Special Birthday: Kate Beckinsale

February 2012

Kathrin Romary "Kate" Beckinsale is an English actress.

Biography:

Kathrin Romary Beckinsale was born in London, on July 26, 1973. She is the only child of actor Richard Beckinsale and actress Judy Loe. Beckinsale read French and Russian literature at New College, Oxford and was later described by a contemporary as "whip-clever, slightly nuts and very charming". 

In 1998, after numerous roles in movies in England, Kate moved to Hollywood. She starred opposite Chloë Sevigny in 1998's The Last Days of Disco. Beckinsale's attempt at an American accent was widely praised. Her performance earned her a London Critics' Circle Film Award. But only in 2001, Beckinsale rose to fame with a leading role in the war film Pearl Harbor. Beckinsale's second film appearance of 2001 was in the romantic comedy Serendipity as the love interest of John Cusack.

Beckinsale became known as an action star following an appearance as a vampire in 2003's Underworld. It was markedly different from her previous work.

Since 2003's Underworld, Kate Beckinsale appeared in various movies, such as Click (with Adam Sandler), Snow Angels (with Sam Rockwell), Vacancy (with Luke Wilson) and Nothing But The Truth (with Vera Farmiga). About this last one, Beckinsale received a Critic's Choice Award nomination for her performance.

More recently, Beckinsale starred in the movies Contraband as the wife of Mark Wahlberg's character, Underworld: Awakening, the fourth of this saga and in August this year, she will appear in the sci-fi action remake Total Recall, directed by her husband, Len Wiseman.

Beckinsale has worked occasionally as a model. In 1997, she appeared in the music video for George Michael's Waltz Away Dreaming. She starred opposite Orlando Bloom in a 2002 Gap television advert. She appeared in a Diet Coke television advert in 2004, directed by Michael Gondry, among others.

Beckinsale was named "England's Number One Beauty" by Hello! in 2002 and appeared at number 41 in People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People list in 2008. Esquire named her the Sexiest Woman Alive in 2009. She was at number 22 in Maxim's Hot 100 2009 list. She came in at number 41 on FHM's Sexiest Women of 2010 list, having previously appeared at number 15 in their 2009 list and at number 12 in their 2008 list. She has frequently appeared in AskMen.com's annual list of the 99 Most Desired Women: she was at number 22 in 2012, at number 14 in 2011, at number 3 in 2010, at number 10 in 2009 and at number 3 in 2008.

Filmography:

