Biography
Born on October 5, 1975 (she's a lovely Libra), in Reading, England, Kate was born to a family of talented thespians. Her father, Roger, older sister, Anna, and younger sister, Beth, are all stage actors. Her grandparents ran the Reading Repertory Theatre, and her late uncle, Robert Bridges, was famous as Mr Bumble in the original West End production of Oliver. Kate's mother Sally, and younger brother, Joss, are the non-actors of the family.
At the age of 11, Kate attended the Redroofs Theatre School in Maidenhead, which she left at the age of 16. As a pre-teen and teen, Kate was often teased for being overweight, and given cruel nicknames.
Her first job was an appearance in a Sugar Puffs commercial, dancing with the Honey Monster (how glamorous!). She made her television debut in the British television drama Shrinks, followed by appearances in the television series Casualty , Dark Season (where she met her first love), Get Back, and Anglo-Saxon Attitudes. She has also performed in a number of stage roles inclusing the role of Geraldine in What the Butler Saw, in which she was nominated for the Manchester Evening News Award.
Kate fell in love at 16 with actor Stephen Tredre from Dark Season, who she remained in a relationship with for five years. They were enagaged to be married, when unfortuantly Stephen died of cancer.
Kate's big break would eventually come when she was cast as Juliet Hulme in the movie Heavenly Creatures. She recieved critical acclaim for her role in the film, but after she completed work she went back to the deli she worked at when she recieved word she won the role!
While Kate was promoting Heavenly Creatures in the U.S., an American representative from the William Morris agency came to see her in New York and signed her after seeing her performance in HC. She would follow up her debut with an unexpected role as Princess Sarah in A Kid in King Arthur's Court). The movie wasn't all that great, and was ignored by both critics and audience. Later the same year Kate would redeem herself by appearing in the role of Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility, in which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
The next year, Kate would return to the silver screen with back-to-back performances as Sue Bridehead in Jude and Ophelia in Hamlet. Again Kate recieved wonderful reviews by critics for her superb acting skills.
Right now Kate is internationally famous from her role as Rose in the Oscar winning movie Titanic. She recently married Jim Threapleton in her hometwon of Reading, and has many new film projects on the way.