Kate in The Raw

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Even the nude scenes--which require leading-lady confidence--are done in a quest for vulnerability rather than Bond-girl-dom. "Not to put down other women in movies or movies in general," says Winslet, "but I do have an issue with this kind of image of perfection that a movie can put across. You want to say to people 'Stop! Stop! It's not real. We've been in makeup for 212 hours. We don't really look like that.' I mean, I'm living proof that we don't really look like that." That last statement, while it looks sweet on paper, and was said earnestly, would actually offer scant comfort to any woman. In the flesh, Winslet's just your regular-looking movie star. (Except for her feet, which are huge--size 11--and about which she is obsessed.) "I've had two kids, and every woman out there knows that when you've had a child your body just doesn't go back to normal," she says. "I have lots of stretch marks and all the rest of it, and I'm sort of proud of all my battle wounds."

Winslet has to work to keep her life in best-friend mode. She allows no glossy magazines in her home, although she's partial to the odd cooking periodical from Britain, and she tries to tell her kids that autograph seekers are people who want directions. (Her oldest, Mia, has stopped believing her, and nearly 3-year-old Joe can't be far behind.) She seems intent on establishing a sisterhood with her audience, particularly women. She won't go to physical extremes in prepping for a role and has not courted Oscar as many actresses have--by transforming herself into someone uglier or fitter or of a different gender.

She doesn't need to. She can do it all with her face. Her full cream complexion and even fuller lips make her a natural for two things: period movies and close-ups. Winslet is capable of setting up a scene--her character, the relationship with the person she's talking to and probably even a key plot point--without saying a word. "Every director, if you look at her movies, uses her a lot in close-ups," says Meyers. "You see everything on her face."

Many of those who know her say the role that comes closest to her in real life is the little performance she gave on Ricky Gervais' TV show Extras. She played herself playing the role of a nun harboring a group of Jews during World War II. The Kate she plays talks dirty (which is accurate) and admits to taking the part because it almost guarantees an Oscar (which is a caricature).