Katherine "Kate" Elizabeth Winslet was born on October 5, 1975.

At age 11, Kate began taking acting lessons in Maidenhead and secured her first acting role in a Sugar Puffs commercial dancing with the Honey Monster. She attended a performing arts school and followed her graduation with roles in the British television drama Shrinks.

In 1994, Kate Winslet made her move into film with "Heavenly Creatures", in which she landed the starring role, and received rave review's from her film debut. Screenwriter and producer Emma Thompson, cast her at first sight for the role in which Kate earned herself an even greater accolade of a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

Though her best known role may be that of Rose DeWitt Bukater in the highest-grossing film of all time, Titanic (1997), she was also highly regarded for her first role as Juliet Hulme in Heavenly Creatures (1994).

Her other films include Hideous Kinky (1998), Holy Smoke (1999) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, starring Jim Carrey), and she has done voice work in the animated features Faeries (1999) and Christmas Carol

Winslet married assistant director Jim Threapleton in 1998; the pair had a daughter, Mia, in 2000 and divorced in 2001. On 9 June 2003, Winslet married Sam Mendes, the Oscar-winning director of American Beauty.