Kate Beckinsale

Kathrin Romany Beckinsale (born 26 July 1973) is an English actress. The recipient of various accolades, including a Saturn Award, two MTV Movie Awards, two Critics' Choice Awards, and two National Film Awards UK, she is known for her roles in period, romance and action films. The only child of actors Richard Beckinsale and Judy Loe, Kate Beckinsale made her acting debut when she was only a year old, as an extra on the British daytime drama ''Couples'' (1975), on which her parents also appeared. In 1991, she had a small voice role in an episode of the miniseries adaptation of P. D. James' ''Devices and Desires'' and a supporting role in the television film ''One Against the Wind'' starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill. In 1992, she starred in the ''Blade Runner''-inspired short film "Rachel's Dream" with Christopher Eccleston and debuted onstage in a production of Noël Coward's ''Hay Fever''.

In 1993, she costarred in the ''Anna Lee'' pilot "Headcase" and made her theatrical film debut with the brief but crucial role of Hero in Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of William Shakespeare's ''Much Ado About Nothing'' whilst studying at the University of Oxford. Subsequently, she established herself in leading roles in numerous British costume dramas such as ''Prince of Jutland'' (1994), ''Cold Comfort Farm'' (1995), ''Emma'' (1996), and ''The Golden Bowl'' (2000). She also appeared in ''The Last Days of Disco'' (1998), ''Brokedown Palace'' (1999), ''Pearl Harbor'' (2001), ''Serendipity'' (2001), ''Tiptoes'' (2003), ''The Aviator'' (2004), and ''Click'' (2006).

Since taking the role of Selene in the ''Underworld'' film series (2003–2016), Beckinsale became known for her work in action films, including ''Van Helsing'' (2004), ''Whiteout'' (2009), ''Contraband'' (2012), ''Total Recall'' (2012), and ''Jolt'' (2021) while also earning acclaim for her roles in ''Snow Angels'' (2007), ''Nothing but the Truth'' (2008), ''Everybody's Fine'' (2009), ''Love & Friendship'' (2016), and ''The Only Living Boy in New York'' (2017). In recent years, she returned to television in the limited series ''The Widow'' (2019) and the short-lived dramedy ''Guilty Party'' (2021), also serving as an executive producer in the latter. Provided by Wikipedia