Kathrin Romany Beckinsale is an English actress known for her roles in period, romance, and action films. The only child between actors Richard Beckinsale and Judy Loe, Kate Beckinsale made her acting debut when she was only a year old, as an extra on the British daytime drama Couples (1975), on which her parents also appeared. She didn't act again until she was nearly an adult, beginning in 1991 with a small voice role in an episode of the miniseries adaptation of P. D. James' Devices and Desires and a supporting role in the television movie One Against the Wind starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill. The following year, she starred in the Blade Runner-inspired short film "Rachel's Dream" with Christopher Eccleston and debuted onstage in a production of Noël Coward's Hay Fever. In 1993, she costarred in the Anna Lee pilot "Headcase" and made her theatrical film debut with the brief but crucial role of Hero in Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing whilst studying at the University of Oxford. Subsequently, she established herself in leading roles in numerous British costume dramas such as Prince of Jutland (1994), Cold Comfort Farm (1995), Emma (1996), and The Golden Bowl (2000). She challenged herself by taking roles in films such as The Last Days of Disco (1998), Brokedown Palace (1999), Pearl Harbor (2001), Serendipity (2001), Tiptoes (2003), The Aviator (2004), and Click (2006).

Richard Arthur Beckinsale was an English actor. He played Lennie Godber in the BBC sitcom Porridge and Alan Moore in the ITV sitcom Rising Damp. He was the father of actresses Samantha and Kate Beckinsale.