1991–1997: Early acting roles Beckinsale decided at a young age she wanted to be an actress: "I grew up immersed in film. My family were in the business. I quickly realised that my parents seemed to have much more fun in their work than any of my friends' parents." She was inspired by the performances of
Jeanne Moreau. She made her television debut in 1991 with a small part in an
ITV adaptation of
P. D. James'
Devices and Desires. In 1992, she starred alongside
Christopher Eccleston in "Rachel's Dream," a 30‑minute
Channel 4 short. In 1993, she appeared in the pilot of the
ITV detective series,
Anna Lee, starring
Imogen Stubbs. In 1993, Beckinsale landed the role of
Hero in
Kenneth Branagh's big-screen adaptation of
Much Ado About Nothing. It was filmed in
Tuscany, Italy, during a summer holiday from the University of Oxford. She attended the film's
Cannes Film Festival premiere and remembered it as an overwhelming experience. "Nobody even told me I could bring a friend!"
Peter Travers of
Rolling Stone was won over by her "lovely" performance.
Vincent Canby of
The New York Times noted that she and
Robert Sean Leonard "look right and behave with a certain naive sincerity, although they often seem numb with surprise at hearing the complex locutions they speak." The film grossed over $22 million at the box office. She made three other films while at university. In 1994, she appeared as
Christian Bale's love interest in
Prince of Jutland, a film based on the Danish
legend which inspired Shakespeare's
Hamlet, and starred in the murder mystery
Uncovered. In 1995, while studying in Paris, she filmed the
French language Marie-Louise ou la permission. Shortly after leaving Oxford University in 1995, Beckinsale starred in
Cold Comfort Farm, as Flora Poste, a newly orphaned 1930s socialite sent to live with distant family members in rural England. The
John Schlesinger-directed film was an adaptation of
Stella Gibbons's
novel and also featured
Joanna Lumley,
Eileen Atkins,
Ian McKellen,
Rufus Sewell and
Stephen Fry. Beckinsale was initially considered too young, but was cast after she wrote a pleading letter to the director.
Emanuel Levy of
Variety was reminded of "the strength of a young
Glenda Jackson and the charm of a young
Julie Christie." Kevin Thomas of the
Los Angeles Times classed the actress as "yet another of those effortlessly skilled British beauties who light up the screen."
Janet Maslin of
The New York Times felt she played the role "with the perfect snippy aplomb." The film grossed over $5 million at the US box office. Also in 1995, she appeared in
Haunted, a ghost story in which Derek Elley of
Variety felt she "holds the screen, with both physical looks and verbal poise." 1995 saw Beckinsale's first professional stage appearance, as Nina in
The Seagull at
Theatre Royal,
Bath. She became romantically involved with costar
Michael Sheen after meeting during play rehearsals. She later said: "I was all revved up to feel very intimidated. It was my first-ever play and my mother had cut out reviews of him in previous productions. And then he walked in ... It was almost like, 'God, well, I'm finished now. That's it, then.'... He's the most outrageously talented person I've ever met."
Irving Wardle of
The Independent felt that "the casting, including Michael Sheen's volcanic Kostya and Kate Beckinsale's steadily freezing Nina, is mainly spot-on." In early 1996, she starred in two further plays,
Sweetheart at the
Royal Court Theatre and
Clocks and Whistles at
the Bush Theatre. Beckinsale next starred in an
ITV adaptation of
Jane Austen's
Emma, playing Emma to
Mark Strong's Mr Knightley and
Samantha Morton's Harriet Smith. "You shouldn't necessarily like Emma," Beckinsale has said of her character. "You do love her, but in the way the family of a young girl could be exasperated by her outrageous behaviour and still love her." Jonathan Brown of
The Independent has described Beckinsale's interpretation as "the most enduring modern performance" as Emma. In 1997, Beckinsale appeared opposite
Stuart Townsend in the comedy
Shooting Fish, one of the most commercially successful British films of that year. "I'd just had my
wisdom teeth out," Beckinsale later recalled of the initial audition. "I was also on very strong painkillers, so it was not the most conventional of meetings." Elley wrote of "an incredibly laid-back performance." Thomas felt she "just glows as an aristocrat facing disaster with considerable aplomb." She narrated Austen's
Emma for
Hodder & Stoughton AudioBooks and Diana Hendry's "The Proposal" for
BBC Radio 4. Also in 1997, she played Juliet to
Michael Sheen's Romeo, in an audio production of
Romeo and Juliet, directed by Sheen. In Beckinsale's last film before her move to the US, she starred as Alice in
Channel 4's
Alice Through the Looking-Glass, released in July 1998.
