Kate Beckinsale Biography

Name:Kate Beckinsale

Date of Birth:26 July 1973

Place of Birth:Finsbury Park, London, England

Kathryn Bailey "Kate Beckinsale" is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing (1993) while still a student at Oxford University.  Kate Beckinsale then appeared in British costume dramas such as Prince of Jutland (1994), Cold Comfort Farm (1995), Emma (1996) and The Golden Bowl (2000), in addition to various stage and radio productions.  Kate Beckinsale began to seek film work in the United States in the late 1990s and, after appearing in small-scale dramas The Last Days of Disco (1998) and Brokedown Palace (1999), she had a breakout year in 2001 with starring roles in the war epic Pearl Harbor and the romantic comedy Serendipity.  Kate Beckinsale built on this success with appearances in The Aviator (2004) and Click (2006).

 Kate Beckinsale garnered a reputation as an action star following an appearance as a vampire in 2003's Underworld and has since starred in Van Helsing (2004), Underworld: Evolution (2006) and Whiteout (2009).  Kate Beckinsale has also continued to work on smaller dramatic projects such as Snow Angels (2007), Winged Creatures (2008), Nothing but the Truth (for which she earned a Critic's Choice Award nomination in 2008) and Everybody's Fine (2009).  Kate Beckinsale has three films set for release in 2012: the fourth installment of the vampire franchise Underworld: Awakening, the crime thriller Contraband and the sci-fi remake Total Recall.

 Kate Beckinsale is the only child of actors Richard Beckinsale (1947–1979) and Judy Loe and was raised in London.  Kate Beckinsale  had an eight-year relationship with Welsh actor Michael Sheen from 1995 until 2003. Their daughter, Lily Mo Sheen, was born in London in 1999.  Kate Beckinsale married American film director Len Wiseman in 2004 and they live in Los Angeles, California. Publications such as Esquire and People Magazine have repeatedly included her in their annual rankings of the world's sexiest and most beautiful women.  Kate Beckinsale has worked occasionally as a model in television and print campaigns to promote Gap denim, Diet Coke, Absolut Vodka and Lux shampoo.

Early Life

Beckinsale was born in London, England, the youngest child of actor Richard Beckinsale and actress Judy Loe.  Kate Beckinsale  made her first television appearance at the age of four in an episode of This is Your Life dedicated to her father. When she was five years old, her 31-year-old father died suddenly of a heart attack. Beckinsale was deeply traumatised by the loss and "started expecting bad things to happen".While she has seen her father "more on television than I have in life," "there are certainly enough memories for me not to feel that it's somebody I didn't know." Kate Beckinsale widowed mother moved in with director Roy Battersby when Beckinsale was nine and she was raised alongside his four sons and daughter.  Kate Beckinsale has a close relationship with her step-father: "I couldn't have knitted a better one ... He wasn't pushy, he let me come to him."  Kate Beckinsale has a paternal half-sister, actress Samantha Beckinsale, but they have never had regular contact.

Beckinsale was educated at 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—and was presented with the prize by poet Ted Hughes.  Kate Beckinsale has described herself as "a late bloomer": "All of my friends were kissing boys and drinking cider way before me. I found it really depressing that we weren't making camp fires and everyone was doing grown-up stuff." "I loathed being a teenager."  Kate Beckinsale had a nervous breakdown and developed anorexia at the age of fifteen and underwent Freudian psychoanalysis for four years.

 Kate Beckinsale read French and Russian literature at New College, Oxford University and was later described by a contemporary, journalist Victoria Coren, as "whip-clever, slightly nuts and very charming".  Kate Beckinsale 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. Kate Beckinsale spent her third year in Paris as part of Oxford's study-abroad programme, after which she decided to leave university to concentrate on her burgeoning acting career: "It was getting to the point where I wasn't enjoying either thing enough because both were very high pressure. I was burning out and I knew I had to make a decision."

