Kate Beckinsale Wikipedia. Kathrin Romary Beckinsale born 2. July 1. 97. 3 is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing 1. University of Oxford. She appeared in British costume dramas such as Prince of Jutland 1. The Hollywood Reporter is your source for breaking news about Hollywood and entertainment, including movies, TV, reviews and industry blogs. As long as trolls are still trolling, the Rick will never stop rolling. Cold Comfort Farm 1. Emma 1. 99. 6, and The Golden Bowl 2. She began to seek film work in the United States in the late 1. The Last Days of Disco 1. Brokedown Palace 1. Watch Love Is All You Need? Online Hollywoodreporter' title='Watch Love Is All You Need? Online Hollywoodreporter' />Pearl Harbor and the romantic comedy Serendipity. She followed those with appearances in The Aviator 2. Click 2. 00. 6. Since being cast as Selene in the Underworld film series 2. Beckinsale has become known primarily for her work in action films, including Van Helsing 2. Whiteout 2. 00. 9, Contraband 2. Total Recall 2. 01. She also continues to make appearances in smaller dramatic projects such as Snow Angels 2. Nothing but the Truth 2. Everybodys Fine 2. In 2. 01. 6, she appeared in the critically acclaimed Love Friendship, for which her performance received worldwide praise. Early lifeeditBeckinsale was born in Chiswick, London, England. She is the only child of actors Richard Beckinsale and Judy Loe. She has an older paternal half sister, actress Samantha Beckinsale, but they have not had regular contact. Her father was of one quarter Burmese descent. She 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 3. Beckinsale was deeply traumatised by the loss and started expecting bad things to happen. Her widowed mother moved in with director Roy Battersby when Beckinsale was nine and she was brought up alongside his four sons and daughter. She has a close relationship with her step father,4 who was a member of the Workers Revolutionary Party during her childhood. Beckinsale helped to sell The News Line, a Trotskyist newspaper, as a child and has said the household phone was tapped following Battersbys blacklisting by the BBC. Family friends included Ken Loach and Vanessa Redgrave. Beckinsale was educated at Godolphin and Latymer School, an independent school for girls in Hammersmith, West London and was involved with the Orange Tree Youth Theatre. She is a twice winner of the WH Smith Young Writers Award for both fiction and poetry. She 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 werent making camp fires and everyone was doing grown up stuff. I loathed being a teenager. She had a nervous breakdown and developed anorexia at the age of 1. Freudianpsychoanalysis for four years. Beckinsale read French and Russian literature at New College, Oxford, and was later described by a contemporary, journalist Victoria Coren Mitchell, as whip clever, slightly nuts, and very charming. She 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. As a Modern Languages student, she was required to spend her third year abroad, and studied in Paris. She then decided to quit university to concentrate on her burgeoning acting career It was getting to the point where I wasnt enjoying either thing enough because both were very high pressure. Acting careeredit1. Early acting roleseditBeckinsale decided at a young age 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. She was inspired by the performances of Jeanne Moreau. She made her television debut in 1. 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 1. 99. 2 she starred alongside Christopher Eccleston in Rachels Dream, a 3. Channel 4 short,2. ITV detective series, Anna Lee, starring Imogen Stubbs. In 1. 99. 3, Beckinsale landed the role of Hero in Kenneth Branaghs big screen adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. It was filmed in Tuscany, Italy, during a summer holiday from Oxford University. King Solomon`S Mines Full Movie Part 1. She attended the films Cannes Film Festival premiere and remembered it as an overwhelming experience. Nobody even told me I could bring a friend1. 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 performance2. 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. The film earned over 2. She made three other films while at university. In 1. 99. 4, she appeared as Christian Bales love interest in Prince of Jutland, a film based on the Danish legend which inspired Shakespeares Hamlet,2. Uncovered. 2. 9 In 1. Paris, she filmed the French language. Marie Louise Ou La Permission fr. Shortly after leaving Oxford University in 1. Beckinsale starred in Cold Comfort Farm as Flora Poste, a newly orphaned 1. England. The John Schlesinger directed film was an adaptation of Stella Gibbonss novel and also featured Joanna Lumley, Eileen Atkins, Ian Mc. Kellen, Rufus Sewell and Stephen Fry. Beckinsale was initially considered too young, but was cast after she wrote a pleading letter to the director. Emanuel Levy of Variety was reminded of the strength of a young Glenda Jackson and the charm of a young Julie Christie. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times classed the actress as yet another of those effortlessly skilled British beauties who light up the screen. Janet Maslin of The New York Times felt she played the role with the perfect snippy aplomb. The film grossed over 5 million at the US box office. Also in 1. 99. 5, 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. Beckinsales first professional stage appearance as Nina in The Seagull at Theatre Royal, Bath. Watch Road Instanmovie. She 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, Im finished now. Thats it, then. Hes the most outrageously talented person Ive ever met. Irving Wardle of The Independent felt that the casting, including Michael Sheens volcanic Kostya and Kate Beckinsales steadily freezing Nina, is mainly spot on. In early 1. 99. 6, she starred in two further plays Sweetheart at the Royal Court Theatre4. Clocks and Whistles at the Bush Theatre. Beckinsale next starred in an ITV adaptation of Jane Austens Emma, playing Emma to Mark Strongs Mr Knightley and Samantha Mortons Harriet Smith. You shouldnt 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 behaviour and still love her. The programme was aired in autumn 1. Gwyneth Paltrow had starred in a film adaptation of the same story. Caryn James of The New York Times felt that while Ms. Beckinsales Emma is plainer looking than Ms. Paltrows, she is altogether more believable and funnier. Jonathan Brown of The Independent has described Beckinsales interpretation as the most enduring modern performance as Emma. In 1. 99. 7, Beckinsale appeared opposite Stuart Townsend in the comedy Shooting Fish, one of the most commercially successful British films of that year.