1998–2002: Move to Hollywood At this point in her career, Beckinsale began to seek work in the United States, something she has said wasn't "a conscious decision... My boyfriend was in a play on Broadway so that's why we ended up in New York, and my auditions happened to be for American films." She starred opposite
Chloë Sevigny in 1998's
The Last Days of Disco. The
Whit Stillman film focused on a group of mostly
Ivy League and
Hampshire College graduates socialising in the Manhattan disco scene of the early 1980s. Beckinsale's American accent was widely praised.
Kenneth Turan of the
Los Angeles Times felt her role as the bossy Charlotte was "beautifully played."
Todd McCarthy of
Variety was unimpressed by the film but noted that "compensations include Beckinsale, looking incredible in a succession of black dresses, whose character can get on your nerves even if the actress doesn't." Her performance earned her a
London Critics' Circle Film Award. In 1999, Beckinsale appeared opposite
Claire Danes in
Brokedown Palace, a drama about two young Americans forced to deal with the Thai justice system on a post-graduation trip abroad. A then 26-year-old Beckinsale played a young girl. Danes had hoped to become friends with Beckinsale during the shoot but found her "complicated" and "prickly." McCarthy said the leads "confirm their status as two of the young actresses on the scene today most worth watching," finding Beckinsale "very effective at getting across layered character traits and emotions." "Danes and Beckinsale are exceptionally talented young actresses," said Thomas, but "unfortunately, the script's seriously underdeveloped context defeats their considerable efforts at every turn." Stephen Holden of
The New York Times felt that Beckinsale's character "never comes into focus." The film was a box office failure. 2000's
The Golden Bowl marked Beckinsale's first role following the birth of her daughter. The
Merchant/Ivory production was based on the
novel by
Henry James and also starred
Uma Thurman and
Jeremy Northam. Beckinsale's partner, Michael Sheen, hit Northam on the film set after he followed Beckinsale to her trailer to scold her for forgetting a line. Holden noted "the most satisfying of the four-lead performances belong to the British cast members, Ms. Beckinsale and Mr. Northam, who are better than their American counterparts at layers of emotional concealment," adding each beat of Beckinsale's performance "registers precisely." Thomas felt her performance would take her to "a new career level."
Andrew Sarris of
The New York Observer asserted that she "comes close to capturing the sublimity of Maggie, despite the obvious fact that no movie can capture the elegant copiousness of James' prose." The film grossed over $5 million worldwide. Beckinsale rose to fame in 2001 with a leading role in the war film
Pearl Harbor, as a nurse torn between two pilots, played by
Ben Affleck and
Josh Hartnett. She was drawn to the project by the script: "It's so unusual these days to read a script that has those old-fashioned values to it. Not morals, but movie values. It's a big, sweeping epic....You just never get the chance to do that." Director
Michael Bay initially had doubts about casting the actress: "I wasn't sure about her at first...she wore black leather trousers in her screen test and I thought she was a little nasty...it was easy to think of this woman as a slut." He eventually decided to hire her because she wasn't "too beautiful. Women feel disturbed when they see someone's too pretty." He asked her to lose weight during filming. In a 2004 interview, the actress noted that his comments were "upsetting" and said she wore leather trousers because "it was snowing out. It wasn't exactly like I had my nipple rings in." She felt grateful that she had not had to deal with such criticism at a younger age: "If I had come on to a movie set at [a younger] age and someone had said, 'You're a bit funny-looking, can you go on a diet?' – I might have jumped off a building. I just didn't have the confidence to put that into perspective at the time."
