Is Kate Winslet the best Actress ever?

Jimdagym

In the last couple of weeks I have watched Revolutianary Road, The Reader, and Carnage.
I read up a bit on Winslet and was pretty shocked that she is the youngest person to be nominated for 6 academy awards, winning one for the Reader.
She has won a grammy, nominated for an emmy, won a bafta and a screen actors guild award.
Awards are not everything though , especially not from the academy, but if you look at her film career, it is firstly, not exactly extensive, but mainly it is peppered with excellent roles. Juliet in Heavenly Creatures. Marianne in Sense & Sensibility. Maddie in Quills. Bitsy in the Life of David Gale. Clementine in Eternal Sunshine..... Sylvia in FInding Neverland. Iris in the Holiday. Then her roles in the three I mentioned at the start. That is some list. They are all fantastic roles for an actress to play. She is also not afraid to jump in to an ensemble piece like she did in Contagion recently. And lest we forget, she was in the biggest film of all time (for a while) in Titanic. She is due to get her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this year.

So looking at all this, Who is or was a better actress?

Sad Professor

She's an excellent actress who consistently picks interesting roles. More recently I was very impressed with her performance in Mildred Pierce. "Best actress ever" might be overstating it a bit though. Personally I'd give that crown to Liv Ullmann.

Technocentral

Sad Professor wrote: »

She's an excellent actress who consistently picks interesting roles. More recently I was very impressed with her performance in Mildred Pierce. "Best actress ever" might be overstating it a bit though. Personally I'd give that crown to Liv Ullmann.

Was just about to say her!

DrumSteve

Jimdagym wrote: »

In the last couple of weeks I have watched Revolutianary Road, The Reader, and Carnage.
I read up a bit on Winslet and was pretty shocked that she is the youngest person to be nominated for 6 academy awards, winning one for the Reader.
She has won a grammy, nominated for an emmy, won a bafta and a screen actors guild award.
Awards are not everything though , especially not from the academy, but if you look at her film career, it is firstly, not exactly extensive, but mainly it is peppered with excellent roles. Juliet in Heavenly Creatures. Marianne in Sense & Sensibility. Maddie in Quills. Bitsy in the Life of David Gale. Clementine in Eternal Sunshine..... Sylvia in FInding Neverland. Iris in the Holiday. Then her roles in the three I mentioned at the start. That is some list. They are all fantastic roles for an actress to play. She is also not afraid to jump in to an ensemble piece like she did in Contagion recently. And lest we forget, she was in the biggest film of all time (for a while) in Titanic. She is due to get her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this year.

So looking at all this, Who is or was a better actress?

You had me up to there. I've never wanted a punch a screen in a cinema until I seen the holiday.

foxyboxer

I guess the only was to determine the 'Best' actress is to look at accolades and decorations*

So I would hazard a guess at Meryl Streep?





* In Golf, for example, there have been better 'players' than Jack Nicklaus, but considering that he has won the most Majors, he is deemed to be the 'Best'.

johnny_ultimate

Any question featuring the words 'best ever' is by default one without an answer. I like Kate Winslet a lot, but it's a silly question.

krudler

she's a great actress, well up there with the best of modern actresses, and she at least does a good mix of stuff, from challenging to fluff, she was fantastic in Extras as well :pac:

Cardinal Richelieu

I always think these threads are flawed until the actor and actress are dead and then you can do a proper career review.

Jimdagym

krudler wrote: »

she's a great actress, well up there with the best of modern actresses, and she at least does a good mix of stuff, from challenging to fluff, she was fantastic in Extras as well :pac:

Got an Emmy nomination for that.

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Any question featuring the words 'best ever' is by default one without an answer. I like Kate Winslet a lot, but it's a silly question.

I am sure there is a better way I could phrase it, but that hardly makes the question silly. Does that make Liv Ullman a silly answer from Sad Professer. There is constant discussion about who the greatest (or best or whatever) actor of all time is, so I disagree strongly with you that the question is redundant.

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

I always think these threads are flawed until the actor and actress are dead and then you can do a proper career review.

Generally I'd agree with you. I am not saying she is the best. I also like her a lot and admire her interesting choice in roles. This is more of a thinking out load excercise, and the question "Is she the best...?" was looking for opinions and thoughts on alternatives.

fryup

no, but she has a lovely pair of tits

Cardinal Richelieu

Jimdagym wrote: »

Generally I'd agree with you. I am not saying she is the best. I also like her a lot and admire her interesting choice in roles. This is more of a thinking out load excercise, and the question "Is she the best...?" was looking for opinions and thoughts on alternatives.

