| Kate Beckinsale | |
|---|---|
Beckinsale at the 2011 San Diego Comic Con |
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| Born | Kathryn Bailey Beckinsale 26 July 1973 Finsbury Park, London, England |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Spouse | Len Wiseman (m. 2004–present) |
| Partner | Michael Sheen (1995–2003, 1 child) |
| Parents | Richard Beckinsale Judy Loe |
Kathryn Bailey "Kate" Beckinsale (born 26 July 1973) is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing (1993) while still a student at Oxford University. She then appeared in British costume dramas such as Prince of Jutland (1994), Cold Comfort Farm (1995), Emma (1996) and The Golden Bowl (2000), in addition to various stage and radio productions. She began to seek film work in the United States in the late 1990s and, after appearing in small-scale dramas The Last Days of Disco (1998) and Brokedown Palace (1999), she had a breakout year in 2001 with starring roles in the war epic Pearl Harbor and the romantic comedy Serendipity. She built on this success with appearances in The Aviator (2004) and Click (2006).
Beckinsale garnered a reputation as an action star following an appearance as a vampire in 2003's Underworld and has since starred in Van Helsing (2004), Underworld: Evolution (2006) and Whiteout (2009). She has also continued to work on smaller dramatic projects such as Snow Angels (2007), Winged Creatures (2008), Nothing but the Truth (for which she earned a Critic's Choice Award nomination in 2008) and Everybody's Fine (2009). She has three films set for release in 2012: the crime thriller Contraband, the fourth installment of the vampire franchise Underworld: Awakening and the sci-fi remake Total Recall.
Beckinsale is the only child of actors Richard Beckinsale (1947–1979) and Judy Loe and was raised in London. She had an eight-year relationship with actor Michael Sheen from 1995 until 2003; they have one daughter. She married American film director Len Wiseman in 2004 and they live in Los Angeles, California. Publications such as Esquire and People Magazine have repeatedly included Beckinsale in their annual rankings of the world's sexiest and most beautiful women. She has worked occasionally as a model in television and print campaigns to promote Gap denim, Diet Coke, Absolut Vodka and Lux shampoo.
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Beckinsale was born in London, England, the only child of actor Richard Beckinsale and actress Judy Loe.[1] She made her first television appearance at the age of four in an episode of This is Your Life dedicated to her father.[2][3] When she was five years old, her 31-year-old father died suddenly of a heart attack. Beckinsale was deeply traumatised by the loss and "started expecting bad things to happen".[4] While she has seen her father "more on television than I have in life," "there are certainly enough memories for me not to feel that it's somebody I didn't know."[1] Her widowed mother moved in with director Roy Battersby when Beckinsale was nine and she was raised alongside his four sons and daughter.[5] She has a close relationship with her step-father: "I couldn't have knitted a better one ... He wasn't pushy, he let me come to him."[1] She has a paternal half-sister, actress Samantha Beckinsale, but they have never had regular contact.[1]
Beckinsale was educated at Godolphin and Latymer School in West London[6] and was involved with the Orange Tree Youth Theatre.[7] In her teens, she twice won the W. H. Smith Young Writers' competition—once for short stories and once for poetry[8]—and was presented with the prize by poet Ted Hughes.[9] She has described herself as "a late bloomer": "All of my friends were kissing boys and drinking cider way before me. I found it really depressing that we weren't making camp fires and everyone was doing grown-up stuff."[10] "I loathed being a teenager."[11] She had a nervous breakdown and developed anorexia at the age of fifteen and underwent Freudian psychoanalysis for four years.[1]
Beckinsale read French and Russian literature at New College, Oxford University and was later described by a contemporary, journalist Victoria Coren, as "whip-clever, slightly nuts and very charming".[12] She was involved with the Oxford University Dramatic Society, most notably being directed by fellow student Tom Hooper in a production of A View from the Bridge at the Oxford Playhouse.[13] She spent her third year in Paris as part of Oxford's study-abroad programme, after which she decided to leave university to concentrate on her burgeoning acting career: "It was getting to the point where I wasn't enjoying either thing enough because both were very high pressure. I was burning out and I knew I had to make a decision."[1]
