Best Actress | Kate Winslet

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She’s only 33, and yet Kate Winslet has been a movie star for nearly half her life.

Last night she added “Oscar winner” to her resume.

Winslet’s fearless turn in “The Reader” as a former Nazi concentration camp guard — a performance that evoked both pity and fury in audiences — was her ticket to the winner’s circle after five earlier nominations.

Ironically, as Oscar season began she was being promoted as a supporting actress for “The Reader”; a different studio was pushing her for best actress for “Revolutionary Road.” She won Golden Globes in those categories for those performances.

But the Oscar voters obviously loved her work in “The Reader,” declaring it a leading role rather than supporting (the Oscar rules are vague on which is which).

Her closest competitor was “Doubt’s” Meryl Streep, who has a record 15 nominations and has already won two Oscars. They overshadowed the rest of the field: “Rachel Getting Married’s” Anne Hathaway, “Changeling’s” Angelina Jolie and “Frozen River’s” Melissa Leo.

It was the evening’s only win for “The Reader,” but it was a big one.


Source: kansascity.com