Katherine Hepburn for me if I had to pick one, some actresses age into a golden period like Judi Dench and corner the market in the strong older woman roles. Its often a frequent complaint that Hollywood doesn't write good female roles leading to some rather weak Oscar nominations in the women's categories and then the dominate actresses like Streep or Winslet get first choice for the better roles.

johnny_ultimate

Jimdagym wrote: »

I am sure there is a better way I could phrase it, but that hardly makes the question silly. Does that make Liv Ullman a silly answer from Sad Professer. There is constant discussion about who the greatest (or best or whatever) actor of all time is, so I disagree strongly with you that the question is redundant.

The question of 'best' suggests there's a sort of objectivity that can be applied to it.

An almost entirely subjective question like 'who is your favourite actress?' is a bit more reasonable

And I always thought Bibi Andersson was just as good as Ullman, but that's just me

Finneen

Will many people be watching Winslet's films 50 years from now the way some of us watch old Bette Davis films? Doubt it.

don ramo

Finneen wrote: »

Will many people be watching Winslet's films 50 years from now the way some of us watch old Bette Davis films? Doubt it.

well at 35 its a bit early to tell

she has a fairly impressive body of work as has been said, one thats only going to get bigger and bigger, i for one look forward to her films, wasnt a hugh fan of her back when she was doing titanic and all that (i was 13 when it came out) but after seeing some of her other roles in the last 2 or 3 year like the reader, life of david gale and eternal sunshine ive grown to like her more,

greatest anything will always be subjective, the greatest actress/actor is only the greatest untill they arent, even the dead ones,

JP Liz V1

Jimdagym wrote: »

In the last couple of weeks I have watched Revolutianary Road, The Reader, and Carnage.
I read up a bit on Winslet and was pretty shocked that she is the youngest person to be nominated for 6 academy awards, winning one for the Reader.
She has won a grammy, nominated for an emmy, won a bafta and a screen actors guild award.
Awards are not everything though , especially not from the academy, but if you look at her film career, it is firstly, not exactly extensive, but mainly it is peppered with excellent roles. Juliet in Heavenly Creatures. Marianne in Sense & Sensibility. Maddie in Quills. Bitsy in the Life of David Gale. Clementine in Eternal Sunshine..... Sylvia in FInding Neverland. Iris in the Holiday. Then her roles in the three I mentioned at the start. That is some list. They are all fantastic roles for an actress to play. She is also not afraid to jump in to an ensemble piece like she did in Contagion recently. And lest we forget, she was in the biggest film of all time (for a while) in Titanic. She is due to get her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this year.

So looking at all this, Who is or was a better actress?

I dont think she is the best ever but she certainly is one of the greats like Streep, Blanchett, Hepburn etc

She has a knack for picking oscar bait roles and also like Streep is easily at home also in a comedy or musical role

crazygeryy

even though she bores the hell out of me shouldnt meryl streep get that accolade?

Gamb!t

Jimdagym wrote: »

In the last couple of weeks I have watched Revolutianary Road, The Reader, and Carnage.
I read up a bit on Winslet and was pretty shocked that she is the youngest person to be nominated for 6 academy awards, winning one for the Reader.
She has won a grammy, nominated for an emmy, won a bafta and a screen actors guild award.
Awards are not everything though , especially not from the academy, but if you look at her film career, it is firstly, not exactly extensive, but mainly it is peppered with excellent roles. Juliet in Heavenly Creatures. Marianne in Sense & Sensibility. Maddie in Quills. Bitsy in the Life of David Gale. Clementine in Eternal Sunshine..... Sylvia in FInding Neverland. Iris in the Holiday. Then her roles in the three I mentioned at the start. That is some list. They are all fantastic roles for an actress to play. She is also not afraid to jump in to an ensemble piece like she did in Contagion recently. And lest we forget, she was in the biggest film of all time (for a while) in Titanic. She is due to get her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this year.

So looking at all this, Who is or was a better actress?

The wrong Kate.
Cate Blanchett is a much better actress IMO.

OldeCinemaSoz

The Streep always delivers the goods.

WatchWolf

Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster and Cate Blanchett are all far superior.

losthorizon

Finneen wrote: »

Will many people be watching Winslet's films 50 years from now the way some of us watch old Bette Davis films? Doubt it.

No one will top Bette Davis. Just watch All About Eve and Kate Winslet has never come near a performance like Ms Davis.

sxt

Kate Winslet is the female equivalent to Leonardo Di caprio , both are excellent actors that have benefited from having the opportuntity to act with the best Directors and have the best roles .

James T Kirk

Jimdagym wrote: »

... So looking at all this, Who is or was a better actress?

Tilda Swinton, hands down.