Kate Winslet Biography

This Reading, England native cashed her first paycheck for acting after gamboling with a creature called 'Honey Monster' in a TV commercial for a sweetened breakfast cereal when she was 11. That was in 1986 and the young Winslet had just begun taking acting lessons. Five years later, after graduating from a performing arts high school, Winslet found herself on the British stage and on TV before, at 17, she bagged a role as a young murderess in her first feature film, Heavenly Creatures. That role got everyone talking about the young Winslet.

She followed her Heavenly Creatures performance with a bunch of corseted roles that saw her in danger of being known as one of those British actresses best suited for period-piece performances only. But there's little danger of that as Winslet says, "I really want to be a Valley Girl in a feel-good American movie. I'd love to do some big action numbers."

For her role in Sense and Sensibility (1995), she earned her first Oscar nomination. With her starring role in the blockbuster Titanic, she earned a second Oscar nomination, a third for her work in Iris (2001), a fourth for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and a fifth for Little Children (2006). But has all this fame and success gone her head? Don't count on it. "The hardest thing about working in a film environment—and all of Los Angeles is a film environment," Winslet says, "is that you're immersed in a fantasy world all the time. It's goddamn safe. Everything's done for you. Your life outside your work stops for that period of time. Then, the shoot is over. Suddenly, you have to wash your knickers on the weekend. I've always loved to get back to that reality. Others don't."

In 2009, Winslet was a double Golden Globe winner for her performances in The Reader and Revolutionary Road. She also received an Academy Award for her work in The Reader. In 2012, Winslet got to once again ride the ship of dreams when Titanic was re-released in 3D. She also starred in Divergent (2014) and A Little Chaos (2015). She then won a 2016 Golden Globe award, as well as an Academy Award nomination, for her performance in Steve Jobs (2015).

Next, she starred in the crime thriller Triple 9 (2016), and the dramas The Dressmaker (2016) and Collateral Beauty (2016). In 2017, she starred opposite Idris Elba in the survival drama The Mountain Between Us and the Woody Allen-directed film Wonder Wheel.

She then starred in Blackbird (2019), a remake of the Danish film Silent Heart. In 2020, she starred opposite Saoirse Ronan in Ammonite, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. She also lent her voice to the modern day reimagining of Anna Sewell’s timeless classic, Black Beauty (2020), voicing the titular role.

Winslet and assistant director husband Jim Threapleton had a baby girl, Mia, in October 2000. Unfortunately, they divorced in December 2001. She went on to marry director Sam Mendes in a private ceremony in May 2003, and their son, Joe Mendes, was born on December 22, 2003. She then married Ned Rocknroll, nephew of Richard Branson, in December 2012. The couple has a son, Bear Blaze, who was born on December 7, 2012.

Filmography

Ammonite (2020)
Black Beauty (2020)
Buttons: A Christmas Tale (2019)
Blackbird (2019)
Wonder Wheel (2017)
The Mountain Between Us (2017)
Collateral Beauty (2016)
The Dressmaker (2016)
Triple 9 (2016)
The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015)
A Little Chaos (2015)
Steve Jobs (2015)
Divergent (2014)
Labor Day (2014)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2013)
Contagion (2011)
Carnage (2011)
Revolutionary Road (2008)
The Reader (2008)
The Holiday (2006)
Flushed Away (2006) (voice)
Little Children (2006)
All the King's Men (2006)
Deep Sea 3D (2006) (voice)
Romance & Cigarettes (2005)
Finding Neverland (2004)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
The Life of David Gale (2002)
Enigma (2002)
Thérèse Raquin (2001)
Iris (2001)
Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001) (voice)
Therese Raquin (2001)
Quills (2000)
Holy Smoke (2000)
Faeries (1999) (voice)
Hideous Kinky (1998)
Titanic (1997)
Hamlet (1996)
Jude (1996)
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Kid in King Arthur's Court, A (1995)
Heavenly Creatures (1994)