Kate Hudson is a top American film actress who came to prominence in 2001 after receiving an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe for her role in the drama 'Almost Famous', and has since established herself as a leading Hollywood actress.

Her mother is the well known actress, Goldie Hawn. Since her nomination, Kate has had a starring role in several films, including 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days', 'The Skeleton Key', 'You, Me and Dupree', 'Fool’s Gold', and 'Bride Wars'.

 Kate was born Kate Garry Hudson on April 19, 1979, in Los Angeles. As well as a mother in show business, her father, Bill Hudson had been a 1970's television comedian, and member of the Hudson brothers. Her parents divorced when she was 18 months old and Bill Hudson has been estranged from his daughter for most of her life. Kate frequently says that she considers her mother's long-term partner, Kurt Russell, to be her father. Bill Hudson subsequently married actress Cindy Williams and had two children, Kate's half-siblings, with her, Emily and Zachary Hudson. Her other half-sibling is Wyatt, the son of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. Kate's grandmother on her mother's side is of Hungarian Jewish descent and Kate was brought up in the Jewish faith.

Performing is in Kate's blood and as a child she would sing and dance at every gathering, without needing encouragement. When she was eighteen, Kate was accepted at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, but strong-minded, ambitious Kate decided to defer a year in order to focus on starting a film career.

It paid off and she made her big-screen debut in Desert Blue in 1998 as a young starlet stranded in a tiny California town. Her next two films 200 Cigarettes in 1999, in which she played the naive, accident-prone Cindy ) and Gossip the following year - opposite Joshua Jackson - were critcal failures but Kate's acting was singled out for praise in both of them.

Kate made the big jump from starlet to star when she appeared in Almost Famous in 2000 as the rock-band groupie leader, Penny Lane. She played a pivotal role in the emotional development of the film and her surprisingly mature performance earned her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Kate had hit the big-time.

After engaging in the predictable media melee of interviews and fashion shoots caused by her nomination and her family pedigree, Kate continued her upward progress in the romantic comedy 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days' in 2003. Kate was now a big name and she made certain she was going to stay that way with a successful appearance in the farcical summer comedy 'You, Me and Dupree'.