Kathrin Romany Beckinsale (born 26 July 1973) is an English actress and model. After some minor television roles, her film debut was Much Ado About Nothing (1993) while a student at the University of Oxford. She appeared in British costume dramas such as Prince of Jutland (1994), Cold Comfort Farm (1995), Emma (1996), Shooting Fish (1997) (a contemporary romantic crime comedy) and The Golden Bowl (2000), in addition to various stage and radio productions.
Beckinsale started film work in the United States in the late 1990s. After appearing in small-scale dramas The Last Days of Disco (1998) and Brokedown Palace (1999), she starred in the war drama Pearl Harbor (2001), the romantic comedy Serendipity (2001), and Tiptoes (2003). She followed those with starring roles in The Aviator (2004) and Click (2006). All these films established her as a protagonist in Hollywood.
Since playing the role of Selene in the Underworld film series (2003–2016), Beckinsale has become known for her work in action films, including Van Helsing (2004), Whiteout (2009), Contraband (2012), and Total Recall (2012). She continues to make appearances in smaller dramatic projects such as Snow Angels (2007), Nothing but the Truth (2008), and Everybody's Fine(2009). For the two first films she received positive reviews. In 2016, she received critical acclaim for her performance in the period comedy film Love & Friendship, for which she received a nomination for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in a Comedy. She returned in action films with Jolt(2021). She also starred in two television projects with The Widow (2019) and Guilty Party (2021).
