Hollywood Celebrities Biography: Kate Beckinsale Biography

Kate Beckinsale Biography
Kathryn Bailey "Kate Beckinsale" was born 26 July 1973 at Finsbury Park, London, England is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing (1993) while still a student at Oxford University. Kate Beckinsale then appeared in British costume dramas such as Prince of Jutland (1994), Cold Comfort Farm (1995), Emma (1996) and The Golden Bowl (2000), in addition to various stage and radio productions. Kate Beckinsale began to seek film work in the United States in the late 1990s and, after appearing in small-scale dramas The Last Days of Disco (1998) and Brokedown Palace (1999), she had a breakout year in 2001 with starring roles in the war epic Pearl Harbor and the romantic comedy Serendipity. Kate Beckinsale built on this success with appearances in The Aviator (2004) and Click (2006).

Early Life

Beckinsale was born in London, England, the youngest child of actor Richard Beckinsale and actress Judy Loe. Kate Beckinsale 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 31-year-old father died suddenly of a heart attack. Beckinsale was deeply traumatised by the loss and "started expecting bad things to happen".While she has seen her father "more on television than I have in life," "there are certainly enough memories for me not to feel that it's somebody I didn't know." Kate Beckinsale widowed mother moved in with director Roy Battersby when Beckinsale was nine and she was raised alongside his four sons and daughter. Kate Beckinsale has a close relationship with her step-father: "I couldn't have knitted a better one ... He wasn't pushy, he let me come to him." Kate Beckinsale has a paternal half-sister, actress Samantha Beckinsale, but they have never had regular contact.

Personal Life

Beckinsale had an eight-year relationship with Welsh actor Michael Sheen from 1995 until 2003. They met when cast in a touring production of The Seagull in early 1995 and moved in together shortly afterwards. Kate Beckinsale has said it was "love at first sight" and that he saved her from "a hospital for the criminally insane". In 1997, they appeared in a radio production of Romeo and Juliet. Their daughter, Lily Mo, was born in London, England on 31 January 1999. The actress has said she was "embarrassed" that Sheen never proposed but remarked, "If you keep a library book out long enough, you feel it's yours."

Their relationship ended in early 2003, after the filming of Underworld.Beckinsale had persuaded director Len Wiseman to cast Sheen in the film but, while on set, she and Wiseman (who was married) fell in love. All parties have maintained there was no infidelity and Beckinsale and Wiseman both remain friends with Sheen. "We were very lucky in that we didn't have an acrimonious split," Beckinsale has said. "We are still very close and [our daughter] sees us around each other." "I love him dearly – I would miss him dreadfully if he wasn't in my life."

Kate Beckinsale