Beckinsale decided at a young age that she wanted to be an actress: "I grew up immersed in film. My family were in the business. I quickly realised that my parents seemed to have much more fun in their work than any of my friends’ parents."[14] She made her television debut in 1991 with a small part in an ITV adaptation of P. D. James’ Devices and Desires.[15] Also that year, she appeared as a young woman engaging in a forbidden affair with a Nazi officer in the Hallmark film One Against The Wind.[16] In 1992, she starred alongside Christopher Eccleston in Rachel’s Dream, a 30-minute Channel 4 short,[17] and in 1993, she appeared in the pilot of the ITV detective series, Anna Lee, starring Imogen Stubbs.[18]
In 1993, Beckinsale landed the role of Hero in Kenneth Branagh's big-screen adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. It was filmed in Tuscany, Italy during a summer holiday from Oxford University.[19] She attended the film's Cannes Film Festival premiere and later remembered it as an overwhelming experience. "Nobody even told me I could bring a friend!"[10] "I had Doc Martens boots on, and I think I put the flower from the breakfast tray in my hair".[20] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone was won over by her "lovely" performance[21] while Vincent Canby of The New York Times noted that she and Robert Sean Leonard "look right and behave with a certain naive sincerity, although they often seem numb with surprise at hearing the complex locutions they speak."[22] She filmed three other movies while at university. In 1994, she appeared as Christian Bale's love interest in Prince of Jutland, a film based on the Danish legend which inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet,[23] and starred in the murder mystery Uncovered.[24] In 1995, while studying in Paris, she filmed the French-language Marie-Louise Ou La Permission.[25]
Shortly after leaving Oxford University in 1995, Beckinsale starred in Cold Comfort Farm as Flora Poste, a newly orphaned 1930s socialite sent to live with distant family members in rural England. The John Schlesinger-directed film was an adaptation of Stella Gibbons's novel and also featured Joanna Lumley, Ian McKellen, Rufus Sewell and Stephen Fry. Beckinsale was initially considered too young, but was cast after she wrote a pleading letter to the director.[26] Emanuel Levy of Variety was reminded of "the strength of a young Glenda Jackson and the charm of a young Julie Christie.[27] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times classed the actress as "yet another of those effortlessly skilled British beauties who light up the screen."[28] Janet Maslin of The New York Times felt she played the role "with the perfect snippy aplomb".[29] Also in 1995, she appeared in Haunted, a ghost story in which Derek Elley of Variety felt she "holds the screen, with both physical looks and verbal poise".[30]
1995 also saw Beckinsale's first professional stage appearance as Nina in The Seagull at Theatre Royal, Bath. She became romantically involved with co-star Michael Sheen after meeting during play rehearsals.[31] "He was the young lion of the theatre".[32] "I was all revved up to feel very intimidated. It was my first-ever play and my mother had cut out reviews of him in previous productions. And then he walked in ... It was almost like, 'God, well, I'm finished now. That's it, then.'... He's the most outrageously talented person I've ever met."[33] Irving Wardle of The Independent felt that "the casting, including Michael Sheen's volcanic Kostya and Kate Beckinsale's steadily freezing Nina, is mainly spot-on."[34] In early 1996, she starred in two further plays; Sweetheart at the Royal Court Theatre[35] and Clocks and Whistles at The Bush Theatre.[36]
