Kathryn Bailey “Kate” Beckinsale (born 26 July 1973) is an English actress, famous mostly for her role in the films, Pearl Harbor (2001), Underworld (2003-2006, Van Helsing (2004) and Click (2006).
Beckinsale was born in Finsbury Park, London, daughter of actor Richard Beckinsale and actress Judy Love, attending Godolphin and Latymer School in London. As a teen, she won twice the W.H. Smith Young Writers’ competition. Following a turbulent adolescence, including a period of anorexia and smoking habit, she began a career in acting.
Her debut in acting came with a TV film, One Against the Wind in 1991. Beckinsale started studying French and Russian literature at New College, Oxford University in 1991, but she did not finish her degree.
In her first year at Oxford, Beckinsale got a role in Kenneth Branagh’s film, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. While she was studying in Oxford, she also appeared in three other films. Her last year of studies she spent in Paris; she then decided to leave school and work on her acting career. Beckinsale had roles in a couple of low-profile films in 1998, such as Shooting Fish and The Last Days of Disco, also appearing in TV films, including the satire Cold Comfort Farm (1995) that had impressive reviews in the United States.
Beckinsale also acted on stage; in 1995 she toured in England with the production of the Thelma Holts Theatre Company, Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. She appeared in her first important American film, Brokedown Palace in 1999, but it wasn’t a box office success, followed by the leading female role in Pearl Harbor (2001), one the most successful films of the year. In the following years, Beckinsale appeared in several American films, such as Serendipity (2001), Underworld (2003, Van Helsing (2004) or The Aviator (2004).
Beckinsale was ranked 23 by FHM in the list of “100 Sexiest Women in the World” after being ranked 71 a year before. She also ranked 16 in Maxim’s “Hot 100” in 2003, 63 in Stuff’s “100 Sexiest Women in the World” in 2002, and selected “England’s 1 Beauty” in the same year by English magazine, Hello!
In 2006, Beckinsale played again the role of a vampire in the sequel of the 2003 film Underworld, called Underworld: Evolution, film that was a commercial success. Later on, she replaced Sarah Jessica Parker in the 2007 film, Vacancy, followed by the appearance in the 2008 released Snow Angels.
In 2009, Beckinsale is the Sexiest Women Alive of Esquire Magazine.
Beckinsale and her former partner Michael Sheen have a daughter; they separated during the filming of Underworld, and she got involved with Len Wiseman, the director of the film. They became engaged in June 2003 and got married in May 2004 in Bel-Air, California.
Although Beckinsale spent 7 years in the United States, she has no driver licence, the actress stated to Ellen DeGeneres on her show.
Filmography
Underworld 4 (2011) (announced) (rumored) …. Selene
Everybody’s Fine (2009) …. Amy
Whiteout (2009) …. Carrie Stetko
Nothing But the Truth (2008) …. Rachel Armstrong
Winged Creatures (2008) …. Carla Davenport
Vacancy (2007) …. Amy Fox
Snow Angels (2007/I) …. Annie Marchand
Click (2006/I) …. Donna Newman
Underworld: Evolution (2006) …. Selene
The Aviator (2004) …. Ava Gardner
Van Helsing (2004) …. Anna Valerious
Underworld (2003) …. Selene
Tiptoes (2003) …. Carol
Laurel Canyon (2002) …. Alex
Serendipity (2001) …. Sara Thomas
Pearl Harbor (2001) …. Nurse Lt. Evelyn Johnson
The Golden Bowl (2000) …. Maggie Verver
Brokedown Palace (1999) …. Darlene Davis
Alice Through the Looking Glass (1998) (TV) …. Alice
The Last Days of Disco (1998) …. Charlotte
Shooting Fish (1997) …. Georgie
Emma (1996) (TV) …. Emma Woodhouse
Haunted (1995) …. Christina Mariell
Marie-Louise ou la permission (1995) …. Marie-Louise
Cold Comfort Farm (1995) (TV) …. Flora Poste
Uncovered (1994) …. Julia
Prince of Jutland (1994) …. Ethel
Much Ado About Nothing (1993) …. Hero
Anna Lee: Headcase (1993) (TV) …. Thea Hahn
Rachel’s Dream (1992) (TV) …. Rachel
One Against the Wind (1991) (TV) …. Barbe Lindell
“Devices and Desires” …. Young Alice Mair (1 episode, 1991)
AskMen.com posed the question – Who are the top 99 most desirable women?, to readers and over 6 million of them voted. The results of the poll were kind of surprising. One of the biggest surprises was who voters found to be the most desirable of them all.
