Ten Things You Never Knew About Kate Winslet

Rex Features

After a teary acceptance speech at the Golden Globes two weeks ago and a pair of BAFTA nominations for The Reader and Revolutionary Road, Kate Winslet is shaping up to be 2009's all-conquering awards machine. She'll likely be glued to the TV tomorrow with husband Sam Mendes when the Oscar nominations are announced to see if she's on the shortlist for the biggest acting prize of them all. Read on to find out ten fascinating facts about Reading's only A-list leading lady.

1. Kate was educated at the Redroofs Theatre School in Berkshire, where she juggled her love of acting with head girl duties.

2. Early roles for a teenage Kate included turns in the TV movie Anglo-Saxon Attitudes, Dark Season and the BBC's long-running medical soap Casualty.

3. Though Kate will always be remembered for smooching Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic, her first big screen kiss was with Melanie Lynskey in Heavenly Creatures.

4. At 23, Kate was the youngest ever actress to pick up two Oscar nominations - for Sense And Sensibility and Titanic.

5. After the runaway box office success of Titanic, Kate reportedly turned down the Gwyneth Paltrow role in Shakespeare In Love and the part in Anna And The King that eventually went to Jodie Foster.

6. Kate has said that she is "best friends" with Leonardo DiCaprio, and her two children refer to him as "Uncle Leo".

7. After marrying first husband Jim Threapleton, Kate held her wedding reception at a local pub. On the menu for guests in attendance? Bangers and mash!

8. Kate is staunchly opposed to plastic surgery. "I have no intention of getting carved up or injected, thank you very much," she says.

9. One of Kate's favourite movies is grisly serial killer drama The Silence Of The Lambs.

10. Kate rarely uses her own accent for movie roles. Recent comedy The Holiday is one of the rare instances when Kate didn't change her voice.