Winslet has been nominated for Academy Awards five times, and it may come as no surprise to film critics who have hailed her recent performances in The Reader and Revolutionary Road if that number increases on Jan. 22, 2009, when this year’s nominations will be announced.
Brief bio of Kate Winslet
A look at Winslet's resume shows eclectic roles — from a Shakespearean heroine (Hamlet), to a Titanic survivor (Titanic), to a kooky girlfriend (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).
Winslet has been surrounded by show business since she was born. Her parents, Roger and Sally Winslet, are both stage actors, and her two sisters are actors, as well. She attended theatre school and landed her first major role in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures.
Why Kate Winslet should win an Oscar
Now, at 33, Winslet has years of experience, and all those nominations. Oscar may bless her this year, because she’s no longer a kid — of course kids have won Oscars before, to wit, Tatum O’Neal at the age of 10 — but Winslet can now rank among the likes of Oscar winners Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron. She’s no longer a newcomer or “one to watch” — she’s proven herself.
Most recently, by winning two Golden Globe Awards, one for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama for her role in Revolutionary Road, and one for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for The Reader.
Golden Globe Awards as Oscar predictors
The movie industry has often viewed the Golden Globes as harbingers of Oscar winners. That may be correct in Winslet's case this time. Members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assocation choose Golden Globe award winners, and their peers at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences vote on Oscar winners.
Historically, Oscar has loved transformations, as well. Hilary Swank won a statuette for playing a woman who lived life as a man in Boys Don’t Cry, Nicole Kidman took the prize after portraying author Virginia Wolf with a prosthetic nose, and Chalize Theron won after packing on pounds to play serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster.
In The Reader, where she plays a former guard at a concentration camp, Winslet is transformed into an old woman. Thus several factors are in her favour come Academy Award time.
Winslet herself has said she would love to win an Oscar.
”Do I want it? You bet your f---ing ass I do!” she told Vanity Fair in a recent interview.
When the Oscars take place on Feb. 22, 2009, she just may get what she wants.
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