Beckinsale next starred in an ITV adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, playing Emma to Mark Strong's Mr Knightley and Samantha Morton's Harriet Smith. "You shouldn't necessarily like Emma," Beckinsale has said of her character. "You do love her, but in the way the family of a teenage girl could be exasperated by her outrageous behavior and still love her."[26] The programme was aired in autumn 1996, just months after Gwyneth Paltrow had starred in a movie adaptation of the same story.[26] Caryn James of The New York Times felt that, while "Ms. Beckinsale's Emma is plainer looking than Ms. Paltrow's", she is "altogether more believable and funnier."[37] Jonathan Brown of The Independent has described Beckinsale's interpretation as "the most enduring modern performance" as Emma.[38]
In 1997, Beckinsale appeared opposite Stuart Townsend in the comedy Shooting Fish, one of the most commercially successful British films of that year.[39][40] "I'd just had my wisdom teeth out," Beckinsale later recalled of the initial audition. "I was also on very strong painkillers, so it was not the most conventional of meetings."[41] Elley wrote of "an incredibly laid-back performance"[42] while Thomas felt she "just glows as an aristocrat facing disaster with considerable aplomb".[43] She narrated Austen's Emma for Hodder & Stoughton AudioBooks[44] and Diana Hendry's The Proposal for BBC Radio 4.[45] Also in 1997, she played Juliet to Michael Sheen's Romeo in a radio production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Sheen.[46]
At this point in her career, Beckinsale began to seek work in the United States, something she has said wasn't "a conscious decision ... My boyfriend was in a play on Broadway so that's why we ended up in New York, and my auditions happened to be for American movies".[47] She starred opposite Chloe Sevigny in 1998's The Last Days of Disco. The Whit Stillman film focused on a group of Ivy League graduates socialising in the Manhattan disco scene of the early 1980s. Beckinsale's attempt at an American accent was widely praised.[48][49][50] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times felt her role as the bossy Charlotte was "beautifully played".[51] Todd McCarthy of Variety was unimpressed by the film but noted that "compensations include Beckinsale, looking incredible in a succession of black dresses, whose character can get on your nerves even if the actress doesn't."[52] Her performance earned her a London Critics Circle Film Award.[53] Also that year, she starred as Alice in a Channel 4 production of Through the Looking-Glass.[54]
In 1999, Beckinsale appeared opposite Claire Danes in Brokedown Palace, a drama about two teenage Americans forced to deal with the Thai justice system on a post-graduation trip abroad. A then-23 year old Beckinsale played a teenager but joked that, "I don't think I was ever a typical 18-year-old, so whether I was 18 or not 18, it would be a character part."[55] Danes had hoped to become friends with Beckinsale during the shoot but found her "complicated" and "prickly".[56] McCarthy said the leads "confirm their status as two of the young actresses on the scene today most worth watching", finding Beckinsale "very effective at getting across layered character traits and emotions."[57] "Danes and Beckinsale are exceptionally talented young actresses", said Thomas, but "unfortunately, the script's seriously underdeveloped context defeats their considerable efforts at every turn."[58] Stephen Holden of The New York Times felt that Beckinsale's character "never comes into focus".[59]
2000's The Golden Bowl marked Beckinsale's first role following the birth of her daughter. The Merchant/ Ivory production was based on the novel by Henry James and also starred Uma Thurman and Jeremy Northam. Beckinsale's partner, Michael Sheen, hit Northam on the film set after he followed Beckinsale to her trailer to scold her for forgetting a line. Beckinsale has said that he had "never hit anyone before in his life and it was kind of shocking, but in a weird way it really broke the ice and it was all OK after that. I actually had a good time making the film."[60] Holden noted that "the most satisfying of the four lead performances belong to the British cast members, Ms. Beckinsale and Mr. Northam, who are better than their American counterparts at layers of emotional concealment", adding that each beat of Beckinsale's performance "registers precisely".[61] Thomas felt her performance would take her to "a new career level".[62] Andrew Sarris of The New York Observer asserted that she "comes close to capturing the sublimity of Maggie, despite the obvious fact that no movie can capture the elegant copiousness of James’ prose."[63]
