Biography Of Kate Beckinsale

Kate Beckinsale was born on 26 July 1973 in West Middlesex Hospital, Isleworth, Middlesex, 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. He starred in a number of popular British television comedies during the 1970s, most notably the series Rising Damp (1974), Porridge (1974) and The Lovers (1970). He passed away tragically early in 1979 at the age of 31, when Kate was five years old, and her mother Judy Loe never remarried, and her grandmother moved in to help her mother.

Kate attended the private school 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 continues to this day), she gradually took up the profession of acting.

Her major acting debut came in a TV film about World War II called One Against the Wind (1991), 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 William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (1993). Kate worked in three other films while attending Oxford, beginning with a part in the medieval historical drama Royal Deceit (1994), cast as Ethel. The film was shot during the spring of 1993 on location in Denmark, and she filmed her supporting part during New College's Easter break. Later in the summer of that year she played 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 program in Paris, France, immersing herself in the French language, Parisian culture and French cigarettes.

A year away from the academic community and living on her own in the French capital caused her to re-evaluate 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 (1995), filmed in London and East Sussex during late summer 1994 and which opened to spectacular reviews in the United States, grossing over $5 million during its American run. It was re-released to U.K. theaters 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 Anton Chekhov'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 (1995), starring opposite Aidan Quinn and 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 Austen's novel Emma (1996). Her last film of 1996 was the comedy Shooting Fish (1997), filmed at Shepperton Studios in London during early fall. She played the part of Georgie, an altruistic con artist. She had a daughter, Lily, in 1999 with actor Michael Sheen.

Trivia

• Aged six, a school report found she had the reading age of an eleven-year-old and an IQ of 152.
• Spent her teens reading French, Russian and German novels because of her studies, and completed A-levels in Russian, German and French, which resulted in her admission to Oxford University.
• Is known for her love of jokes and pranks, usually at the expense of her co-stars.
• Mother, with ex-boyfriend Michael Sheen (they dated from 1995 to 2003), of daughter Lily Mo Sheen (b. January 31, 1999).
• Director Stephen Sommers wanted Kate for the role of "Anna Valerious" in Van Helsing (2004). But Stephen feared that it was too similar in tone to Underworld (2003), a film that Kate started and was filming at the time. Eventually, her agent got Sommers to send the script and Kate immediately signed on.
• Attended New College, Oxford, England where she studied French and Russian Literature, before dropping out in her third year to pursue acting.
• Normally slender, she gained twenty pounds for roles in 2004 - ten pounds for Van Helsing (2004) and another ten pounds to portray the voluptuous Ava Gardner in The Aviator (2004).
• Married Len Wiseman on 9th May 2004 at the Bel-Air Hotel. Her daughter, Lily, received her own "wedding ring" from Wiseman.
• She had a body double for her nude scenes in Haunted (1995)
• Won the prestigious WH Smith's Young Writers' competition for her poetry in 1986.
• Was among over 80 women who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment or assault in October 2017.
• Got the lead female role in Pearl Harbor (2001) after Charlize Theron pulled out to do Sweet November (2001).
• Her mother, Judy Loe is an actress, and her father, Richard Beckinsale, was famous as a comedy actor.
• Attended grade/primary school at Flexlands Private School in London, England, she took ballet there and it was at this young age that her father died of a heart attack.
• Has played a vampire (Underworld (2003)) and a vampire hunter (Van Helsing (2004)).
• She became a fan of comic books due to her ex-husband and daughter both being huge fans.
• Was anorexic as a teenager.
• Met Len Wiseman when he directed her in Underworld (2003).
• Suffers from stomach ulcers.
• According to an interview she gave on the UK show The Big Breakfast (1992) (December 2001), she hates wearing knickers.
• (January 26, 2019) Revealed she had been hospitalized with ruptured ovarian cyst.
• Lives in Venice, California because it reminds her of London.
• The doormat in her Los Angeles home reads - "Nice to see you, to see you, nice" - a popular British catchphrase coined by TV personality Bruce Forsyth.
• Often brings a pantomime horse costume with her when she travels.
• One of Kate's paternal great-grandmothers, Mary Mitchell, was born in Burma, to a white father, Thomas Mitchell, and a Burmese (Asian) mother, Ma Ninhe.
• Esquire magazine's "Sexiest Woman Alive" in 2009.
• Supports various charities including The British Heart Foundation and Habitat for Humanity.
• Replaced Sarah Jessica Parker after she dropped out from the film Vacancy (2007).
• Had an emergency appendectomy in January, 2004.
• Was in close competition for the role of Rachel Keller in The Ring (2002), but lost out because producers felt she looked too young.
• First screen kiss was with Robert Sean Leonard in Much Ado About Nothing (1993).
• According to her interview on Live with Kelly and Mark (1988) (aka "Live with Regis and Kelly") that when she was working on Everybody's Fine (2009), she had never heard of nor had cannoli before until the film's star, Robert De Niro introduced her to it.
• Demonstrated on Larry King's show her hidden talent for pretending to sneeze, which King called 'phenomenal'.
• She did not like Physical Education at school. It was also her worst subject.
• Lost out to Juliette Binoche for a part in Wuthering Heights (1992).
• For her very first role, Kate appeared as an 18-month-old child with her mother Judy Loe in the British TV series pilot Episode #1.1 (1975).
• Selected by Hello Magazine as England's Number #1 Beauty in 2002.
• IQ of 152.
• When Kate was five years old, Her 31-year-old father Richard Beckinsale died from a sudden heart attack, Her mother Judy Loe never remarried, and her grandmother moved in to help her mother.
• Has a cat named Clive and a dog named Myf.
• Younger half-sister of Samantha Beckinsale.
• Named "The Most Beautiful Face of 2007" by TC Candler's list of the "100 Most Beautiful Famous Faces From Around the World", and ranked on their list for 18 consecutive years (1999-2016).
• Ranked #10 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" list in 2009.
• Ranked #14 on AskMen's "Top 99 Women" list in 2011.
• Kate Beckinsale thought that the American elections were a joke at first and agrees with the London Mayors' comment that "Trump's stance on Islam is ignorant" during an interview with Larry King on Larry King Now (2012).
• Ranked #12 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" list in 2008.
• Ranked #43 on Maxim's "Hot 100" list in 2014.
• Ranked #3 on AskMen's "Top 99 Women" list in 2010.
• Ranked #22 on AskMen's "Top 99 Women" list in 2012.
• Ranked #21 on Maxim's "Hot 100" list in 2007.
• Half sister-in-law of Richard Trinder.
• In You Might Be All She's Got (2021), she gets her toes sucked on both feet by Helen Hayden.
• Ranked #63 on Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" list in 2002.
• Ranked #23 on Maxim's "Hot 100" list in 2005.
• Ranked #21 on FHM Australia's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" list in 2011.
• Ranked #41 on FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" list in 2010.
• Ranked #78 on FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" list in its 2006 special supplement.
• Ranked #71 on FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" list in its 2005 special supplement.
• Ranked #12 on Maxim's "Hot 100" list in 2013.
• Ranked #56 on FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" list in 2017.
• Ranked #22 on Maxim's "Hot 100" list in 2009.
• Ranked #40 on FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" list in 2007.
• Ranked #12 on Maxim's "Hot 100" list in 2012.
• Ranked #85 on Maxim's "Hot 100" list in 2000.
• Ranked #39 on Maxim's "Hot 100" list in 2001.
• Ranked #16 on Maxim's "Hot 100" list in 2003.