Kate Bosworth - Biography

Name: Kate Bosworth

Born: 2 January 1983 (Age: 26)

Where: Los Angeles, California USA

Height: 5' 5"

Awards: No major awards yet

Teen stars usually face a tough struggle to be taken seriously in Hollywood. In recent years, Julia Stiles, Kirsten Dunst and Katie Holmes have all famously engaged in that battle and, come 2002, another name was added to the list - that of Kate Bosworth. Having charmed the States as a feisty surfer girl in Blue Crush and simultaneously been landed with a squeaky-clean reputation, it was thought she would have a harder time than most moving into tough contemporary drama. Yet Bosworth quickly made concerted efforts to undermine her status as America's blonde, blue-eyed (well, SEMI-blue-eyed) sweetheart. By the age of 23, she'd played a high school racist, a strung-out party girl, an alcoholic pop star, and the girlfriends of both Superman and drug-addled porn star John Holmes. She was clearly not aiming to make a living from her looks alone.

She was born Catherine Ann Bosworth on the 2nd of January, 1983, in Los Angeles. Her birthplace might give the impression that she was some Beverly Hills brat, but this was not the case, though she was born with Hollywood connections. Her mother, Patti, had recently worked as assistant to producer Jerry Bruckheimer on Michael Mann's Thief and Paul Schrader's American Gigolo and Cat People (the films that immediately preceded Bruckheimer's industry-shaking success with Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop and Top Gun). But Patti would leave the industry to look after Kate, the only child she'd bear to Harold B Bosworth Jr. It would be Harold's career that shaped the family's future, and he was into clothes. Or rather the high-powered selling of clothes.

Between 1988 and 1997, Harold, or Hal as he was more often known, was on an upward curve. Senior Vice President for Ermenegildo Zegna, in charge of the retailing of their fine men's clothing, he moved on to become Senior Vice President and General Merchandising Manager of the division of Macy's dealing with the I. Magnin and Bullock's Wilshire brands, the top end of Macy's lines. Hal's success would see the family move from LA to San Francisco when Kate was 6, then on to Connecticut when she was 9. Here they would set up home in Darien, a small town near Stamford, by the coast just north of New York City. With Hal (born in 1949) being a Class of '67 alumnus of the prestigious Baylor School, Darien was a place in keeping with Bosworth family traditions. Originally a colony of summer houses built by rich New Yorkers after the Civil War, it was now one of the most expensive places to live in the country. In 2000, the median house price was $1 million and the population was 96% white. Parts of both versions of The Stepford Wives were filmed there.

And it kept getting better. In 1997, when Kate was 14, Hal joined The Talbots Inc, a firm renowned for their classically styled clothing, shoes and accessories for women, kids and men. Quickly rising through the ranks, Hal would, by 2006, become Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer, in charge of the company's stores, catalogues and website. This was no small deal as Talbots now had nearly 1300 stores worldwide and sent out 48 million catalogues annually, sales standing at close to $2 billion a year. With Hal's yearly salary and benefits standing at some $1.5 million a year, the Bosworth family were hardly desperate for Kate to become a high achiever.

Yet she was a high achiever. Constantly encouraged by her parents to do her best, to succeed, she'd always been a top class student. Beyond this, she'd excelled as a singer at county fairs and become a talented equestrian. From the age of 13 she'd find jobs at stables, mucking out, grooming and riding wherever possible. The only job she ever had other than acting, this was her life's one great joy, her only ambition being to compete at the Olympics. At riding, that is, not mucking out.

Life would continue in a similar vein once Hal's job with Talbots moved the family up the coast to Cohasset, a former summer resort for posh Bostonians (Talbots' HQ was in nearby Hingham). Here Kate would attend Cohasset High School where she'd maintain her top-grade standing. She also joined the National Honor Society, members of which had to prove themselves in areas of scholarship, leadership, service and character. The group would be heavily involved in community service but, naturally, often be accused of closed-shop elitism.

Aside from one community theatre production of Annie, Kate had not been an active participant in drama. Indeed, her cinematic debut was something of a reluctant affair. When adverts appeared seeking a young female equestrian for Robert Redford's adaptation of the hit novel The Horse Whisperer, she put herself forward but, once she'd won the part and faced leaving her friends and family for three months of filming, she shied away, eventually only being persuaded to go by her mother. Patti, who of course was familiar with the business, told her daughter to give it a try. If she didn't like it, fair enough, but she would have at least had the experience and would remember it always.

And so Kate Bosworth made her Silver Screen bow, actually in one of the most disturbing sequences in recent film history. The movie would open with young Scarlett Johansson and her friend Kate going for an early morning ride in the snow. All is wintery beauty till an out-of-control truck and fearful panic lead to a hideous accident wherein Kate is killed and Scarlett and her horse Pilgrim crippled - the rest of the story dealing with the latter pair's recovery from the trauma.