Pearl Harbor received negative reviews.
Owen Gleiberman of
Entertainment Weekly praised "the avid eyed, ruby lipped Kate Beckinsale, the rare actress whose intelligence gives her a sensual bloom; she's like
Parker Posey without irony."
A. O. Scott of
The New York Times noted that "Mr. Affleck and Ms. Beckinsale do what they can with their lines, and glow with the satiny shine of real movie stars." However, Mike Clark of
USA Today felt that the "usually appealing Kate Beckinsale" is "inexplicably submerged – like her hospital colleagues – under heaps of tarty makeup that even actresses of the era didn't wear." The film was a commercial success, grossing $449 million worldwide. Beckinsale's second film appearance of 2001 was in the romantic comedy
Serendipity, as the love interest of
John Cusack. It was filmed directly after
Pearl Harbor and Beckinsale found it "a real relief to return to something slightly more familiar." Claudia Puig of
USA Today felt that "Beckinsale's talents haven't been mined as effectively in any other film since
Cold Comfort Farm." McCarthy found her "energetic and appealing."
Elvis Mitchell of
The New York Times described her as "luminous but determined." In an uncomplimentary review of the film,
Roger Ebert described her as "a good actress, but not good enough to play this dumb." The film grossed over $77 million at the worldwide box office. In 2002, Beckinsale starred in
Lisa Cholodenko's
Laurel Canyon, as a strait-laced academic who finds herself increasingly attracted to her free-spirited future mother-in-law. The independent film was another opportunity for Beckinsale to work with
Christian Bale, her
Prince of Jutland co‑star. She found their sex scene awkward because she knew Bale well: "If it was a stranger, it would have been easier." While
Frances McDormand's performance as Bale's mother was widely praised, Beckinsale received negative reviews. Holden found the film "superbly acted, with the exception of Ms. Beckinsale, whose tense, colourless Alex conveys no inner life." Critic
Lisa Schwarzbaum was unimpressed by the "tedious" characters and criticised "the fussy performances of Bale and Beckinsale" in particular. The film grossed over $4 million worldwide.
2003–2006: Action roles , 2005 Beckinsale became known as an action star after playing a
vampire in 2003's
Underworld. The film was markedly different from her previous work, and Beckinsale has said she was grateful for the change of pace after appearing in "a bunch of period stuff and then a bunch of romantic comedies," adding that "It was quite a challenge for me to play an action heroine and pull off all that training when [in real life] I can't catch a ball if it's coming my way." The film received negative to mixed reviews but was a surprise box-office hit and has gained a cult following. Also in 2003, she starred in the little seen
Tiptoes with
Gary Oldman and
Matthew McConaughey. In 2004, Beckinsale starred in the action
horror film Van Helsing. She was "so surprised" to be appearing in her second action film in two years. "It just seemed like a very good role." Beckinsale had just separated from her long-term boyfriend
Michael Sheen at the time of filming and appreciated the warm atmosphere created on set by director
Stephen Sommers and co‑star
Hugh Jackman: "I really did find that working with people like Stephen and Hugh made it possible to get through what I was going through." The film grossed over $120 million at the US box office and over $300 million worldwide, but it was not well-reviewed.
Mick LaSalle of the
San Francisco Chronicle described her as "a pretty actress doing her best to maintain dignity, vainly trying to craft a feminist statement from a filmmaker's whimsy."
Rex Reed of
The New York Observer felt she was "desperately in need of a new agent." Also in 2004, Beckinsale portrayed
Ava Gardner in
Martin Scorsese's
Howard Hughes biopic
The Aviator. Scorsese decided to cast Beckinsale because, "I've always liked her. I've seen all her work, and I was glad that she agreed to audition." Beckinsale's performance received mixed reviews.
Ken Tucker of
New York Magazine said she played the part "in full va-va-voom blossom." LaSalle felt that she manages "to convince us that Ava was one of the great broads of all time." However, Clark described it as "the one performance that doesn't come off (though Beckinsale has the requisite beauty)."