Beckinsale rose to fame in 2001 with a leading role in the war epic Pearl Harbor as a nurse torn between two pilots, played by Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett. She was drawn to the project by the script: "It's so unusual these days to read a script that has those old-fashioned values to it. Not morals, but movie values. It's a big, sweeping epic ...You just never get the chance to do that."[64] Director Michael Bay initially had doubts about casting the actress: "I wasn't sure about her at first ... she wore black leather trousers in her screen test and I thought she was a little nasty ... it was easy to think of this woman as a slut".[65] He eventually decided to hire her because she wasn't "too beautiful. Women feel disturbed when they see someone’s too pretty."[66] He asked her to lose weight during filming.[67] In a 2004 interview, the actress noted that his comments were "upsetting"[68] and said she wore leather trousers because "it was snowing out. It wasn't exactly like I had my nipple rings in."[69] She felt grateful that she had not had to deal with such criticism at a younger age: "If I had come on to a movie set at [a younger] age and someone had said, 'You're a bit funny-looking, can you go on a diet?' - I might have jumped off a building. I just didn't have the confidence to put that into perspective at the time."[65] However, speaking in 2011, she said she was "very fond" of Bay.[70]
Pearl Harbor received very mixed reviews. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly praised "the avid eyed, ruby lipped Kate Beckinsale, the rare actress whose intelligence gives her a sensual bloom; she's like Parker Posey without irony."[71] A. O. Scott of The New York Times noted that "Mr. Affleck and Ms. Beckinsale do what they can with their lines, and glow with the satiny shine of real movie stars."[72] However, Mike Clark of USA Today felt that the "usually appealing Kate Beckinsale" is "inexplicably submerged — like her hospital colleagues — under heaps of tarty makeup that even actresses of the era didn't wear."[73]
Beckinsale's second movie appearance of 2001 was in romantic comedy Serendipity as the love interest of John Cusack. It was filmed directly after Pearl Harbour and Beckinsale found it "a real relief to return to something slightly more familiar."[47] Turan praised the "appealing and believable" leads, adding that Beckinsale "reinforces the strong impression she made in Cold Comfort Farm, The Golden Bowl and The Last Days of Disco" after "recovering nicely" from her appearance in the much-maligned Pearl Harbor.[74] Claudia Puig of USA Today felt that "Beckinsale's talents haven't been mined as effectively in any other film since Cold Comfort Farm".[75] McCarthy found her "energetic and appealing"[76] while Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times described her as "luminous but determined".[77] In an uncomplimentary review of the film, Ebert described her as "a good actress, but not good enough to play this dumb".[78]
In 2002, Beckinsale starred in Lisa Cholodenko's Laurel Canyon as a strait-laced academic who finds herself increasingly attracted to her free-spirited future mother-in-law. The independent film was another opportunity for Beckinsale to work with Christian Bale, her Prince of Jutland co-star. She found their sex scene awkward because she had known Bale "since I was 17. If it was a stranger, it would have been easier."[79] While Frances MacDormand's performance as Bale's mother was widely praised, Beckinsale received negative reviews. Holden found the film "superbly acted, with the exception of Ms. Beckinsale, whose tense, colorless Alex conveys no inner life".[80] Schwarzbaum was unimpressed by the "tedious" characters and criticised "the fussy performances of Bale and Beckinsale" in particular.[81]
Beckinsale became known as an action star following an appearance as a vampire in 2003's Underworld. It was markedly different to her previous work and Beckinsale has said she was grateful for the change of pace after appearing in "a bunch of period stuff and then a bunch of romantic comedies."[82] "It was quite a challenge for me to play an action heroine and pull off all that training when [in real life] I can’t catch a ball if it’s coming my way."[83] The film received negative to mixed reviews but was a surprise box office hit and has gained a cult following.[84] Also that year, she starred in the little-seen Tiptoes with Gary Oldman and Matthew McConaughey.[85]
