 | KATE
BECKINSALE was born 26 July 1973 in England, and has resided in London for most
of her life. Her mother is Judy Loe, Ms. Loe has appeared in a number of British
dramas and sitcoms, and continues to work as an actress, predominantly in British
television productions. Her father was Richard Beckinsale, born in Nottingham,
England, UK. He starred in a number of popular British television comedies during
the 1970s, most notably the television series Rising Damp and The Lovers. He passed
away in 1979. Kate attended the public (private school to U.S. readers) Godolphin
and Latymer School in London for her grade and primary school |
| education. In her teens, she twice won the British bookseller
W. H. Smith Young Writers' competition--once for three short stories and once
for three poems. After a tumultuous adolescence, (a bout of anorexia{cured} and
a smoking habit which contiues to this day) she gradually took up the profession
of acting. Her major acting debut came in a World War II television movie called
One Against the Wind, filmed in Luxembourg during the summer of 1991.It first
aired on American television that December. Kate began attending Oxford University's
New College in the fall of 1991, majoring in French and Russian literature. She
had already decided that she wanted to act, but to broaden her horizons she chose
university over drama school. While in her first year at Oxford, Kate received
her big break in Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About
Nothing. Kate worked in three other films while attending Oxford, beginning with
a part in the medieval historical drama Prince of Jutland (1993), cast as Ethel.
The film was shot during spring 1993 on location in Denmark, and she performed
her supporting part during New College's Easter break. Later in the summer of
that year, she performed as the lead in the contemporary mystery drama Uncovered
(1994). Before she went back to school, Her third year at university was spent
at Oxford's study-abroad programme in Paris, France, immersing herself in the
French language, Parisian culture, and those awful French cigarettes. A year away
from the academic community and living on her own in the French capital caused
her to re-evalate the direction of her life. She faced a choice: continue with
school, or concentrate on her flourishing acting career. After much thought, she
chose the acting career. And it has flourished ever since. |
