Kate Beckinsale by Smallz & Raskind at the 2017 Film Independent Spirit Awards

Kathryn Bailey "Kate" Beckinsale (born 26 July 1973) is an English actress. After some minor television roles, her first widely seen appearance was in Much Ado About Nothing (1993), filmed while she was a student at Oxford University. She then appeared in British costume dramas such as Prince of Jutland (1994), Cold Comfort Farm (1995), Emma (1996) and The Golden Bowl (2000), in addition to various stage and radio productions. She began to seek film work in the United States in the late 1990s and, after appearing in small-scale dramas The Last Days of Disco (1998) and Brokedown Palace (1999), she had a breakout year in 2001 with starring roles in war epic Pearl Harbor and romantic comedy Serendipity. She built on this success with appearances in The Aviator (2004) and Click (2006).

She garnered a reputation as an action star following an appearance as a vampire in 2003's Underworld and has since starred in Van Helsing (2004), Underworld: Evolution (2006) and Whiteout (2009). She has also continued to work on smaller independent projects such as Snow Angels (2007), Winged Creatures (2008), Nothing but the Truth (for which she earned a Critic's Choice Award nomination in 2008) and Everybody's Fine (2009). She has three films set for release in 2012: the fourth installment of vampire franchise Underworld: Awakening, crime thriller Contraband and sci-fi remake Total Recall.

She is the only child of actors Richard Beckinsale (1947–1979) and Judy Loe and was raised in London, England. She had an eight-year relationship with Welsh actor Michael Sheen from 1995 until 2003. Their daughter, Lily Mo Sheen, was born in London, England in 1999. She married American film director Len Wiseman in 2004 and they live in Los Angeles, California. Publications such as Esquire and People Magazine have repeatedly included her in their annual rankings of the world's sexiest and most beautiful women. She has worked occasionally as a model in television and print campaigns to promote Gap denim, Diet Coke, Absolut Vodka and Lux shampoo.