Early life
Winslet was born in Reading, Berkshire, England to Roger Winslet and Sally Bridges, both of whom were actors. Her maternal grandparents, Oliver and Linda Bridges, founded and operated the Reading Repertory, and her uncle, Robert Bridges, appeared in the original West End production of Oliver! Her sisters are Beth Winslet and Anna Winslet, also actresses.
Winslet, raised an Anglican, began studying drama at the age of eleven at the Redroofs Theatre School, a co-educational independent school in Maidenhead, Berkshire, where she was head girl and was soon cast as a spokesperson for a cereal in television commercials.
Career
Winslet's career began on television, with a co-starring role in the BBC children's science fiction serial Dark Season in 1991, followed by appearances in the made-for-tv movie Anglo-Saxon Attitudes in 1992 and an episode of the medical drama Casualty in 1993, also for the BBC.
Winslet alongside Melanie Lynskey in Heavenly Creatures. This was her first film role.
Her film career took off with praise and recognition in 1994 when she starred in a joint leading role, as Juliet Hulme in director Peter Jackson's critically acclaimed Heavenly Creatures, playing a vivacious and imaginative teen who helps her best friend murder her mother when they are not allowed to be together.
This role was followed by the successful film Sense and Sensibility (co-starring Emma Thompson), which made her well-known, especially in the UK. Winslet became famous world-wide after the 1997 release of Titanic, a massive hit which holds the record as highest-grossing film in history (not accounting for inflation) at more than 1 billion dollars in box-office worldwide. It went on to win 11 Academy Awards.
Winslet has been regarded as something of a critics' darling, generally receiving positive reviews for every one of her films. Despite Titanic's success, she has continued making lower-budget, independent films, including Hideous Kinky and Holy Smoke!; her roles in these smaller, more artistic films appear to be one of choice - she turned down the lead in Shakespeare in Love to make Hideous Kinky. She has also taken several roles in studio "period drama"s like Quills, Iris and Finding Neverland. (For a time, she was given the nickname "Corset Kate").
In 2005, Winslet appeared in a television commercial for the American Express credit card. As part of the "My Life, My Card" campaign, the ad shows Winslet strolling around Camden Lock, in London, as she makes references to all the events that have happened to her film characters - such as going to prison for murder (Heavenly Creatures), being penniless and heartbroken (Sense and Sensibility), almost drowning (Titanic), losing her mind (Iris (2001 film)|Iris), having her memory erased (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and being in Neverland (Finding Neverland). During the ad, she is shown holding items relating to her films; during the reference to Sense and Sensibility she thumbs through a copy of the book, and when she references Finding Neverland, she's holding a hook.
Winslet also appeared in an episode of BBC's comedy series Extras in August of 2005, as a satirical version of 'herself'. She memorably told Andy and Maggie, the two characters who star in the series, that she was doing a film about the Holocaust because she was tired of losing out on Oscars, as she's been nominated four times, and that everyone who does a film about the Holocaust wins an Oscar. She also (while dressed as a nun) was shown giving phone sex tips to the romantically challenged Maggie. Ricky Gervais later said on NPR that she was his favorite guest star. Her performance in the episode did lead to her being nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Performance in a Comedy Series, but she did not win.
In February 2006, Winslet announced that she would collaborate with her husband, director Sam Mendes, on a film version of the Richard Yates novel, Revolutionary Road. As of March 2007, Leonardo DiCaprio signed to co-star in the project with Winslet as the Wheeler couple, a '50s couple who appear content on the surface but are withering internally. The film of the same name, Revolutionary Road, will be the first to reunite the notable duo, who have remained close since their first pairing in Titanic.
There are also talks that Mendes and his production company, Neal Street Productions, purchased the film rights to the long-delayed biography of circus tiger tamer Mabel Stark. Winslet has stated that she has been eager to portray this complex woman for three years now and is looking forward to working with her husband on bringing this to the screen. (See Mabel Stark's page for more information on the project.)
She also has interest in returning to the stage[citation needed].
Personal life
On November 22, 1998, Winslet married director Jim Threapleton. The two have a daughter, Mia Honey, who was born on October 12, 2000. After a divorce in 2001, Winslet began a relationship with director Sam Mendes, whom she married on May 24, 2003, on the island of Anguilla in the Caribbean, despite rumours that she was in love with a young Australian named Liam Donnelly. Their son, Joe Alfie, was born on December 22, 2004.