Career

Early Roles 

Beckinsale decided at a young age that she wanted to be an actress: "I grew up immersed in film. My family were in the business. I quickly realised that my parents seemed to have much more fun in their work than any of my friends’ parents."  Kate Beckinsale  made her television debut in 1991 with a small part in an ITV adaptation of P. D. James’ Devices and Desires. Also that year, she appeared as a young woman engaging in a forbidden affair with a Nazi officer in the Hallmark film One Against The Wind. In 1992, she starred alongside Christopher Eccleston in Rachel’s Dream, a 30-minute Channel 4 short, and in 1993, she appeared in the pilot of the ITV detective series, Anna Lee, starring Imogen Stubbs.

In 1993, she landed the role of Hero in Kenneth Branagh's big-screen adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. It was filmed in Tuscany, Italy during a summer holiday from Oxford University.  Kate Beckinsale attended the film's Cannes Film Festival premiere and later remembered it as an overwhelming experience. "Nobody even told me I could bring a friend!" "I had Doc Martens boots on, and I think I put the flower from the breakfast tray in my hair". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone was won over by her "lovely" performance while Vincent Canby of The New York Times noted that she and Robert Sean Leonard "look right and behave with a certain naive sincerity, although they often seem numb with surprise at hearing the complex locutions they speak."  Kate Beckinsale filmed three other movies while at university. In 1994, she appeared as Christian Bale's love interest in Prince of Jutland, a film based on the Danish legend which inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet, and starred in the murder mystery Uncovered. In 1995, while studying in Paris, she filmed the French-language Marie-Louise Ou La Permission.

Shortly after leaving Oxford University in 1995, Beckinsale starred in Cold Comfort Farm as Flora Poste, a newly orphaned 1930s socialite sent to live with distant family members in rural England. The John Schlesinger-directed film was an adaptation of Stella Gibbons's novel and also featured Joanna Lumley, Ian McKellen, Rufus Sewell and Stephen Fry. Beckinsale was initially considered too young, but was cast after she wrote a pleading letter to the director.  Kate Beckinsale received rave reviews for her performance. Emanuel Levy of Variety was reminded of "the strength of a young Glenda Jackson and the charm of a young Julie Christie. "It takes a deft actress to walk this line between condescension and caring", noted Ryan Gilbey of The Independent, "but Beckinsale is a luminously confident performer, whose brightness lights up the screen". Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times classed the actress as "yet another of those effortlessly skilled British beauties who light up the screen.  Kate Beckinsale Flora has such charm and poise and such utter fearlessness that no do-gooder could be more disarming." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said that she "finds a nice balance between Flora Poste's native spunk and her instinctive snobbishness" while Janet Maslin of The New York Times felt she played the role "with the perfect snippy aplomb". Also in 1995, she appeared in Haunted, a ghost story in which Derek Elley of Variety felt she "holds the screen, with both physical looks and verbal poise".

1995 also saw her first professional stage appearance as Nina in The Seagull at Theatre Royal, Bath.  Kate Beckinsale  became romantically involved with co-star Michael Sheen after meeting during play rehearsals. "He was the young lion of the theatre". "I was all revved up to feel very intimidated. It was my first-ever play and my mother had cut out reviews of him in previous productions. And then he walked in ... It was almost like, "God, well, I'm finished now. That's it, then." ... He's the most outrageously talented person I've ever met." Irving Wardle of The Independent felt that "the casting, including Michael Sheen's volcanic Kostya and Kate Beckinsale's steadily freezing Nina, is mainly spot-on."In early 1996, she starred in two further plays; Sweetheart at the Royal Court Theatre and Clocks and Whistles at The Bush Theatre.