In 2004, Beckinsale starred in action horror film Van Helsing. She was "so surprised" to be appearing in her second action movie in two years. "It just seemed like a very good role."[86] Beckinsale had just separated from her long-term partner Michael Sheen at the time of filming and appreciated the warm atmosphere created on set by director Stephen Sommers and co-star Hugh Jackman: "I really did find that working with people like Stephen and Hugh made it possible to get through what I was going through."[87] The film grossed over $120 million at the United States box office and over $300 million worldwide, but it was not well-reviewed.[88][89] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle described her as "a pretty actress doing her best to maintain dignity, vainly trying to craft a feminist statement from a filmmaker's whimsy"[90] while Rex Reed of The New York Observer felt she was "desperately in need of a new agent".[91]
Also in 2004, Beckinsale portrayed Ava Gardner in Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator. Scorsese decided to cast Beckinsale because, "I’ve always liked her. I’ve seen all her work, and I was glad that she agreed to audition."[92] Beckinsale's performance received mixed reviews. Ken Tucker of New York Magazine said she played the part "in full va-va-voom blossom"[93] while LaSalle felt that she manages "to convince us that Ava was one of the great broads of all time."[94] However, Clark described it as "the one performance that doesn't come off (though Beckinsale has the requisite beauty)."[95] while Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian stated that "Gardner's rich, voluptuous sexiness is completely absent as Beckinsale sleepwalks through the role as if she was advertising perfume."[96]
In 2006, Beckinsale reprised her role as Selene in the successful vampire sequel Underworld: Evolution, directed by her husband.[97] It was the first time she had "been involved with a movie from the moment it’s a germ of an idea right through the whole editing process."[98] Her daughter had a small role as the younger Selene, and took direction well: "I didn’t think she would take either of us that seriously. We both envisaged a situation where it would be kind of like trying to get her into a snow suit. She suddenly became highly professional ... She said, “Could you call me Selene?” I certainly don’t insist on being called Selene, so she didn’t get that from me."[98]
Beckinsale's second movie appearance of 2006 was opposite Adam Sandler in Click, a comedy about an overworked family man who discovers a magical remote control that allows him to control time. The opportunity to play a mother "was one of the things that was attractive to me" about the part.[99] The film was also a chance to work with Christopher Walken: "I remember my daughter running into him in his costume and running back with like the whites of her eyes showing, saying, 'I've seen a man that I don't like.' She actually really warmed up to him though."[100] When asked what moment she would rewind to in her own life, Beckinsale said she would return to her daughter's infant years and know "in advance that I wasn't going to accidentally sit on her and bust her; it would be nice to go back through that in a relaxed frame of mind because she was a great baby."[101]
Beckinsale then made a return to smaller-scale projects: "My experience is that I sort of stepped away from the independent movies and did a couple of big movies. But that's not necessarily how it's perceived by everybody else, which I do understand."[102] "I enjoy an action movie as much as the next person [but] it’s not something that I would like to do solely."[103] She explained that she had originally decided to appear in Underworld because she felt typecast in classical roles - it was "assumed that I use a chamber pot and wear bloomers"[104] - but that her action career "kind of took off a little too much".[105]
In 2007, Beckinsale starred opposite Sam Rockwell in the independent drama Snow Angels, based on the novel by Stewart O'Nan. The harrowing film, in which she played an overwhelmed single mother, put Beckinsale "in kind of a tough place". "I did have my kid, my husband and, in fact, my ex was around a lot, so it was very nice to come home to my people whom I love."[103] Puig felt "Beckinsale gives her best performance in years"[106] while Richard Corliss of Time described it as "her sharpest work yet".[107] However, Scott felt that "her skill and discipline cannot overcome the sense that she is an exotic species transplanted into this grim ecosystem. Hard as she works to convince us otherwise, it’s a stretch to believe that a woman with the kind of poised confidence in her own beauty she manifests would wind up with an underachieving mouth breather like Glenn."[108]
