Kate Winslet
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Kate Winslet | |
|---|---|
 Winslet at the BAFTAs, February 2007 | |
| Born | Kate Elizabeth Winslet |
| Spouse(s) | James Threapleton (1998–2001)1 child Sam Mendes (2003–present)1 child |
Kate Elizabeth Winslet (born 5 October 1975) is a five-time Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe-nominated, Emmy Award-nominated, BAFTA, Grammy and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning English actress.
She is noted for having played a wide range of diverse characters over her career, but is probably best-known for her critically acclaimed performances as Juliet Hulme in Heavenly Creatures (1994), Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1995), Rose DeWitt Bukater in Titanic (1997), Iris Murdoch in Iris (2001), Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Sarah Pierce in Little Children (2006).
At the age of 22, she broke the record for the youngest person to receive two Oscar nominations,[1] and each of her subsequent nominations has broken a further record: the youngest person to receive three, four, and five nominations.
Life and career
Early life
Kate Winslet was born in Reading, Berkshire, England, the daughter of Sally Ann (née Bridges), a barmaid, and Roger John Winslet, a swimming-pool contractor.[2] Both of her parents were also actors. Her maternal grandparents, Linda (Plumb) and Archibald Oliver Bridges, founded and operated the Reading Repertory, and her uncle, Robert Bridges, appeared in the original West End production of Oliver! Her sisters, Beth Winslet and Anna Winslet, are also actresses.
Winslet, raised as an Anglican, began studying drama at the age of eleven at the Redroofs Theatre School,[3] a co-educational independent school in Maidenhead, Berkshire, where she was head girl and appeared in a television commercial for Sugar Puffs cereal, directed by Tim Pope. Throughout her adolescence, she was severely bullied for being overweight and having exceptionally large feet (which she inherited from her mother).
Career
Winslet's career began on television, with a co-starring role in the BBC children's science fiction serial Dark Season in 1991. This was 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.
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 (played by Melanie Lynskey) 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 worldwide 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 US$1 billion in box-office worldwide. It went on to win 11 Academy Awards.[1]
She was also originally cast as Nola Rice in Woody Allen's movie, Match Point, but declined. She stated she had just finished two movies and wanted to spend time with her kids. The part went to Scarlett Johansson.
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; ironically, she appeared as Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh's version of Hamlet. She was even considered for the role of Satine in "Moulin Rouge!". Throughout her career, she has often turned down other roles in high profile films, such as Anna and the King and Éowyn in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. She has also taken several roles in studio "period dramas" like Quills, Titanic and Finding Neverland. For a time, she was given the nickname "Corset Kate".
In 2005, Winslet appeared in a television commercial for American Express. 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: going to prison for murder (Heavenly Creatures), being penniless and heartbroken (Sense and Sensibility), almost drowning (Titanic), losing her mind (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. When Winslet talks about nearly drowning at age 20 in Titanic, she is walking over a bridge with water underneath it, in reference to the iceberg and water seen in the film.
Winslet also appeared in an episode of BBC's comedy series Extras in August 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 at the time she had 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 (who is a native of the same town as Winslet, Reading, as is her husband Sam Mendes) later said on NPR that she was his favorite guest star.[4] 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.
As of March 2007, Leonardo DiCaprio signed to co-star in Revolutionary Road with Winslet as Frank and April Wheeler, a 1950s couple who appear content on the surface but are withering internally. The film will be the first to reunite the notable duo, who have remained close since their first pairing in Titanic.
There are also talks that Winslet's husband, Sam 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.)
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). She has also 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 andati", in her film Heavenly Creatures, which is featured on the film's soundtrack. She was considered for the lead in Moulin Rouge! (which eventually went to Nicole Kidman); had she taken the part, she would have sung the full soundtrack.
Personal life
While on the set of Dark Season, Winslet shared a five-year romance with actor and writer Stephen Tredre. They moved to London during their relationship. After their romance, she began a relationship with Rufus Sewell. After filming Titanic, Tredre died of bone cancer. Winslet was not at the premier of Titanic because she was attending his funeral in London. She is best friends with Titanic co-star Leonardo DiCaprio.[5]
On 22 November 1998, Winslet married director Jim Threapleton. The two have a daughter, Mia Honey, who was born on 12 October 2000. After a divorce in 2001, Winslet began a relationship with Sam Mendes, whom she married on 24 May 2003 on the island of Anguilla in the Caribbean. Their son, Joe Alfie Mendes, was born on 22 December 2003.
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. GQ issued an apology in the subsequent issue.