 Kate Beckinsale next starred in an ITV adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, playing Emma to Mark Strong's Mr Knightley and Samantha Morton's Harriet Smith. "You shouldn't necessarily like Emma," Beckinsale has said of her character. "You do love her, but in the way the family of a teenage girl could be exasperated by her outrageous behavior and still love her." The programme was aired in autumn 1996, just months after Gwyneth Paltrow had starred in a movie adaptation of the same story. Caryn James of The New York Times felt that, while "Ms. Beckinsale's Emma is plainer looking than Ms. Paltrow's", she is "altogether more believable and funnier." Jonathan Brown of The Independent has described Beckinsale's interpretation as "the most enduring modern performance" as Emma.

In 1997, she appeared opposite Stuart Townsend in the comedy Shooting Fish, one of the most commercially successful British films of that year. "I'd just had my wisdom teeth out," Beckinsale later recalled of the initial audition. "I was also on very strong painkillers, so it was not the most conventional of meetings." Elley wrote of "an incredibly laid-back performance" while Thomas felt she "just glows as an aristocrat facing disaster with considerable aplomb".  Kate Beckinsale narrated Austen's Emma for Hodder & Stoughton AudioBooks[ and Diana Hendry's The Proposal for BBC Radio 4.Also in 1997, she played Juliet to Michael Sheen's Romeo in a radio production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Sheen.

Move to Hollywood At this point in her career, Beckinsale began to seek work in the United States, something she has said wasn't "a conscious decision ... My boyfriend was in a play on Broadway so that's why we ended up in New York, and my auditions happened to be for American movies".  Kate Beckinsale starred opposite Chloe Sevigny in 1998's The Last Days of Disco. The Whit Stillman film focused on a group of Ivy League graduates socialising in the Manhattan disco scene of the early 1980s. Beckinsale's attempt at an American accent was widely praised. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times felt her role as the bossy Charlotte was "beautifully played without the hint of an accent" while Travers praised a "first-rate" cast, "notably the tart-tongued Eigemen and Beckinsale." Todd McCarthy of Variety was unimpressed by the film but noted that "compensations include Beckinsale, looking incredible in a succession of black dresses, whose character can get on your nerves even if the actress doesn't."  Kate Beckinsale performance earned her a London Critics Circle Film Award.Also that year, she starred as Alice in a Channel 4 production of Through the Looking-Glass.

In 1999, she appeared opposite Claire Danes in Brokedown Palace, a drama about two teenage Americans forced to deal with the Thai justice system on a post-graduation trip abroad. A then-23 year old Beckinsale played a teenager but joked that, "I don't think I was ever a typical 18-year-old, so whether I was 18 or not 18, it would be a character part." Danes had hoped to become friends with Beckinsale during the shoot but found her "complicated" and "prickly". McCarthy said the leads "confirm their status as two of the young actresses on the scene today most worth watching", finding Beckinsale "very effective at getting across layered character traits and emotions." "Danes and Beckinsale are exceptionally talented young actresses", said Thomas, but "unfortunately, the script's seriously underdeveloped context defeats their considerable efforts at every turn." Ebert felt that "the heart of the film is in the performances of Danes and Beckinsale after they're sent to prison". However, Stephen Holden of The New York Times felt that Beckinsale's character "never comes into focus".

2000's The Golden Bowl marked Beckinsale's first role following the birth of her daughter. The Merchant/ Ivory production was based on the novel by Henry James and also starred Uma Thurman and Jeremy Northam. Beckinsale's partner, Michael Sheen, hit Northam on the film set after he followed Beckinsale to her trailer to scold her for forgetting a line. Beckinsale has said that he had "never hit anyone before in his life and it was kind of shocking, but in a weird way it really broke the ice and it was all OK after that. I actually had a good time making the film." Holden noted that "the most satisfying of the four lead performances belong to the British cast members, Ms. Beckinsale and Mr. Northam, who are better than their American counterparts at layers of emotional concealment", adding that each beat of Beckinsale's performance "registers precisely". Thomas felt her performance would take her to "a new career level". Andrew Sarris of The New York Observer asserted that she "comes close to capturing the sublimity of Maggie, despite the obvious fact that no movie can capture the elegant copiousness of James’ prose."