Also in 2007, Beckinsale appeared alongside Luke Wilson in Vacancy, a thriller set in an isolated motel. Sarah Jessica Parker was originally cast in the part, but dropped out before filming began.[109] Bradshaw felt that "Wilson and Beckinsale have the chops for scary movies"[110] while Gleiberman noted that "Luke Wilson, with his hangdog defensive mopiness, and Kate Beckinsale, all sexy severity, are ideally matched as a couple who hate each other."[111] However, Manohla Dargis of The New York Times was unimpressed, referring to Beckinsale as "the reigning queen of the bland B's".[112]
In 2008, Beckinsale appeared in Winged Creatures, a film about how six different witnesses cope with the aftermath of a shooting. Beckinsale played a waitressing single mother in an ensemble cast that included Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson and Forest Whitaker. "It was a really, really nice experience but it was quick," said Beckinsale of the filming process. "I just felt a bit like I was shot through a cannon."[103] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times felt she played the role "with a white-trash verve" and found that her character's "raw ache for that someone with money and respectability is palpable."[113] However, Dargis felt that Beckinsale and her cast mates have "a tough time filling out characters that are at best abstractions of grief and often just clichés".[114]
Also in 2008, Beckinsale starred in Nothing but the Truth as a journalist who refuses to reveal her source. The film, co-starring Vera Farmiga and Matt Dillon, was inspired by the case of Judith Miller. As part of her research for the role, "I spent some time at The L.A. Times with some female reporters, and I spoke to Judith Miller about her experience ... I really researched the hell out of that one and it was an amazingly fulfilling, brilliant experience."[103] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post asserted that Beckinsale and Farmiga played "two of the most fascinating female movie characters to hit screens in a long while, and they've been brought to life by two gifted actresses, each working at the top of her game".[115] Beckinsale received a Critic's Choice Award nomination for her performance.[116] However, despite strong award season buzz for both Beckinsale and co-star Vera Farmiga, the film never received a full theatrical release after the distributor filed for bankruptcy.[117] "I have prayed - prayed - for film companies to go bankrupt on films I've made, and then this happens on the one I love," said Beckinsale. "Usually it's the ones you're most embarrassed about that are on the side of every bus."[118]
In 2009, Beckinsale starred in the adaption of comic-book Whiteout as a US Marshal tasked with investigating a murder in Antarctica. It was filmed in Manitoba, Canada which she described as "a beautiful place."[105] She found the action scenes less physically demanding than those in Underworld because "three pairs of trousers and a parka gives you a bit more protection than the latex suit."[105] The film was critically panned and a box office flop, failing to recoup its budget.[119] She also made a brief cameo in prequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycans; she appeared in flashforwards composed of footage from 2003's Underworld.[120]
Also in 2009, Beckinsale starred in family drama Everybody's Fine alongside Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore and Rockwell, her Snow Angels co-star. Beckinsale was excited for the opportunity to work with De Niro whom she had first encountered "years and years ago when I just had Lily and he was putting together a reading of The Good Shepherd. I was in New York because Michael [Sheen] was doing Amadeus. They said, 'Can you do three different accents by tomorrow?' And so I figured out the accents and showed up and De Niro said, 'Yeah, I’m going to invite a few friends.' The friends were like Marty Scorsese and Chazz Palminteri. And I thought, 'F--k, I've got this Brooklyn accent to do and all these people from Goodfellas are sitting here.' ... I was sweating, 'Oh my god, I'm from Chiswick, West London. I've got no business being here doing a Brooklyn accent in front of Martin Scorsese. I just want to die.'"[102]
