Foie gras with mustard seeds and green onions in duck jus

An entire foie gras (partly prepared for a terrine).

Foie gras ( /fwɑːˈɡrɑː/; French: [fwa ɡʁɑ]); French for "fat liver") is a food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. This fattening is typically achieved through gavage (force-feeding corn), according to French law,^[1] though outside of France it is occasionally produced using natural feeding. A pastry containing pâté de foie gras and bacon, or pâté de foie gras tout court, was formerly known as "Strasbourg pie" (or "Strasburg pie"^[2]) in English on account of that city's being a major producer of foie gras.^[3]

Foie gras is a popular and well-known delicacy in French cuisine. Its flavor is described as rich, buttery, and delicate, unlike that of an ordinary duck or goose liver. Foie gras is sold whole, or is prepared into mousse, parfait, or pâté (the lowest quality), and may also be served as an accompaniment to another food item, such as steak. French law states that "Foie gras belongs to the protected cultural and gastronomical heritage of France."^[4]

The technique of gavage dates as far back as 2500 BC, when the ancient Egyptians began keeping birds for food and deliberately fattened the birds through force-feeding.^[5] Today, France is by far the largest producer and consumer of foie gras, though it is produced and consumed worldwide, particularly in other European nations, the United States, and China.^[6]

Gavage-based foie gras production is controversial due to the force feeding procedure used. A number of countries and other jurisdictions have laws against force feeding or the sale of foie gras.

History[link]

A bas relief depiction of overfeeding geese

Ancient times[link]

As early as 2500 BC, the ancient Egyptians learned that many birds could be fattened through forced overfeeding and began this practice. Whether they particularly sought the fattened livers of migratory birds as a delicacy remains undetermined.^[7][8] In the necropolis of Saqqara, in the tomb of Mereruka, an important royal official, there is a bas relief scene wherein workers grasp geese around the necks in order to push food down their throats. At the side stand tables piled with more food pellets, and a flask for moistening the feed before giving it to the geese.^[8][9][10]

The practice of goose fattening spread from Egypt to the Mediterranean.^[11] The earliest reference to fattened geese is from the 5th century BC Greek poet Cratinus, who wrote of geese-fatteners, yet Egypt maintained its reputation as the source for fattened geese. When the Spartan king Agesilaus visited Egypt in 361 BC, he noted Egyptian farmers' fattened geese and calves.^[8][12]

It was not until the Roman period, however, that foie gras is mentioned as a distinct food, which the Romans named iecur ficatum;^[13][14][15] iecur means liver^[16] and ficatum derives from ficus, meaning fig in Latin.^[17] The emperor Elagabalus fed his dogs on foie gras during the four years of his chaotic reign.^[18] Pliny the Elder (1st century AD) credits his contemporary, Roman gastronome Marcus Gavius Apicius, with feeding dried figs to geese in order to enlarge their livers:

"Apicius made the discovery, that we may employ the same artificial method of increasing the size of the liver of the sow, as of that of the goose; it consists in cramming them with dried figs, and when they are fat enough, they are drenched with wine mixed with honey, and immediately killed."

— Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Book VIII. Chapter 77^[19]

Hence, the term iecur ficatum, fig-stuffed liver; feeding figs to enlarge a goose's liver may derive from Hellenistic Alexandria, since much of Roman luxury cuisine is of Greek inspiration.^[20] Ficatum was closely associated with animal liver and it became the root word for "liver"^[21] in each of these languages: foie in French,^[22] hígado in Spanish, fígado in Portuguese, fegato in Italian, fetge in Catalan and Occitan and ficat in Romanian, all meaning "liver"; this etymology has been explained in different manners.^[23][24]

Postclassical Europe[link]

After the fall of the Roman empire, goose liver temporarily vanished from European cuisine. Some claim that Gallic farmers preserved the foie gras tradition until the rest of Europe rediscovered it centuries later, but the medieval French peasant's food animals were mainly pig and sheep.^[25] Others claim that the tradition was preserved by the Jews, who learned the method of enlarging a goose's liver during the Roman colonisation of Judea^[26] or earlier from Egyptians.^[27] The Jews carried this culinary knowledge as they migrated farther north and west to Europe.^[26]

The Judaic dietary law, Kashrut, forbade lard as a cooking medium, and butter, too, was proscribed as an alternative since Kashrut also prohibited mixing meat and dairy products.^[11] Jewish cuisine used olive oil in the Mediterranean, and sesame oil in Babylonia, but neither cooking medium was easily available in Western and Central Europe, so poultry fat (known in Yiddish as schmaltz), which could be abundantly produced by overfeeding geese, was substituted in their stead.^[26][28] The delicate taste of the goose's liver was soon appreciated; Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof of Kassel wrote in 1562 that the Jews raise fat geese and particularly love their livers. Some Rabbis were concerned that eating forcibly overfed geese violated Jewish food restrictions. The chasam sofer, Rabbi Moses Sofer, contended that it is not a forbidden food (treyf) as none of its limbs are damaged. This matter remained a debated topic in Jewish dietary law until the Jewish taste for goose liver declined in the 19th century.^[26] Another kashrut matter, still a problem today, is that even properly slaughtered and inspected meat must be drained of blood before being considered fit to eat. Usually, salting achieves that; however, as liver is regarded as "(almost) wholly blood", broiling is the only way of kashering. Properly broiling a foie gras while preserving its delicate taste is an arduous endeavour few engage in seriously. Even so, there are restaurants in Israel that offer grilled goose foie gras.

