third most searched movie star of 2006, according to IMDB.

Has reportedly moved out of her marital home with daughter Lily, leaving husband Len Wiseman home alone, sparking rumors their marriage is on the rocks. (June 13, 2006)

Spent nine hours getting the perfect haircut before going to the 2006 MTV Movie Awards.

Makes sure her mouth is minty fresh before she kisses her co-stars - because she is paranoid she has bad breath.

Wants to quit the US and return to Britain to raise six-year-old daughter Lily because she wants her to understand her culture. (January 16, 2006)

Denied rumors that she went to England for a secret tryst with a friend, insisting he’s friend's husband and they've just had a baby. (January 7, 2006)

Is glad movie bosses have dumped plans for a doll version of her UNDERWORLD: REVOLUTION character Selene - because the last ones made her look like a transsexual. (January 6, 2006)

Says she strips for her director husband Len Wiseman on a webcam when they are working apart. (December 13, 2005)

Almost quit THE AVIATOR (2004) after she began to doubt her acting career.

Says she would consider a return to university to finish studying. (December 20, 2004)

Is threatening to quit the movie industry, because she's fed up with reading so many false stories about herself. (2004)

Use internet cameras to communicate with her husband when he’s away.

Denied having plastic surgery to boost her bust size, pointing to pregnancy as the cause of her apparently unsightly scars. (2004)

Hated the PEARL HARBOR experience because director Michael Bay bluntly explained she was picked for the film because she wasn't beautiful.

Voted the most beautiful actress in Britain in a poll carried out by UCI Cinemas to mark the release of TROY. (2004)

Is featured in an advertising campaign for Diet Coke.

Is keen to avoid Hollywood's obsession with plastic surgery, rubbishing reports she's had breast implants. (April 13, 2004)

Is desperate to wed her new lover, Len Wiseman, but Sony Pictures bosses are insisting she can't take the time off from promoting UNDERWORLD, the Wiseman-directed film which brought them together. (September 24, 2003)

Was left stunned after demanding her breasts be enhanced on the posters for her new film UNDERWORLD, because artists made them too big. (September 17, 2003)

Hated the tight-fitting leather suit she wore for new movie UNDERWORLD because it was too hot, too cold and she couldn't go to the toilet. (September 16, 2003)

During PEARL HARBOR. (2001) filming, a gust of wind lifted Kate Beckinsale and Catherine Keller's skirts revealing more than the film crew expected to see. Both had been instructed to lose their underpants for a particular scene so that their panty lines were not visible on camera.

Got the lead female role in PEARL HARBOR. (2001) after Charlize Theron pulled out to do SWEET NOVEMBER. (2001)

Lost out to Juliette Binoche for a part in WUTHERING HEIGHTS. (1992)

Suffers from stomach ulcers.

According to an interview she gave on the UK show THE BIG BREAKFAST she hates wearing knickers. (December 2001)

Selected by Hello Magazine as England's Number #1 Beauty. (2002)

Her maternal grandfather was Burmese.

Hand-delivered a pleading letter to director John Schlesinger in Paris in the middle of the night, having failed the audition for the role of Flora Poste in COLD COMFORT FARM. She later won the part after all.

Was paid $200,000 for PEARL HARBOR. (2001)

Nominated for Best Female Performance at MTV Movie Awards for PEARL HARBOR. (2002)