Peter Bradshaw of
The Guardian stated that "Gardner's rich, voluptuous sexiness is completely absent as Beckinsale sleepwalks through the role as if she was advertising perfume." The film grossed over $213 million worldwide. In 2006, Beckinsale reprised her role as Selene in the successful vampire sequel
Underworld: Evolution, directed by her husband, Len Wiseman. It was the first time she had "been involved with a movie from the moment it's a germ of an idea right through the whole editing process." Her daughter had a small role as the younger Selene. Beckinsale's second film appearance of 2006 was opposite
Adam Sandler and
Christopher Walken in
Click, a comedy about an overworked family man who discovers a magical remote control that allows him to control time. The opportunity to play a mother "was one of the things that was attractive to me" about the part. It was highly profitable, grossing $237 million worldwide against a production budget of $82.5 million.
2007–2008: Focus on small-scale drama '', June 2007 Beckinsale then made a return to smaller-scale projects: "My experience is that I sort of stepped away from the independent movies and did a couple of big movies. But that's not necessarily how it's perceived by everybody else, which I do understand." "I enjoy an action movie as much as the next person [but] it's not something that I would like to do solely." She explained that she had originally decided to appear in
Underworld because she felt typecast in classical roles – it was "assumed that I use a chamber pot and wear bloomers" – but that her action career "kind of took off a little too much." In 2007, Beckinsale starred opposite
Sam Rockwell in the independent drama
Snow Angels, based on the
novel by
Stewart O'Nan. The harrowing film, in which she played an overwhelmed single mother, put Beckinsale "in kind of a tough place." "I did have my kid, my husband and, in fact, my ex was around a lot, so it was very nice to come home to my people whom I love."
Richard Corliss of
Time described it as "her sharpest work yet." However, Scott felt that "her skill and discipline cannot overcome the sense that she is an exotic species transplanted into this grim ecosystem. Hard as she works to convince us otherwise, it's a stretch to believe that a woman with the kind of poised confidence in her own beauty she manifests would wind up with an underachieving mouth breather like Glenn." The film grossed solely $414,404 worldwide. Also in 2007, Beckinsale appeared alongside
Luke Wilson in
Vacancy, a thriller set in an isolated motel.
Sarah Jessica Parker was originally cast in the part, but she dropped out before filming began. Bradshaw felt "Wilson and Beckinsale have the chops for scary movies." Gleiberman noted "Luke Wilson, with his hangdog defensive mopiness, and Kate Beckinsale, all sexy severity, are ideally matched as a couple who hate each other." However,
Manohla Dargis of
The New York Times was unimpressed, referring to Beckinsale as "the reigning queen of the bland
B's." The film was profitable, grossing $35 million worldwide against a production budget of $19 million. In 2008, Beckinsale appeared in
Winged Creatures, a film about how six different witnesses cope with the aftermath of a shooting. Beckinsale played a
waitressing single mother in an ensemble cast which included
Dakota Fanning,
Jennifer Hudson, and
Forest Whitaker. "It was a really, really nice experience but it was quick," said Beckinsale of the filming process. "I just felt a bit like I was shot through a cannon." However, Dargis felt that Beckinsale and her cast mates have a "tough time filling out characters that are at best abstractions of grief and often just clichés." The film received a very limited theatrical release in New York and Los Angeles; it was released simultaneously on
DVD. Also in 2008, Beckinsale starred in
Nothing but the Truth, as a journalist who refuses to reveal her source. The film, co‑starring
Vera Farmiga and
Matt Dillon, was inspired by the case of
Judith Miller. As part of her research for the role, "I spent some time at
The L.A. Times with some female reporters, and I spoke to Judith Miller about her experience....I really researched the hell out of that one and it was an amazingly fulfilling, brilliant experience." Beckinsale received a
Critic's Choice Award nomination for her performance. The film never received a full theatrical release after the distributor filed for bankruptcy and the film grossed solely $186,702 worldwide. "I have prayed –
prayed – for film companies to go
bankrupt on films I've made, and then this happens on the one I love," said Beckinsale. "Usually it's the ones you're most embarrassed about that are on the side of every bus."
