The zaftig British actress and Oscar winner is one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed actresses of the last 20 years.

While it may of seem to most of us that Winslet popped out of nowhere onto and into Leo's arms in Titanic, Winslet started her career, like most Brits, on the BBC before graduating into the big leagues in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures. She earned the first of her many rave reviews and followed up with a series of high-brow literary gigs: Sense and Sensibility,Jude, and Hamlet. It was just a few years later that she starred in the record-breaking phenomenon, Titanic.

Following her turn as Rose, Winslet starred in several serious dramas like Quills and Iris before going against type as the blue-haired, spontaneous Clementine in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Never one to stray for long though, Winslet has spent most of her years playing morose ladies in Little Children, Revolutionary Road, The Reader, and the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce, allowing her to sweep her nearly every award category.

Although she always seems more down-to-earth than her fellow A-listers, Winslet has had her fair share of dramatic romances. She and writer Stephen Tredre dated for four and a half years; he died of bone cancer soon after their split, causing Winslet to miss the LA premiere of Titanic. Next up was director Jim Threapleton, whom she met on the set of Hideous Kinky. The pair had a daughter before they divorced and Winslet married director Sam Mendes. They had a son together, but split in 2010 amidst infidelity rumors on his end. Much to the world's delight, Kate has loosened up a bit, cozying up to, wait for it, a man named Ned Rocknroll. [Image via Getty]