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Biography

Kate Beckinsale was born on July 26, 1973, to two seasoned British television actors, and spent most of her life in London. Her half-sister Samantha is also an actress; they met briefly when Kate was very young and didn't cross paths again until 1995. Kate made her acting debut in a television WWII drama called One Against the Wind, and was soon cast in a short corporate film about industrial accidents. In 1991, Kate left for Oxford University's New College, where she majored in French and Russian literature. She already knew that she was going to be an actress, but in order to broaden her horizons, she decided to attend a regular university rather than drama school. In 1993, she starred as "Hero" in the film adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Thanks to her role, she had the chance to travel to Tuscany, Italy, where the film was being shot. She eventually dropped out of her studies after winning the role in three other European productions. Her first major American film, Brokedown Palace (1999), was not a commercial success. Soon after, Beckinsale was cast in the 2001 film Pearl Harbor as the female lead, after actress Charlize Theron turned down the part. The film was one of the highest grossing films of its year. In the years following, she appeared in a series of American films that were high-profile, but were given a somewhat poor critical reception, including Serendipity (2001), Underworld (2003) and Van Helsing (2004). Notably, she appeared as Ava Gardner in The Aviator, a role for which she gained 20 pounds.Beckinsale as Ava Gardner in The Aviator, 2004. In 2006, Beckinsale was placed at #23 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World", after being #71 in 2005. She has also been placed at #16 in Maxim's "HOT 100" (2003), #63 in Stuff's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002), and was chosen by the English magazine Hello! as "England’s #1 Beauty", also in 2002.

In January 2006, Beckinsale reprised her role as a vampire in the movie Underworld: Evolution, a sequel to her 2003 film, Underworld, again directed by her husband, Len Wiseman. The film opened at the #1 spot at the box office, grossing over $26 million in its first weekend of release. On January 24, 2006, Beckinsale was featured on the MTV series, Punk'd. The set-up for the segment took place at the Avalon Hotel in Los Angeles. Also in 2006, Beckinsale appeared in the Adam Sandler starring comedy-drama, Click, which opened on June 23. Next, Beckinsale replaced Sarah Jessica Parker in the film Vacancy, released in 2007. Her next role will be in Snow Angels, which is in post-production and scheduled for release some time in 2008. At Comic-Con 2007, Kate expressed interest in playing Catwoman in the current Christopher Nolan directed Batman films. However, in April of 2007, during an interview promoting Vacancy, Beckinsale claimed no knowledge of the rumors linking her to a remake of Barbarella. "I was told on the set yesterday, someone said, 'Oh I hear you're doing Barbarella,' one of the grips. So that's the most official it's become. Every woman would consider Barbarella for a moment, but I don't know." Beckinsale and her ex-boyfriend Michael Sheen have a daughter, Lily Mo Sheen (born January 31, 1999). She reported in interviews that during her pregnancy with Lily was the only time she's ever stopped smoking. During the Underworld's shoot, Beckinsale split from Sheen, who starred as her mortal enemy, Lucian, leader of the lycans, and became involved with the director of the film, Len Wiseman. In June 2003, Beckinsale became engaged to Wiseman, and the two were married on 9 May 2004 in Bel-Air, California.