2009–2015: Return to action films In 2009, Beckinsale starred in the
comic-book adaption
Whiteout, as a
US Marshal tasked with investigating a murder in Antarctica. It was filmed in
Manitoba, Canada. With critics consensus: Beckinsale is as lovely as ever, and does her best with the material, but moribund pacing and an uninspired plot leave Whiteout in the cold. Also in 2009, Beckinsale starred in the family drama ''
Everybody's Fine alongside Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore, and Rockwell, her Snow Angels
costar. Beckinsale was excited by the opportunity to work with De Niro, whom she had first encountered "years and years ago when I just had Lily and he was putting together a reading of The Good Shepherd''.." In May 2010, Beckinsale sat on the nine-member
2010 Cannes Film Festival jury, chaired by director
Tim Burton. Unable to find a script she felt passionate about, Beckinsale kept a low profile in 2010 and 2011, opting to spend time with her daughter. Beckinsale returned to acting in 2012 with appearances in three action films. Beckinsale first appeared in the action thriller
Contraband. She had a supporting role as the wife of
Mark Wahlberg's character, a former criminal who gets forced back into a life of crime after his family members are threatened. The film was directed by
Baltasar Kormákur, who also starred in the
Icelandic language version of the film,
Reykjavík-Rotterdam. The
San Francisco Chronicle felt Beckinsale was "stuck in a bit of a thankless role as the victimised wife, but she does try to infuse a harder edge to the character."
The Hollywood Reporter stated that "Beckinsale, her innate classiness calibrated down a few notches, has little to do but be supportive, worried and, eventually, besieged."
Entertainment Weekly felt that the "woman-in-peril stuff is second-rate, giving off a whiff of exploitation" while
Variety found the repeated violence towards Beckinsale's character disturbing. The film had a production budget of $25 million and grossed over $96 million worldwide. Beckinsale next reprised her role as Selene in the fourth instalment of the vampire franchise
Underworld: Awakening.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that "when she's not actually fighting, her performance consists of little more than striding purposefully toward or away from the camera." The
Los Angeles Times remarked that she "finally manages to perfect the monotone delivery she'd been honing for the series' first two entries." The film had a production budget of $70 million and grossed over $160 million worldwide. Also in 2012, Beckinsale appeared as the wife of a factory worker in the sci-fi action remake
Total Recall, directed by her husband Len Wiseman. She has said Wiseman joined the project because he was unable to receive studio financing for an original sci-fi idea: "You're constantly finding yourself having to defend doing a remake when you didn't really want to make one in the first place."
Variety found her performance "one-note" while
The Hollywood Reporter described her as "one-dimensional."
USA Today remarked that she "spends much of the movie strutting down hallways and looking relentlessly, though blandly, nasty." The film grossed $198 million against a production budget of over $125 million. In 2013, Beckinsale starred in the legal thriller
The Trials of Cate McCall opposite
Nick Nolte and
James Cromwell. The film received negative reviews and was released as a
Lifetime movie. She next appeared in the little-seen psychological thriller
Stonehearst Asylum, loosely based on
Edgar Allan Poe's
short story "
The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether." A lukewarm critical reception greeted the film upon its DVD release; Jeannette Catsoulis of
The New York Times said Beckinsale was "emoting as if an Oscar nomination depended on it" while Dennis Harvey of
Variety found her performance "overwrought." In 2014, she provided the voice for Queen Ayrenn, a character in
The Elder Scrolls Online video game. Also in 2014, Beckinsale starred in the psychological thriller
The Face of an Angel alongside
Daniel Brühl. The film, directed by
Michael Winterbottom, was inspired by the case of
Meredith Kercher. Jesse Hassenger of
The A.V. Club felt her "charismatic" performance was wasted. Also in 2015, she starred alongside
Simon Pegg in the poorly received British comedy
Absolutely Anything, as an author agency employee and the love interest of a man (Pegg) chosen by four aliens to do anything he wants. Tom Huddleston of
Time Out said her character "is never really developed – which is perhaps a blessing, because her cut-glass-posh performance is almost as grating as Pegg's." A fan of
Monty Python growing up, in 2014 Beckinsale appeared on the fourth episode of ''Monty Python's Best Bits (Mostly)'' where she spoke of her favourite Python comedy sketch.
