- Hot Pictures of Kate Beckinsale, Click to View Full Pics

     In 1993, Kate Beckinsale starred as "Hero" in the film adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Thanks to her role, Kate Beckinsale had the chance to travel to Tuscany, Italy, where the film was being shot. Up next for Kate was a role in the 1995 BBC television satire, Cold Comfort Farm, which opened to rave reviews in American art house theaters and was a hit by indie standards. Kate Beckinsale continued performing in British theater for the next few years, and added some more forgettable films to her resume. After the indie films Shooting Fish (1997) and The Last Days of Disco (1998), Kate costarred with Claire Danes in 1999's Brokedown Palace. After starring in James Ivory's The Golden Bowl (2000), Kate joined Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett for the 2001 Bruckheimer bloated epic, Pearl Harbor. Kate Beckinsale made her bid to become the next Meg Ryan in the romantic comedy Serendipity, in the fall of 2001. After 2002's Laurel Canyon, Beckinsale starred as Selene in Underworld (2003), joined Hugh Jackman in the fight against monsters in Van Helsing (2004), and portrayed Ava Gardner in the Oscar-winning The Aviator (2004).