“The most important thing in life is to be true to yourself ”

Kate Winslet is back to her fearless finest in upcoming survival drama The Mountain Between Us, but closer inspection of her life and career reveals that the talented actress has never really had a comfort zone…

We have long known that Kate Winslet has the heart of a lioness, so when it came to filming a scene in a burnt-out plane fuselage with a couple of cougars prowling outside in the British Columbian wilderness, the feisty 41-year-old was more than up for the challenge. But the studio making her latest film, The Mountain Between Us, had other ideas, and instead the daring star had to make do with another of the film’s heart-stopping stunts: being plunged into freezing water as the thin ice beneath her gave way.

On first impressions, the film may evoke memories of Titanic, the blockbuster that arguably made Winslet’s career. But its emphasis is much more on survival and defying personal limitations than romance – though it does boast an heroic co-star in Idris Elba – and is one of several bold roles the actress has taken on lately that proves she has never really had a professional ‘safe place’.

‘I just can’t do the conforming thing at all in life,’ says Winslet. ‘I am not the kind of person who lives by other people’s judgements and opinions. I dance to the beat of my own drum,’ she declares. ‘It’s important for humanity, and I am lucky that I can do that. There are many young women in the world who are so fragile emotionally and who don’t believe in themselves.’ Self-belief, it transpires, is something Winslet doesn’t have any shortage of – a trait that has proved handy in the perilous world of show business. But this wasn’t always the case. Born in Reading, Berkshire, she began acting professionally from a young age and by the time of her cinematic debut, aged 17, in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures, she had already worked extensively in theatre and television. Yet, while she exuded confidence, intelligence and charisma in her performances, her steely resilience was actually the byproduct of years of vicious bullying over her weight.