Kate
Winslet
Kate
Winslet knew
she wanted to become an actress at a very early age. "Being
cast as the Virgin Mary was my first acting buzz, if you like,"
Kate Winslet says. "I was only five years
old but I took it very, very seriously. I remember really, really
being Mary. Really, really feeling it." Kate was born on October
5, 1975, in Reading, England. Her family was of theatrical heritage,
this practically made her an actress.
When Kate Winslet was 11, she attended the Redroofs
Theatre School in Maidenhead, which she would eventually leave at
the age of 16. She got her first job appearing in a Sugar Puffs
commercial, dancing with the Honey Monster. She made her television
debut in the British television drama Shrinks (1988).
"Since I was thirteen or fourteen, I've always felt older than
I actually am," Kate Winslet recalls. She
had to battle a weight problem and depression. At age 15, standing
5'6", Kate weighed as much as 185 lb. and was nicknamed 'Blubber'
in high school. Kate was still determined to become actress though,
inspite her problems.
When she left Maidenhead, she landed a role on the British television
sitcom Get Back, just eight days after completing her examinations.
Kate had also found romance at sixteen with actor Stephen Tredre
from Dark Season, whom she remained in a relationship with for five
years. Their engagement was broken off recently when Tredre was
diagnosed with cancer and started to undergo chemotherapy. "He
was with me all the time," says Kate Winslet.
"Even when I was 13 stone he never, ever asked me to lose weight."
She has also been quoted in interviews as saying that the actor
was "the other half of my soul."
Kate Winslet big break would eventually come when
she was cast as Juliet Hulme in the critically-acclaimed movie Heavenly
Creatures (1994). She was working behind the counter of the Traiteur
Pagnol delicatessen in Primrose Hill, London when her life changed.
"I was making pastrami and dill sandwiches when I received
the call telling me I had the role in Heavenly Creatures,"
Kate Winslet said. Her debut won her international
recognition and awards (New Zealand Film and Television Award, Toronto
Film Festival Award, and Empire Magazine Award), along with movie
scripts from Hollywood in abundance.
While Kate Winslet was busily promoting Heavenly
Creatures in the U.S., an American representative from the William
Morris agency came to see her at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York
at 11 o'clock one evening and signed her. She would follow up her
debut with an unexpected role as Princess Sarah in A Kid in King
Arthur's Court (1995). Many reviewers simply dismiss the movie,
but later the same year Kate Winslet would redeem
herself by appearing in the heart-warming, Oscar-nominated role
of Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1995), having convinced
producer Lindsay Doran that she was right for the part by out-reading
everyone at her audition.
Kate Winslet heard about her Oscar nomination while
traveling in a car: "A girlfriend was driving when my agent
phoned by mobile to say congratulations. I threw myself on the floor
of the car in excitement." The people at William Morris were
now busy helping to make her a household name. All of sudden, Kate
Winslet found herself 'hot' in Hollywood, having achieved
'sex symbol' status amongst critics and gossipers.
The next year, Kate Winslet would return to the
silver screen with back-to-back performances as Sue Bridehead in
Jude (1996) and Ophelia in Hamlet (1996). These two roles were very
well-received by critics but inexplicably passed over for Academy
Award nominations.
At the present, Kate is one of the most talented, up-and-coming
young actresses working in Hollywood. She has recently been featured
on the cover of Vanity Fair in the company of Cameron Diaz, Claire
Danes, and other actresses with brilliant careers ahead of them.
Los Angeles magazine has put her on their "The 40 Most Important
People Under 40 list," and People magazine has declared Kate
one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in the world.
So far, Kate Winslet rise to stardom (acquiring
such titles as 'English Rose' and 'Starlet Express') has given her
a resume consisting entirely of period films, thus earning her the
nickname 'Corset Kate'. Kate has expressed her desire to do a modern
film to break this stereotype and "throw away the corset. I
really want to be a Valley Girl in a feel-good American movie,"
she says. "I'd love to do some big action number."
Her current movie is Titanic (1997), playing the role of Rose Dewitt
Bukater, an upper-class Philadelphian aboard the ill-fated ocean
liner. The official release date has been announced as December
19, 1997 in the U.S. With the success of Titanic, bigger and better
things will definitely be forthcoming for Kate Winslet.
Her next appearances will come in Hideous Kinky, coming out on February
5th in England, and April 16th in North America, and Holy Smoke,
where she stars for the brilliant director Jane Campion. Hideous
Kinky recently premiered in England to rave reviews. Only time will
tell if it becomes a relative success at the box office, but since
it is a smaller film, it won't have very wide distribution. It will
be interesting to see how her film career will develop, for with
such diverse talent, her future roles are surely going to continue
to amuse us. More films are to come. Kate Winslet
brings sophistication and style to the world of young actors and
will definitely prove to be a notable name. Without doubt, she's
the actress of our generation.