Kate Beckinsale rose to fame in 2001 with a leading role in war epic Pearl Harbor as a nurse torn between two pilots, played by Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett.  Kate Beckinsale was drawn to the project by the script: "It's so unusual these days to read a script that has those old-fashioned values to it. Not morals, but movie values. It's a big, sweeping epic ...You just never get the chance to do that." Director Michael Bay initially had doubts about casting the actress: "I wasn't sure about her at first ... she wore black leather trousers in her screen test and I thought she was a little nasty ... it was easy to think of this woman as a slut". He eventually decided to hire her because she wasn't "too beautiful. Women feel disturbed when they see someone’s too pretty."He asked her to lose weight during filming. In a 2004 interview, the actress noted that his comments were "upsetting" and said she wore leather trousers because "it was snowing out. It wasn't exactly like I had my nipple rings in."  Kate Beckinsale  felt grateful that she had not had to deal with such criticism at a younger age: "If I had come on to a movie set at [a younger] age and someone had said, 'You're a bit funny-looking, can you go on a diet?' - I might have jumped off a building. I just didn't have the confidence to put that into perspective at the time." However, speaking in 2011, she said was "very fond" of Bay.

Pearl Harbor received very mixed reviews. Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post felt she had "the classic face of a '40s screen goddess" while Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly praised "the avid eyed, ruby lipped Kate Beckinsale, the rare actress whose intelligence gives her a sensual bloom; she's like Parker Posey without irony." A. O. Scott of The New York Times noted that "Mr. Affleck and Ms. Beckinsale do what they can with their lines, and glow with the satiny shine of real movie stars." However, McCarthy said that "Beckinsale is all fancy coiffures and thick lipstick in a role that is startlingly undefined" while Mike Clark of USA Today felt that the "usually appealing Kate Beckinsale" is "inexplicably submerged — like her hospital colleagues — under heaps of tarty makeup that even actresses of the era didn't wear."

 Kate Beckinsale  second movie appearance of 2001 was in romantic comedy Serendipity as the love interest of John Cusack. It was filmed directly after Pearl Harbour and Beckinsale found it "a real relief to return to something slightly more familiar." Turan praised the "appealing and believable" leads, adding that Beckinsale "reinforces the strong impression she made in Cold Comfort Farm, The Golden Bowl and The Last Days of Disco" after "recovering nicely" from her appearance in the much-maligned Pearl Harbor. Claudia Puig of USA Today felt that "Beckinsale's talents haven't been mined as effectively in any other film since Cold Comfort Farm". McCarthy found her "energetic and appealing" while Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times described her as "luminous but determined". Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly was won over by the chemistry between the two leads: "Cusack's spicy wry charm is refreshed by Beckinsale's forthright intelligence." In an uncomplimentary review of the film, Ebert described her as "a good actress, but not good enough to play this dumb".

In 2002, she starred in Lisa Cholodenko's Laurel Canyon as a strait-laced academic who finds herself increasingly attracted to her free-spirited future mother-in-law. The independent film was another opportunity for Beckinsale to work with Christian Bale, her Prince of Jutland co-star.  Kate Beckinsale found their sex scene awkward because she had known Bale "since I was 17. If it was a stranger, it would have been easier." While Frances MacDormand's performance as Bale's mother was widely praised, Beckinsale received negative reviews. Holden found the film "superbly acted, with the exception of Ms. Beckinsale, whose tense, colorless Alex conveys no inner life". Schwarzbaum was unimpressed by the "tedious" characters and criticised "the fussy performances of Bale and Beckinsale" in particular.

Action heroine roles  Kate Beckinsale became known as an action star following an appearance as a vampire in 2003's Underworld. It was markedly different to her previous work and Beckinsale has said she was grateful for the change of pace after appearing in "a bunch of period stuff and then a bunch of romantic comedies." "It was quite a challenge for me to play an action heroine and pull off all that training when [in real life] I can’t catch a ball if it’s coming my way." The film received negative to mixed reviews but was a surprise box office hit and has gained a cult following. Also that year, she starred in the little-seen Tiptoes with Gary Oldman and Matthew McConaughey.

