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Kate Winslet - Biography |
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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.
Born into a family of thespians -- parents Roger Winslet and Sally
Bridges-Winslet were both stage actors, maternal grandparents Oliver and
Linda Bridges ran the Reading Repertory Theatre, and uncle Robert Bridges
was a fixture in London's West End theatre district -- Kate came into her
talent at an early age. She scored her first professional gig at 11,
dancing opposite the Honey Monster in a commercial for a kids' cereal. She
started acting lessons around the same time, which led to formal training
at a performing arts high school. Over the next few years she appeared on
stage regularly and landed a few bit parts in sitcoms. Her first big break
came at age 17, when she was cast as an obsessive adolescent in Heavenly
Creatures (1994). The film, based on the true story of two fantasy-gripped
girls who commit a brutal murder, received modest distribution but was
roundly praised by critics.
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, un-emaciated physique. Winslet's performance also garnered a Best
Actress nomination, making her the youngest actress to ever receive two
Academy nods.
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 1960s 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 James Threapleton,
whom she met on the set of Hideous Kinky (1998); the pair had a daughter,
Mia, in October of 2000. They divorced in 2001. She later married director
Sam Mendes in 2003 and has since given birth to their son Joe. |
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Kate Winslet - Personal Quotes |
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[talking about 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."
About 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 cheek bones."
"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." |
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Kate Winslet - Filmography |
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Gnomeo and Juliet (2008)
(voice) .... Juliet
Revolutionary Road (2008) .... April Wheeler
The Holiday (2006) .... Iris
Flushed Away (2006) (voice) .... Rita
All the King's Men (2006) .... Anne Stanton
... aka Spiel der Macht, Das (Germany)
Little Children (2006) .... Sarah Pierce
Romance & Cigarettes (2005) .... Tula
Finding Neverland (2004) .... Sylvia Llewelyn Davies
Pride (2004) (TV) (voice) .... Suki
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) .... Clementine
Kruczynski
The Life of David Gale (2003) .... Bitsey Bloom
... aka Leben des David Gale, Das (Germany)
Plunge: The Movie (2003) .... Clare
Iris (2001/I) .... Young Iris Murdoch
Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001) (voice) .... Belle
... aka Weihnachtsmärchen, Ein (Germany)
Enigma (2001) .... Hester Wallace
... aka Enigma - Das Geheimnis (Germany)
War Game (2001) (voice) .... Mum/Annie
Quills (2000) .... Madeleine 'Maddy' LeClerc
... aka Quills - Macht der Besessenheit (Germany)
Holy Smoke (1999) .... Ruth Barron
... aka Holy Smoke! (USA: video box title)
Faeries (1999) (voice) .... Brigid
Hideous Kinky (1998) .... Julia
... aka Marrakech express (France)
Titanic (1997) .... Rose DeWitt Bukater
Hamlet (1996) .... Ophelia
... aka William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Jude (1996) .... Sue Bridehead
Sense and Sensibility (1995) .... Marianne Dashwood
A Kid in King Arthur's Court (1995) .... Princess Sarah
Heavenly Creatures (1994) .... Juliet Hulme
... aka Heavenly Creatures: The Uncut Version (USA: longer version)
... aka Himmlische Kreaturen (Germany)
"Casualty" .... Suzanne (1 episode, 1993)
- Family Matters (1993) TV Episode .... Suzanne
"Get Back" .... Eleanor Sweet (2 episodes, 1992)
- You Never Give Me Your Money (1992) TV Episode .... Eleanor Sweet
- Help! (1992) TV Episode .... Eleanor Sweet
Anglo Saxon Attitudes (1992) (TV) .... Caroline Jenington
"Dark Season" .... Reet (6 episodes, 1991)
- Episode #1.6 (1991) TV Episode .... Reet
- Episode #1.5 (1991) TV Episode .... Reet
- Episode #1.4 (1991) TV Episode .... Reet
- Episode #1.3 (1991) TV Episode .... Reet
- Episode #1.2 (1991) TV Episode .... Reet
(1 more)
Shrinks (1990) (TV) |
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Kate Winslet - Related Links |
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Wikipedia: Kate Winslet
YouTube: Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet at Babemania.com
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