In this weekend's Carnage, Kate Winslet plays an uptight investment banker who tries to broker a parental agreement concerning the damage done during a playground dispute between her son and another boy. So how did the British actress transform herself from a teenage murderer in her breakthrough role to a middle-aged New Yorker determined to settle her son's stick fight?
You can always trace a direct line through a few important roles to illustrate what led to an actor's current success. As such, let's look at nine pivotal performances that track the evolution of Kate Winslet.
Dark Season (1991)
Born into a family of working class actors, it wasn't long before Winslet herself developed an interest in the arts and began studying drama at the age of 11. Five years later, Winslet won her first major professional acting role in BBC's sci-fi series The Dark Season. Made up of just six episodes, the show followed a trio of teenagers (including Winslet's Reet) as they attempted to save their school from a sinister gentleman posing as a computer dealer.
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
Three years later, Winslet made her film debut in Peter Jackson's semi-biographical drama Heavenly Creatures. Winslet portrayed Juliet Hulme, a real-life teenager who in 1954, with the help of her best friend (played by Melanie Lynskey), killed her best friend's mother. The critically-acclaimed drama (which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay) chronicled the girls' intense friendship which bordered on obsession, hysteria and psychosis. The film also marked Winslet's singing debut via an a cappella version of "Sono Andati" from La Bohème. For her performance, at the age of 19, she was named British Actress of the Year by the London Critics Circle.
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Because Ang Lee reportedly did not enjoy Winslet's work in Heavenly Creatures, the Sense and Sensibility director would only allow the British actress to audition for the minor role of Lucy Steele. However, as Wikipedia legend has it, Winslet pretended that she had been told the audition was for the meatier role of Marianne and proceeded to read for the middle Dashwood sister. Needless to say, Winslet won the part as the willful Dashwood as well as her first BAFTA and her first of six Academy Award nominations.
Titanic (1997)
Thanks to the exposure brought on by her work in Sense and Sensibility, James Cameron cast Winslet as Rose, the fictional socialite who falls for a drifter (Leonardo DiCaprio), in this epic romance about the ill-fated RMS Titanic. The film launched Winslet into sudden, unexpected Hollywood stardom when the film broke a series of records including highest grossing film at the time and earned a record-equaling eleven Academy Award wins. Titanic remains the highest-grossing film of Winslet's career. Her work as young Rose also earned her a second Academy Award nomination.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Following the explosive success of Titanic, Winslet recoiled from the spotlight -- reportedly passing on lead roles in Shakespeare in Love and Anna and the King to star in the smaller '60s drama Hideous Kinky, the Jane Campion film Holy Smoke!, the Oscar-nominated period piece Quills and British biographical drama Iris. When Winslet finally returned to the Hollywood forefront, it was for a role unlike any others on her resume in the Michel Gondry-Charlie Kaufman collaboration Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. For playing a brightly-tressed neurotic woman who elects to erase memories of her relationship with her ex (Jim Carrey) in this psychological sci-fi romance, Winslet won more glowing reviews. After an Oscar nomination for Iris, Winslet earned her fourth nod for Sunshine.
Little Children (2006)
While we're on the subject of Kate Winslet and Academy Award nominations, I'll mention that the British actress earned her fifth Oscar nod for her role in Little Children -- as a lonely housewife who begins an affair with her handsome neighbor (Patrick Wilson). Just 31 years old at the time, Winslet broke the record for the youngest actress to have been nominated for five little gold men. This Todd Field film would also mark the first project in which Winslet plays a wife unhappy with her suburban existence. (See also: Revolutionary Road)
The Holiday (2006)
After a decade plus of serious roles and dramatic characters, Kate Winslet tried something different in 2006. A romantic comedy. And not just a romantic comedy but a romantic comedy that didn't earn her multiple award nominations. In this Nancy Meyers rom-com, Winslet played a British newspaper editor who attempts to heal her broken heart by swapping homes with Cameron Diaz over the holiday. Unsurprisingly, Winslet's character falls in love with her new L.A. existence and a music composer played by Jack Black. Even though critics noted that this film lacked substance -- and I walked out after the first fifteen minutes -- it became a commercial success after grossing over $200 million worldwide.
The Reader (2008)
The same year that Winslet drew rave reviews for her onscreen reunion with Titanic co-star Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary Road (for which David Denby called her "the best English-speaking film actress of her generation."), Winslet turned in another powerful performance in Stephen Daldry's drama The Reader. As a woman who faces life in prison for war crimes fifteen years after an affair that could actually help her in trial, her performance opposite Ralph Fiennes earned her her first Academy Award. Finally! It is worth noting that the Academy could not offer Winslet a nomination for her Revolutionary Road performance that same year because, by their standards, her role qualified as a leading one and Oscar rules prohibit an actor from being nominated more than once in a given category.
Carnage (2011)
After an Emmy-winning turn in this year's HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce, Winslet returns to the big screen for Roman Polanski's ensemble drama. Winslet plays an investment banker, who with the help of her husband (Christoph Waltz), tries to reach an agreement with another couple (Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly) after their sons get into an argument at the park. For her role, Winslet has already been nominated for a Golden Globe.
Next up, the actress is slated to appear in Movie 43, a feature film comprised of comedy shorts co-starring everyone from Emma Stone and Naomi Watts to Justin Long and Seann William Scott. After that, we're not sure what the future holds for Winslet aside from presumably more award nominations -- oh, and that 3-D Titanic re-release.
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