The media, particularly in England, have enthusiastically documented her weight fluctuations over the years. Winslet has been outspoken about her refusal to lose weight in order to conform to the Hollywood ideal. In February 2003, the British edition of Gentlemen's Quarterly magazine published photographs of Winslet which had been digitally enhanced to make her look dramatically thinner than she really was; Winslet issued a statement saying that the alterations were made without her consent.
Awards
Winslet has earned five Oscar nominations and five Golden Globe nominations, as well as one BAFTA Award and four further BAFTA nominations. Premiere Magazine named her performance as Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind the 81st greatest film performance of all time.
She has also received numerous awards and nominations from other organizations, including the Screen Actors Guild and the Evening Standard British Film Awards.
Winslet won the Los Angeles Film Critics' Association (LAFCA) award for Best Supporting Actress for Iris. For Holy Smoke!, she was Best Actress runner-up at both the New York Film Critics' Circle (NYFCC) and the National Society of Film Critics (NSFC). Winslet was also NYFCC's Best Actress runner-up for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Academy Awards (Oscars)
Winslet in Titanic
Kate Winslet earned her fifth Academy Award nomination for Little Children at the age of 31, becoming the youngest actress to garner five nominations (in just 19 movies). Previous record holder was Olivia de Havilland, who secured her fifth at the age of 33 in 1950 (with 33 films).
With her Best Actress nomination for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which she eventually lost to Hilary Swank, she surpassed Marlon Brando's record for the youngest actor to have received four Oscar nominations. Her Titanic nomination secured her the record for the youngest ever double-Oscar-nominee.
She has also received two nominations for playing younger versions of another nominee in the same film - the only two instances of different actors playing the same role in the same film both being nominated. She played the younger versions of nominees Gloria Stuart in Titanic and Judi Dench in Iris.
Her Academy Award nominations to date are as follows:
Nominated: Best Supporting Actress, Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Nominated: Best Actress, Titanic (1997)
Nominated: Best Supporting Actress, Iris (2001)
Nominated: Best Actress, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Nominated: Best Actress, Little Children (2006)
Golden Globes
Winslet has received Golden Globe nominations for Sense and Sensibilty (Best Supporting Actress), Titanic (Best Actress, Drama), Iris (Best Supporting Actress), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Best Actress, Musical or Comedy), and Little Children (Best Actress, Drama).
Nominated: Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture, Sense and Sensibility (1996)
Nominated: Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama, Titanic (1998)
Nominated: Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture, Iris (2002)
Nominated: Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Nominated: Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama, Little Children (2007)
BAFTAs
Winslet won a BAFTA Award as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Sense and Sensibility. She also received a nomination as Best Supporting Actress for Iris in 2001, and two nominations for Best Actress in 2004, for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Finding Neverland. She lost to Jennifer Connelly and Imelda Staunton, respectively. In 2006 she received a Best Actress nomination for Little Children.
Won: Best Supporting Actress, Sense and Sensibility (1996)
Nominated: Best Supporting Actress, Iris (2002)
Nominated: Best Actress, Finding Neverland (2005)
Nominated: Best Actress, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2005)
Nominated: Best Actress, Little Children (2007)
Grammys
In 2000 she won a Grammy Award for the 'Best Spoken Word Album for Children' for Listen To the Storyteller.
Emmys
On July 6, 2006, Winslet was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for playing herself on an episode of Extras that premiered in 2004. In this episode she comically criticized the fact that she had (by that point) been nominated for an Oscar four times, but had never won one.
Nominated: Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, Extras (2006)
Music
Winslet has also enjoyed a brief taste of success as a singer, with her single "What If" from the soundtrack of Christmas Carol: The Movie, which reached #1 in Ireland and #6 in the UK (she also filmed a music video for the song). More recently, she participated in a duet with "Weird Al" Yankovic on the Sandra Boynton CD, Dog Train, and sang in the 2006 film, Romance and Cigarettes. She also sang an aria from La Boheme, called "Sono Andanti", in her film Heavenly Creatures, which is featured on the film's soundtrack.