Beckinsale sat on the nine-member 2010 Cannes Film Festival jury, chaired by director Tim Burton, in May 2010.[121] Unable to find a script she felt passionate about, Beckinsale otherwise kept a low profile in 2010, opting to spend time with her daughter.[122]
The actress filmed filmed three movies in 2011, all of which are due to be released in 2012. In the crime thriller Contraband, Beckinsale will play the wife of Mark Wahlberg, a former criminal who gets forced back into a life of crime after his family are threatened. It is a remake of Icelandic film Reykjavík-Rotterdam and is directed by the star of the original film, Baltasar Kormákur.[123] She will reprise her role as Selene in the fourth installment of the vampire franchise Underworld: Awakening.[120] She "wasn’t intending to do another one" but was convinced by the quality of the script: "You really want to see stakes that mean something in these kind of movies. Otherwise, it really is just lots of explosions and people running around in tight clothes."[124] Her final appearance of 2012 will be in a remake of the sci-fi action film Total Recall, directed by her husband and co-starring Colin Farrell and Jessica Biel. Beckinsale will star as Lori, a character originally played by Sharon Stone.[125]
In addition to acting, Beckinsale has also worked occasionally as a model. In 1997, she appeared in the music video for George Michael's Waltz Away Dreaming.[53] She starred opposite Orlando Bloom in a 2002 Gap television advert, directed by Cameron Crowe.[126] She appeared in a Diet Coke television advert in 2004, directed by Michael Gondry.[127][128] She advertised Absolut Vodka in a 2009 print campaign photographed by Ellen von Unwerth.[129][130] She has also promoted Lux shampoo in an Asian television advert.[131]
Beckinsale was named "England's Number One Beauty" by Hello! in 2002[132] and appeared at number 41 in People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People list in 2008.[133] Many publications have included her in their rankings of the world's sexiest women. Esquire named her the Sexiest Woman Alive in 2009.[134] She was at number 22 in Maxim's Hot 100 2009 list.[135] She came in at number 41 on FHM's Sexiest Women of 2010 list,[136] having previously appeared at number 15 in their 2009 list[137] and at number 12 in their 2008 list.[138] She has frequently appeared in AskMen.com's annual list of the 99 Most Desired Women: she was at number 14 in 2011,[139] at number 3 in 2010,[140] at number 10 in 2009[140] and at number 3 in 2008.[141]
Beckinsale had an eight-year relationship with actor Michael Sheen from 1995 until 2003. They met when cast in a touring production of The Seagull in early 1995 and moved in together shortly afterwards.[142] She has said it was "love at first sight"[143] and that he saved her from "a hospital for the criminally insane".[144] In 1997, they appeared in a radio production of Romeo and Juliet.[46] Their daughter, Lily Mo Sheen, was born in London, England on 31 January 1999. The actress has said she was "embarrassed" that Sheen never proposed[33][145] but remarked, "If you keep a library book out long enough, you feel it's yours."[146]
Their relationship ended in early 2003, after the filming of Underworld.[147] Beckinsale had persuaded director Len Wiseman to cast Sheen in the film[148] but, while on set, she and Wiseman (who was married) fell in love. All parties have maintained there was no infidelity[148] and Beckinsale and Wiseman both remain friends with Sheen.[149] "We were very lucky in that we didn't have an acrimonious split," Beckinsale has said. "We are still very close and [our daughter] sees us around each other."[150] "I love him dearly – I would miss him dreadfully if he wasn't in my life."[151]