Bartolomeo Scappi

Gentile gastronomes began appreciating fattened goose liver, which they could buy in the local Jewish ghetto of their cities. In 1570, Bartolomeo Scappi, chef de cuisine to Pope Pius V, published his cookbook Opera, wherein he describes that "the liver of [a] domestic goose raised by the Jews is of extreme size and weighs [between] two and three pounds."^[29] In 1581, Marx Rumpolt of Mainz, chef to several German nobles, published the massive cookbook Ein Neu Kochbuch, describing that the Jews of Bohemia produced livers weighing more than three pounds; he lists recipes for it—including one for goose liver mousse.^[29][30] János Keszei, chef to the court of Michael Apafi, the prince of Transylvania, included foie gras recipes in his 1680 cookbook A New Book About Cooking, instructing cooks to "envelop the goose liver in a calf's thin skin, bake it and prepare [a] green or [a] brown sauce to accompany it. I used goose liver fattened by Bohemian Jews, its weight was more than three pounds. You may also prepare a mush of it."

Main producers[link]

Today, France is by far the largest producer and consumer of foie gras, though it is produced and consumed worldwide, particularly in other European nations, the United States, and China.^[6]

France is the leading producer and consumer of duck and goose foie gras. In 2005, the country produced 18,450 tonnes of foie gras (78.5% of the world's estimated total production of 23,500 tonnes) of which 96% was duck liver and the rest goose liver. Total French consumption of foie gras was 19,000 tonnes in 2005.^[31] Approximately 30,000 people are members of the French foie gras industry, with 90% of them residing in the Périgord (Dordogne), the Midi-Pyrénées régions in the southwest, and Alsace. The European Union recognizes the foie gras produced according to traditional farming methods (label rouge) in southwestern France with a geographical indication of provenance.

Hungary is the world's second-largest foie gras (libamáj) producer and the largest exporter (1,920 tonnes in 2005). France is the principal market for Hungarian foie gras; mainly exported raw. Approximately 30,000 Hungarian goose farmers are dependent on the foie gras industry.^[34] French food companies spice, process, and cook the foie gras so it may be sold as a French product in its domestic and export markets.^[35]

Bulgaria produced 1,500 tons of foie gras in 2005;^[31] Canada also has a thriving foie gras industry. The demand for foie gras in the Far East is such that China has become a sizeable producer.

Forms of foie gras[link]

Moulard duck foie gras with pickled pear

In France, foie gras exists in different, legally defined presentations, from the expensive to the cheap:^[36]

• foie gras entier (whole foie gras), made of one or two whole liver lobes; cuit (either cooked), mi-cuit (semi-cooked), or frais (fresh);
• foie gras, made of pieces of livers reassembled together;
• bloc de foie gras, a fully cooked, molded block composed of 98% or more foie gras; if termed avec morceaux ("with pieces"), it must contain at least 50% foie gras pieces for goose, and 30% for duck.

Additionally, there exist pâté de foie gras; mousse de foie gras (both must contain 50% or more foie gras); parfait de foie gras (must contain 75% or more foie gras); and other preparations (no legal obligation established).

Fully cooked preparations are generally sold in either glass containers or metal cans for long-term preservation. Whole, fresh foie gras is usually unavailable in France outside the Christmas period, except in some producers' markets in the producing regions. Frozen whole foie gras sometimes is sold in French supermarkets.

Whole foie gras is readily available from gourmet retailers in Quebec, the United States, Hungary, Argentina and regions with a sizable market for the product. In US, raw foie gras is classified as Grade A, B or C, with Grade A typically being the highest in fat. It is especially suited for low-temperature preparations, because the veins are relatively fewer and the resulting terrine will fit the aesthetic requirement of lacking obvious included blood. Grade B is accepted for high-temperature preparation, because the higher proportion of protein gives the liver more structure after being seared. Grade C livers are generally reserved for making sauces as well as other preparations where the high proportion of blood-filled veins will not impair the appearance of the dish.^{[citation needed]}

Production methods[link]

The physiological basis of foie gras production is migratory birds' capacity for weight gain, particularly in the liver, in preparation for migration. Toulouse geese^[37] and Mulard ducks are the most commonly used breeds for foie gras.^[38] Mulards are a cross breed between a male Muscovy Duck and a female Pekin duck, and are estimated to account for about 35% of all ducks consumed in the US. Typical foie gras production involves force-feeding birds more food than they would eat in the wild, and much more than they would voluntarily eat domestically.^[39] The feed, usually corn boiled with fat (to facilitate ingestion), deposits large amounts of fat in the liver, thereby producing the buttery consistency sought by the gastronome.

Physiology and preparation[link]

Geese and ducks are omnivorous, and, like many birds, have expansive throats allowing them to store large amounts of food, either whole or pre-digested, in the crop, an enlarged portion of the esophagus, while awaiting digestion in the stomach, similar to python feeding. In the wild this dilation allows them to swallow large foodstuffs, such as a whole fish, for a later, long digestion. Wild geese may consume 300 grams of protein and another 800 grams of grasses per day. Farmed geese allowed to graze on carrots adapt to eat 100 grams of protein, but may consume up to 2500 grams of the carrots per day. A wild duck may double its weight in the autumn, storing fat throughout much of its body and especially on the liver, in preparation for winter migration.^[40] Force feeding produces a liver that is six to ten times its ordinary size.^[41] Storage of fat in the liver produces steatosis of the liver cells.

The geese or ducks used in foie gras production are usually kept in a building on straw for the first four weeks, then kept outside for some weeks, feeding on grasses. This phase of the preparation is designed to take advantage of the natural dilation capacity of the esophagus.^[42] The birds are then brought inside for gradually longer periods while introduced to a high starch diet. The next feeding phase, which the French call gavage or finition d'engraissement, or "completion of fattening", involves forced daily ingestion of controlled amounts of feed for 12 to 15 days with ducks and for 15 to 18 days with geese. During this phase ducks are usually fed twice daily while geese are fed up to 4 times daily. In order to facilitate handling of ducks during gavage, these birds are typically housed in individual cages or small group pens during this phase.

Fattening[link]

Modern gavage feeding process, which takes 2–3 seconds to complete.

