The best Kate Winslet roles of all time

Winslet earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for her take as an anxious and depressed single mother who falls in love with a fugitive (Josh Brolin). While the film received lukewarm reviews from critics, the dynamic between Winslet and Brolin has often been cited as one of the main reasons to see this movie. Even if the plot was a little uneven and lacked consistent dramatic moments throughout the film.

The least serious film on this list, but even an average rom-com like The Holiday (which happened to gross more than $205 million around the globe) is worth watching if Winslet is involved. She plays a British society columnist who ventures across the pond to America to get away from her disastrous love life for a bit. Big-name co-stars Cameron Diaz, Edward Burns, and Jack Black are fine, but Winslet is relatable and worthy of some sympathy while also good for some harmless self-deprecating entertainment.

Finding Neverland is based on The Man Who Was Peter Pan, a play from the late 1990s. Playing opposite Johnny Depp, as Peter Pan creator J.M. Barrie, Winslet's Sylvia is the widowed mother of the four boys who became the famed novelist's inspiration for his beloved character. By this point in her career, Winslet made just about every role she played impactful, regardless the talent of the leading man she worked opposite. 

Unless we see dinosaurs eating arrogant humans, paleontology doesn't necessarily seem like a successful theme for a romantic drama. Of course, Winslet is a talented enough actress that she can take any historical figure and make her interesting. In this case, British paleontologist Mary Anning, prominent in 1800s, whose sexuality is explored in the film. It's worth noting, the historical accuracy of the picture has been questioned by some of Anning's descendants. 

This was Winslet's followup to her appearance in one of the most popular movies off all time. Going from a blockbuster to a quiet little film about simple, free living, Winslet stars as a disenchanted English, twenty-something single mom in the early 1970s. She packs up her daughters for a life in Morocco, where they sell hand-sewn dolls to get by. Winslet is undoubtedly the best thing about the film. 

This is not an easy film to watch, as it chronicles the infamous Marquis de Sade's later days in an insane asylum. His writings get out to the public through laundress LeClerc, who is on the outside and determined to have the infamous French nobleman's voice heard. While Geoffrey Rush was superb in the title role, Winslet's association with the film gave it even more credibility. Thus, opening the door for her mainstream fans to spend the time on a period piece that can be difficult to get through at times.

Bravo to anyone who has ever played the devastatingly complex Ophelia — regardless of the production level. Winslet, in one of her early works, pulled off the seriously flawed and insecure Danish noblewoman without a hitch. The role was another in the progression of greatness that Winslet was taking as a performer. Her movies might be hit or miss, but her presence has generally been one of the more notable moments of those projects.

Iris was responsible for Winslet's second Academy Award nomination in the category of Best Supporting Actress. She plays the younger version of the legendary Irish and British novelist. Judy Dench stars as the present-day Murdoch. Some of the film's best moments come from the interaction between young Iris and future husband John Bayley (played in his younger days by Hugh Bonneville). Together, that version of the couple is a strong table-setter for the drama and emotion that encompasses their relationship in later years.

Kate Winslet going head-to-head with Jodie Foster is true cinema gold. Carnage is an underrated dark comedy about two couples coming together after their respective school-age sons get into a fight. The meeting is highly entertaining, raucous, and unhinged at times. Most notably, it shows just how dysfunctional these couples — Foster and John C. Reilly; Winslet and Christoph Waltz — are, and maybe why their sons turned to aggression. Winslet seems like she's enjoying her mild moments of derangement in a picture that's definitely worth the time investment.

The script was written by Aaron Sorkin, and it was directed by Danny Boyle. Winslet was intrigued by this film about the famed Apple co-founder and championed herself for the role of marketing executive Hoffman, Steve Jobs' most trusted and valued colleagues. In many ways, she was the great woman, from a professional sense, behind the great man. Winslet was nominated for her seventh Academy Award and ended up winning her fourth Golden Globe for the performance.

Reunited with Leonardo DiCaprio from that movie about a big boat, Winslet earned her first Golden Globe victory for her role as an unhappy 1950s' wife — to Leo's equally unhappy Frank Wheeler — whose troubled marriage takes a severe toll on her emotional and mental capacity. This might be Winslet's most gripping performance, even if disturbing at times, and it's another example of the lengths and depths she's able and willing to go for a memorable film performance.