In 2004, she starred in action horror film Van Helsing. Beckinsale was "so surprised" to be appearing in her second action movie in two years. "It just seemed like a very good role." Beckinsale had just separated from her long-term partner Michael Sheen at the time of filming and appreciated the warm atmosphere created on set by director Stephen Sommers and co-star Hugh Jackman: "I really did find that working with people like Stephen and Hugh made it possible to get through what I was going through." The film grossed over $120 million at the United States box office and over $300 million worldwide, but it was not well-reviewed. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle described her as "a pretty actress doing her best to maintain dignity, vainly trying to craft a feminist statement from a filmmaker's whimsy" while Rex Reed of The New York Observer felt she was "desperately in need of a new agent".

Also in 2004, she portrayed Ava Gardner in Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator. Scorsese decided to cast Beckinsale because "she’s a beautiful woman, a very good actress. Excellent actress. I’ve always liked her. I’ve seen all her work, and I was glad that she agreed to audition." Beckinsale's performance received mixed reviews. Ken Tucker of New York Magazine said she played the part "in full va-va-voom blossom" while LaSalle felt that she manages "to convince us that Ava was one of the great broads of all time." However, Clark described it as "the one performance that doesn't come off (though Beckinsale has the requisite beauty)." Hunter said that "though quite beautiful, she never looks enough like La Gardner to register as such". Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian stated that "Gardner's rich, voluptuous sexiness is completely absent as Beckinsale sleepwalks through the role as if she was advertising perfume." Travers felt "an underwritten part stalls sassy Kate Beckinsale".

Beckinsale at the San Sebastián Film Festival in 2006In 2006, Beckinsale reprised her role as Selene in the successful vampire sequel Underworld: Evolution, directed by her husband. It was the first time she had "been involved with a movie from the moment it’s a germ of an idea right through the whole editing process."  Kate Beckinsale daughter had a small role as the younger Selene, and took direction well: "I didn’t think she would take either of us that seriously. We both envisaged a situation where it would be kind of like trying to get her into a snow suit.  Kate Beckinsale suddenly became highly professional ... She said, “Could you call me Selene?” I certainly don’t insist on being called Selene, so she didn’t get that from me."

 Kate Beckinsale second movie appearance of 2006 was opposite Adam Sandler in Click, a comedy about an overworked family man who discovers a magical remote control that allows him to control time. The opportunity to play a mother "was one of the things that was attractive to me" about the part. The film was also a chance to work with Christopher Walken: "I remember my daughter running into him in his costume and running back with like the whites of her eyes showing, saying, 'I've seen a man that I don't like.'  Kate Beckinsale actually really warmed up to him though." When asked what moment she would rewind to in her own life, Beckinsale said she would return to her daughter's infant years and know "in advance that I wasn't going to accidentally sit on her and bust her; it would be nice to go back through that in a relaxed frame of mind because she was a great baby."

Return to small-scale drama.Beckinsale then made a return to smaller-scale projects: "My experience is that I sort of stepped away from the independent movies and did a couple of big movies. But that's not necessarily how it's perceived by everybody else, which I do understand." "I enjoy an action movie as much as the next person [but] it’s not something that I would like to do solely."  Kate Beckinsale explained that she had originally decided to appear in Underworld because she felt typecast in classical roles - it was "assumed that I use a chamber pot and wear bloomers"- but that her action career "kind of took off a little too much".

