Born as Kate Beckinsale-Loe in London, England to Judy Loe and well-known television actor Richard Beckinsale.
Father death
When: 1978
Where: UNITED KINGDOM
Her father dies of a heart attack at the age of 31. Britain is shocked by his death and for years later Kate will be known as the "tragic daughter" of Richard Beckinsale.
Education
When: 1978
Where: UNITED KINGDOM
Attends Flexlands Private School in London, England. She enjoys taking ballet lessons.
Tragedy Hits
When: March 1979
Where: UNITED KINGDOM
Kate is just 5 years old when her father, British comedian Richard Beckinsale, dies of a heart attack in his sleep. Richard, 31, was at the height of his acting career as the star of the English sitcoms Rising Damp and Porridge. "It stayed with me, the incredible shock and huge loss," she tells PEOPLE. "I started expecting bad things to happen, that friends will leave, that loved ones will die. It kept building until I had a nervous breakdown when I was a teenager."
Struggling Teen
When: from 1987 to 1988
Where: UNITED KINGDOM
Still grieving for her father, Beckinsale develops anorexia around age 15 and withers to just 70 lbs. She asks her mother and stepfather to send her to Freudian psychoanalysis, and she attends sessions five days a week for four years. "It opened my eyes to things, not to be afraid of facing these fears," she tells PEOPLE. "I at least understood what they were and where they had come from."
Much Ado About Kate
When: 07 May 1993
Where: WORLDWIDE
Beckinsale stars in Kenneth Branaugh's Much Ado About Nothing, in which she plays Hero, a maiden who is the sole heiress to her father's fortune. Two years later, Beckinsale drops out of the University of Oxford to focus on acting, before heating up across the pond with roles in The Last Days of Disco and Brokedown Palace.
Love at Work
When: April 1995
Where: WORLDWIDE
While performing in the touring play, The Seagull, Beckinsale meets Welsh actor Michael Sheen. The couple begins a nine-year relationship.
Child birth
When: 31 January 1999
Where: WORLDWIDE
Beckinsale gives birth to her and Sheen's only child, daughter Lily. "I was brilliant at breastfeeding," she tells Allure in July 2006. "I was like an overproducing cow. I miss it a bit."
Stars in Pearl Harbor
When: 21 May 2001
Where: WORLDWIDE
Stars in Pearl Harbor with Alec Baldwin, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, and Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Nurse Kate
When: 25 May 2001
Where: WORLDWIDE
Beckinsale stars in her highest profile film yet: World War II blockbuster Pearl Harbor, with Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett. While training for her role as a nurse, the actress practices giving shots to a bevy of men. "All these boys would come in and drop their trousers, and I would stab and inject them," she tells Playboy. "It was an odd day."
Kiss and Tell
When: 05 October 2001
Where: WORLDWIDE
Beckinsale's next film, the romantic comedy Serendipity, with John Cusack, comes out. She began shooting the film while wrapping Harbor and tells the Bergen Record, "They saved the kissing scenes in Pearl Harbor for the last week, and me and John had all of our kissing scenes in the first week. There was a point when I was ricocheting between New York and L.A., madly kissing everybody."
Underworld Triangle
When: from September 2002 to November 2002
Where: WORLDWIDE
While filming Underworld together in Budapest, Sheen and Beckinsale meet director Len Wiseman. Wiseman directs the couple in the supernatural thriller about the secret history of vampires and werewolves, which opens at No. 1 and grosses $ 95.7 million worldwide.
L.A. Breakup
When: January 2003
Where: UNITED KINGDOM
Shortly after Sheen and Beckinsale's move from London to L.A., the pair breaks up. Reports surface that Beckinsale left Sheen for Wiseman. The British beauty denies any infidelity. "Yes, I've been completely monogamous," Beckinsale tells Allure in 2006. "It was always rather odd to me when I'd get that 'Oh, what a slut' remark. 'Oh, she ditched the father of her child and ran off with somebody else.' I mean, look around this town and tell me one other person who's slept with only two people in a decade. I might just be the only one."
Love is in the Air
When: 14 June 2003
Where: WORLDWIDE
After dating for months, Wiseman proposes to Beckinsale over dinner at Santa Monica's Viceroy Hotel, where he requests a cabana by the pool, a presidential suite filled with white lilies and a special type of merlot.
Fire Starter
When: 03 May 2004
Where: WORLDWIDE
Beckinsale's fantasy action flick Van Helsing with Hugh Jackman is released. At the end of shooting, she torches her costume, telling Playboy in 2006, "I was desperate to burn it the minute I put it on. The boots alone took 20 minutes to put on...it was buckle after buckle."
The Honeymooners
When: 09 May 2004
Where: WORLDWIDE
Beckinsale and Wiseman wed at L.A.'s Hotel Bel-Air in front of 140 guests, including her Underworld costar Scott Speedman, in gossamer lace-adorned tents filled with candles and flowers. During the ceremony, Wiseman gives 5-year-old Lily a tiny ring of her own and asks her to marry him too. The newlyweds head to San Lucas, Mexico for their honeymoon, where Beckinsale sports a bikini printed with "Mrs. Wiseman."
Flying High
When: 17 December 2004
Where: WORLDWIDE
Beckinsale stars opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator, playing Ava Gardner. The actress, known primarily for her sci-fi roles, tells Entertainment Weekly, "It's terrifying to play a real person, especially one as beloved as Ava Gardner, because you know there's going to be 15 billion people going 'You completely got it wrong!'" Aviator's producer, Graham King, tells PEOPLE Beckinsale was "sensual and mysterious" as the screen legend, but PEOPLE proclaims her "woefully miscast."
Beckinsale's Comic Relief
When: 23 June 2006
Where: WORLDWIDE
Adam Sandler convinces Beckinsale to star with him in Click. As the daughter of celebrated British comedian Richard Beckinsale, she considers comedy a very personal thing. "I resisted doing this kind of comedy for most of my career, but I saw Click as a possibility to return to my roots," Beckinsale tells The Toronto Sun. "I was attracted to comedy, but I also tried to steer clear of it, not wanting to tread on anyone else's patch. I wanted to be on my own patch."
Beckinsale's Vacancy
When: May 2007
Where: WORLDWIDE
Beckinsale graces the cover of Glamour to promote her new thriller Vacancy. The film, which stars Beckinsale and Luke Wilson as a couple trying to escape a motel that's been rigged to film their death, opens at No. 4, grossing over $7.6 million. Her next project, Winged Creatures, costars Oscar-winners Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson and explores a bond strangers form after surviving a shooting.
Kate Charms Critics
When: 19 December 2008
Where: WORLDWIDE
Beckinsale stars as reporter Rachel Armstrong in Nothing But the Truth, a dramatization of the Plame Affair during which CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity was outed by New York Times reporter Judith Miller. "Beckinsale makes Rachel a fierce yet fragile dry-eyed martyr, but not a saint," praises EW. Her performance earns her a Best Actress Critics' Choice Award nomination.