Winslet and her husband Mendes currently reside in New York City. They also own a manor house in the tiny village of Church Westcote in Gloucestershire, England. Winslet and Mendes spent £3 million on the secluded Westcote Manor, a rambling Grade II-listed house with eight bedrooms, set in 22 acres. They have reportedly spent more than £1 million on interior renovations, as well as restoring the original water garden, mulberry garden and orchard, all of which fell into disrepair when the former owner, equestrian artist Raoul Millais, died in 1999. As of 2006, it is reported Winslet and Mendes have a large lake house near Canandaigua Lake, in Canandaigua, New York. [6]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes and Awards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Dark Season (TV series) | Reet | |
| 1994 | Heavenly Creatures | Juliet Hulme | |
| 1995 | A Kid in King Arthur's Court | Princess Sarah | |
| Sense and Sensibility | Marianne Dashwood | SAG and BAFTA winner, Oscar and Golden Globe nominations | |
| 1996 | Jude | Sue Bridehead | |
| Hamlet | Ophelia | ||
| 1997 | Titanic | Rose DeWitt Bukater | Oscar, SAG, and Golden Globe nominations |
| 1998 | Hideous Kinky | Julia | |
| 1999 | Faeries | Brigid | (voice) |
| Holy Smoke! | Ruth Barron | ||
| 2000 | Quills | Madeleine 'Maddy' LeClerc | SAG nomination |
| 2001 | Enigma | Hester Wallace | |
| Christmas Carol: The Movie | Belle | (voice) | |
| Iris | Young Iris Murdoch | Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations | |
| 2003 | The Life of David Gale | Bitsey Bloom | |
| 2004 | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | Clementine Kruczynski | Oscar, SAG, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations |
| Finding Neverland | Sylvia Llewelyn Davies | BAFTA nomination | |
| 2005 | Romance & Cigarettes | Tula | |
| 2006 | All the King's Men | Anne Stanton | |
| Little Children | Sarah Pierce | Oscar, BAFTA, SAG, and Golden Globe, nominations | |
| Flushed Away | Rita | (voice) | |
| The Holiday | Iris Simpkins | ||
| 2008 | The Fox And The Child | Narrator | |
| The Reader | Hanna Schmitz | awaiting release | |
| Revolutionary Road | April Wheeler | awaiting release |
Awards
Winslet has earned five Oscar nominations and five Golden Globe nominations, as well as one BAFTA Award and four further BAFTA nominations. She is the youngest Actress to be nominated for 5 Academy Awards. 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.[7]
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 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).[8]
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.
- 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, Winslet 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 6 July 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)
Parody
Winslet is regularly ridiculed by British comedienne Katy Brand, on her ITV2 series Katy Brand's Big Ass Show. The sketches feature the outsize Brand as Winslet, constantly boasting of how "normal" she is, the first series depicting her on her farm, clearly knowing nothing about how a farm works or about animals, and pretending to be unaffected, despite suddenly shouting "Sam Mendes, top director!" when mentioning her husband. In the very first episode, she was repeatedly shouting, "I'm a NORMAL mum! I'm a NORMAL MUM!" while giving a crazed look to camera. In interviews, Brand has said these sketches were inspired by interviews in which the real Winslet endlessly claims to be ordinary and down to earth, despite the trappings of fame and success.
Awards Table
Further reading
- "'The Office' Star Ricky Gervais Back with 'Extras'". Retrieved 2008-08-25.
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References
- ^ a b Lipton, James (host) (2004-03-14). "Kate Winslet". Inside the Actors Studio. Season 10. Episode 1011. Bravo.
- ^ "Family detective: Kate Winslet". Daily Telegraph. 2005-12-05.
- ^ "Redroof Associates FAQ: Is it true that Kate Winslet went to Redroofs?". Retrieved 2008-02-14.
- ^ Brand, Madeleine (2005-09-22). "'The Office' Star Ricky Gervais Back with 'Extras'". National Public Radio.
- ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/a130875/dicaprio-winslet-reunite-on-road.html
- ^ International Vegetarian Union - Kate Winslet
- ^ http://www.discoverkate.com/kate/awards/
- ^ Gallo, Phil (2007-08-23). "This year's Oscar fun facts". Variety.
External links
News
Interviews
- The Blurb interview (April, 2004)
- The Early Show interview (20 February 2003)
- Index Magazine interview (2004)
- USA Weekend interview (24 February 2002)
- "Kate Winslet video interview with stv.tv, December 2006". Archived from the original on 2007-10-12.
- Tiscali Interview (February 2006)
- Kate Winslet Interview in Ananova (2007)
- Kate Winslet Interview in BBC NEWS ENGLAND (Friday, 2004)
- Kate Winslet Interview (16 October 2004)