It’s not a bad week to be Kate Winslet.
This weekend, the Hollywood legend will be tackling her first ever villainous role in Divergent, the hotly anticipated film adaptation of the blockbuster YA book series by Veronica Roth. But the release of that film won’t be the only reason that Winslet will be celebrating.
Amongst her numerous accolades, Winslet has won an Academy Award, an Emmy, a Grammy, three Golden Globes, two BAFTA Film Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Critics Choice Award, and was even named a Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. And today, she was bestowed with her very own star on the coveted Hollywood Walk of Fame.
With Winslet becoming the 2,520th recipient of a star on the famous sidewalk tribute to those who have achieved greatness within the entertainment industry, she was also honored with today being declared “Kate Winslet Day” by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
Throughout her two decades as a film actress, Winslet has captivated audiences in such films as Heavenly Creatures, Sense and Sensibility, Hamlet, Iris, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Finding Neverland, Little Children, The Holiday, Carnage, and most recently, Labor Day. In 1997, she became an international household name by playing Rose DeWitt Bukater opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in James Cameron’s Titanic. After five previous Academy Award nominations, Winslet finally took home her first Oscar in 2009 for her starring role as former Nazi Hanna Schmidtz in The Reader. She’s also graced the silver screen on the HBO series, Extras, and the titular character in the premium network’s acclaimed miniseries, Mildred Pierce.
“After working with you, after knowing you, you deserve to have stars strewn at your feet,” said Winslet’s Titanic and Revolutionary Road co-star Kathy Bates during today’s induction ceremony. “And even though stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame sometimes get a little dirty with a little poo or whatever, what will last are your wonderful, beautiful films, the characters that you’ve played that have stolen our hearts, and nobody can ever poo on those.”
Also in the crowd of those who came to support Winslet today was the cast of Divergent, all of whom Winslet has “no doubt will be collecting their stars at sometime very, very soon.”
“She loves the art of being an actor and she loves what it means to bring characters to life and to bring an authenticity and a truth to these roles,” proclaimed the film’s 22-year-old star, Shailene Woodley, who spoke about Winslet on behalf of the cast. “Outside of acting, I have never met a more empowered, beautiful, humble, almost selfless in a way of really knowing herself so strongly that no matter what comes at her in life, she has the tools to be able to combat it with passion and kindness because she has such a strong sense of self. As a young woman, it has been such an honor to see somebody who has navigated this industry in such a beautiful, professional way, and still remains intact her love for acting and her love for herself. I couldn’t be more honored to know you, to work with you, and to learn from you. Congratulations.”
Having given birth to her third child this past December, Winslet found herself a little frightened by this morning’s earthquake in Los Angeles. “I made for a doorframe with my breast pump in my hand,” the 38-year-old actress declared with a laugh before reciting her eloquent acceptance speech.
“It’s really, really wonderful to be here and to be given this award, this accolade, this wonderful moment in my life that I know I will never forget,” Winslet humbly said upon the receipt of her star. “Thank you to all the actors and directors that I have worked with. I really want to share this with those people and the history that I have with so many great individuals who have taught me so much and continue to teach me so much. And that’s the great thing about acting. It’s such a privilege to be in a position to work with such wonderful people, and not only that, but to continue to learn on the job. There really is no rulebook. There really is no great teacher who can tell you how to do this, and it’s a very frightening position to be in sometimes, and I just have learnt so much from so many great people.”
“So here I am this morning on the infamous corner of Hollywood and Vine,” Winslet later continued. “I believe that so many great young aspiring actors first stepped off the bus with the hope of embarking on a film career from this very spot that we all stand in today. So I feel very honored, twenty years into my own career, to be standing in such a poignant place and being celebrated in such a spectacular fashion. Thank you very much for my star and thank you very much for having me.”
Following Divergent, Winslet will be seen next in the Alan Rickman-directed indie film, A Little Chaos, where she’ll play a landscape gardener competing to develop the gardens in Louis XIV’s Versailles. In addition to shooting Insurgent (the sequel to Divergent), Winslet will keep busy this year filming the heist thriller Triple Nine alongside Aaron Paul and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and the revenge drama, The Dressmaker, based on the bestselling novel by Rosalie Ham.
Cheers to the next twenty years, Kate.
