Kate Winslet

**Kate Elizabeth Winslet** CBE is an English actress. In *Extras*, she played a fictionalised version of herself in the episode 'Kate Winslet'.

Known for her work in independent films, particularly period dramas, as well as for her portrayals of headstrong and complicated women, Winslet has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, and five Golden Globe Awards.

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 went on to win a BAFTA Award 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 a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. *Titanic* was the highest-grossing film at the time, after which she eschewed parts in blockbusters in favour of critically acclaimed period pieces, including *Quills* (2000) and *Iris* (2001).

The science fiction romance *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind* (2004), in which Winslet was cast against type in a contemporary setting, proved to be a turning point in her career, and she gained further recognition for her performances in *Finding Neverland* (2004), *Little Children* (2006), *Revolutionary Road* (2008), and *The Reader* (2008). For playing a former Nazi camp guard in the latter, she won the BAFTA Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress. Winslet's portrayal of Joanna Hoffman in the biopic *Steve Jobs* (2015) won her another BAFTA Award, and she won two Primetime Emmy Awards for her performances in the HBO miniseries *Mildred Pierce* (2011) and *Mare of Easttown* (2021).

For her narration of a short story in the audiobook *Listen to the Storyteller* (1999), Winslet won a Grammy Award. She performed the song "What If" for the soundtrack of her film *Christmas Carol: The Movie* (2001). A co-founder of the charity Golden Hat Foundation, which aims to create autism awareness, she has written a book on the topic, *The Golden Hat: Talking Back to Autism* (2010). Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2009 and 2021. In 2012, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Divorced from film directors Jim Threapleton and Sam Mendes, Winslet has been married to businessman Edward Abel Smith since 2012. She has a child from each marriage.

## Personality

Known for playing complex and sophisticated women in film, Kate Winslet in *Extras* reflects a prurient and overtly crude personality behind the scenes. She is rather nosy in other people's affairs, eavesdropping on Andy and Maggie's private conversation about Maggie's boyfriend's tendency to talk dirty to her and Maggie not knowing what to say in response. Winslet seems excited by the concept and gives Maggie inappropriate advice on the topic. When she is caught making lewd gestures behind Maggie's boyfriend Jon's back, she is humiliated and humbled by Jon, who accuses her of meddling with the lives of "the little people".

Winslet also seems insensitive to issues including the Holocaust and people with physical disabilities. She downplays the significance of sharing stories of the Holocaust through film, complaining that there are too many films on the topic and saying "We get it... It was dim." Later, when she spots Francesca – a woman with cerebral palsy – Winslet ignorantly calls her a "mental".

## Gallery

Jon catches Kate Winslet making lewd gestures behind his back
## Trivia

* Kate Winslet tells Andy in one scene of her episode that the key to winning an Oscar is to do a Holocaust film. Less than four years later, she would go on to win her first Academy Award playing an Auschwitz guard in *The Reader* (2008), a post-Holocaust drama.
* Between the shooting and the airing of her episode, Kate Winslet was nominated for an Oscar for *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind* (2004). Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant joked about how her jokes in the episode would be ruined if she actually won, which she didn't.
* Reading, Berkshire is the hometown of both Kate Winslet and *Extras* co-creator Ricky Gervais.
* Kate Winslet is the only female guest star to have her name as the title of an episode.