First making an impression on audiences with her role as the sweet, virginal Hero in Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing (1993), pale-skinned, fine-boned British actress Kate Beckinsale has since stepped beyond period pieces to prove that she is anything but a fragile English rose. She is the daughter of a BBC casting director and famed television actor Richard Beckinsale, known for roles on Porridge and Rising Damp. Beckinsale shop to stardom when she starred alongside Ben Affleck in the £74 million blockbuster Pearl Harbour and has never been out of the limelight ever since.
Date and Place of Birth: July 26, 1973. London
