Kate Beckinsale was born on July 26, 1973 in England, and has resided in London for most of her life. Her mother is Judy Loe, who has appeared in a number of British dramas and sitcoms, and continues to work as an actress, predominantly in British television productions, and is also a casting director for BBC. Her father was Richard Beckinsale, born in Nottingham, England, UK. He starred in a number of popular British television comedies during the 1970s, most notably the television series “Rising Damp”, “Porridge” and “The Lovers” (1970). In 1979, tragedy struck. Her father died of a heart attack, leaving Kate’s mother to raise the 6 year old alone.

Kate attended the private school, Godolphin and Latymer School in London for her grade and elementary school education. In her teens, she twice won the British bookseller W. H. Smith Young Writers’ competition. Kate battled through anorexia and eventually developed 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.

However Kate’s life took a positive turn, as Kate nailed a role in the television film “Once Against the Wind,” filmed in Luxembourg during the summer of 1991. It first aired on American television that December. Kate had decided that she might want to follow in her parents’ footsteps and become an actress on her own accord, and this role was perfect for her. Kate however wanted to broaden her horizons and instead of attending drama school she began attending Oxford University’s New College in the fall of 1991, where she was majoring in French and Russian literature. While in her first year at Oxford, Kate received her big break in Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” Kate worked in three other films while attending Oxford, beginning with a part in the medieval historical drama “Prince of Jutland”, cast as Ethel. The film was shot during spring, 1993 on location in Denmark, and she performed her supporting part during New College’s Easter break. Later in the summer of that year, she performed as the lead in the contemporary mystery drama “Uncovered”. Before she went back to school, her third year at university was spent at Oxford’s study-abroad program in Paris, France, immersing herself in the French language and Parisian culture.

A year away from the academic community and living on her own in the French capital caused her to re-evaluate the direction of her life. She faced a choice: continue with school, or concentrate on her flourishing acting career. After much thought, she chose the acting career. In the spring of 1994 Kate left Oxford, after finishing three years of study. Kate appeared in the BBC/Thames Television satire “Cold Comfort Farm” filmed in London and East Sussex during late summer 1994 and opened to spectacular reviews in the United States, grossing over $5 (US Dollars) million during its American cinema run. It was re-released to U.K. theaters in the spring of 1997.

After turning down several mediocre scripts, “and going nearly berserk with boredom”, she waited seven months before another interesting role was offered to her. Her big movie of 1995 was the romance/horror movie “Haunted”, starring opposite Aidan Quinn and John Gielgud, and filmed in West Sussex. In this film, she wanted to play “an object of desire”, unlike her past performances where her characters were much less the siren and more the worldly innocent. Kate’s first film project of 1996 was the British ITV production of Jane Austen’s novel “Emma”. Her last film of 1996 was the comedy “Shooting Fish”, filmed at Shepperton Studios in London during early fall. She played the part of Georgie, an altruistic con artist.

Two subsequent Hollywood releases would prove pivotal stepping stones. “The Last Days of Disco,” an odd film that received reviews across the board was important, but her role in the film “Brokedown Palace”, alongside Claire Danes, although not a box office success, nor critical success for that matter, simply offered up the exposure this British lass was searching for.

On January 31, 1999, Kate gave birth to Lily Sheen, a child of the also actor Michael Sheen. After time out for motherhood, she returned to the big screen as Nick Nolte’s daughter in the Merchant Ivory adaptation of Henry James’ “The Golden Bowl.” The attractive actress finally had a shot at more mainstream success with two high profile leading roles in 2001. In the big-budget epic “Pearl Harbor,” where she was cast as a US Navy nurse who falls in love with a dashing pilot but when news of his death arrives turns to his best friend for comfort, and opposite John Cusack in the mildly engaging romantic comedy “Serendipity,” playing a woman who believes more in fate than love at first sight and faces a long but seemingly inevitable road to romance. The actress surfaced again in 2003 in the arty indie “Laurel Canyon” as the icy fiancee of an L.A. native who returns to his eclectic mother’s home in Laurel Canyon, where Kate’s character slowly becomes seduced by the sultry Los Angeles lifestyle.

Her highest profile role to date came in “Underworld,” a glossy supernatural thriller with Romeo-and-Juliet overtones, in which Beckinsale played Selene, a vampire emobroiled in her kind’s long feud with a werewolf clan who falls in love with one of her blood enemies. During the filming of “Underworld,” she met Len Wiseman, the two later became engaged, the two got married on May 9, 2004. Kate followed up with another action-packed supernatural thriller, teaming with Hugh Jackman for “Van Helsing,” in which she played Anna Valerious, a vampire slayer from a long line committed to ending the reign of Count Dracula who teams with the count’s longtime human foe. The actress was better served by her next project, director Martin Scorses’s Howard Hughes glamorous and visually arresting biopic “The Aviator,” in which the actress provided a sultry spark as the firey film icon Ava Gardner, Hughes’ most challenging, yet sympathetic, paramour.

Kate graced the big screen reprising her role as Selene in the sequel “Underworld: Evolution,” which was again directed by Len Wiseman. Kate will now be seen as Adam Sandler’s wife in the movie “Click”. Kate just finished filming “Snow Angels”, which it is yet to be determined when the fill will open.

Original biographies were written for IMDB, Hollywood.com, and Heavenly Celebrities, this biography has been modified by Mary for Kate-B.net