In modern production, the bird is typically fed a controlled amount of feed, depending on the stage of the fattening process, its weight, and the amount of feed it last ingested.^[43] At the start of production, a bird might be fed a dry weight of 250 grams (9 oz) of food per day, and up to 1,000 grams (35 oz) (in dry weight) by the end of the process. The actual amount of food force-fed is much greater, since the birds are fed a mash whose composition is about 53% dry and 47% liquid (by weight).^[44]

The feed is administered using a funnel fitted with a long tube (20–30 cm long), which forces the feed into the animal's esophagus; if an auger is used, the feeding takes about 45 to 60 seconds. Modern systems usually use a tube fed by a pneumatic pump;^[45] with such a system the operation time per duck takes about 2 to 3 seconds. During feeding, efforts are made to avoid damaging the bird's esophagus, which could cause injury or death, although researchers have found evidence of inflammation of the walls of the proventriculus after the first session of force-feeding.^[46] There is also indication of inflammation of the esophagus in the later stages of fattening.^[47] Several studies have also demonstrated that mortality rates can be significantly elevated during the gavage period.^[48][49][50]

Alternative production[link]

Fattened liver can be produced by alternative methods without gavage, and this is referred to either as "fatty goose liver" or as foie gras (outside France), though it does not conform to the French legal definition, and there is debate about the quality of the liver produced.^{[citation needed]} This method involves timing the slaughter to coincide with the winter migration, when livers are naturally fattened.^[51] This has only recently been produced commercially, and is a very small fraction of the market.

While force feeding is required to meet the French legal definition of "foie gras", producers outside France do not always force feed birds in order to produce fattened livers that they consider to be foie gras, instead allowing them to eat freely, termed ad libitum. Interest in alternative production methods has grown recently due to ethical concerns in gavage-based foie gras production. Such livers are alternatively termed fatty goose liver, ethical foie gras, or humane foie gras.

The terms ethical foie gras or humane foie gras is also used for gavage-based foie gras production that is more concerned with the animal's welfare (using rubber hoses rather than steel pipes for feeding). Others have expressed skepticism at these claims of humane treatment,^[52] as earlier attempts to produce fattened livers without gavage have not produced satisfactory results.^[53]

More radical approaches have been studied. A duck or goose with a ventromedian hypothalamic (VMH) lesion will not tend to feel satiated after eating, and will therefore eat more than an unaffected animal. By producing such lesions surgically, it is possible to increase the animal's food consumption, when permitted to eat ad libitum, by a factor of more than two.^[54]

Preparations[link]

Foie gras with onions and figs

Generally, French preparations of foie gras are over low heat, as fat melts faster from the traditional goose foie gras than the duck foie gras produced in most other parts of the world. American and other New World preparations, typically employing duck foie gras, have more recipes and dish preparations for serving foie gras hot, rather than cool or cold.

In Hungary, goose foie gras traditionally is fried in goose fat, which is then poured over the foie gras and left to cool; it also is eaten warm, after being fried or roasted, with some chefs smoking the foie gras over a cherry wood fire.

In other parts of the world foie gras is served in dishes such as foie gras sushi rolls, in various forms of pasta or alongside steak tartare or atop a steak as a garnish.

Cold preparations[link]

Traditional low-heat cooking methods result in terrines, pâtés, parfaits, foams and mousses of foie gras, often flavored with truffle, mushrooms or brandy such as cognac or armagnac. These slow-cooked forms of foie gras are cooled and served at or below room temperature.

In a very traditional form of terrine, au torchon ("in a towel"), a whole lobe of foie is molded, wrapped in a towel and slow-cooked in a bain-marie. For added flavor (from the Maillard reaction), the liver may be seared briefly over a fire of grape vine clippings (sarments) before slow-cooking in a bain-marie; afterwards, it is pressed served cold, in slices.

Raw foie gras is also cured in salt ("cru au sel"), served slightly chilled.^[55]

Hot preparations[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Given the increased internationalization of cuisines and food supply, foie gras is increasingly found in hot preparations not only in the United States, but in France and elsewhere. Duck foie gras ("foie gras de canard") has slightly lower fat content and is generally more suitable in texture to cooking at high temperature than is goose foie gras ("foie gras d'oie"), but chefs have been able to cook goose foie gras employing similar techniques developed for duck, albeit with more care.

Raw foie gras can be roasted, sauteed, pan-seared (poëllé) or (with care and attention), grilled. As foie gras has high fat content, contact with heat needs to be brief and therefore at high temperature, lest it burn or melt. Optimal structural integrity for searing requires the foie gras to be cut to a thickness between 15 and 25 mm (½ – 1 inch), resulting in a rare, uncooked center. Some chefs prefer not to devein the foie gras, as the veins can help preserve the integrity of the fatty liver. It is increasingly common to sear the foie gras on one side only, leaving the other side uncooked. Practitioners of molecular gastronomy such as Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck restaurant first flash-freeze foie gras in liquid nitrogen, with the searing process resulting in a piece at room temperature.

Hot foie gras requires minimal spices; typically black pepper, paprika (in Hungary) and salt. It has become fashionable in 3-star restaurants to use artisanal coarse salt to provide a visual and textural garnish.

Consumption[link]

Foie gras is a luxury dish^{[citation needed]}. In France, it is mainly consumed on special occasions, such as Christmas or New Year's Eve réveillon dinners, though the recent increased availability of foie gras has made it a less exceptional dish.^[56] In some areas of France foie gras is eaten year-round.

Duck foie gras is the slightly cheaper^[56] and, since a change of production methods in the 1950s, by far the most common kind, particularly in the US. The taste of duck foie gras is often referred to as musky with a subtle bitterness. Goose foie gras is noted for being less gamey and smoother, with a more delicate flavor.^[57]

Controversy[link]

Gavage-based foie gras production is controversial, due to the force feeding procedure, and the possible health consequences of an enlarged liver.^{[citation needed]}

A number of countries and other jurisdictions have laws against force feeding or the sale of foie gras due to how it is traditionally produced. In modern gavage-based foie gras production, force feeding takes place 12–18 days before slaughter. The duck or goose is typically fed a controlled amount of corn mash through a tube inserted in the animal's cuticle-lined esophagus.