Film	Role	Year
Total Recall Originally adapted by directorPaul Verhoeven in 1990, authorPhilip K. Dick's classic sci-fi short story We Can Remember It...	Lori Quaid	2012
Underworld: Awakening Kate Beckinsale returns to the Underworld film series for the fourth installment, which finds fierce vampire Selene...	Selene	2012
Contraband A former smuggler from New Orleans faces ruthless drug lords, vicious criminals, corrupt officials, and trigger-happy hit men...	Kate Farraday	2012
Everybody's Fine Widower Frank Goode has had to make plenty of adjustments since losing his wife about a year ago, but maybe the hardest one...	Amy	2009
Whiteout A U.S. marshall tracking a vicious murderer through the Antarctic must locate the killer before the sun sets for six months,...	Carrie Stetko	2009
Fragments In the aftermath of a gruesome restaurant murder, the survivors of the attack are left to ponder their own mortality and how...	Carla	2009
Nothing But the Truth A tense political drama ripped straight from the headlines, Rod Lurie's Nothing But the Truth tells the tale of a Washington,...	Rachel Armstrong	2008
Snow Angels Director/screenwriter David Gordon Green adapts Stewart O'Nan's popular novel to the screen in this feature, which tells the...	Annie Marchand	2008
Vacancy A vacationing couple makes a terrifying discovery about the motel room they have just checked into in this thriller scripted...	Amy Fox	2007
Click A workaholic architect, frustrated in his job but determined to make a better life for his family, is bestowed with a...	Donna Newman	2006
Underworld: Evolution Tribes of vampires and werewolves battle for supremacy among the undead in this follow-up to the horror hitUnderworld....	Selene	2006
The Aviator Martin Scorsese directed this fast-moving, epic-scale biopic documenting the life and loves one of the most colorful...	Ava Gardner	2004
Van Helsing The greatest monster hunter of them all has his work cut out for him as he tracks down three deadly foes in this...	Anna Valerious	2004
Underworld A young man who has pledged his life to helping others finds himself in a pitched battle between two gangs of supernatural...	Selene	2003
Laurel Canyon Writer/director Lisa Cholodenkofollows up her much-acclaimed 1997 debut High Art with this examination of a young couple...	Alex	2003
Tiptoes Matthew Bright directs the romantic comedy Tiptoes, written by Bill Weiner. Rolfe (Gary Oldman) is a dwarf, but his brother...	Carol	2003
Serendipity After the long-delayed Town and Country, director Peter Chelsomturns in his second 2001 effort with this love-at-first-sight...	Sara Thomas	2001
Pearl Harbor At the time of its release, this lavish period war drama from hyperkinetic director Michael Bay became the most expensive...	Evelyn Johnson	2001
The Golden Bowl The distinguished director/producer/writer team ofJames Ivory, Ismail Merchant, and Ruth Prawer Jhabvalareturns to the...	Maggie Verver	2000
Brokedown Palace Two carefree Americans embark on an overseas vacation that soon becomes a nightmare in this powerful drama. Alice...	Darlene Davis	1999
Alice Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carroll's classic fantasy about a young girl's adventures in a strange, alternate reality comes to the screen once...	Alice	1999
The Last Days of Disco As another installment of Whit Stillman's trilogy, The Last Days of Disco fits chronologically between Metropolitan (1990)...	Charlotte	1998
Shooting Fish Calling to mind the whimsical, swinging London comedies of the 1960s, such as the Blake Edwards Pink Panther films and the...	Georgie	1997
Emma In this made-for-TV adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel, Emma Woodhouse (Kate Beckinsale) is a clever young woman from...	Emma Woodhouse	1996
Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons' popular novel was published in 1932, and it has been adapted twice for British television, first as a...	Flora Poste	1995
Haunted Adapted from the novel byJames Herbert, this subtle, melancholy British chiller owes a great deal to Henry James's The Turn...	Christina Mariell	1995
Royal Deceit This European historical saga presents the true tale of intrigue, regicide, incest, and insanity on which Shakespeare based...		1994
Uncovered Julia (Kate Beckinsale) has been busy about her job, doing painstaking restoration work on a fifteenth-century painting. As...	Julia	1994
Marie-Louise Ou La Permission Star crossed lovers are the focus of this French romantic comedy. Marie-Louise, an American, has come to Paris to meet her...	Marie-Louise	1994
Much Ado About Nothing Actor Kenneth Branagh made his directorial debut with a rousing screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's Henry V. Four...		1993
One Against the Wind This award-winning TV production tells the true story of a heroic woman's underground operation to spirit Allied soldiers out...		1991
Devices and Desires Roy Marsden stars as Commander Adam Dalgliesh in this miniseries adapted from the best-selling mystery novel by P.D. James....

Trivia:

① Kate is very good friends with Victoria Beckham and Eva Longoria.

② Despite having been a vampire hunter in the movie Van Helsing and a vampire in the movie Underworld, she is not a big fan of vampire movies.

③ Kate doesn't drink alcohol.

④ Kate did her A levels in Russian, German and French.

⑤ Kate got the role in Pearl Harbor after Charlize Theron pulled out.

⑥ Kate smokes.

⑦ At the 2008 Glamour Women of the Year Awards in the UK, Kate was awarded the Actress of the Year Award.

⑧ The three rings Kate has on her ring finger signify each member of her family: husband Len Wiseman, herself and daughter Lily.

⑨ Kate doesn't drive because she failed the driving test.

Total Recall Movie Trailer 2012

Starring Colin Farrel, Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel in the main roles.

Release: August 2012

Quote:

"I have a four-year-old who's just starting to get worried about monsters, but she knows that mummy kicks monsters a**, so she's fine.

The 16th Movie Avenue wishes you a Happy Birthday, Kate!

Resources:

http://www.fandango.com/katebeckinsale/filmography/p4911

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_beckinsale

http://www.tv.com/people/kate-beckinsale/trivia/

PS: Just wanted to had that today is also Sandra Bullock's birthday, a Golden Globe and Academy Award winner, who has been in several great movies since 1989. She turns fourty-eight. Happy Birthday, Sandra!