Childhood
Kate Beckinsale was born 26 July 1973 in England, and has resided in London for most of her life. She is the daughter of British television actors Richard Beckinsale and Judy Loe. In 1979, her father died of a heart attack, leaving Kate's mother to raise the 6 year old alone. This saw Kate battle through anorexia and eventually develop a fairly chronic smoking habit, which she currently maintains. She was able to fight off the anorexia, but the disorder caused her teenage years to be tumultuous ones.
Kate attended the public (private school to U.S. readers) Godolphin and Latymer School in London for her grade and primary school education.
Kate started flexing her creative muscle early, beginning ballet lessons and getting involved in numerous creative writing avenues. She went on to win the W.H. Smith Young Writer's competition twice in her teens.
After finishing school in London, she gradually began acting, thus following in the footsteps of her parents. In 1991 she played a role in a television film about World War II, through which she became widely known by the British public.
The same year Kate left for Oxford University's New College, where she majored 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.
She had been studying abroad in Paris, and the time away from the crunch of schoolwork and demands of college life gave her some space to evaluate the direction her life was taking. She decided that her heart lies in acting, so she abandoned her education and chose to focus solely on her passion.
Career
Petite and pretty, with dark hair, pale skin and flashing eyes, Kate Beckinsale made a strong film debut as the virginal hero in Kenneth Branagh's sun-dappled adaptation of "Much Ado About Nothing" (1993).
The film was Kate's first to receive international appeal, and exposed her to the critical American audience.
Kate worked in three other films while attending Oxford, beginning with a part in the medieval historical drama Prince of Jutland (1994), Uncovered (1994) and Cold Comfort Farm (1995).
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.
Her big movie of 1995 was the romance/horror movie Haunted (1995), starring opposite Aidan Quinn and John Gielgud, and filmed in West Sussex.
Films like 1997's Shooting Fish and 1998's The Last Days of Disco, received reviews across the board and opened doors to several others films.
Kate hit it big when she was cast as the woman caught in the middle of a love triangle with Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett in 2001's Pearl Harbor.
She actually got the part when Charlize Theron pulled out to do Sweet November). For this she took no fee from producers Disney, instead agreeing to a percentage of profits.
Next, Kate starred as John Cusack's love interest in Serendipity (2001) where while Christmas shopping in New York City, she met and fell for John Cusack.
In 2003, she starred in UnderWorld portraying vampire warrior Selene in a world where vampires battle endlessly against werewolves.
She returned to sci-fi monster-land in 2004's Van Helsing, and appeared as screen legend Ava Gardner in the Oscar-winning Howard Hughes biopic, The Aviator.