Foie gras production has been banned in some nations because of the force-feeding process, including some members of the European Union,^[58] Turkey, and Israel.^[59] Foie gras producers maintain that force feeding ducks and geese is not uncomfortable for the animals nor is it hazardous to their health.^{[citation needed]}

The city of Chicago banned the production and selling of foie gras from 2006 until 2008, when it reversed its decision based on the criticisms that the ban was maneuvered into a larger package that the city council had voted on.^[60] The state of California has also prohibited the production and sale of foie gras, effective July 1, 2012.^[61][62]

Animal rights and welfare groups such as PETA,^[63] Viva!,^[64] and the Humane Society of the United States^[65] contend that foie gras production methods, and force feeding in particular, constitute cruel and inhumane treatment of animals. Specific complaints include livers swollen to many times their normal size, impaired liver function, expansion of the abdomen making it difficult for birds to breathe, death if the force feeding is continued, and scarring of the esophagus^{[citation needed]}. PETA claims that the insertion and removal of the feeding tube scratch the throat and the esophagus, causing irritations and wounds and thus exposing the animal to risk of mortal infections.

Empirical research regarding the health and welfare of the bird during the production of foie gras is limited in quantity and quality.^[47]

A recent study demonstrated oral amyloid-A fibril transmissibility which raised food safety issues with consumption of foie gras over "concerns that products such as pâté de foie gras may activate a reactive systemic amyloidosis in susceptible consumers".^[66][67] Foie gras as a amyloid-containing food product hastened the development of amyloidosis. Amyloidosis may be transmissible, akin to the infectious nature of prion-related illnesses.^[68] However, a correlation between foie gras consumption and these diseases has not been confirmed.^[69]

EU Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Welfare[link]

The report of the European Union's Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare on Welfare Aspects of the Production of Foie Gras in Ducks and Geese, adopted on December 16, 1998, is an 89-page review of studies from several producing countries. It examines several indicators of animal welfare, including physiological indicators, liver pathology, and mortality rate. It strongly concludes that "force feeding, as currently practised, is detrimental to the welfare of the birds."

Members of the committee describe how geese and ducks show "avoidance behaviour indicating aversion for the person who feeds them and the feeding procedure". Although the committee reported that there is no "conclusive" scientific evidence on the aversive nature of force feeding, and that evidence of injury is "small", in their overall recommendations, the committee stated that "the management and housing of the birds used for producing foie gras have a negative impact on their welfare".^[70][71]

Both the American Veterinary Medical Association's House of Delegates and the American Association of Avian Pathologists have concluded that foie is not a product of animal cruelty.^[72]

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Foie gras

Look up foie gras in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Scientific Studies
  • Report of the EU Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare on Welfare Aspects of the Production of Foie Gras in Ducks and GeesePDF (277 KiB)
• First person
  • An American food and wine blogger goes inside the gavage shed at a foie gras farm in the Dordogne (Périgord), with pictures

• Alternatives:

• • Foie Gras without force feeding
  • Faux Gras – "Foie Gras Without The Cruelty"
  • Citizens' Initiative for the banning of force-feeding
  • Chef Dan Barber tells the story of a small farm in Spain that has found a humane way to produce foie gras
  • Can Ethical Foie Gras Happen in America? TIME, 12 August 2009

Gras
View of Gras
Gras
Location within Rhône-Alpes region  Gras
Administration
Country	France
Region	Rhône-Alpes
Department	Ardèche
Arrondissement	Privas
Canton	Bourg-Saint-Andéol
Intercommunality	Rhône aux gorges de l'Ardèche
Mayor	Jean Paul Croizier (2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation	120–732 m (390–2,402 ft) (avg. 345 m or 1,132 ft)
Land area1	56.68 km2 (21.88 sq mi)
Population2	512  (2008)
- Density	9 /km2 (23 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	07099/ 07700
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Coordinates: 44°26′39″N 4°32′26″E / 44.4442°N 4.5406°E / 44.4442; 4.5406

Gras is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France.

Population[link]

See also[link]

• Côtes du Vivarais AOC
• Communes of the Ardèche department

References[link]

• INSEE

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Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet at the 68th Venice Film Festival, September 2011
Born	Kate Elizabeth Winslet (1975-10-05) 5 October 1975 (age 36) Reading, Berkshire, England
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	1991–present
Spouse	Jim Threapleton (m. 1998–2001) «start: (1998)–end+1: (2002)»"Marriage: Jim Threapleton to Kate Winslet" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Kate_Winslet) Sam Mendes (m. 2003–2010) «start: (2003)–end+1: (2011)»"Marriage: Sam Mendes to Kate Winslet" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Kate_Winslet)
Children	2
Relatives	Anna Winslet, Beth Winslet (sisters)

Kate Elizabeth Winslet (born 5 October 1975) is an English actress. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader (2008). She has won awards from the Screen Actors Guild, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association among others, and has been nominated twice for an Emmy Award for television acting, winning once for her role as Mildred Pierce in the 2011 mini-series of the same name.

Brought up in Berkshire, Winslet studied drama from childhood, and began her career in British television in 1991. She made her film debut in Heavenly Creatures (1994), for which she received her first notable critical praise. She achieved recognition for her subsequent work in a supporting role in Sense and Sensibility (1995) and for her leading role in Titanic (1997), the highest grossing film at the time, and the highest grossing film of Winslet's career.^[1]

Since 2000, Winslet's performances have continued to draw positive comments from film critics, and she has been nominated for various awards for her work in such films as Quills (2000), Iris (2001), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Finding Neverland (2004), Little Children (2006), The Reader (2008) and Revolutionary Road (2008). Her performance in the last of these prompted New York magazine critic David Edelstein to describe her as "the best English-speaking film actress of her generation".^[2] The romantic comedy The Holiday and the animated film Flushed Away (both 2006) are among the biggest commercial successes of her career.