Like Johansson, Bosworth would decide against pushing for mid-teen stardom, instead returning to Cohasset to complete her education. She would not take up school theatre, fearing she'd be critically slaughtered by her school-mates if, having appeared in a big budget movie, she did not achieve the very highest standards. Instead, at school at least, she threw herself into sport, in particular soccer and lacrosse. But the acting bug had bitten. Later she'd admit that, after attending Broadway plays with her friends, it was clear to her that, where the others were excited by the performances, she was the only one who dreamed of being up there performing herself.

For 18 months after the Horse Whisperer experience, despite being offered further parts, Bosworth would concentrate wholly on her schooling. Come 1999, though, she'd be seriously seeking acting roles, making no fewer than three appearances in 2000. The first of these to be released would be The Newcomers, a fairly sappy and predictable piece pointing to the benefits of strong family ties. Here a family would get into financial trouble after relocating a small town, the parents having to cope with the problems of breadwinning, their son with bullying and bratty sister Kate with parochial love interests. The son's best friend was a cute dog. The Newcomers went straight to video.

More effective would be the TV series Young Americans. Set during the summer session at Rawley Academy, a school for privileged youth, this would see a bunch of rich young guys coming of age through romantic complications, one involving a girl dressed as a boy causing much sexual questioning. Bosworth would appear in a main role as Bella Banks, daughter of the local gas station owner, falling for wealthy student Scout Calhoun and suffering mightily when it seems he might be her half-brother. As in Dawson's Creek, it was all about fraught relationships between beautiful kids. However, unlike Dawson's Creek, the show was cancelled after just eight hour-long episodes.

Far more successful would be Remember The Titans, produced by mum Patti's old friend Jerry Bruckheimer. Set in the early Seventies, this would see football coach Denzel Washington take over a college side in a Virginia town already beset by racial troubles and attempt to turn a divided group into a championship-winning team. Bosworth would appear as the girlfriend of team captain Ryan Hurst, at first vehemently intolerant of his acceptance of and friendship with his black team-mates, then gradually won over. The movie would be Kate's first $100 million hit.

Graduating from Cohasset High School in 2001, Bosworth would be encouraged by her father to attend Princeton and would duly be offered a place. However, visiting the institution, she feared that its blueblood flavour and rigorous educational principles would keep her life exactly the same as it always had been. She wanted a new challenge and decided to pursue her acting career.

Princeton - for they are truly wise - thought that the best option, too, and agreed to defer her place. Immediately, she moved back to Los Angeles where she'd begin to push herself in earnest, as well as hook up with boyfriend Matt Czuchry (pronounced Zoo-Cree), an East Coast lad and former college star, five years her senior, with whom she'd appeared in Young Americans. Czuchry was also hoping to make it in Hollywood and, coincidentally, would soon make a showing in Eight Legged Freaks where, during a giant spider invasion, he'd play a local kid hankering after the sheriff's daughter - Kate's former filmic riding chum Scarlett Johansson.

. Where Czuchry's career would stall, though, Bosworth's would quickly take off, her next part seeing her headline a money-spinning hit. This would be Blue Crush, set in Hawaii, where she'd play intelligent, pragmatic, headstrong and thoroughly buff surfer girl Anne Marie Chadwick. Sharing a grotty flat with surfer buddies Michelle Rodriguez and Sanoe Lake, she'd also work with them at a local hotel in order to keep herself and her younger sister, all the while dreaming of winning the upcoming Pipeline competition. But can she overcome the fear she's suffered since a major surfing accident, and will her heart be broken by a romance with a holidaying pro quarterback? The surfing scenes at dusk and dawn were genuinely good-looking and Bosworth herself immensely charming, particularly in a notorious scene where she marches out onto the beach to inform a football-playing guest at the hotel how to wrap a used condom in Kleenex to make life less repulsive for the cleaning staff. Feisty, ambitious, decent (and thoroughly buff), Bosworth was now a pin-up for the latest MTV generation.

On the plane back from Hawaii, ever the consummate professional, Bosworth would begin to peruse a back-log of scripts. Amazingly, she'd actually make two of the screenplays she read that day - Wonderland and A Date With Tad Hamilton. First, though, would come The Rules Of Attraction. As if already aware that Blue Crush might win her a goody-goody reputation, this seemed deliberately chosen to take her into darker, less teen-friendly areas. Written by Bret Easton Ellis, how could it not? And she was not alone in her judgement of the material. Starring in The Rules Of Attraction and also hoping to be seen in more adult fare were James "Dawson" Van Der Beek and Ian Somerhalder, a former model for Guess jeans who'd appeared with Kate in Young Americans. Van Der Beek would here play Sean Bateman, younger brother of Ellis's American Psycho Patrick Bateman and a student at elite Camden College. A black comedy rammed with smart dialogue, the film would zip back and forth through time to show the making and breaking of relationships between the really rather reprehensible main protagonists. No desire or feeling would ever be truly reciprocated. Alcohol, drugs and promiscuity would rule.