In 2007, she starred opposite Sam Rockwell in the independent drama Snow Angels, based on the novel by Stewart O'Nan. The harrowing film, in which she played an overwhelmed single mother, put Beckinsale "in kind of a tough place". "I did have my kid, my husband and, in fact, my ex was around a lot, so it was very nice to come home to my people whom I love." Puig felt "Beckinsale gives her best performance in years" while Richard Corliss of Time described it as "her sharpest work yet". Justin Chang of Variety said she "firmly holds the screen" and noted that her "emotional register expands rewardingly as Annie's rejections of Glenn become angrier and more pronounced."While many critics were initially skeptical of the decision to cast Beckinsale as a working-class single mother, most were won over by her performance. Gleiberman said "Beckinsale, at first, seems miscast (you have to get past her cosmopolitan aura), but she gives a searing and wide-awake performance." David Edelstein of New York Magazine found her "touchingly unaffected" but noted that her "lissome body and unlined face don’t even suggest the pain of doing badly on her “O” levels, let alone trying to get by as a single mom with an unstable ex-husband". Scott felt that "her skill and discipline cannot overcome the sense that she is an exotic species transplanted into this grim ecosystem. Hard as she works to convince us otherwise, it’s a stretch to believe that a woman with the kind of poised confidence in her own beauty she manifests would wind up with an underachieving mouth breather like Glenn."

Also in 2007, she appeared alongside Luke Wilson in Vacancy, a thriller set in an isolated motel. Sarah Jessica Parker was originally cast in the part, but dropped out before filming began. Bradshaw felt that "Wilson and Beckinsale have the chops for scary movies" while Gleiberman noted that "Luke Wilson, with his hangdog defensive mopiness, and Kate Beckinsale, all sexy severity, are ideally matched as a couple who hate each other." However, Manohla Dargis of The New York Times was unimpressed, referring to Beckinsale as "the reigning queen of the bland B's".

Beckinsale at the Live Free or Die Hard London premiere in 2007In 2008, she appeared in Winged Creatures, a film about how six different witnesses cope with the aftermath of a shooting. Beckinsale played a waitressing single mother in an ensemble cast that included Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson and Forest Whitaker. "It was a really, really nice experience but it was quick," said Beckinsale of the filming process. "I just felt a bit like I was shot through a cannon."

Also in 2008, she starred in Nothing but the Truth as a journalist who refuses to reveal her source. The film, co-starring Vera Farmiga and Matt Dillon, was inspired by the case of Judith Miller. As part of her research for the role, "I spent some time at The L.A. Times with some female reporters, and I spoke to Judith Miller about her experience ... I really researched the hell out of that one and it was an amazingly fulfilling, brilliant experience."Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post asserted that Beckinsale and Farmiga played "two of the most fascinating female movie characters to hit screens in a long while, and they've been brought to life by two gifted actresses, each working at the top of her game". Beckinsale received a Critic's Choice Award nomination for her performance.However, despite strong award season buzz for both Beckinsale and co-star Vera Farmiga, the film never received a full theatrical release after the distributor filed for bankruptcy. "I have prayed - prayed - for film companies to go bankrupt on films I've made, and then this happens on the one I love," said Beckinsale. "Usually it's the ones you're most embarrassed about that are on the side of every bus."

In 2009, she starred in the adaption of comic-book Whiteout as a US Marshal tasked with investigating a murder in Antarctica. It was filmed in Manitoba, Canada which she described as "a beautiful place."  Kate Beckinsale found the action scenes less physically demanding than those in Underworld because "three pairs of trousers and a parka gives you a bit more protection than the latex suit." The film was critically panned and a box office flop, failing to recoup its budget.  Kate Beckinsale also made a brief cameo in prequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycans; she appeared in flashforwards composed of footage from 2003's Underworld.

Also in 2009, she starred in family drama Everybody's Fine alongside Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore and Rockwell, her Snow Angels co-star. Beckinsale was excited for the opportunity to work with De Niro whom she had first encountered "years and years ago when I just had Lily and he was putting together a reading of The Good Shepherd. I was in New York because Michael [Sheen] was doing Amadeus. They said, 'Can you do three different accents by tomorrow?' And so I figured out the accents and showed up and De Niro said, 'Yeah, I’m going to invite a few friends.' The friends were like Marty Scorsese and Chazz Palminteri. And I thought, 'F--k, I've got this Brooklyn accent to do and all these people from Goodfellas are sitting here.' ... I was sweating, 'Oh my god, I'm from Chiswick, West London. I've got no business being here doing a Brooklyn accent in front of Martin Scorsese. I just want to die.'"

