Known for essaying the role of Serena in the 'Underworld' film series, Kate Beckinsale is a British film and TV actress who rose to prominence with starring roles in Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor and
Peter Chelsom's Serendipity. She is mostly noted for her action movies like Van Helsing (2004), Whiteout (2009), Contraband (2012), and Total Recall (2012). She has further appeared in television shows like Devices and Desires (1991), and Anna Lee (1993); further starring in the television adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma.
Early Life
Born in London, England, to actors Richard Beckinsale and Judy Loe, Beckinsale made her first on-screen appearance at the age of four, in an episode of This is Your Life, dedicated to her father. After one year, when she was five, Richard Beckinsale died of a sudden heart attack. Being very close to her father, the young kate was completely shaken and developed anorexia. To get rid of the tumultuous condition, Kate began Freudian psychoanalysis and slowly recovered. In her growing years only, Beckinsale decided she will be nothing but an actress. For her graduation, she studied French and Russian at Oxford University, where she landed her first silver screen project in Kenneth Branagh's Shakespearean adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. She the quit college to pursue a career in the world of glamor.
Personal Life
After meeting on a tour, in 1995, sparks flew between Beckinsale and the Welsh actor, Micheal Sheen and the couple moved in together soon, afterward. Their love child, Lily was born in 1999. Thier relationship came to a halt, in 2003, when on the sets of Underworld, Beckinsale, and the movie's married director Len Wiseman fell for each other. In 2004, she married Wiseman but, unfortunately, the couple filed for a divorce in 2016.
Movie Career
Beckinsale broke into the Hollywood industry with the 1993 rom-com film Much Ado About Nothing. Starring Emma Thompson, Robert Sean Leonard, Denzel Washington, Michael Keaton, Keanu Reeves, and Kate Beckinsale, the movie opened to good reviews. While still in college, Kate appeared in the adventure film Royal Deciet (1994), and the mystery drama Uncovered (1994). Both the movies received a mediocre reception at the box office. In 1998, Kate Beckinsale starred alongside Chloë Sevigny in the comedy-drama The Last Days of Disco. Directed by Whit Stillman, the movie was commercially well received and Beckinsale took home the London Critics Circle Film Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her next release was Jonathan Kaplan's Brokedown Palace which bombed at the box office miserably.
In 2001, the actress starred in two box office hits. First was Pearl Harbor, an epic historical war film, co-starring Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Colm Feore and Alec Baldwin, along with Kate Beckinsale. The second was the romantic comedy film Serendipity, starring John Cusack opposite her. Both the movies received mixed reviews from the critics but were commercially applauded.
The year 2003 proved to be a turning point in Beckinsale's career as she did a starring role in the supernatural action film Underworld. She essayed the role of Selena, a vampire death dealer in the first installment of the franchise. Directed by Len Wiseman, the movie was globally thrashed by the critics but the audiences gave it a thumbs up, making it a huge success. Beckinsale reprised her as Selena role in the sequel Underworld: Evolution, which released in 2006. The movie failed to repeat the success of its prequel and left the audience unimpressed. In the third installment of the film Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Beckinsale just had a cameo. The fourth film in the franchise Underworld: Awakening fell flat at the box office.
She consciously fashioned herself as an action star and amidst featuring in the Underworld series, also appeared in other films like The Aviatior (2004), Vacancy (2007), Nothing but the Truth (2008), and Total Recall (2012). Her 2016 releases include the period comedy film Love & Friendship, the horror film The Disappointments Room, and Underworld: Blood Wars, the fifth movie in the franchise.