Van Der Beek would want Shannyn Sossamon, but wind up going through the motions with equally blase co-ed Kate.

. 2003 would see Bosworth appear in Jeff Seibenick's comedy short, Advantage Hart, a deliberately cliche-ridden comedy short where a young tennis player would battle his deadly rival both for the Mayflower tournament and the heart of Kate's Trinity Montage. Also appearing would be Matt Czuchry, though his real-life affair with Bosworth was already over. Dropping by at a 2002 ad shoot for Gap jeans featuring Orlando Bloom and Kate Beckinsale, she'd fallen for Bloom and the couple would begin a relationship made difficult by Bloom's participation in The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, Kingdom Of Heaven and the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise, as well as Bosworth's own burgeoning schedule.

2003 would also see two more Bosworth releases and another example of her both embracing and escaping that apple pie image. First there'd be Wonderland, following the sorry demise of porn star John Holmes as he became involved in both drugs and murder. Kate and Lisa Kudrow would bring emotional resonance to an otherwise tawdry tale, playing Holmes' girlfriend and wife respectively. The movie would begin provocatively, with Bosworth's character freebasing cocaine and having sex with Val Kilmer's Holmes, but she'd maintain an aura of innocence throughout, her Dawn Schiller being much like Heather Graham's Rollergirl in Boogie Nights.

Following Wonderland would come A Date With Tad Hamilton!, a retro rom-com with a purposeful Fifties Doris Day feel, directed by Robert Luketic whose previous outing had been Reese Witherspoon's headlining breakthrough Legally Blonde. Here Bosworth would play a small-town check-out girl who, as the title suggests, wins a date with a Hollywood star. He's rather debauched but, taken by Kate's virginal decency, he follows her home and attempts to charm her, much to the chagrin of Topher Grace (in real-life a former Darien resident), who's loved her since childhood but can't bring himself to tell her. Super-critic Roger Ebert would hit the nail on the head when he noted that Bosworth "holds it all together with a sweetness that is beyond calculation".

2004 would bring a fascinating role to Bosworth, one which allowed her to combine those two conflicting strands of her career. Written by, directed by and starring Kevin Spacey, Beyond The Sea was a freeform biopic of singer Bobby Darin that explored the various stages of his life, in particular his marriage to an earlier American sweetheart, Sandra Dee. Blonde, cute, irrepressibly nice, Dee was a definite forerunner of Anne Marie Chadwick, the character Bosworth had played in Blue Crush and which she hoped would not come to define her as an actress. But Spacey was interested in the grit beneath the sugar in these two lives, and so Bosworth was permitted to reveal all Dee's insecurities, including her fear of sex and her need to escape into drunkenness.

There was much talk of Oscar nominations, but it came to nothing.

. The next year would, screen-wise at least, be a quiet year for Bosworth, in that she'd only appear in Bee Season, based on a screenplay by Naomi Foner, mother of Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal. This would concern college professor Richard Gere, whose emotional coldness and severe perfectionism would send wife Juliette Binoche off the rails, as well as their son. While Gere pushes his mystically-minded daughter into a national spelling competition, Binoche takes up burglary while her son is seduced by Bosworth, a blonde beauty who draws him into a religious cult.

It was not an impressive movie, but Bosworth was nevertheless big news. Her relationship with Orlando Bloom had been hot tabloid fodder for a couple of years now. But when her friend Kevin Spacey won the part of Lex Luthor in the upcoming Superman Returns and suggested she play Lois Lane, the paparazzi went mental. With Bloom starring in the second installment of Pirates and Bosworth as Superman's love interest they were Hollywood's latest It couple. Naturally, with their busy schedules keeping them apart for months on end (the filming of Superman would have her living in Australia for a year), tales of splits and infidelities abounded. Yet together they remained. Buying a home in LA and sharing it with her best friend from high school (a girl called Ary who'd work for PMK/HBH, the PR firm representing Bosworth) she'd keep her relationship both private and afloat.

Superman Returns could easily have been a disaster. But director Bryan Singer (who'd earlier worked with Spacey on The Usual Suspects) delivered a special effects masterclass with a real emotional undercurrent. Bosworth, basing her Lois on Katherine Hepburn, would be a brusque, Pulitzer Prize-winning professional as well as a young mother with a fiance. But would she melt when Superman returned to save her from the evil clutches of Luthor?

The answer was obvious, just as it's obvious that Kate Bosworth is set for a long and illustrious cinematic career. Of course, her startling looks - a condition called heterochromia iridium has given her one brown eye and one blue - would permit her a parallel modelling career. Indeed, 2005 saw her in an advert for Revlon. But you have to suspect she took that job to appear alongside Julianne Moore and Susan Sarandon as well as be directed by Robert Altman. Having much in common with her peer Reese Witherspoon, she will surely plan her progression to the tiniest detail. And, also like Witherspoon, she will probably end up a winner at the Academy Awards. Watch this space.

Dominic Wills