Kate Beckinsale Biography

Actor

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Kate Beckinsale wowed critics and audiences with her comedic performance in the BBC television movie Cold Comfort Farm (1995), but her breakthrough into leading roles came opposite Ben Affleck in the 2001 epic Pearl Harbor. The tall, brunette beauty has since demonstrated her talent in a variety of film genres, from comedy and romance to drama and action. Her films include The Last Days of Disco (1998, with Chloe Sevigny), the goofy romance Serendipity (2001, starring John Cusack), Laurel Canyon (2002, with Frances McDormand), and Van Helsing (2004, starring Hugh Jackman). She played a shapely vampire in Underworld (2003), and also starred in the sequels Underorld 2 (2005) and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009).

Extra credit: Beckinsale played Ava Gardner in the Howard Hughes bio-pic The Aviator (2004, directed by Martin Scorsese)... Beckinsale's parents are British television actors Judy Loe and Richard Beckinsale.

Beckinsale joins Adam Ant, Paul Reubens and Aaliyah in our loop They Played Vampires.