Kate Winslet was born on October 5th, 1975, in Reading, England to Roger and Sally Winslet. She was born into an acting family. Her father, uncle, and grandparents all acted.

She knew she wanted to be an actress early on. When she was only 5 years old, she was cast as Virgin Mary in the school play.This lead on to attending Redroofs Theatre School, in Maidenhead, at age 11. At age 16 she got her first acting job, dancing with the Honey Monster in a Sugar Puffs commercial. She made her television debute in the British television drama Shrinks in 1988. This would be followed by appearances in the show "Casualty" (1989), and "Dark Season" (1991). She would stay here until the age of 16, when she felt it was time for her to go out into the real world and work.

In 1990, Kate got another job on the television series "Get Back." Then Kate fell in love with Stephen Tredre from Dark Season. They got engaged, but Stephen was diagnosed with cancer and started to undergo chemotherapy, their engagement was broken off. But they were together for nearly five years, and during that time, he was always on her side, even during her severe weight problems, when she got up to 185 pounds.

During 1993, she appeared on "Anglo-Saxon Attitudes," and also did theater performances and musicals, including "Adrian Moore", "Peter Pan", "A Game of Soldiers" and "What the Butler Saw." Kate's first film role was in 1994 when she played Juliet Hulme in "Heavenly Creatures" which she recieved awards for. That was her big break. She next played Princess Sarah in "A Kid in King Arthurs Court", but got she recieved recognition when she played Marianne Dashwood in "Sense and Sensibility," (1995) which she earned an Oscar Nomination for.

In 1996, she stared in an adaption of Thomas Hardy's novel, Jude the Obscure. She got good critical reviews, but the movie was not seen by many people. Then, she was given a role without trying out for it. This was as Ophelia in Kenneth Brannagh's "Hamlet." Since she was in these films which were set in pre-twentieth century sets, she got the nickname Corset Kate.

Then, around the time of her Oscar nomination, (for Sense and Sensibility) she read the script to a movie written and being directed by American blockbuster director James Cameron called Titanic. She was desparate to get this roll. She convinced Mr. Cameron that she was the only one for the part and she won the roll. It cost more than $200 million to make, and it became a huge hit in cinemas all over the world. Kate played Rose DeWitt Bukater, a girl of 17, who fell in love with Jack played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Then tradigy struck on the ill-fated liner. This movie broke records everywhere. It recieved 14 Oscar Nominations and won 11.

In the near future, Kate is due to appear in "Hideously Kinky" (comes out mid-June in the UK) and "Holy Smoke."