First making an impression on international audiences with her role as the sweet, virginal Hero in "Kenneth Branagh"'s "Much Ado About Nothing" (1993), pale-skinned, fine-boned British actress "Kate Beckinsale" has since stepped beyond period pieces to prove that she is anything but a fragile English rose.

The daughter of a BBC casting director and famed television actor "Richard Beckinsale" (known for roles on Porridge and "Rising Damp"), Beckinsale was born July 26, 1973. After her father's death from a... [more]