Kate Winslet, actor
Desert Island Discs
BBC
4.4 • 13.7K Ratings
🗓️ 18 January 2026
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kate Winslet is an actor who achieved global fame playing Rose DeWitt Bukater, opposite Leonard DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, in the 1997 James Cameron epic Titanic. During her career she has won five BAFTAs, two Emmys, five Golden Globes and an Academy Award for her role in the Reader.
Kate was born in Reading in 1975 and attended Redroofs School for the Performing Arts in Maidenhead, Berkshire. Her film debut came in 1994 when she played a teenage killer in Peter Jackson’s film Heavenly Creatures. The following year she played Marianne Dashwood opposite Emma Thompson’s Elinor in Sense and Sensibility, directed by Ang Lee. Kate’s performance earned her a BAFTA for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
She went on to consolidate her reputation as one of the most versatile actors of her generation by starring in a list of popular and critically acclaimed films including Hideous Kinky, Iris, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Holiday.
Last year Kate directed her first film, Goodbye June, starring Helen Mirren, Timothy Spall and Andrea Riseborough.
Kate has three children and lives in West Sussex with her husband Ned and her family.
DISC ONE: Georgia on my Mind - Roger Winslet and Sophie Breakenridge DISC TWO: Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs - Brian and Michael DISC THREE: Kiss from a Rose - Seal DISC FOUR: Summertime - Ella Fitzgerald DISC FIVE: Nuvole Bianche - Ludovico Einaudi DISC SIX: Weird Fishes/ Arpeggi - Radiohead DISC SEVEN: Blue Ridge Mountains - Fleet Foxes DISC EIGHT: Pump up the Jam - Technotronic BOOK CHOICE: Outside: Recipes for a Wilder Way of Eating by Gill Meller LUXURY ITEM: Freshly ground coffee CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Georgia on my Mind – Roger Winslet and Sophie Breakenridge
Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinley
Desert Island Discs has cast many actors away over the years including Dame Emma Thompson, Cate Blanchett and Dame Helen Mirren. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Hello, I'm Greg Jenner, and good news, |
| 0:09.5 | Your Dead to Me, is back for a new series. |
| 0:11.6 | Here we go. |
| 0:12.1 | Yes, we'll explore Emperor Nero's notorious reign with Professor Mary Beard and Patton Oswald. |
| 0:16.9 | I would not want my daughter having the remote control, not alone an empire. |
| 0:38.6 | We'll dissect the decadent life of Philippe Duke-Dolion with Tom Allen. I've often tried to pretend I'm an aristocrat and being very quickly knocked down. And there'll be so much more with comedians like Olga Koch, Mike Wozniak and Rihelina. I'm excited. You're dead to me. The comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:43.7 | Hello, I'm Lauren Levern, and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:51.0 | Every week, I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury that they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island. |
| 0:54.5 | For rights reasons, the music's shorter than on the original broadcast, |
| 0:59.8 | but you can find a version with longer music tracks on BBC Sounds. Listeners will also get access to episodes 28 days earlier than everyone else. I hope you enjoy listening. My castaway this week is the actor Kate Winslet. |
| 1:29.8 | Who can forget the image of her on the prow of the Titanic, |
| 1:32.9 | alongside her co-star Leonardo DiCaprio, |
| 1:35.6 | in her breakthrough role as Rose in the James Cameron Blockbuster. |
| 1:39.9 | She made her film debut at 17 as a teenage killer in heavenly creatures, and today she's arguably the preeminent British actress of her generation. |
| 1:49.7 | Her creative palette is a veritable rainbow. She's played parts in comedies like The Holiday, |
| 1:55.5 | offbeat hits including the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, period pieces like Anne Lee's sense and sensibility, |
| 2:02.1 | and her own production, Lee, which recounts the wartime experiences of the photographer Lee Miller. |
| 2:08.5 | Another of her productions, the HBO series Mayor of East Town, won her an Emmy, the second in her awards collection, |
| 2:15.2 | along with her Oscar, numerous BAFTAs, Golden Globes, |
| 2:18.4 | a Grammy, a CBE, and her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She follows all of this, |
| 2:24.5 | this Christmas, with her directorial debut. Not bad for a kid from Reading who started out |
... |
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