Upcoming projectsAfter a quiet 2010 and 2011, Beckinsale has three films set for release in 2012.  Kate Beckinsale will reprise her role as Selene in the fourth installment of the vampire franchise Underworld: Awakening. Kate Beckinsale "wasn’t intending to do another one" but was convinced by the quality of the script: "You really want to see stakes that mean something in these kind of movies. Otherwise, it really is just lots of explosions and people running around in tight clothes."

In crime thriller Contraband, Beckinsale will play the wife of Mark Wahlberg, a former criminal who gets forced back into a life of crime after his family are threatened. It is a remake of Icelandic film Reykjavík-Rotterdam and is directed by the star of the original film, Baltasar Kormákur.

 Kate Beckinsale final appearance of 2012 will be in a remake of sci-fi action film Total Recall, directed by her husband and co-starring Colin Farrell and Jessica Biel. Beckinsale will star as Lori, a character originally played by Sharon Stone.

Modelling workIn addition to acting, Beckinsale has also worked occasionally as a model. In 1997, she appeared in the music video for George Michael's Waltz Away Dreaming. Kate Beckinsale starred opposite Orlando Bloom in a 2002 Gap television advert, directed by Cameron Crowe. Kate Beckinsale appeared in a Diet Coke television advert in 2004, directed by Michael Gondry. Kate Beckinsale advertised Absolut Vodka in a 2009 print campaign photographed by Ellen von Unwerth. Kate Beckinsale has also promoted Lux shampoo in an Asian television advert

 Kate Beckinsale was named "England's Number One Beauty" by Hello! in 2002 and appeared at number 41 in People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People list in 2008. Many publications have included her in their rankings of the world's sexiest women. Esquire named her the Sexiest Woman Alive in 2009.  Kate Beckinsale was at number 22 in Maxim's Hot 100 2009 list.  Kate Beckinsale came in at number 41 on FHM's Sexiest Women of 2010 list, having previously appeared at number 15 in their 2009 list and at number 12 in their 2008 list.  Kate Beckinsale has frequently appeared in AskMen.com's annual list of the 99 Most Desired Women: she was at number 14 in 2011, at number 3 in 2010, at number 10 in 2009 and at number 3 in 2008.

Personal Life

Beckinsale had an eight-year relationship with Welsh actor Michael Sheen from 1995 until 2003. They met when cast in a touring production of The Seagull in early 1995 and moved in together shortly afterwards.  Kate Beckinsale has said it was "love at first sight" and that he saved her from "a hospital for the criminally insane". In 1997, they appeared in a radio production of Romeo and Juliet. Their daughter, Lily Mo, was born in London, England on 31 January 1999. The actress has said she was "embarrassed" that Sheen never proposed but remarked, "If you keep a library book out long enough, you feel it's yours."

Their relationship ended in early 2003, after the filming of Underworld.Beckinsale had persuaded director Len Wiseman to cast Sheen in the film but, while on set, she and Wiseman (who was married) fell in love. All parties have maintained there was no infidelity and Beckinsale and Wiseman both remain friends with Sheen. "We were very lucky in that we didn't have an acrimonious split," Beckinsale has said. "We are still very close and [our daughter] sees us around each other." "I love him dearly – I would miss him dreadfully if he wasn't in my life."

Kate Beckinsale relocated with her daughter from London to Los Angeles in 2003 to live with Wiseman.  Kate Beckinsale has said she is "a fish out of water" in LA but that residing in London would be impractical for Wiseman's career.They married in 2004 at the Hotel Bel-Air in California, choosing a passage from Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass as their first reading.While she is not religious, she has said it was "very nice to be asked [to get married], which I wasn't in my previous relationship". Since their marriage, Wiseman has directed her in two further films: an Underworld sequel and Total Recall.  Kate Beckinsale has no plans for more children: "Maybe I will at some point but I feel I have everything I want. Lily is the perfect child ... I am my mum and dad’s only child so I don’t really have the mindset for more children."