Winslet was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 2000. She has been included as a vocalist on some soundtracks of works she has performed in, and the single "What If" from the soundtrack for Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001), was a hit single in several European countries. Winslet has two children.

Early life[link]

Born in Reading, Berkshire, Winslet is the second of four children born to Sally Anne (née Bridges), a barmaid, and Roger John Winslet, a swimming pool contractor.^[3][4] Her parents were "jobbing actors", which led Winslet to comment that she "didn't have a privileged upbringing" and that their daily life was "very hand to mouth".^[5] Her maternal grandparents, Linda (née Plumb) and Archibald Oliver Bridges, founded and operated the Reading Repertory Theatre,^[5] and her uncle, Robert Bridges, appeared in the original West End production of Oliver!. Her older sister, Anna, and younger sister, Beth, are also actresses.^[5] Her younger brother, Joss, is the only sibling who did not pursue an acting career.^[4]

Winslet began studying drama at the age of 11 at the Redroofs Theatre School,^[6] a co-educational independent school in Maidenhead, Berkshire, where she was head girl.^[7] At the age of 12, Winslet appeared in a television advertisement directed by filmmaker Tim Pope for Sugar Puffs cereal. Pope said her naturalism was "there from the start".^[8]

Career[link]

1991–1997[link]

Winslet's career began on television, with a co-starring role in the BBC children's science fiction serial Dark Season.^[9] This role was followed by appearances in the made-for-TV film Anglo-Saxon Attitudes in 1992, the sitcom Get Back, and an episode of the medical drama Casualty in 1993.^[9]

Winslet at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival

In 1992, Winslet attended a casting call for Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures in London. Winslet auditioned for the part of Juliet Hulme, a teenager who assists in the murder of the mother of her best friend, Pauline Parker (played by Melanie Lynskey). She won the role over 175 other girls.^[10] The film included Winslet's singing debut, and her a cappella version of "Sono Andati", an aria from La Bohème,^[11] was featured on the film's soundtrack.^[12] The film was released to favourable reviews in 1994 and won Jackson and partner Fran Walsh a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.^[13] Winslet was awarded an Empire Award and a London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Actress of the Year for her performance.^[14] The Washington Post writer Desson Thomson commented: "As Juliet, Winslet is a bright-eyed ball of fire, lighting up every scene she’s in. She's offset perfectly by Lynskey, whose quietly smoldering Pauline completes the delicate, dangerous partnership."^[15] Speaking about her experience on a film set as an absolute beginner, Winslet noted: "With Heavenly Creatures, all I knew I had to do was completely become that person. In a way it was quite nice doing [the film] and not knowing a bloody thing."^[16]

The following year, Winslet auditioned for the small but pivotal role of Lucy Steele in the adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, featuring Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman.^[17] She was instead cast in the second leading role of Marianne Dashwood.^[17] Director Ang Lee admitted he was initially worried about the way Winslet had attacked her role in Heavenly Creatures and thus required her to exercise t'ai chi, read Austen-era Gothic novels and poetry, and work with a piano teacher to fit the grace of the role.^[17] Budgeted at US$16.5 million ($25.2 million in current year dollars) the film became a financial and critical success, resulting in a worldwide box office total of US$135 million ($205.9 million) and various awards for Winslet, winning her both a BAFTA and a Screen Actors' Guild Award, and nominations for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.^[14][18]

In 1996, Winslet starred in both Jude and Hamlet. In Michael Winterbottom's Jude, based on the Victorian novel Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, she played Sue Bridehead, a young woman with suffragette leanings who falls in love with her cousin, played by Christopher Eccleston. Acclaimed among critics, it was not a success at the box office, barely grossing US$2 million ($3 million) worldwide.^[19][20] Richard Corliss of Time magazine said "Winslet is worthy of [...] the camera's scrupulous adoration. She's perfect, a modernist ahead of her time [...] and Jude is a handsome showcase for her gifts."^[21] Winslet played Ophelia, Hamlet's drowned lover, in Kenneth Branagh's all star-cast film version of William Shakespeare's Hamlet. The film garnered largely positive reviews and earned Winslet her second Empire Award.^[14][22]

[edit] Titanic

In mid-1996, Winslet began filming James Cameron's Titanic (1997), alongside Leonardo DiCaprio.^[23] Gwyneth Paltrow, Claire Danes, and Gabrielle Anwar had been considered for the role;^[24][25][26] when they turned it down, Winslet campaigned heavily for it. She sent Cameron daily notes from England, which led Cameron to invite her to Hollywood for auditions. Cameron described the character as "an Audrey Hepburn type" and was initially uncertain about casting Winslet even after her screen test impressed him.^[24] After she screen tested with DiCaprio, Winslet was so thoroughly impressed with him, that she whispered to Cameron, "He's great. Even if you don't pick me, pick him." Winslet sent Cameron a single rose with a card signed "From Your Rose" and lobbied him by phone. "You don't understand!" she pleaded one day when she reached him by mobile phone in his Humvee. "I am Rose! I don't know why you're even seeing anyone else!" Her persistence, as well as her talent, eventually convinced him to cast her in the role.^[24]

Cast as the sensitive seventeen-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater, a fictional first-class socialite who survives the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic, Winslet's experience was emotionally demanding.^[27] "Titanic was totally different and nothing could have prepared me for it. ... We were really scared about the whole adventure. ... Jim [Cameron] is a perfectionist, a real genius at making movies. But there was all this bad press before it came out, and that was really upsetting."^[27] Against expectations, the film went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time, grossing more than US$1.843 billion ($2.7 billion) in box-office receipts worldwide,^[28] and transformed Winslet into a commercial movie star.^[29] Subsequently, she was nominated for most of the high-profile awards, winning a European Film Award.^[14][30]

