Kate Beckinsale is back on the big screen this week as she lines up alongside Colin Farrell and Jessica Biel for Total Recall.
Beckinsale is revealing herself to be one of films’ most versatile and charismatic actresses.
She followed her father Richard Beckinsale into the film industry and made her television debut back in 1991 when she landed a small role in Devices and Desires.
She first gained notice in Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing - which was her big screen debut and then subsequently appeared as the heroine of John Schlesinger’s Cold Comfort Farm.
By the late nineties Beckinsale had her eyes set on Hollywood as she appeared in Chloe Sevingy's movie The Last Days of Disco and Through The Looking Glass.
But her big American breakthrough came in 2001 when she landed the role of Nurse Evelyn Johnson in Michael Bay's epic Pearl Harbour.
The movie saw her team up with Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett and it was a box office hit as it grossed in excess of $449 million at the global box office.
After the huge blockbuster of Pearl Harbour came a handful of smaller films for the actress as she landed roles in the likes of Serendipity and Tiptoes.
But in 2003 Beckinsale was to change her image again as she turned into an ass kicking action star with Underworld.
Underworld was different to any project that Beckinsale has tackled before as she played vampire Selene who is hunting Lycans.
With the role of Selene the actress has become one of the leading female action stars of the last ten years as the Underworld franchise was born.
Underworld: Evolution, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans and Underworld: Awakening have all followed and there could be a fifth movie on the horizon.
Beckinsale continued to kick some ass when she teamed up with Hugh Jackman in Van Helsing before she began mixing her roles.
She took on the part of Ava Gardener in The Aviator before tackling horror with Vacancy and then on to comedy with Click.
2012 has already been an incredibly successful year for the actress as Underworld: Awakening and Contraband have enjoyed box office success.
This week she is back on the big screen in Total Recall - which is a remake of the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger film.
For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Farrell), even though he's got a beautiful wife (Beckinsale) who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life - real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs.
But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police - controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), the leader of the free world - Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter (Biel) to find the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy) and stop Cohaagen.
The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate.
After the big blockbuster projects of 2012 Beckinsale is set to return to a dramatic role with movie The Trials of Cate McCall.
She has already completed shooting on the movie which sees her team up with director Karen Moncrieff.
Total Recall is released August 29th
Tagged in Kate Beckinsale Total Recall