 Kate Beckinsale does not drink alcohol, "not because I’m an alcoholic, I just don’t really like it": "If I drank a whole glass of red wine I would have Chekhovian despair the next day."  Kate Beckinsale has smoked since the age of sixteen, but stopped for three years after becoming pregnant with her daughter.  Kate Beckinsale has since said, "I’d be insufferable if I didn’t smoke. You’d have to push me off a balcony I’d be so boring.”

The British Heart Foundation has been her charity of choice "ever since I was six years old".  Kate Beckinsale is also a supporter of the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation, MediCinema, Habitat For Humanity and the Entertainment Industry Foundation. In 2008, she hosted the 4th Annual Pink Party to raise funds for the Women’s Cancer Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and organised a screening of All About Eve for FilmAid International.

Filmography

1993 Much Ado About Nothing Hero  

1994 Uncovered Julia  

1994 Prince of Jutland Ethel  

1995 Marie-Louise Ou La Permission Marie-Louise  

1995 Cold Comfort Farm Flora Poste  

1995 Haunted Christina Mariell  

1997 Shooting Fish Georgie  

1998 The Last Days of Disco Charlotte Pingress  

1998 Alice Through the Looking Glass Alice  

1999 Brokedown Palace Darlene Davis  

2001 Pearl Harbor Nurse Lt. Evelyn Johnson  

2001 Serendipity Sara Thomas  

2001 The Golden Bowl Maggie Verver  

2002 Laurel Canyon Alex Elliot  

2003 Underworld Selene  

2003 Tiptoes Carol  

2004 The Aviator Ava Gardner  

2004 Van Helsing Anna Valerious  

2006 Click Donna Newman  

2006 Underworld: Evolution Selene  

2007 Vacancy Amy Fox  

2007 Snow Angels Annie Marchand  

2008 Nothing but the Truth Rachel Armstrong  

2008 Fragments Carla Davenport  

2009 Whiteout Carrie Stetko  

2009 Underworld: Rise of the Lycans Selene Previously recorded flashforwards only 

2009 Everybody's Fine Amy  

2012 Contraband Kate Farraday Post-production 

2012 Underworld: Awakening Selene Post-production 

2012 Total Recall Lori Post-production 

Year Title Role Notes 

Television 1991 Devices and Desires Young Alice Mair ITV 

One episode

 1991 One Against the Wind Barbe Lindell Hallmark Hall of Fame/CBS 

Film

 1992 Rachel's Dream Rachel Channel 4 

1993 Anna Lee: Headcase Thea Hahn ITV 

1996 Emma Emma Woodhouse ITV 

Film

 1998 Alice Through the Looking Glass Alice Channel 4 

Film

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 

Radio

Narrated Emma (1997) for Hodder & Stoughton AudioBooks 

Narrated Diana Hendry's The Proposal (1997) for BBC Radio 4 

Appeared as Juliet in the Naxos AudioBooks's production of Romeo and Juliet (1997) 

Awards and nominationsYear Award Award ceremony Film Result 

1997 Best Actress Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival Shooting Fish Won 

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 Won 

2002 Best Actress Saturn Award Serendipity Nominated 

2004 Best Actress Saturn Award Underworld Nominated 

2004 Best Trans-Atlantic Breakthrough Performer MTV Movie Awards  Nominated 

2005 Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (shared with the cast) Screen Actors Guild Awards The Aviator Nominated 

2005 Favorite Female Action Movie Star People's Choice Awards  Nominated 

2006 Best Hero MTV Movie Awards Underworld: Evolution Nominated 

2006 Favorite Female Action Star People's Choice Awards  Nominated 

2008 Best Actress Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Nothing But the Truth Nominated