Beckinsale relocated with her daughter from London to Los Angeles in 2003 to live with Wiseman. She has said she is "a fish out of water" in LA[152] but that residing in London would be impractical for Wiseman's career.[144] They married in 2004 at the Hotel Bel-Air in California,[153] choosing a passage from Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass as their first reading.[154] While she is not religious, she has said it was "very nice to be asked [to get married], which I wasn't in my previous relationship".[155] Since their marriage, Wiseman has directed her in two further films: an Underworld sequel and Total Recall. She has no plans for more children: "Maybe I will at some point but I feel I have everything I want. Lily is the perfect child ... I am my mum and dad’s only child so I don’t really have the mindset for more children."[156]
Beckinsale does not drink alcohol, "not because I’m an alcoholic, I just don’t really like it": "If I drank a whole glass of red wine I would have Chekhovian despair the next day."[157][158] She has smoked since the age of sixteen,[159] but stopped for three years after becoming pregnant with her daughter.[160] She has since said, "I’d be insufferable if I didn’t smoke. You’d have to push me off a balcony I’d be so boring.”[161]
The British Heart Foundation has been Beckinsale's charity of choice "ever since I was six years old".[162] She is also a supporter of the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation,[163][164] MediCinema,[165] Habitat For Humanity[166] and the Entertainment Industry Foundation.[167] In 2008, she hosted the 4th Annual Pink Party to raise funds for the Women’s Cancer Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center[168] and organised a screening of All About Eve for FilmAid International.[169]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Much Ado About Nothing | Hero | |
| 1994 | Uncovered | Julia | |
| 1994 | Prince of Jutland | Ethel | |
| 1995 | Marie-Louise Ou La Permission | Marie-Louise | |
| 1995 | Cold Comfort Farm | Flora Poste | |
| 1995 | Haunted | Christina Mariell | |
| 1997 | Shooting Fish | Georgie | |
| 1998 | The Last Days of Disco | Charlotte Pingress | |
| 1998 | Alice Through the Looking Glass | Alice | |
| 1999 | Brokedown Palace | Darlene Davis | |
| 2001 | Pearl Harbor | Nurse Lt. Evelyn Johnson | |
| 2001 | Serendipity | Sara Thomas | |
| 2001 | The Golden Bowl | Maggie Verver | |
| 2002 | Laurel Canyon | Alex Elliot | |
| 2003 | Underworld | Selene | |
| 2003 | Tiptoes | Carol | |
| 2004 | The Aviator | Ava Gardner | |
| 2004 | Van Helsing | Anna Valerious | |
| 2006 | Click | Donna Newman | |
| 2006 | Underworld: Evolution | Selene | |
| 2007 | Vacancy | Amy Fox | |
| 2007 | Snow Angels | Annie Marchand | |
| 2008 | Nothing but the Truth | Rachel Armstrong | |
| 2008 | Fragments | Carla Davenport | |
| 2009 | Whiteout | Carrie Stetko | |
| 2009 | Underworld: Rise of the Lycans | Selene | Previously recorded flashforwards only |
| 2009 | Everybody's Fine | Amy | |
| 2012 | Contraband | Kate Farraday | |
| 2012 | Underworld: Awakening | Selene | |
| 2012 | Total Recall | Lori | Post-production |
| 2012 | Happy Holidays, Katherine Sloane | Katherine Sloane | Pre-Production |
| 2013 | The Trials of Cate McCullough | Cate McCullough | Pre-Production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Devices and Desires | Young Alice Mair | ITV
One episode |
| 1991 | One Against the Wind | Barbe Lindell | Hallmark Hall of Fame/CBS
Film |
| 1992 | Rachel's Dream | Rachel | Channel 4 |
| 1993 | Anna Lee: Headcase | Thea Hahn | ITV |
| 1996 | Emma | Emma Woodhouse | ITV
Film |
| 1998 | Alice Through the Looking Glass | Alice | Channel 4
Film |
Stage
Radio
| Year | Award | Award ceremony | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Best Actress | Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival | Shooting Fish | Won |
| 1999 | British Supporting Actress of the Year (tied with Minnie Driver for Good Will Hunting) | London Critics Circle Film Awards | The Last Days of Disco | Won |
| 2001 | Worst Screen Couple (with Ben Affleck) | Golden Raspberry Award | Pearl Harbour | Nominated |
| 2002 | Best Actress | Saturn Award | Serendipity | Nominated |
| 2004 | Best Actress | Saturn Award | Underworld | Nominated |
| 2004 | Best Trans-Atlantic Breakthrough Performer | MTV Movie Awards | Nominated | |
| 2005 | Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (shared with the cast) | Screen Actors Guild Awards | The Aviator | Nominated |
| 2005 | Favorite Female Action Movie Star | People's Choice Awards | Nominated | |
| 2006 | Best Hero | MTV Movie Awards | Underworld: Evolution | Nominated |
| 2006 | Favorite Female Action Star | People's Choice Awards | Nominated | |
| 2008 | Best Actress | Broadcast Film Critics Association Award | Nothing But the Truth | Nominated |