2016–present: Love & Friendship and beyond In the 2016 romantic comedy
Love & Friendship, which premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival, Beckinsale reunited with her
Last Days of Disco collaborators Stillman and Sevigny. Based on
Jane Austen's
Lady Susan, the film revolved around her role as the title character, a wry and calculating widow, as she pursues a wealthy and hapless man for marriage originally intended for her daughter, though she eventually marries him herself. The film was universally acclaimed by critics and found commercial success in
arthouse cinemas.
Justin Chang of
Variety described the role as "one of the most satisfying screen roles of her career [...] Beckinsale magnetizes the screen in a way that naturally underscores how far ahead of everyone else she is: an effect that doesn't always work to the movie's advantage." Todd McCarthy of
The Hollywood Reporter remarked, "There aren't great depths to the role, but Beckinsale excels with the long speeches and in defining her character as a very self-aware egoist." Also in the year, she starred in the horror film
The Disappointments Room, opposite
Mel Raido, both playing a couple in a new house that contains a hidden room with a haunted past. The film was heavily panned by critics and flopped at the box office; it only made $1.4 million in its opening weekend, and a total of $2.4 million in North America. Christian Holub of
Entertainment Weekly concluded that "[m]ost of the film is just Beckinsale walking around looking worried," while Joe Leydon of
Variety found her "credible and compelling [...] except for when she's trying way too hard in a rather unfortunate scene that calls for drunken ranting." In late 2016, Beckinsale returned as Selene in the fifth instalment of the
Underworld franchise,
Underworld: Blood Wars, which grossed $81.1 million worldwide. Beckinsale starred opposite
Pierce Brosnan,
Callum Turner, and
Jeff Bridges in
Marc Webb's romantic coming-of-age drama
The Only Living Boy in New York (2017), as a book editor and the mistress of a publisher whose son sees his life upended. Reviews of the film were mediocre, while it found a limited audience in theatres.
The A.V. Club found Brosnan and Beckinsale to be "vastly more interesting by the twin virtues of not disguising their voices and fitting so poorly into the sad-faced melodrama this movie wants to be." She is attached to star in an adaptation of
The Chocolate Money by Ashley Prentice Norton, with a screenplay by
Emma Forrest. In 2018, Beckinsale starred as Ingrid Carpenter in the British film
Farming. Beckinsale starred in the
ITV/
Amazon Prime drama
The Widow (2019), her first TV series for more than 20 years. The series stars Beckinsale as an Englishwoman who believes her husband, killed in a plane crash three years prior, is still alive in the Congo. Beckinsale starred in the American
action comedy film Jolt alongside
Bobby Cannavale,
Laverne Cox,
Stanley Tucci and
Jai Courtney.
Jolt was adapted from a screenplay by Scott Wascha and directed by
Tanya Wexler and released by
Amazon Studios on 23 July 2021. That same year she starred in the
Paramount+ dark comedy streaming television
Guilty Party. In that series, she served as executive producer as well. In 2021,
Deadline announced that Beckinsale would star in the
Catherine Hardwicke-directed family drama ''
Prisoner's Daughter''.
Modelling Labelled an "
English rose" by the BBC as early as 2001, Beckinsale has worked occasionally as a model. In 1997, she appeared in the music video for
George Michael's "
Waltz Away Dreaming." She starred opposite
Orlando Bloom in a 2002
Gap television advertisement directed by
Cameron Crowe. She appeared in a
Diet Coke television advertisement in 2004, directed by
Michel Gondry. She advertised
Absolut Vodka in a 2009 print campaign photographed by
Ellen von Unwerth. ==Personal life==