- [on her screen debut in Heavenly Creatures (1994)]: I was reading the script in the back of the car and I turned to my dad and yelled, "I've GOT to get this!". And he replied, "Then you will." And I thought, "Yep, that's it. I'm bloody well going to." And that was it. I was so determined. It was something crucial to my life. I just so communicated with her, the story and their relationship. And when I found out, I just couldn't believe it. I was so happy, I cried. I remember I was working part-time at a deli at the time because I didn't have any money and was in the middle of making a sandwich when they phoned and said I'd got the job. I burst into tears and had to leave work because I couldn't control myself. It was absolutely brilliant.
- In 2002, she had this to say about doing nude scenes: I like exposing myself. There's not an awful lot that embarrasses me. I'm the kind of actress that absolutely believes in exposing myself.
- I'd rather do theatre and British films than move to L.A. in hopes of getting small roles in American films.
- It's very important for me to make the statement that I am English and just because I've done one really big film, it doesn't mean that I don't want to keep a finger in the fantastic British film industry and do films like this.
- On her spur-of-the-moment marriage to Sam Mendes: We hadn't been planning to do it but we thought it was rather a good idea, so we just did it.
- After Titanic (1997), it would have been completely foolish for me to go and try and top that. I'm an English girl, I've always loved England, I've never felt the desire to leave it for any particular reason. And whilst I'm ambitious and care very much about what I do, I'm not competitive. I also don't want to act every day of my life. ... So it was important to me after Titanic (1997) to just remind myself of why it was that I was acting in the first place, which is of course because I love it.
- Since I was 13 or 14, I've always felt older than I actually am.
- I was on the tube just before Christmas and this girl turned round to me and said, "Are you Kate Winslet?". And I said, "Well, yes. I am actually." And she said, "And you're getting the tube?". And I said, "Yes." And she said, "Don't you have a big car that drives you around?". And I said, "No". And she was absolutely stunned that I wasn't being driven round in some flash car all the time. It was ludicrous.
- People say to me, "You seem to have made this conscious decision to do independent films." In reality, I haven't. After each movie, I always think, how different can I possibly be?... Is this going to challenge me, is this going to inspire me, and is this going to make me love my job more than I already do?
- There is no way we are going to move out of England. Some might think that we want to live in Hollywood but that is not what we want at all. We will go and live in New York when it is necessary because of work but we prefer to be in England. I'm proud to be English - we both are. It's very important to me to retain that. I am an English girl and I love England. I have never felt the desire to leave. I am still ambitious and I will have to travel and live elsewhere because of that but England is always home.
- On a scene from the movie Holy Smoke (1999): It was a difficult scene. When I read the script and I saw this scene was there, I laughed hysterically. I just couldn't believe it. When it came to shooting it, I had been sort of putting it off, and pretending it wasn't going to happen. And suddenly, I am there naked, peeing and thinking "Oh no!". It was really hard to do, but I've always loved the fact that it was there, and it's such a sort of turning point for the character I play in the movie that I've always felt sort of good, that it should be there.
- On receiving her fourth Oscar nomination: I can't believe it. I am ecstatic! This nomination means so much to me. To be remembered for a film that was released a while ago, I am unbelievably honoured and completely overwhelmed.
- There's more to life than cheekbones.
- Mum and dad were very much friends, and up to life. There was no anxiety for anything when I was growing up, they just taught me to be me.
- Life is short, and it is here to be lived.
- Loving someone is setting them free, letting them go.
- I don't know if it's a skill, but I have been really lucky. I've always got on with every actor I've had to work opposite. I just always try and be as accepting of that person as I possibly can, and remain non-judgmental about their process, because every actor works in a different way.
- I was a wayward child, very passionate and very determined. If I made up my mind to do something, there was no stopping me.
- On going to the 1996 Oscars: Emma Thompson said to me "Listen, it's honestly just like going to see a fantastic show", and actually it really is, because there are so many people to look at and all those fabulous frocks and it's really fascinating. But mum and dad and I did kind of amble through it a bit, a bit like the Beverly Hillbillies, getting out the car, my mum stepping on my dress and I'm going "Mum, mum!".
