- 2004
Fire Starter
Beckinsale's fantasy action flick Van Helsing with Hugh Jackman is released. At the end of shooting, she torches her costume, telling Playboy in 2006, "I was desperate to burn it the minute I put it on. The boots alone took 20 minutes to put on...it was buckle after buckle."
The Honeymooners
Beckinsale and Wiseman wed at L.A.'s Hotel Bel-Air in front of 140 guests, including her Underworld costar Scott Speedman, in gossamer lace-adorned tents filled with candles and flowers. During the ceremony, Wiseman gives 5-year-old Lily a tiny ring of her own and asks her to marry him too. The newlyweds head to San Lucas, Mexico for their honeymoon, where Beckinsale sports a bikini printed with "Mrs. Wiseman."
Flying High
Beckinsale stars opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator, playing Ava Gardner. The actress, known primarily for her sci-fi roles, tells Entertainment Weekly, "It's terrifying to play a real person, especially one as beloved as Ava Gardner, because you know there's going to be 15 billion people going 'You completely got it wrong!'" Aviator's producer, Graham King, tells PEOPLE Beckinsale was "sensual and mysterious" as the screen legend, but PEOPLE proclaims her "woefully miscast."
- 2006
Beckinsale's Comic Relief
Adam Sandler convinces Beckinsale to star with him in Click. As the daughter of celebrated British comedian Richard Beckinsale, she considers comedy a very personal thing. "I resisted doing this kind of comedy for most of my career, but I saw Click as a possibility to return to my roots," Beckinsale tells The Toronto Sun. "I was attracted to comedy, but I also tried to steer clear of it, not wanting to tread on anyone else's patch. I wanted to be on my own patch."
- 2007
Beckinsale's Vacancy
Beckinsale graces the cover of Glamour to promote her new thriller Vacancy. The film, which stars Beckinsale and Luke Wilson as a couple trying to escape a motel that's been rigged to film their death, opens at No. 4, grossing over $7.6 million. Her next project, Winged Creatures, costars Oscar-winners Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson and explores a bond strangers form after surviving a shooting.
- 2008
Kate Charms Critics
Beckinsale stars as reporter Rachel Armstrong in Nothing But the Truth, a dramatization of the Plame Affair during which CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity was outed by New York Times reporter Judith Miller. "Beckinsale makes Rachel a fierce yet fragile dry-eyed martyr, but not a saint," praises EW. Her performance earns her a Best Actress Critics' Choice Award nomination.
- 2012
Back to Work
After a brief hiatus, Beckinsale returns to the big screen in the fast-paced thriller Contraband, opposite Mark Wahlberg. The action movie tops te box office at No. 1. The following week, Beckinsale debuts her fourth Underworld film: Underworld: Awakening.
Photo Credits
BIOGRAPHY (top to bottom): Kobal Collection/Wireimage; Pierre Riquet/Bauer-Griffin; Miramax/Everett; Sony Pictures/Everett; Everett; Universal Studios
- Name
- Kate Beckinsale
- Date of Birth
- July 26, 1973
- Birth Place
- London, England
- Relationships
-
Len Wiseman, husband (2003 to present)
Michael Sheen, ex-boyfriend (1995 to 2003)
- Children
-
Lily Sheen, daughter (1/31/1999)
