Kate Beckinsale

Nationality

England

Date of birth 

26 July 1973

Height

5' 8"(1.73 m)

Real Name

Kathryn Bailey "Kate" Beckinsale

Early life:
Beckinsale was born in London to actor Richard Beckinsale and actress Judy Loe. Her father unexpectedly died from a heart attack in 1979 (at the age of 31) when she was just five years old. Her mother later married director Roy Battersby, and Beckinsale was raised alongside his four sons and daughter. She also has a paternal half-sister, actress Samantha Beckinsale.
Beckinsale attended Godolphin and Latymer School in West London and was involved with the Orange Tree Youth Theatre. In her teens, she twice won the W. H. Smith Young Writers' competition—once for short stories and once for poetry. She had a nervous breakdown and developed anorexia at the age of fifteen and underwent Freudian psychoanalysis for four years.
She studied French and Russian literature at New College, Oxford University and was involved with the Oxford University Dramatic Society, most notably being directed by fellow student Tom Hooper in a production of A View from the Bridge at the Oxford Playhouse. She spent her third year in Paris as part of Oxford's study-abroad program, after which she decided to leave university to concentrate on her burgeoning acting career.

Personal life:
Beckinsale married American director Len Wiseman on 9 May 2004 in Bel-Air, California. They live in Los Angeles with Beckinsale's daughter, Lily Mo Sheen.
Beckinsale previously had a nine-year relationship with Welsh actor Michael Sheen from 1995 to 2003. Their daughter, Lily Mo Sheen, was born 31 January 1999. They met when cast in a Theatre Royal, Bath production of The Seagull. Their relationship ended when, during the filming of Underworld (in which they both starred), Beckinsale fell for the film's married director, Len Wiseman. Sheen has said, "'It was obviously not easy, but he's a lovely bloke, Len, and I never felt like anything had gone on behind my back."
Beckinsale and Sheen have remained close friends. Beckinsale has said, "I love him dearly – I would miss him dreadfully if he wasn't in my life." "He is one of the most thoughtful, principled people and Lily is so lucky to have him as a dad."

Career:

Beckinsale landed her first major role, in Kenneth Branagh's big-screen Shakespearean adaptation, Much Ado About Nothing, during her first year at Oxford University. She filmed three other movies while at university: Prince of Jutland, Uncovered and French-language Marie-Louise Ou La Permission. Shortly after leaving Oxford, Beckinsale appeared in Cold Comfort Farm, Haunted and the TV adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma. In 1995 and 1996, Beckinsale worked on four plays, most notably The Seagull opposite Michael Sheen.In 1997, she starred in Shooting Fish and as Juliet in a radio production of Romeo and Juliet opposite her then partner, Michael Sheen, who also directed.

Beckinsale in the "54th Festival de Cine de San Sebastián"

Beckinsale then began to seek work in Los Angeles, starring in 1998's The Last Days of Disco with Chloe Sevigny and 1999's Brokedown Palace with Claire Danes. The former earned her a London Critics Circle Film Award. After a break following the birth of her daughter, Beckinsale was cast in 2001's Pearl Harbor opposite Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett, one of the highest-grossing films of its year. She followed this with Serendipity, The Golden Bowl and Laurel Canyon.

She became known as an action star following staring roles in Underworld and Van Helsing. In 2004, she portrayed Ava Gardner in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, a role for which she gained almost 1½ stones (21 lbs). Other roles included Click with Adam Sandler and Tiptoes with Gary Oldman.

In 2006, Beckinsale reprised her role as a vampire in the successful sequel Underworld: Evolution and, in 2007, she appeared in thriller Vacancy and independent film Snow Angels. In 2008, she appeared in Winged Creatures and Nothing But the Truth, receiving a a Critic's Choice Award nomination for her performance in the latter. Despite strong award buzz for both Beckinsale and co-star Vera Farmiga, the film never received a full theatrical release after the distributor filed for bankruptcy. In 2009, she starred in the comic-book adaption Whiteout and Everybody's Fine opposite Robert De Niro.

Beckinsale has three films set for release in 2012: Underworld 4, Contraband and Total Recall.

Winner:

• 1997 Best Actress Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival Shooting Fish
  
• 1999 British Supporting Actress of the Year (tied with Minnie Driver for Good Will Hunting) London Critics Circle Film Awards The Last Days of Disco

Nominated:

• 2002 Best Actress Saturn Award Serendipity
  
• 2004 Best Actress Saturn Award Underworld
  
• 2004 Best Trans-Atlantic Breakthrough Performer MTV Movie Awards
  
• 2005 Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (shared with the cast) Screen Actors Guild Awards The Aviator
  
• 2005 Favorite Female Action Movie Star People's Choice Awards
  
• 2006 Best Hero MTV Movie Awards Underworld: Evolution
  
• 2006 Favorite Female Action Star People's Choice Awards
  
• 2008 Best Actress Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Nothing But the Truth

Stage:

The Seagull (as Nina), Theatre Royal, Bath and Tour, 1995

Sweetheart (as Toni), Royal Court Theatre, 1996

Clocks and Whistles (as Anne), The Bush, 1996

Faithless, unknown London theatre, 1996

Radio:

Narrated Emma (1996) for Hodder & Stoughton AudioBooks and Diana Hendry's The Proposal (1997) for BBC Radio 4. Appeared as Juliet in the Naxos AudioBooks's production of Romeo and Juliet (1997).