Kate Elizabeth Winslet CBE (born 5 October 1975) is an English actress. She is particularly known for her work in period dramas. Winslet is the recipient of various accolades, including three British Academy Film Awards, and is among the few performers to have won Academy, Emmy, and Grammy Awards.

Born in Reading, Berkshire, Winslet studied drama at the Redroofs Theatre School. Her first screen appearance, at age 15, was in the British television series Dark Season (1991). She made her film debut playing a teenage murderess in Heavenly Creatures (1994), and received her first BAFTA Award and Screen Actors Guild Award, and first Academy Award nomination for playing Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1995). Global stardom followed soon after with her leading role in the epic romance Titanic (1997), which earned her second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role; at age 22, she became the fourth-youngest nominee in the category at that time. Titanic was the highest-grossing film of all time to that point, after which she eschewed parts in blockbusters in favour of critically acclaimed period pieces, including Quills (2000) and Iris (2001), which were not widely seen.