Kathryn Romany Beckinsale was born on July 26, 1973 to two veteran British television actors, Richard Beckinsale and Judy Loe. She has a paternal half-sister, Samantha, who is also an actress. They met just once when Kate was very young and did not meet again until 1995. Kate attended the Godolphin and Latymer School, a private all-girls school in London. She was a talented writer as a teenager, winning the W.H. Smith Young Writers’ competition twice – once for three short stories and the again for three poems. She suffered anorexia during her adolescent years, becoming rebellious and starting a smoking habit. She started to imitate her parents and started her career as an actress during this time in her life, landing her first role in “One Against the Wind”, a television movie about World War II. She went to New College, Oxford, studied French and Russian literature but did not finish her degree. She wanted an academic background studying foreign language and literature because she believed it would broaden her range of acting roles.
She got offered a part in Kenneth Branagh’s movie “Much Ado About Nothing” during her first year at Oxford. Because of the movie, she got to travel to Tuscany, Italy where the film was being shot, and got the opportunity to work in other European productions. She spent some more years at the university but quit after deciding to focus more on her acting career. Kate starred in a 1996 TV film adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma”. She subsequently appeared in several low-budget films and had stage roles including the well-received “Cold Comfort Farm” with other British small screen notables.
In 1999, Kate appeared in her first major American film, “Brokedown Palace”. The movie was not a success but the actress was cast shortly after in the 2001 big-budget film “Pearl Harbor” as the female lead opposite Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett. She got the role when Gwyneth Paltrow turned down the part. The movie was a huge success and gave this beautiful British actress her much-needed recognition and breakthrough in American cinema. She got several other high-profile American movies like “Serendipity”, “Underworld” and its sequel, and “Van Helsing”, opposite Hugh Jackman. But she received somewhat poor critical reception for these roles. In 2005, she performed alongside talented actor Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Aviator”. She played the character of Ava Gardner and gained 20 pounds for her role.
She showed a comedic side when she starred opposite funny man Adam Sandler in 2006’s “Click”. In “Vacancy”, Kate replaced Sarah Jessica Parker as the female lead in the movie. Her next film role will be in “Snow Angels”, which is scheduled for release sometime this year.
Kate has a daughter named Lily Mo Sheen (born January 31, 1999) with ex-boyfriend Michael Sheen, who was her co-star in the “Underworld” movies. Sheen played Lucian, leader of the Lycans, and was Kate’s character’s mortal enemy in the movie. She split with Michael during the shooting of “Underworld” and then became involved with the movie’s director, Len Wiseman. In June 2003, Kate got engaged to Len and the couple married on May 9, 2004 in Bel-Air California.
