Here's How Much Kate Beckinsale Is Really Worth
Kate Beckinsale has been gracing our screens for over three decades and all we can do is count our blessings. Lord knows, she's easy on the eyes, plus she's genuinely good at what she does. Beckinsale can jump from a corset in a period drama piece to that leather getup she wore in "Underworld" with ease. We love the versatility.
Beckinsale has also made headlines for her relationships, many of which have been chronicled in tabloids over the decades. She divorced director Len Wiseman and then dated men much younger than her, from Pete Davidson to Goody Grace. Naturally, naysayers and critics were all over it but Beckinsale shot back with her sharp wit, yet another reason we've come to know and love her. Fun fact: Kate Beckinsale has been proposed to several times. But this info really just begs the question, who doesn't want to propose to her?
Putting relationship drama aside, Beckinsale has managed to ride an ever-changing industry with grace and skillful adaptation, all while speaking her mind and even sharing criticism about the obvious misogyny in Hollywood (more on that later). She's walked through some very real struggles and remained successful — it's honestly something to celebrate. While we're talking about money, we're also looking at every challenge and success that paved Beckinsale's way in Hollywood. She's got a remarkable story, so here's what Beckinsale is worth and how she made her money.
Where Kate Beckinsale came from
Kate Beckinsale was born in London on July 26, 1973, to parents who were involved in the acting industry. Her father was Richard Beckinsale, who played Lennie Godber in the hugely popular British comedy "Porridge," and her mother, Judy Loe, was a stage actor, according to Hello!.
Tragically, her father died when he was only 31 after an unexpected heart attack, per the BBC, when Beckinsale herself was only five. In 2021, the actor posted a tribute to her father on Instagram with the newspaper clipping announcing his death. "March 19th, 1979," she began. "And we were never the same again. Thank you to everyone who has kept him alive in our hearts and on our lips. And love to everyone missing a shining, special person of their own. I wish I was with my mum today."
Beckinsale's mother later remarried director Roy Battersby, according to Us Weekly, and he and Beckinsale got along very well and stayed close in adulthood. Battersby was a known Trotskyist but after he directed the 1977 documentary "The Palestinian," things took a strange turn for the family. "Our phones were tapped growing up," Beckinsale told The Guardian in 2016. "After he was blacklisted by the BBC, me and my girlfriends would be on the phone talking, you know 'bum, willy, fanny', and we'd hear the little click on the phone as the listener came on. And you can imagine some spook somewhere trying to crack the 'bum-willy-fanny' code!" So, how did Beckinsale tap into acting?
Kate Beckinsale's tough teen years
The death of Kate Beckinsale's father, Richard Beckinsale, impacted her continuously, both in terms of heartbreak and acting. Beckinsale shared with the Belfast Telegraph in 2016 that she was terrified of being accused of nepotism and also missed him terribly. "Starting out, I was quite defensive of accusations of nepotism," Beckinsale explained. "It's a heavy thing for anyone whose parents are actors and in the very beginning I didn't want to tread on his patch. Having said that, comedy is my number-one favorite thing. I was raised on high-level, amazing comedy my whole life: I spent most of my childhood watching reruns of my dad's shows just to have a link to him."
As a result of the trauma, Beckinsale shared with the outlet that in her teen years, she struggled with anorexia and sought out therapy. His death "was 100% soul-destroying and totally impacted me for ever," she said.
In England, she was always called his "tragic" daughter and seemed inevitably linked to him. However, when she became known in the United States, the narrative changed. "My father was never known over here," Beckinsale told The Guardian. "Back home, there was a sense of not only nepotism, but also, because he died so young, my name had only ever appeared in the media alongside the word 'tragic'. I very rarely get called 'tragic' over here!" So, how did she move from being tragic to being celebrated in her own right?
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How Shakespeare helped Kate Beckinsale climb to the top
Kate Beckinsale opted for a more academic route rather than studying drama. She went to Godolphin & Latymer School in Hammersmith, according to the Belfast Telegraph, and then attended Oxford University even though she had acting on her mind and continued to pursue it on the side. She told the outlet that she treated acting as an "apprenticeship" and that "even the really sh***y" gigs could help build "your musculature as an actor." As a student at Oxford, she only acted in one play: Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge," according to the Belfast Telegraph, directed by Tom Hooper, who later directed "The King's Speech."
While academics were important to her, Beckinsale had to make the decision to drop out of Oxford or star in Kenneth Branagh's 1993 Shakespeare adaptation of "Much Ado About Nothing," per Us Weekly. She chose Shakespeare and it ended up being the perfect decision. Hello! notes, "her high-profile Shakespearean debut provoked a flood of movie offers." No wonder. Beckinsale held her own alongside the likes of Emma Thompson, Keanu Reeves, and Denzel Washington.