1998–2003[link]

Shot prior to the release of Titanic, Hideous Kinky, a low-budget hippie romance, was Winslet's sole film of 1998.^[31] Winslet had rejected offers to play the leading roles in Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Anna and the King (1999) in favour of the role of a young English mother named Julia who moves with her daughters from London to Morocco hoping to start a new life.^[31][32] The film garnered generally mixed reviews and received only limited distribution,^[33] resulting in a worldwide gross of US$5 million ($7 million).^[34] Despite the success of Titanic, the next film Winslet opted to star in was Holy Smoke! (1999), featuring Harvey Keitel, another low-budget project—much to the chagrin of her agents, who felt "miserable" about her preference of arthouse films.^[16][27] Feeling pressured, Winslet has said she "never saw Titanic as a springboard for bigger films or bigger pay cheques", knowing that "it could have been that, but would have destroyed [her]."^[35] The same year, she voiced Brigid in the computer animated film Faeries.^[36]

In 2000, Winslet appeared in the period piece Quills with Geoffrey Rush and Joaquin Phoenix, a film inspired by the life and work of the Marquis de Sade. The actress served as somewhat of a "patron saint" of the film for being the first big name to back it, accepting the role of a chambermaid in the asylum and the courier of the Marquis' manuscripts to the underground publishers.^[37] Well-received by critics, the film garnered numerous accolades for Winslet, including nominations for SAG and Satellite Awards.^[14] The film was a modest arthouse success, averaging US$27,709 ($37,395) per screen its debut weekend, and eventually grossing US$18 million ($24.3 million) internationally.^[38]

In 2001's Enigma, Winslet played a young woman who finds herself falling for a brilliant young World War II code breaker, played by Dougray Scott.^[39] It was her first war film, and Winslet regarded "making Enigma a brilliant experience" as she was five months pregnant at the time of the shoot, forcing some tricky camera work from the director Michael Apted.^[39] Generally well-received,^[40] Winslet was awarded a British Independent Film Award for her performance,^[14] and A. O. Scott of The New York Times described Winslet as "more crush-worthy than ever."^[41] In the same year she appeared in Richard Eyre's critically acclaimed film Iris, portraying novelist Iris Murdoch. Winslet shared her role with Judi Dench, with both actresses portraying Murdoch at different phases of her life.^[42] Subsequently, each of them was nominated for an Academy Award the following year, earning Winslet her third nomination.^[14] Also in 2001, she voiced the character Belle in the animated motion picture Christmas Carol: The Movie, based on the Charles Dickens classic novel. For the film, Winslet recorded the song "What If", which was released in November 2001 as a single^[43] with proceeds donated to two of Winslet's favourite charities, the N.S.P.C.C. and the Sargeant Cancer Foundation for Children.^[43][44] A Europe-wide top ten hit, it reached number one in Austria, Belgium and Ireland,^[45] number six on the UK Singles Chart,^[46] and won the 2002 OGAE Song Contest.^[47]

Her next film role was in the 2003 drama The Life of David Gale, in which she played an ambitious journalist who interviews a death-sentenced professor, played by Kevin Spacey, in his final weeks before execution. The film underperformed at international box offices, garnering only half of its US$ 50,000,000 budget,^[48] and generating mostly critical reviews,^[49] with Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times calling it a "silly movie."^[50]

2004–2006[link]

Following The Life of David Gale, Winslet appeared with Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), a neosurrealistic indie-drama by French director Michel Gondry. In the film, she played the role of Clementine Kruczynski, a chatty, spontaneous and somewhat neurotic woman, who decides to have all memories of her ex-boyfriend erased from her mind.^[51] The role was a departure from her previous roles, with Winslet revealing in an interview with Variety that she was initially upended about her casting in the film: "This was not the type of thing I was being offered [...] I was just thrilled that there was something he had seen in me, in spite of the corsets, that he thought was going to work for Clementine.”^[52] The film was a critical and financial success.^[53] Winslet received rave reviews for her Academy Award-nominated performance, which Peter Travers of Rolling Stone described as "electrifying and bruisingly vulnerable."^[54]

Winslet at the 61st British Academy Film Awards.

Her final film in 2004 was Finding Neverland. The story of the production focused on Scottish writer J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) and his platonic relationship with Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Winslet), whose sons inspired him to pen the classic play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. During promotion of the film, Winslet noted of her portrayal "It was very important for me in playing Sylvia that I was already a mother myself, because I don’t think I could have played that part if I didn’t know what it felt like to be a parent and have those responsibilities and that amount of love that you give to a child [...] and I've always got a baby somewhere, or both of them, all over my face."^[55] The film received favourable reviews and proved to be an international success, becoming Winslet's highest-grossing film since Titanic with a total of $118 million worldwide.^[56][57]

In 2005, Winslet appeared in an episode of BBC's comedy series Extras as a satirical version of herself. While dressed as a nun, she was portrayed giving phone sex tips to the romantically challenged character of Maggie.^[58] Her performance in the episode led to her first nomination for an Emmy Award.^[14] In Romance & Cigarettes (2005), a musical romantic comedy written and directed by John Turturro, she played the character Tula, described by Winslet as "a slut, someone who’s essentially foulmouthed and has bad manners and really doesn’t know how to dress."^[59] Hand-picked by Turturro, who was impressed with her display of dancing ability in Holy Smoke!, Winslet was praised for her performance,^[59] which included her interpretation of Connie Francis's "Scapricciatiello (Do You Love Me Like You Kiss Me)".^[60] Derek Elley of Variety wrote: "Onscreen less, but blessed with the showiest role, filthiest one-liners, [and] a perfect Lancashire accent that's comical enough in the Gotham setting Winslet throws herself into the role with an infectious gusto."^[61]

