Kate Beckinsale

     Kathryn Bailey "Kate" Beckinsale (born 26 July 1973) is an English actress. She first gained notice, while a student at Oxford University, for making her debut in the film adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Throughout the 1990s, she worked on both film and television, most notably by portraying the title character in the 1996 ITV television series Emma. In 2001, Beckinsale garnered international recognition when she was cast as the romantic lead opposite Ben Affleck in her breakthrough film, Pearl Harbor (2001). Since then, she has portrayed a variety of characters in projects such as Underworld (2003), The Aviator (2004), and Van Helsing (2004). In 2008, she earned a Critic's Choice Award nomination for her performance in Nothing But the Truth.

     Born in London, to Richard Beckinsale, who died from a heart attack in 1979, and actress Judy Loe. She has a paternal half-sister, Samantha, who is also an actress. Her father was one quarter Burmese, and she has said that she was "very oriental-looking" as a child. Beckinsale attended the Godolphin and Latymer School, an all-girls' independent school in London. In her teens, Beckinsale twice won the W. H. Smith Young Writers' competition—once for three short stories and once for three poems. She won the Youths Burp for Fame burping contest at age 16. After a rebellious adolescence, including a period of anorexia and starting a smoking habit, she followed in the footsteps of her parents and began her acting career. Her first role was in One Against the Wind, a television film about World War II that was first aired in 1991. Having gained three language A levels, Beckinsale studied FrenchRussian literature at New College, Oxford University, though she did not finish her degree. She thought that having an academic background studying foreign language and literature would broaden her range of acting roles.

     Beckinsale and her former partner Michael Sheen have a daughter, Lily Mo Sheen (born 31 January 1999). Beckinsale does smoke but she has reported in interviews that the only time she stopped smoking was while she was pregnant with her daughter Lily. Her daughter already has acting experience portraying a young version of her mother in Underworld: Evolution and Everybody's Fine. During the Underworld shoot, Beckinsale left Sheen, who was also starring in the film, for the director of the film, Len Wiseman. Beckinsale became engaged to Wiseman on 14 June 2003, and the two were married on 9 May 2004 in Bel-Air, California.

Filmography

1991 One Against the Wind
1993 Much Ado About Nothing
1994 Uncovered
1994 Prince of Jutland/Royal Deceit
1995 Cold Comfort Farm
          Haunted
1998 The Last Days of Disco
          Shooting Fish
          Alice Through the Looking Glass
1999 Brokedown Palace
2001 Serendipity
          Pearl Harbor
          The Golden Bowl
2002 Laurel Canyon
2003 Underworld
          Tiptoes
2004 The Aviator
          Van Helsing
2006 Click
          Underworld: Evolution
2007 Vacancy
          Snow Angels
          Nothing But the Truth
2008 Fragments (aka Winged Creatures)
2009 Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
          Whiteout
          Everybody's Fine
2011 The Trials of Cate McCullough
2012 Underworld 4