Beckinsale was only 19 when she took the role and she told the Baltimore Sun that rather than being intimidated, she had fun. "It felt like the most wonderful holiday with your best friends. We were all in beautiful villas out there, and we had a good, long rehearsal period, and we ran the play at the end of it, and we felt very much a company."
She can speak Russian and French
While Kate Beckinsale ended up choosing acting over completing her education at Oxford University, she made the most of her time there. She actually studied French and Russian literature while a student at New College, Oxford, according to the BBC. On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2017, Beckinsale said she studied Russian in middle school, high school, and then at Oxford. Beckinsale taught Colbert how to speak in Russian, with really useful phrases like, "Mr. Putin, please put on a shirt."
Her motivation for studying these languages came from a love of literature. Beckinsale told Larry King in 2016 why she chose this field of study. "I wanted to read Chekhov and Molière in their original languages," she said. Beckinsale spoke about the differences between the two languages. "The further you go with [Russian], it gets harder, which is really unfair because the further you go with French, it actually gets easier but Russian is hard. The grammar's quite hard."
Beckinsale's adeptness with languages has proven to be a huge advantage in her career. Her interest in literature is an asset because she's so often cast in literary adaptations. But she also spoke Russian at a press conference in Moscow, according to Russia Beyond. "I've always loved Russia, I love the literature. The first play I ever did was Chaika," Beckinsale said. "I love Anna Akhmatova, Alexander Block. We spent the whole year on Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I am very fond of Anton Chekhov, he is probably my favorite."
How motherhood impacted her career
While Kate Beckinsale was just launching her career, things took a different, though very happy, turn. She was dating actor Michael Sheen and the two had a daughter, Lily Mo, in January 1999, according to Us Weekly. While it was a joyful thing, the birth of Lily changed Beckinsale's acting trajectory. She told the Belfast Telegraph that she opted to stop doing theater because she wanted to put Lily to bed, a time "when the magical parenting happens, when they actually tell you things."
The family moved to New York because Sheen was in a play and while in the United States, they decided to move out to Los Angeles. Beckinsale said of her daughter to The Guardian: "She was concurrently in two schools, in London and here ... But, after about 11, that can threaten to produce a very weird kid. And chances are, being as how Michael and I are, that she's going to be tipping at the weirder end of the scale anyway. We had to make the decision that from 11 to 16 she could stay here."
The move to Los Angeles was actually a tricky one because people assumed you were too desperate for parts. "That was a time when any British actor coming out to LA was a highly suspicious character," Beckinsale said of her move. "It made you seem insanely ambitious, like a perfectly obvious character flaw. It was a real prejudice 20 years ago and I think I hit it right at its peak."
What Pearl Harbor did for Kate Beckinsale's career
Despite taking a step back from theater acting to raise her daughter, Kate Beckinsale was by no means done with Hollywood. In 2001, director Michael Bay cast her to play the nurse, Evelyn Johnson, in the blockbuster hit "Pearl Harbor," according to the Belfast Telegraph. The film marked a major turning point in Beckinsale's career and shot her into international stardom. Hello! explains what the effects of "Pearl Harbor" were for Beckinsale: "Suddenly Kate found herself within Hollywood's big-budget embrace, her name inevitably attached to the label 'English Rose.'"
While she was suddenly a major contender for other roles, the fame came with some upsetting events, ones all too common in the entertainment industry and Hollywood in general. Beckinsale told Women's Health that Bay asked her to lose weight for the role of Jonson. "It wasn't great," Beckinsale told the magazine. "It didn't make me feel good and, in general, I think women are body-shamed 100 million percent more than men."
Beckinsale added how other actors on set shared their experiences, and it wasn't just limited to women. "Ben [Affleck], who'd already done a movie with the director, was like, 'This happened to me. They made me get new teeth.' And I was like, 'Cool, at least I get to hang on to my actual teeth."' So, where does all of this leave Beckinsale financially?
What is Kate Beckinsale's net worth?
All of Kate Beckinsale's work has left her with a net worth of $25 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, from movies and endorsements. Beckinsale spoke about her work history with Larry King in 2016. He asked her what her first job was. "It was a TV show. I didn't have any real jobs," Beckinsale laughed. "I had a small part in a TV movie." She added, "That was my first paycheck."