Apparently, the sixth time was the charm for Winslet, who was finally able to call herself an Oscar winner thanks to The Reader. While there are still critics who feel her other nominated roles were more deserving of an Academy Award, Winslet is no doubt exceptional as a German woman who takes on a fling with a teenage boy. She also harbors a deeply personal secret that could surface during a future war crimes trial in relation to her time working as a Nazi concentration camp guard. The role also won Winslet the second of her five Golden Globe Awards.

Winslet and brilliant co-star Melanie Lynskey made their feature-film debuts in this Peter Jackson biographical psychological thriller about the Parker-Hume murder case from 1950s New Zealand. Both are stellar in starring roles as these teenage friends devoted enough to each other to commit murder. It was obvious back then that Winslet had a bright future. She had talent beyond her years, and she was capable of absorbing a character so well that audiences had no choice but feel something for who she was playing.

In addition to Winslet's penchant for period pieces, she also fancies the female lead either struggling with love or mired in a hopeless relationship. That latter is her crutch in Todd Field's psychological drama Little Children, where she ventures out of her comfort zone at home and has an affair with dreamy new acquaintance Brad (Patrick Wilson). While the acclaimed movie might be best known for Jackie Earle Haley's temporary Hollywood resurgence, Winslet earned another Best Actress Oscar nomination.

Just one year after making her big-screen debut, Winslet was cast in the role that led to her first Academy Award nomination — for Best Supporting Actress. In her second feature-film project, and the beginning of a long-term relationship with period dramas, Winslet turned plenty of heads with her portrayal of Elinor Dashwood's younger sister, Marianne. She more than held her own, often stealing scenes, from established star Emma Thompson, who wrote the screenplay for a movie based on Jane Austen's famous novel from the 1800s.

By the time Titanic came out, Winslet had already been nominated for an Oscar, but this massively popular James Cameron blockbuster made her and co-star Leonardo DiCaprio mainstream international superstars. Winslet has played more complex and deeper roles, obviously, but Rose, the young socialite who is really a tomboy at heart, just seemed relatable to just about any confused and insecure teen who was watching. Of course, we still think there was enough room on her floating door for Jack, too.

Winslet's guest appearance on the popular British sitcom, created by and starring Rickey Gervais, about film and television extras, is considered one of the highlights of the short-run series from the 2000s. Playing a nun in a film with the Holocaust as the backdrop — because a movie with that subject matter should finally win her an Oscar — Winslet offers some hilarious advice to a female extra (Ashley Jensen) who's struggling to counter her boyfriend's dirty talk. Winslet earned an Emmy nod for her subtly spectacular performance.

As noted, Winslet's theatrical brilliance is not limited to the big screen. She's the undisputed highlight of this HBO miniseries about an overprotective mother during the Great Depression. Mildred manages to find personal success while trying to satisfy her own needs and keep what's left of her family from completely slipping away. Winslet's third Golden Globe victory and first Emmy Award triumph came as Mildred Pierce. The latter would not be her last.

Up until the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Winslet was a staple when it came to dramatic period-piece leading ladies. That's why it was a bit strange when cast as out-going, extrovert Clementine in Michel Gondry's romantic psychedelic/science fiction drama starring Jim Carrey. With her multi-colored hair, Winslet ruled as the exceedingly expressive love interest to Carrey's Joel Barish. The range that Winslet displayed on this picture, while shedding a type-cast that opened the door for an even more expansive career, led to her fourth Oscar nomination.

Yes, among all Winslet has accomplished during her brilliant career, it's her recent role on the celebrated and riveting HBO limited drama series from the first half of 2021 that shines brightest at the moment. It's perhaps the most raw and emotional performance Winslet has delivered. She plays detective sergeant Mare Sheehan, a hard-working but jaded and emotionally tortured mother and grandmother who is still haunted by a tragic past and trying to solve the case of a murdered young woman and the lingering case of another who disappeared. Winslet won both an Emmy and Golden Globe for the part.