- I'm really proud of being English, because I learned my job in England, in English films with English actors. But I never dared dream of such a success... it's more than a dream. I realize it's extraordinary for a British actress. I feel good, but guilty at the same time, cause I wish I could share this emotion with all my British actors' friends... I play the main character in the most expensive and probably successful film, but that's not a good reason to leave England and become a superstar. Not at all.
- It seems daft that I'm famous and I've not really got to grips with that.
- On taking chances in Hollywood: If you're not still learning and growing as an actor, then you have no backbone and no career. [November 2000]
- My skin still crawls if you call me a movie star. I get embarrassed. I think, don't be ridiculous. Maybe it's because I'm British. To me, Julia Roberts that's a movie star. But when people do call me one, that, I think, is an enormous compliment but, my God, is that a responsibility!
- [on being nominated in the same category as superstar Meryl Streep] It feels unbelievable to be mentioned in the same breath as fellow actress Meryl Streep. It's inconceivable to me that this would even happen in my lifetime at all. It's such a dream.
- I don't smoke around my kids. Like that makes it any better that I smoke at all, because obviously it doesn't. But I don't smoke in the house. I mean, I had a cigarette this morning, which is because I hadn't been. Coffee and a cigarette: bingo! I'm not sure if I want you to print that. [laughs]
- I think he could have actually fit on that bit of door. [Concerning whether Jack Dawson could have survived with Rose on the floating board in Titanic]
- People are always so excited to see Leo and myself in the same space, which at the end of the day, that's so lovely, isn't it? It's been 20 years and people still get such a kick out of it. It's really quite endearing. And we do laugh about it. Oh my God, can you actually believe it that people still get so overwhelmed by the Jack and Rose thing?
- [on selecting to act in small, independent films after the success of Titanic] The point was I could choose. That was the luxury Titanic afforded me. There was tremendous pressure on me to do something 'big', but I ducked it all. I had to. If I hadn't, I would have burned out by the age of 25. So I ran a mile - back to where I felt safe again.
- [on growing her pubic hair for nude scenes in The Reader (2008)] Let me tell you, The Reader (2008) was not glamorous for me in terms of body-hair maintenance. I had to grow it in, because you can't have a landing strip in 1950, you know? And then because of years of waxing, as all of us girls know, it doesn't come back quite the way it used to. They even made me a merkin because they were so concerned that I might not be able to grow enough. I said, 'Guys, I am going to have to draw the line at a pubic wig, but you can shoot my own snatch up close and personal.'
- [on working with Woody Allen and Roman Polanski] What the f*** was I doing?
- The good and bad things are what form us as people... change makes us grow.
- Plastic surgery and breast implants are fine for people who want that, if it makes them feel better about who they are. But, it makes these people, actors especially, fantasy figures for a fantasy world. Acting is about being real being honest.
- It doesn't matter how old you are or what you do with your life, you will never stop needing your mum. And I will never stop needing mine, so thanks, Mum.
- [on a digital edited picture on a magazine] I don't look like that and I don't desire to look like that.
- I really believe in, move on, live and let live, forgive and forget.
- [on working out in a gym] Everyone can commit to 20 minutes, especially if there's a glass of Chardonnay afterwards.
- Glamour to me is about remaining graceful and understated.
- I'm not classically trained. I didn't come from the fancy home, no.
- 'Holy Smoke' is very brave because I don't think it's easy to watch.
- You know why I fear people's judgment? Because I know they're judging. I know they are.
- I know when I walk into that classroom in the morning, even if it's for a split second, at some point I'm being checked out.
- [refusing to make her body look better filming topless scene in Lee) I had to be really f*cking brave about letting my body be its softest version of itself and not hiding from that. And believe me, people amongst our own team would say, "You might just want to sit up a bit." And I'd go, "Why? [Because of] the bit of flesh you can see? No, that's the way it's going to be!"
- [criticism she faced over her weight] In my 20s, people would talk about my weight a lot, and I would be called to comment on my physical self. Well, then I got this label of being ballsy and outspoken. No, I was just defending myself.
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