After declining an invitation to appear in Woody Allen's film Match Point (2005), Winslet stated that she wanted to be able to spend more time with her children.^[62] She began 2006 with All the King's Men, featuring Sean Penn and Jude Law. Winslet played the role of Anne Stanton, the childhood sweetheart of Jack Burden (Law). The film was critically and financially unsuccessful.^[63][64] Todd McCarthy of Variety summed it up as "overstuffed and fatally miscast [...] Absent any point of engagement to become involved in the characters, the film feels stillborn and is unlikely to stir public excitement, even in an election year."^[65]

Winslet fared far better when she joined the cast of Todd Field's Little Children, playing Sarah Pierce, a bored housewife who has a torrid affair with a married neighbour, played by Patrick Wilson. Both her performance and the film received rave reviews; A.O. Scott of The New York Times wrote: "In too many recent movies intelligence is woefully undervalued, and it is this quality—even more than its considerable beauty—that distinguishes Little Children from its peers. The result is a film that is challenging, accessible and hard to stop thinking about. Ms. Winslet, as fine an actress as any working in movies today, registers every flicker of Sarah’s pride, self-doubt and desire, inspiring a mixture of recognition, pity and concern that amounts, by the end of the movie, to something like love. That Ms. Winslet is so lovable makes the deficit of love in Sarah’s life all the more painful."^[66] For her work in the film, she was honoured with a Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year from BAFTA/LA, a Los Angeles-based offshoot of the BAFTA Awards.^[67] and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, and at 31, became the youngest actress to ever garner five Oscar nominations.^[68]

She followed Little Children with a role in Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy The Holiday, also starring Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Jack Black. In it she played Iris, a British woman who temporarily exchanges homes with an American woman (Diaz). Released to a mixed reception by critics,^[69] the film became Winslet's biggest commercial success in nine years, grossing more than US$205 million worldwide.^[70] Also in 2006, Winslet provided her voice for several smaller projects. In the CG-animated Flushed Away, she voiced Rita, a scavenging sewer rat who helps Roddy (Hugh Jackman) escape from the city of Ratropolis and return to his luxurious Kensington origins. A critical and commercial success, the film collected US$177,665,672 at international box offices.^[71]

2007–present[link]

Winslet at the 2007 Palm Springs International Film Festival

In 2007, Winslet reunited with Leonardo DiCaprio to film Revolutionary Road (2008), directed by her husband at the time, Sam Mendes. Winslet had suggested that both should work with her on a film adaptation of the 1961 novel of the same name by Richard Yates after reading the script by Justin Haythe.^[72] Resulting in both "a blessing and an added pressure" on-set, the reunion was her first experience working with Mendes.^[73] Portraying a couple in a failing marriage in the 1950s, DiCaprio and Winslet watched period videos promoting life in the suburbs to prepare themselves for the film,^[73] which earned them favorable reviews.^[74] In his review of the film, David Edelstein of New York magazine stated that "[t]here isn’t a banal moment in Winslet’s performance—not a gesture, not a word. Is Winslet now the best English-speaking film actress of her generation? I think so."^[2] Winslet was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance, her seventh nomination from the Golden Globes.^[14]

Winslet at the 2007 BAFTAs

Also released in late 2008, the film competed against Winslet's other project, a film adaptation of Bernhard Schlink's 1995 novel The Reader, directed by Stephen Daldry and featuring Ralph Fiennes and David Kross in supporting roles. Originally the first choice for her role, she was initially not able to take on the role due to a scheduling conflict with Revolutionary Road, and Nicole Kidman replaced her.^[75] A month after filming began, however, Kidman left the film due to her pregnancy before filming of her had begun, enabling Winslet to rejoin the film.^[75] Employing a German accent, Winslet portrayed a former Nazi concentration camp guard who has an affair with a teenager (Kross) who, as an adult, witnesses her war crimes trial.^[76] She later said the role was difficult for her, as she was naturally unable "to sympathise with an SS guard."^[77] Because the film required full frontal nudity, a merkin was made for her. In an interview for Allure she related how she refused to use it: "Guys, I am going to have to draw the line at a pubic wig,..."^[78][79] While the film garnered mixed reviews in general,^[80] Winslet received favorable reviews for her performance.^[80] The following year, she earned her sixth Academy Award nomination and went on to win the Best Actress award, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress, a Screen Actors' Guild Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress, and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.^[14]

In 2011, Winslet headlined in the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce, a small screen adaptation of James M. Cain's 1941 novel of the same name, directed by Todd Haynes.^[81] Co-starring Guy Pearce and Evan Rachel Wood, she portrayed a self-sacrificing mother during the Great Depression who finds herself separated from her husband and falling in love with a new man, all the while trying to earn her narcissistic daughter's love and respect. Broadcast to moderate ratings,^[82] the five-part series earned generally favourable reviews,^[83] with Salon.com calling it a "quiet, heartbreaking masterpiece".^[84] Winslet won an Emmy Award,^[85] a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film,^[86] and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for her performance.^[87]

Also in 2011, Winslet appeared in Steven Soderbergh's disaster film Contagion, featuring an ensemble cast consisting of Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law. The thriller follows the rapid progress of a lethal indirect contact transmission virus that kills within days. Winslet portrayed an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer who becomes infected with the disease over the course of her investigation.^[88] Winslet's other 2011 project, Roman Polanski's Carnage, premiered at the 68th Venice Film Festival. An adaptation of the play God of Carnage by French playwright Yasmina Reza, the black comedy follows two sets of parents who meet up to talk after their children have been in a fight that day at school. Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz co-star.^[89] For her performance Winslet received a second nomination by the Hollywood Foreign Press that year.