But then she backtracked and said, "Actually, my first paycheck, I was 18 months old and I was playing a baby in something that my mother was in. She was really uncomfortable because they wanted me to cry and I happened to be in a very good mood that day so they kept pinching me." As a reminder, her mother, Judy Loe, was an actor as well.
Beckinsale has also worked in numerous ads and commercials. Marie Claire shared photos of Beckinsale's photos for ads linked to Absolut Vodka, where she rocked some very sexy looks. She was also in a 2004 commercial for Diet Coke that was, as we all might expect, jaw-dropping. We can't forget that she was also in a GAP commercial with Orlando Bloom, too. So, clearly, Beckinsale has a wide net in terms of earnings. And it wasn't just "Pearl Harbor" that changed her fate. "Underworld" was a big move for the British star, too.
Why Underworld was so important
To flourish in her career, Kate Beckinsale pushed up against typecasting that kept her in a literary box. Much of her earlier work included Shakespeare and Jane Austen, like her 1996 film "Emma," or her 2000 film, "The Golden Bowl," based on Henry James' novel. So, Beckinsale's decision to star as Selene in the 2003 film "Underworld" was huge in changing audiences' perceptions of her. "The thing that's odd to me is you can do 50 or 55 movies," Beckinsale explained to the Los Angeles Times. "Four of them are in a rubber suit, and because people dress up like that for Halloween, that slightly skews what people think your skill set is. Actually, the reason I did that movie in the first place is that it wasn't my skill set."
Beckinsale knew what she was good at. "It was Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, those sorts of things," she explained. "I had a bit of trouble initially when I came to Los Angeles with folks saying, 'Well, she's very delicate and English, and she can't play a cop, and she a bit too refined.'"
Clearly, her lycra suit was a hit, as Beckinsale went on to star in four of the five films in the franchise. In 2021, Beckinsale told Variety that she would be open to starring in a 6th "Underworld" film, saying: "I really wanted them to do an 'Underworld'-'Blade' mashup. What a duo that would be." That being said, Beckinsale has also faced some horrendous roadblocks along the way.
Kate Beckinsale's experience with Harvey Weinstein
Shortly after Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of sexual acts and third-degree rape in 2020, per the Los Angeles Times, Kate Beckinsale opened up about her experience with him. In a since-deleted Instagram post, Beckinsale shared the story of the premiere for her 2001 film, "Serendipity," which was distributed by Miramax Films, a company founded by Weinstein. The premiere took place less than a month after the 9/11 attacks, per the BBC.
Beckinsale wore a white pants suit to the premiere and a few days later, she arrived at his house to have a playdate with their kids, per E!. "I turned up and he immediately called for his nanny to take the babies to another room to play," Beckinsale wrote. "The minute the door closed he started screaming, 'You stupid f***ing c***, you c*** you ruined my premiere. I had no idea what he was talking about and started to shake," she went on. "He said, 'If I am throwing a red carpet, you get in a tight dress, you shake your a**, you shake your t**s, you do not go down looking like a f***ing lesbian you stupid f***ing c***.'"
"I tried to say, 'Harvey, the city is on fire, people are still looking for their relatives, none of us even felt the premiere was appropriate, much less coming out dressed like it's a bachelor party,'" Beckinsale writes. She wrapped her post by wishing relief for all the women Weinstein assaulted.
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Kate Beckinsale spoke out about misogyny in Hollywood
Kate Beckinsale had more to say about Harvey Weinstein and misogyny in Hollywood. In October 2017, Beckinsale shared a story on Instagram. When she was 17, she was asked to meet Weinstein at the Savoy Hotel, where he greeted her in his room wearing a bathrobe. "I left, uneasy but unscathed. A few years later he asked me if he had tried anything with me in that first meeting. I realized he couldn't remember if he had assaulted me or not," Beckinsale wrote. "Let's stop allowing our young women to be sexual cannon fodder, and let's remember that Harvey is an emblem of a system that is sick."
Beckinsale has repeatedly criticized "old misogyny" in Hollywood and said to The Guardian: "I've worked with quite a few women about whom people have said, 'Oh, she's difficult' and then I've found them actually rather rigorously professional and totally on time and on top of it. So, just as I'd like to get rid of 'bossy' for little girls, I'd quite like to get rid of 'difficult' for actresses."
She's also called out absurd aging standards against women. "It can feel like a little bit of a political act to be a woman over 32 who's having any fun at all," Beckinsale told Women's Health. "And by that, I don't mean doing drugs and drinking and partying, because I never am, but being goofy, and going out, and not going, 'Oh my god, I'm going to sit home and anticipate menopause while crocheting.'"
