BECKINSALE

Kathrin Romary “Kate” Beckinsale was born July 26, 1973, in London, England. She made her media debut at age four on an episode of “This Is Your Life” saluting her father, actor Richard Beckinsale, shortly before his death. She then was raised alongside the children of her stepfather, director Roy Battersby.

During her girls’-school days, Beckinsale began working with a youth theater company and won an award for young writers twice. While a student at New College, Oxford, she was involved with the Oxford University Dramatic Society and studied in Paris, but she ultimately left school to concentrate on her acting career.

With French actress Jeanne Moreau as an influence, Beckinsale began appearing on British television, with credits including

a TV version of Jane Austen’s “Emma,” and landed her first major movie role in the Kenneth Branagh-directed 1993 version of “Much Ado About Nothing.”

“The Last Days of Disco,” “Brokedown Palace,” “The Golden Bowl,” “Pearl Harbor,” “Serendipity” and “Laurel Canyon” were among films that helped establish Beckinsale. She then launched a horror-action franchise – to which she has returned several times – by starring in “Underworld,” and she followed that with “Van Helsing,” but then diversified in such movies as “The Aviator” (playing actress Ava Gardner for director Martin Scorsese) and “Click.”

“Vacancy,” “Whiteout,” “The Good Shepherd” (directed by star Robert De Niro), “Contraband,” the 2012 remake of “Total Recall” and “The Only Living Boy in New York City” are on Beckinsale’s movie

resume.