Kate Beckinsale

Kathrin Romany "Kate" Beckinsale (London, July 26, 1973) is a British actress and model with a long career, known for her role as Selene in the Underworld saga among other action films and for romance films such as Much Ado About Nothing (1993) or Serendipity.

Biography

Early Years

Kathrin Romany Beckinsale was born in Chiswick, London, England. She is the only child of actor Richard Beckinsale and actress Judy Loe. Her father was of Burmese descent. She made her first television appearance at the age of four, in an episode of This is Your Life dedicated to his father.When he was five years old, his 31-year-old father died suddenly of a heart attack. Beckinsale was deeply traumatized by the loss and "began to expect bad things to happen". While she has seen her father "more on TV than in life", &#34 "There are certainly enough memories, not to feel like it's someone I didn't know." His widowed mother moved in with director Roy Battersby when Beckinsale was nine and he grew up with their four sons and daughter. He is close to his stepfather: "there could be no point better...he wasn't aggressive, so he let me come to him." Beckinsale has a paternal half-sister, actress Samantha Beckinsale, but they have not had regular contact.

Beckinsale was educated at Godolphin and Latymer School, an independent (private) school for girls located in Hammersmith, West London and was involved with the Orange Tree Youth Theatre.

She was a two-time winner of the WH Smith Literary Award in the category of Science Fiction and Poetry. She has described herself as a "late bloomer": 'All my girlfriends were kissing boys and drinking cider in front of me. I found it very depressing that we weren't making fires in the camps, because everyone went to do adult things" declares. " I hated being a teenager.” She had a nervous breakdown and developed anorexia at the age of 15, for which she underwent Freudian psychoanalysis for four years.

Beckinsale studied French and Russian literature at New College, Oxford, was later described by one of her contemporaries, the journalist Victoria Coren, as "a scourging intelligence, slightly mad, and very charming" Beckinsale was involved with the Oxford University Dramatic Society, her most notable work being directed by fellow student Tom Hooper in a production of A View from the Bridge i> at the Oxford Theatre. She spent her third year in Paris as part of her compulsory year abroad as a Modern Languages major, after which she decided to leave university to concentrate on her blossoming acting career: "it was getting to the point where I wasn't enjoying anything, because the pressure was so high, I was burning out and I knew I had to make a decision."

Career

During his first year at Oxford, Beckinsale received an offer to star in Kenneth Branagh's film Much Ado About Nothing, an adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy. With this film the doors were opened for her to intervene in others, which she did while she was still studying at the university.

She spent her third year of college in Paris to familiarize herself with French culture. Later, he decided not to attend the fourth and last year and concentrated on his acting career.

She subsequently landed roles in low-budget films including: Shooting Fish, Alice Through the Looking Glass and The Last Days of Disco, both in 1998. He also participated in the television series Cold Comfort Farm. Her first appearance in American films was Brokedown Palace, in 1999, which was not commercially successful.

Success and international recognition came in 2001, with Pearl Harbor. It was followed by Serendipity, the same year, Underworld in 2003, and Van Helsing and The Aviator, in 2004.

In January 2006, Beckinsale starred in Underworld: Evolution, the sequel to the 2003 film. His next notable role was in the comedy Click, produced by and co-starring Adam Sandler.

In 2007, she starred in the horror film Vacancy, opposite Luke Wilson.

Between 2002 and 2009 Beckinsale was chosen as one of the most attractive women in the world, by various magazines such as Hello!, Stuff, Maxim, FHM, and Esquire.

As a writer, she has won several awards for her poems and short stories. She also speaks French, Russian and German.

Modeling

Beckinsale has occasionally worked as a model. In 1997, she appeared in George Michael's music video Waltz Away Dreaming. In 2002, she starred opposite Orlando Bloom in a television commercial for Gap, directed by Cameron Crowe. Diet Coke commercial in 2004, directed by Michel Gondry. In 2009 Absolut Vodka advertised a Beckinsale photography campaign by Ellen von Unwerth. It has also promoted Lux soap in a Japanese television ad.

Private life

Relationships

Beckinsale at the London premiere Live Free or Die Hard2007

Beckinsale was in an eight-year relationship with actor Michael Sheen, from 1995 to 2003. They met when he was cast in a tour production of The Seagull in early 1995 and moved to live together soon after. It has been said that it was "love at first sight" and that he saved her from "a hospital for the criminally insane". In 1997, he appeared in a production of radio from Romeo and Juliet. Their daughter, Lily Mo Sheen, was born in London in 1999. The actress has said it was "a shame" that Sheen had never proposed to her, but that she she felt as if she were married: "If you own a library book for too long, you feel like it's yours."

Their relationship ended in early 2003, after the filming of Underworld. Beckinsale had convinced director Len Wiseman to have Sheen in the film, but she and Wiseman, who was married They started a relationship. All parties, other than Wiseman's first wife, have maintained that there was no infidelity, and Beckinsale and Sheen remained close friends. Wiseman married Beckinsale on May 9, 2004 in Bel-Air, California. In November 2015, it was announced that Beckinsale and Wiseman were divorcing.

Legal Actions

In July 2003, the Press Complaints Commission dismissed a lawsuit filed by Beckinsale. Beckinsale had claimed that the Daily Mail invaded her and her daughter's privacy by publishing photos of her hugging her daughter and then being kissed by her new boyfriend, Len Wiseman. The article was titled Mom Lily's Shocked Last Love Scene and included an image of her four-year-old daughter ignoring her mother's romantic actions. The Commission found that the photographs had been taken in a public place and did not reveal private details about Lily, such as her health or education, but that they were restricted from view by the majority of the public". In August 2003, Beckinsale received an apology published from the Daily Mail, after the newspaper reported that she had spent time in a clinic following the split from her boyfriend Michael Sheen. was issued after the actress filed a complaint with the Comis ion of Press Complaints. In 2009, Beckinsale was awarded £20,000 in damages by the British High Court after taking legal action against the newspaper Northern & Shell. The Daily Express had falsely reported that the actress was facing heartbreak after missing a part of the remake of Barbarella.

Charity work

Kate Beckinsale in 2008

Beckinsale has been a member of the British Heart Foundation "since she was six years old". She has also donated memorabilia from her films to the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation, MediCinema, Habitat for Humanity and the Entertainment Industry Foundation. In 2008 he hosted the 4th Annual Pink Party to raise funds for the Women's Cancer Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and hosted a screening of Naked Eve for FilmAid International. In 2012 Beckinsale joined Nestlé's Share the Joy of Reading Program to raise awareness of the importance of children's literacy.

Filmography

Television

Video Games

Theater

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