In June 2011, it was announced that Winslet has been cast alongside Josh Brolin in Jason Reitman's adaptation of Joyce Maynard's 2009 novel Labor Day.^[90]

In 2012, Winslet's audiobook performance of Émile Zola's Thérèse Raquin was released at Audible.com.^[91] Audiofile Magazine's review said, "Kate Winslet reads as though she is relishing every morsel of the drama…She clearly loves the book, and her pleasure in the text is infectious…she grabs listeners and doesn’t let go."^[92]

Personal life[link]

Winslet in Paris at the César Awards 2012.

While on the set of Dark Season, Winslet met actor and writer Stephen Tredre, with whom she had a four-and-a-half-year relationship.^[93] Winslet and Tredre remained close after their separation in 1995.^[94] He died of bone cancer during the opening week of Titanic, causing her to miss the film's Los Angeles premiere to attend his funeral in London.^[95] She and Titanic co-star Leonardo DiCaprio have remained close friends since the filming.^[96]

On 22 November 1998, Winslet married director Jim Threapleton, whom she met while on the set of Hideous Kinky in 1997.^[97][98] They have a daughter, Mia Honey Threapleton,^[98] who was born on 12 October 2000 in London.^[97] Winslet and Threapleton divorced on 13 December 2001.^[99]

Following her separation from Threapleton, Winslet began a relationship with director Sam Mendes,^[99] and she married him on 24 May 2003 on the island of Anguilla.^[97] Their son, Joe Alfie Winslet Mendes, was born on 22 December 2003 in New York City.^[97] Winslet and Mendes announced their separation in March 2010^[100] and are divorced.^{[101][102][103][104]}

Mendes was scheduled to fly on American Airlines Flight 77, which was hijacked on 11 September 2001 and subsequently crashed into the Pentagon.^[105] In October 2001, Winslet was on a flight with her daughter, Mia, when a passenger who claimed to be a terrorist stood up and shouted, "We are all going to die".^[105] As a result of these incidents, Winslet and Mendes never flew together on the same aircraft, as they feared leaving their children parentless.^[105]

Winslet's weight fluctuations over the years have been well documented by the media.^[93][97] She has been outspoken about her refusal to allow Hollywood to dictate her weight.^[96][106] In February 2003, the British edition of GQ magazine published photographs of Winslet that had been digitally altered to make her look dramatically thinner.^[97] Winslet issued a statement that the alterations were made without her consent, saying, "I just didn't want people to think I was a hypocrite and that I'd suddenly lost 30 lbs or whatever".^[107] GQ subsequently issued an apology.^[106] She won a libel suit in 2009 against the British tabloid The Daily Mail after it printed that she had lied about her exercise regime.^[108] Winslet stated that she had requested an apology to demonstrate her commitment to the views that she has always expressed regarding women's body issues, namely that women should accept their appearance with pride.^[108]

Winslet narrated the documentary A Mother's Courage: Talking Back to Autism, which was generally released on 24 September 2010, after airing on HBO in April of the same year. Her involvement in the documentary led to her founding the non-profit organisation, the Golden Hat Foundation, whose mission is to eliminate barriers for people with autism.^[109][110] In 2011, Winslet received the Yo Dona award for Best Humanitarian Work for her work with the Golden Hat.^[111]

Also in 2010, Winslet narrated a video for PETA, encouraging chefs to remove foie gras from their menus and asking consumers to boycott restaurants that serve it.^[112]

Awards and nominations[link]

Winslet won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Reader (2008). She won two Golden Globe Awards in the same year: Best Actress (Drama) for Revolutionary Road and Best Supporting Actress for The Reader. She has won two BAFTA Awards: Best Actress for The Reader, and Best Supporting Actress for Sense and Sensibility (1995). She has earned a total of six Academy Award nominations, nine Golden Globe nominations, and seven BAFTA nominations.^{[106][113][114]}

She has received numerous awards from other organisations, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for Iris (2001) and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Sense and Sensibility and The Reader. Premiere magazine named her portrayal of Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) as the 81st greatest film performance of all time.^[115]

Winslet has been selected for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012.^[116]

Academy Award nomination milestones[link]

Winslet at the 81st Academy Awards in February 2009

Winslet was 26 when she received her third Academy Award nomination, for Iris, just missing the mark of Natalie Wood, who received her third nomination at age 25.^[117] She set the mark as the youngest actor to receive five nominations, at age 31, for Little Children (2006). She surpassed Bette Davis, who was 33 when she received her fifth nomination for her performance in The Little Foxes (1941).^[118] With her Best Actress nomination for The Reader, Winslet became the youngest actor to receive six Oscar nominations. At age 33, Winslet passed the mark Davis, one year older, set with Now, Voyager (1942).^[119]

Winslet received Academy Award nominations as the younger versions of the characters played by fellow nominees Gloria Stuart, as Rose, in Titanic (1997)^[120] and Judi Dench, as Iris Murdoch, in Iris.^[121] These are the only instances of the younger and older versions of a character in the same film both yielding Academy Award nominations, thus making Winslet the only actor to twice share an Oscar nomination with another for portraying the same character.^[120]

When she was not nominated for her work in Revolutionary Road, Winslet became only the second actress to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress (Drama) without getting an Oscar nomination for the same performance (Shirley MacLaine was the first for Madame Sousatzka (1988), and she won the Golden Globe in a three-way tie). Academy rules allow an actor to receive no more than one nomination in a given category; as the Academy nominating process determined that Winslet's work in The Reader would be considered a lead performance—unlike the Golden Globes, which considered it a supporting performance—she could not also receive a Best Actress nomination for Revolutionary Road.^[122]

Awards for other work[link]

In 2000, Winslet won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for Listen To the Storyteller.^[123][124] She was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for playing herself in a 2005 episode of Extras.^[125] At the 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards, Winslet won the Best Actress in Miniseries or TV Movie award for her role as the titular character in Mildred Pierce.

Filmography[link]