Kate Beckinsale talks about the pay gap in Hollywood
Kate Beckinsale is fearlessly outspoken about the mistreatment of women and since we're on the topic of money, let's look at the way Beckinsale spoke out about the pay gap in Hollywood. While speaking with Larry King, Beckinsale said: "Obviously we've come a very long way from the world of [the film] 'Love and Friendship.'" Here King jumped in to note that she was the star of that film so she was the "highest paid employee." "I mean, I don't know," Beckinsale said but added that for that specific Jane Austen adaptation, no one was doing it "for a paycheck."
Speaking more generally, Beckinsale said, "There is definitely pay inequality, for sure. And even when there isn't, I think the other thing that can happen as well is if a woman is earning a good deal of money — I've heard this from a lot of people ... that can create its own problems. I think that there is still a kind of psychological block that probably needs still a few years to be ironed out about certain people's resistance to that."
Beckinsale was certainly onto something. She opted out of the third installment of "Underworld" and to cajole her back for the fourth film, the film company Screen Gems, paid her $8 million to come back. Vulture noted, "while that effectively doubled the budget of the penultimate film, it's still cheap by Hollywood blockbuster standards." Beckinsale was certainly right about ongoing inequality when it comes to money.
How Kate Beckinsale uses social media to her advantage
Like every other Hollywood star, Kate Beckinsale knows the importance of social media. But what makes Beckinsale's presence on Instagram so unique is her hilarious (and sometimes quirky) sense of humor. The Los Angeles Times asked her about her "wicked sense of humor" and Beckinsale had something to say about that. "I've always had that persona," she said. "The thing that's been odd for me over the years is — I think when you're standing around in skintight rubber trousers, people automatically assume you don't have much of a sense of humor. That's always been an odd schism for me. I just always was me. I did the films I did and then a persona was constructed that didn't feel at all accurate. I struggled with that for awhile and really didn't want to become involved in social media."
Thankfully for the rest of us, Beckinsale changed her mind and flourished, without a care in the world. "If people dislike that persona, I really don't care. It's actually accurate," she said. Beckinsale's social media presence has also led to financial gain for the star. Not only has it elevated her profile, but she's also gotten a lot of sponsored content on it. For example, on Instagram, Beckinsale announced in the summer of 2021 that she's working with MRVL Skin and shared an ad. That's what happens when you have nearly 5 million followers (as of this writing).
How Kate Beckinsale gives back
While Kate Beckinsale is on the top of her game and has amassed a nice fortune while she's been at it, the actor also finds ways to give back. In October 2020, The Mariposa Trust announced that Beckinsale was becoming a part of their team. The charity works with those suffering from baby loss and grief, according to the Daily Mail.
The charity's CEO Zoe Clark-Coates said in a statement: "The Mariposa Trust... is dedicated to providing innovative support options, as well as campaigning for better support and much more, and we are honored that Kate has chosen to become part of our charity family and work with us to raise awareness of this subject."
Chrissy Teigen and John Legend suffered a miscarriage in October 2020, according to NBC News, and got criticized by some for sharing their pain on social media. Beckinsale wasn't about to watch this happen without defending Teigen and did so on Instagram. Beckinsale shared that she had also suffered a miscarriage. "Years ago, I lost a baby at 20 weeks," she wrote. "I had managed to keep my pregnancy quiet and I absolutely collapsed inside and no one would have known. There is grief, shame and shock so often that come with an experience like this." So no wonder Beckinsale felt like she would be a perfect ambassador for The Mariposa Trust.
Kate Beckinsale's favorite luxury purchases
While Kate Beckinsale likes to keep things real on social media and likes to give back, she also has a taste for the finer things in life — and can afford it. Beckinsale shared a glimpse of her Los Angeles mansion to Hello! in 2019. The home boasted massive rooms, neutral tones, and constant homage to her many pets (We knew there was a reason we liked her so much!).
In 2021, Architectural Digest announced that Beckinsale sold her Los Angeles home for $3.995 million. The home was originally built in 1965 and boasts a 3,600-square-foot layout with an outdoor area that connects to the master bedroom via a bridge. On the other side of the bridge, there's a spa tub and an outdoor shower.
While homes are big money, Beckinsale continues to wow with her glamorous and eclectic taste in clothing. As InStyle notes, she has been spotted rocking some amazing outfits, like silk pajamas with heels at the airport. On another occasion, she rocked a beaded turban on Instagram. Hello! tracked it down, or at least a look-alike, as the Lele Sadoughi Black Pearl Turban ($150). While we love a woman who can rock whatever she wants, we love Beckinsale's fearless, glamorous approach to living and the way she calls out problems where she sees them.