Kate Winslet knew she wanted to become an actress at a very early age. "Being cast as the Virgin Mary was my first acting buzz, if you like," Kate says. "I was only five years old but I took it very, very seriously. I remember really, really being Mary. Really, really feeling it." Kate was born on October 5, 1975, in Reading, England. Her family was of theatrical heritage, this practically made her an actress.

When Kate was 11, she attended the Redroofs Theatre School in Maidenhead, which she would eventually leave at the age of 16. She got her first job appearing in a Sugar Puffs commercial, dancing with the Honey Monster. She made her television debut in the British television drama Shrinks (1988).

"Since I was thirteen or fourteen, I've always felt older than I actually am," Kate recalls. She had to battle a weight problem and depression. At age 15, standing 5'6", Kate weighed as much as 185 lb. and was nicknamed 'Blubber' in high school. Kate was still determined to become actress though, inspite her problems.



When she left Maidenhead, she landed a role on the British television sitcom Get Back, just eight days after completing her examinations. Kate had also found romance at sixteen with actor Stephen Tredre from Dark Season, whom she remained in a relationship with for five years. Their engagement was broken off recently when Tredre was diagnosed with cancer and started to undergo chemotherapy. "He was with me all the time," says Kate. "Even when I was 13 stone he never, ever asked me to lose weight." She has also been quoted in interviews as saying that the actor was "the other half of my soul."

Kate's big break would eventually come when she was cast as Juliet Hulme in the critically-acclaimed ('Not many have seen, but much discussed') movie Heavenly Creatures (1994). She was working behind the counter of the Traiteur Pagnol delicatessen in Primrose Hill, London when her life changed. "I was making pastrami and dill sandwiches when I received the call telling me I had the role in Heavenly Creatures," Kate said. Her debut won her international recognition and awards (New Zealand Film and Television Award, Toronto Film Festival Award, and Empire Magazine Award), along with movie scripts from Hollywood in abundance.

While Kate was busily promoting Heavenly Creatures in the U.S., an American representative from the William Morris agency came to see her at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York at 11 o'clock one evening and signed her. She would follow up her debut with an unexpected role as Princess Sarah in A Kid in King Arthur's Court (1995). Many reviewers simply dismiss the movie, but later the same year Kate would redeem herself by appearing in the heart-warming, Oscar-nominated role of Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1995), having convinced producer Lindsay Doran that she was right for the part by out-reading everyone at her audition.

Kate heard about her Oscar nomination while traveling in a car: "A girlfriend was driving when my agent phoned by mobile to say congratulations. I threw myself on the floor of the car in excitement." The people at William Morris were now busy helping to make her a household name. All of sudden, Kate Winslet found herself 'hot' in Hollywood, having achieved 'sex symbol' status amongst critics and gossipers.

The next year, Kate would return to the silver screen with back-to-back performances as Sue Bridehead in Jude (1996) and Ophelia in Hamlet (1996). These two roles were very well-received by critics but inexplicably passed over for Academy Award nominations.

At the present, Kate is one of the most talented, up-and-coming young actresses working in Hollywood. She has recently been featured on the cover of Vanity Fair in the company of Cameron Diaz, Claire Danes, and other actresses with brilliant careers ahead of them. Los Angeles magazine has put her on their "The 40 Most Important People Under 40 list," and People magazine has declared Kate one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in the world.

So far, Kate's rise to stardom (acquiring such titles as 'English Rose' and 'Starlet Express') has given her a resume consisting entirely of period films, thus earning her the nickname 'Corset Kate'. Kate has expressed her desire to do a modern film to break this stereotype and "throw away the corset. I really want to be a Valley Girl in a feel-good American movie," she says. "I'd love to do some big action number."

Her current movie is Titanic (1997), playing the role of Rose Dewitt Bukater, an upper-class Philadelphian aboard the ill-fated oceanliner. The official release date has been announced as December 19, 1997 in the U.S.