Kate Winslet

Winslet plays April Wheeler, a 1950’s housewife, in this drama directed by Sam Mendes from the novel by Richard Yates. April and her husband Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio), both with big dreams, meet and marry in the late 1940s. Flash forward to married with children suburban life and they both find themselves unsatisfied and unfulfilled, struggling to find a path to happiness. Co-starring Kathy Bates. On reuniting with DiCaprio:

We have a level of understanding which I really don’t have with another actor that I’ve ever worked with at all.

Winslet plays Hanna Schmitz, a German tram conductor, in this drama directed by Stephen Daldry and based on the book by Bernhard Schlink. 15 years after WWII, Hanna has an affair with a boy 20 years her junior, who reads literature to her. She moves away abruptly. The boy grows up and while in law school he observes a trial where he sees Hanna accused of war crimes from her time in the SS. Co-starring Ralph Fiennes. On filming the love scenes:

A scene with that level of intimacy involving nudity, you know, it’s always nerve-wracking, and you really have to rehearse those scenes so that everybody knows exactly what’s going on.

Winslet plays Tula, a lingerie sales girl, in this romantic comedy musical written and directed by John Turturro. Tula is having an affair with Nick (James Gandolfini) until his wife finds out and kicks him out. Co-starring Susan Sarandon, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken, Eddie Izzard, and Elaine Stritch. Turturro on casting Winslet:

I always thought of Kate, because Kate is from a working class family and she was so uninhibited in that strange Jane Campion movie, Holy Smoke. I needed someone who could play this girl and show you her crude side but also her tender side. I don’t see how her performance could be better.

Winslet plays Iris Simpkins, a British woman with relationship problems, in this romantic comedy written and directed by Nancy Meyers. After her boyfriend gets engaged to another woman, Iris, needing to get away, swaps homes for the holidays with Amanda Woods (Cameron Diaz) from Los Angeles and begins to recover. Co-starring Jude Law and Jack Black.

The Holiday is not a chick flick. “I don’t feel like this is a chick flick. …That’s not me trying to sort of plug or sell the movie in a whole other way, but I don’t because you know it really is about relationships. It’s about two separate relationships that happen with women and men.

Winslet voices Rita, a sewer scavenger rat, in this animated family adventure directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell. After Roddy (Hugh Jackman), a pet rat, gets flushed down the toilet, he meets Rita who takes him along with her as she works to provide for her large rat family. Co-starring Ian McKellan and Andy Serkis.  Directors Bowers and Fell on Winslet:

Kate has done a lot of serious movies, but she is very funny and she is a natural comedian.

Winslet plays a heightened version of herself in a cameo appearance in the BBC series written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Winslet is an actress playing a nun in a movie about Nazis. Co-starring Gervais, Merchant, and Ashley Jensen.

Winslet voices Suki, a lioness cub, in this BBC family drama directed by John Downer. Suki rebels against her pride and becomes a vegetarian, leaving them to find her own way. Co-starring Helen Mirren and Rupert Graves.