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Kate Winslet Biography:

One of England's premiere actresses, Kate Winslet is best known for acting in elaborately costumed period pieces. Although she has appeared in other types of movies, it is her portrayal of tightly corseted characters such as Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet or Rose in Titanic for which she is best known. She was born October 5th, 1975 in Reading, England, to a family containing several actors and actresses. (Her sister Beth was in The Scold's Bridle.)

At the age of eleven she began attending the Redroofs acting school. During this time, she suffered from a weight problem, reaching 185 lbs. at the height of 5' 6". This was considered a no-no in the acting business and she was given the nickname 'Blubber'. Although she would loose most of this weight and grow another two inches, she is still considered the anti-thesis of the waif look. Shortly after she began to attend Redroofs, Winslet landed her first TV role in a Sugar Puffs commercial, dancing with Honey Monster. Afterwards, she appeared in more TV shows, including Shrinks, Casualty, and Dark Season. She also performed in live theatre before graduating from Redroofs at the age of sixteen.

Eight days after she completed her exams, she was cast in the British sitcom 'Get Back'. After that show, she went to work at a deli. She hadn't been working there long when a customer who happened to be in charge of casting for movies spotted her and decided to cast her in Heavenly Creatures. The movie was met by rave reviews, and although the film had only a modest box office reception, it served as a good start for Winslet's movie career. With her movie career started, her next move was to sign with an agent. She probably considered firing him after he cast her as Princess Sarah in A Kid in King Arthur's Court. With the idea stolen from Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, the movie is full of the 'historical people being amazed at modern technology' clichés that ruin many children's movies.

The seven-minute Mickey Mouse cartoon opener got better reviews. Fortunately, the reviewers did recognise Winslet's acting as being above par, the only person in the movie to be given such recognition. She was much more fortunate in her next movie, Sense and Sensibility (1995), based on the Jane Austen novel of the same name. In order to make her performance more wistful, she took tai chi lessons and read several Jane Austen books. She also took piano lessons, since her character plays piano in one scene. (Winslet also sings in several of her movies.) Also starring Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson, the movie earned Winslet an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. This was her first nomination. After two more movies (Jude and Hamlet, both from 1996), Winslet played in what was easily her most successful movie.

Titanic was written and directed by James Cameron (Terminator, Point Break) and also starred Leonardo DiCaprio (The Quick and the Dead, The Basketball Diaries). Moviegoers flocked en masse to this movie, making it the biggest selling movie of all time. Winslet was awarded the Oscar for Best Actress and became the youngest actress ever to have been nominated twice for an Oscar. Having appeared in several highly costumed period pieces, Winslet was in danger of being typecast. Many people were calling her Corset Kate, since most of her characters wore corsets. She moved away from that character-type in the soon-to-be-released Hideous Kinky. Based on a book by Esther Freud (granddaughter of Sigmund), the movie portrays a hippie (played by Winslet) who travels with her two young daughters from London to Morocco during the late sixties.

The assistant director of this movie was Jim Threapleton, who Winslet married the following November. Winslet is now working on Holy Smoke. In it, she plays a woman attempting to flee a cult leader, but then has an affair with him. This movie also stars Harvey Keitel (presumably as the cult leader) and Pam Grier. Kate Winslet is now one of the top-rated actresses in show business. The critics universally laud her performances, even in the movies that are given bad reviews, such as A Kid In King Author's Court. She has been included in both People Magazine's '50 Most Beautiful People' list and Los Angles Magazine's 'The 40 Most Important People Under 40' list. She has come to embody an ideal other than the 'Anorexic Bimbo' into which so many other actresses are forced.

Source: Celebrity1000.com