For as long as there have been moves there have been icons to grace the big screen from the likes of Charlie Chaplin in the silent era to Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, James Dean and Audrey Hepburn.
But here at FemaleFirst we are going to take a look at some of today’s stars who will be the icons that we remember decades from now.
Kate Winslet is the first actress to be given the title of modern day icon as well as being one of the greatest British thespians that this country has ever produced.
Like so many British stars the actress kicked off her career in TV but it wasn’t long before movies came calling… and it was a certain Peter Jackson that gave her her breakthrough role in Heavenly Creatures.
Success came very quickly for Winslet as she went on to land the role of Marianne Dashwood in Ang Lee’s adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.
Winslet went on to pick up her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress - losing out to Mira Sorvino for Mighty Aphrodite.
That nomination kicked off a great Oscar’s record for Winslet - who has become the youngest person to pick up six nominations - finally getting her hands on a statuette for her performance in The Reader.
She followed up Sense and Sensibility with Jude and Hamlet but it was Titanic that shot her and co-star Leonardo DiCaprio to superstardom.
She picked up another Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actress, but missed out as the movie went on to pick up eleven awards - including Best Picture.
Throughout her career Winslet has mixed and matched her roles and she went from blockbuster Titanic to the more indie movie Hideous Kinky and Hoy Smoke.
The early noughties brought her roles in Quills and Enigma but it was to be Iris that brought her another Oscar nod.
She took on the role if the young Iris Murdoch in the movie that told the story of the novelist and her relationship with John Bayley as well as her battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
The movie was praised by the critics and Winslet, Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent all went on to be nominated for Oscars - Broadbent picking up Best Supporting Actor.
The mid noughties brought her a quick succession of highly acclaimed performances as she starred in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Finding Neverland and Little Children.
With these roles she cemented herself as one of the most versatile actresses working in Hollywood as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Little Children brought her further Oscar nominations.
However she was to be denied on both occasions.
She stepped into animation with Flushed Away in 2006 - which saw her team up with Hugh Jackman - before taking on the rom-com with The Holiday.
But 2008 finally saw her get her hands on an Oscar with the role of Hanna Schmitz in The Reader, which was based on the novel by Bernhard Schlink.
Post-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end; law student Michael Berg re-encounters his former lover as she defends herself in a war-crime trial.
She dominated the awards circuit picking up the Bafta, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and of course a Best Actress Oscar.
She will next be seen on the small screen in Mildred Pierce and she has completed work on movies Contagion and Carnage.
Kate Winslet has a huge and varied body of work over her twenty year career that varies from movies to TV from hard hitting drama to animation.
She is an actress that will be celebrated for many years and will always be remembered as one of Britain’s finest.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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