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Biography
Kate Beckinsale was born 26 July 1973 in England, and has resided
in London for most of her life. Her mother is Judy Loe, who has
appeared in a number of British dramas and sitcoms, and continues
to work as an actress, predominantly in British television
productions. Her father was Richard Beckinsale, born in Nottingham,
England, UK. He starred in a number of popular British television
comedies during the 1970s, most notably the television series
Rising Damp and The Lovers. He passed away in 1979. Kate attended
the public (private school to U.S. readers) Godolphin and Latymer
School in London for her grade and primary school education. In her
teens, she twice won the British bookseller W. H. Smith Young
Writers' competition--once for three short stories and once for
three poems. After a tumultuous adolescence, (a bout of
anorexia{cured} and a smoking habit which contiues to this day) she
gradually took up the profession of acting. Her major acting debut
came in a World War II television movie called One Against the
Wind, filmed in Luxembourg during the summer of 1991.It first aired
on American television that December. Kate began attending Oxford
University's New College in the fall of 1991, majoring in French
and Russian literature. She had already decided that she wanted to
act, but to broaden her horizons she chose university over drama
school. While in her first year at Oxford, Kate received her big
break in Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of Shakespeare's Much
Ado About Nothing. Kate worked in three other films while attending
Oxford, beginning with a part in the medieval historical drama
Prince of Jutland (1993), cast as Ethel. The film was shot during
spring 1993 on location in Denmark, and she performed her
supporting part during New College's Easter break. Later in the
summer of that year, she performed as the lead in the contemporary
mystery drama Uncovered (1994). Before she went back to school, Her
third year at university was spent at Oxford's study-abroad
programme in Paris, France, immersing herself in the French
language, Parisian culture, and those awful French cigarettes. A
year away from the academic community and living on her own in the
French capital caused her to re-evalate the direction of her life.
She faced a choice: continue with school, or concentrate on her
flourishing acting career. After much thought, she chose the acting
career. In the spring of 1994 Kate left Oxford, after finishing
three years of study. Kate appeared in the BBC/Thames Television
satire Cold Comfort Farm filmed in London and East Sussex during
late summer 1994. Cold Comfort Farm opened to spectacular reviews
in the United States, grossing over US$5 million during its
American cinema run. It was re-released to U.K. theatres in the
spring of 1997. Acting on the stage consumed the first part of
1995; she toured in England with the Thelma Holts Theatre Company
production of Chekov's The Seagull. After turning down several
mediocre scripts, "and going nearly berserk with boredom, " she
waited seven months before another interesting role was offered to
her. Her big movie of 1995 was the romance/horror movie Haunted,
starring opposite Adian Quinn and Sir John Gielgud, and filmed in
West Sussex. In this film she wanted to play `an object of desire',
unlike her past performances where her characters were much less
the siren and more the worldly innocent. Kate's first film project
of 1996 was the British ITV production of Jane Austin's novel Emma.
Her last film of 1996 was the comedy Shooting Fish, filmed at
Shepparton Studios in London during early fall. She played the part
of Georgie, an altruistic con artist. Currently married to Sheen.
The couple recently gave birth to their first child.
Biography courtesy of the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com).
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Kate Beckinsale
