Kate Beckinsale

Mini Biography for Kate Beckinsale
Kate Beckinsale was born on July 26, 1973, to two seasoned British television actors, and spent most of her life in London. Her half-sister, Samantha, is also an actress; they only met briefly when Kate was very young and didn't cross paths again until 1995.
Kate Beckinsale made her acting debut in a television WWII drama called One Against the Wind (1991), and was soon cast in a short corporate film about industrial accidents.

In 1991, Kate Beckinsale left for Oxford University's New College, where she majored in French and Russian literature. She already knew that she was going to be an actress, but in order to broaden her horizons, she decided to attend a regular university rather than drama school.
In 1993, she starred as Hero in the film adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Thanks to her role, she had the chance to travel to Tuscany, Italy, where the film was being shot. She eventually dropped out of her studies after winning the role in three other European productions.
Up next for Kate Beckinsale was a role in the 1995 BBC television satire Cold Comfort Farm, which opened to rave reviews in American art house theaters and was a hit by indie standards. She continued performing in British theater for the next few years, and added some more forgettable films to her resume.
After the indie films Shooting Fish (1997) and The Last Days of Disco (1998), Kate Beckinsale costarred with Claire Danes in 1999's Brokedown Palace.
After starring in James Ivory's The Golden Bowl (2000), Kate Beckinsale joined Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett for the 2001 Bruckheimer-bloated epic Pearl Harbor. And she made her bid to become the next Meg Ryan in the romantic comedy Serendipity in the fall of 2001.
The talented actress was also juggling motherhood during this time, as she had a daughter, Lily Sheen, whose father is actor Michael Sheen, in January 1999.
After 2002's Laurel Canyon, Kate Beckinsale starred as Selene in Underworld (2003), joined Hugh Jackman in the fight against monsters in Van Helsing (2004) and portrayed Ava Gardner in the Oscar-winning The Aviator (2004).

She married Underworld director Len Wiseman on May 9, 2004.

In 2005, Kate Beckinsale donned her unforgettable latex outfit once again for Underworld: Evolution. She also appeared in the 2006 comedy Click starring Adam Sandler. In 2007, Kate Beckinsale revisited the darker side we saw in Underworld when she appeared in the 2007 horror flick Vacancy alongside Luke Wilson.

Kate Beckinsale was the darling of British theater and American art house films, but she saved Pearl Harbor, proved that vampires can be sexy in Underworld, wowed Howard Hughes in The Aviator, and scared audiences in Vacancy.







Quotes
"If someone had told me years ago that sharing a sense of humor was so vital to partnerships, I could have avoided a lot of sex!"
- Kate Beckinsale