Kate Winslet turns 47: 'Heavenly Creatures', 'Revolutionary Road', and other best performances

English actress Kate Winslet is celebrating her 47th birthday today. The artiste has been an acting actor for nearly three decades. She made her debut with Peter Jackson's 'Heavenly Creatures' in 1994. While she is still best known for James Cameron's 'Titanic', Winslet has since then won critical and audience acclaim in too many movies and TV shows to count. For her performances, she has been bestowed with multiple awards including an Oscar. Winslet's career can be characterised by her attempts to play against type, in unglamorous roles, when nearly everybody else is happy to be typecast. Oh, and she has always managed to impress with her commitment to the craft.

Here are her top performances, sans as Rose in 'Titanic', for pretty much everyone has seen that movie. There is no order as such.

The film that turned her into one of the most popular faces on earth. Starring opposite similarly fresh-faced Leonardo DiCaprio, 'Titanic' combines the romantic and disaster genres. Winslet plays Rose, whose mother wants her to marry a rich, priviliged man with  an estate to his name. She, however, yearns for freedom from the stifling mores of the high classes in early 20th century. She finds herself on the titular ship, called the greatest of them all, on a trip to America. And there, she finds the love of her life -- DiCaprio's Jack -- and her freedom. But their relationship ends in a tragedy when the ship collides with an iceberg. The movie is still a blast to watch, and has as strong an emotional impact as it had in 1997.
 

Winslet's aforementioned debut is shocking in that how good she is at such a young age. The film has Jackson's early sensibilities and is lovingly shot and directed. Winslet in this film is superior than most actors are after working in Hollywood for decades. 
 

One of the finest romantic movies, if not THE finest, 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' finds Winslet almost stealing all the credit from Jim Carrey despite lesser screentime. Make no mistake, Carrey is superb here. But Winslet is even better. 
 

This Sam Mendes film found Winslet once again joining forces with her 'Titanic' co-star DiCaprio. This was, however, not an escapist romance-disaster epic, but a quiet, meditative take on a breakdown of marriage. 
 

Ang Lee's Emma Thompson-scripted film had a young Winslet playing the role of Marianne Dashwood. The film was released in 1995 and was only second film of Winslet. She leaves a great impact in one of the best adaptations of Jane Austen novel.
 

The film might have been written and directed better, but Winslet was one thing that was unarguably good about 'Ammonite'. Also featuring Saoirse Ronan, the film had Winslet's British palaeontologist Mary Anning falling in love with a married woman called Charlotte (Ronan). The film is a great example in how a performance can elevate an otherwise ordinary film. 
 

Winslet has had such an illustrious career that it is easy to forget she is an accomplished TV actress too. In HBO's miniseries 'Mare of Easttown', she played the role of a police detective who is dealing with a murder of a young girl as well has issues in her personal life. It was an incredible performance, simultaneously evoking the pain, ironic humour, and grim determination of the character. This series is an example of how ready and willing Winslet is to play complicate mess of characters, instead of perfect and glamorous heroines. The film won her an Emmy -- her second. She had already won an Emmy trophy for 'Mildred Pierce', also an HBO miniseries. Which brings us to...
 

Another masterful performance, 'Mildred Pierce' had Winslet playing a mother in Great Depression US who gets separated from her husband and tries to stand on her own feet even as she has to deal with her difficult daughter.