Kate Winslet

Age: 29
Birthplace: Reading, Berkshire, England
Essential filmography: Heavenly Creatures (1995), Sense and Sensibility (1995), Jude (1996), Titanic (1997), Iris (2001), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Finding Neverland (2004)

No matter how unique her roles—the rainbow-haired Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine or the doomed Sylvia Llewelyn Davies in Finding Neverland—Kate Winslet says that one thing about acting remains constant: “With every new job, the nerves kick in all over again,” she says, “and it feels like the first movie you’ve ever made.”

“I have seldom seen someone so committed and passionate about material,” says Finding Neverland’s director, Marc Forster. Forster found the actress’s personal experience as a parent (to Mia, four, and Joe, one) to be a tremendous asset in filming a movie with children central to the story. Winslet agrees. “The most important part of that character was constructing who she was as a mother,” she says. “You just don’t know about that stuff until you have a child yourself.”

Motherhood, rave reviews, two more great performances, and, oh yes, that boat movie, a.k.a. the Biggest Movie of All Time. Is Winslet planning on hanging it up anytime soon? Not bloody likely. “The day that I stop is the day that I think I know it all,” she says. “I feel a million miles away from that still now.”