Kate Garry Hudson was born on April 19th 1979, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, to parents Goldie Hawn and Bill Hudson. Goldie and Bill divorced 18 months after Kate was born, and a few years after that, Goldie began a relationship with Kurt Russell. Kate calls Kurt her real dad, as he raised her and was always in her life ("He was always there, for the soccer games, the recitals – always."), and affectionately refers to him as "Pa". She admits she has never had a real relationship with Bill Hudson, once saying she found it frustrating he never made an effort to be in her life, but has learnt to accept it, confessing "It's weird not to have had my father around, but things sometimes go sour, and you just have to deal with it."

Kate was raised by Goldie and Kurt in a large, loving family with many siblings - Oliver, the son of Goldie and Bill who is 2 years older than Kate; Boston, Kurt's son from a previous marriage; and Wyatt, Goldie and Kurt's son. As the only girl alongside 3 brothers, Kate had to learn to be tough! She was also an entertainer, right from a young age. She says of her birth: "I shot out of her [Goldie's] belly like a little fireball, ready to conquer." As a child Kate was always putting on shows, and singing and dancing. Goldie put her in dance class when she was 3, and Kate says she has "been in class ever since." Kate recalls: "She (Goldie) always told me I was the easiest child in the world. Like I always knew when I wanted to eat. I was never a picky child. Really talkative. I had this big personality. It was a lot of, you know: 'Hey, watch me sing this song! Hey, watch me perform this play!'" Kate was a happy and confident child, which she has put down to her parents love and her grounded upbringing. She remembers: "We would go on vacation to Hawaii and my mum would lose sight of me. Then she would see this four year old chatting to the bartender, ordering a Virgin Piña Colada. She says I was a piece of work."

Being raised by two Hollywood superstars, one may expect Kate to be a bit of a spoilt child, spending her childhood in front of the camera. For Kate however, this was not the case. She admits she "grew up on a movie set", but didn't get special treatment, and even helped out where she could - "I'd go to work a lot with my mum, but it wasn't anything glamorous. There was always so much energy on the sets. I remember my favourite time was on the movie Overboard, because there were lots of kids and it felt like summer camp. Whenever I finished being tutored, I'd help out. I was always in the make-up trailer, or I was in the wardrobe, or I was helping the camera guys. I never grew tired of it." There was the occassional downside of her parents fame, and at the age of 3 1/2 she had her first bad experience with the press - after going out to celebrate Goldie's birthday at a Moroccan restaurant in Hollywood, Kurt tried to avoid a swarm of photographers by sneaking his family out of a back entrance, but it didn't work, and "Ten paparazzi guys were waiting for us. I remember running screaming to the car. I was terrified, because I didn't know what these people wanted."

One of the most striking features of Kate's personality is how grounded she is. This is rooted in the way her parents bought her up, and Kate has always been very clear on this, and appreciative of it: "I was very lucky, because we were never spoiled as kids. One of the big things growing up was that my parents were adamant about us understanding just how lucky we were. We never got any perks. My parents challenged us all the time as far as making us do our chores and not giving us expensive things without working for them."

Kate maintains that she always knew she wanted to act, though at one point it looked like her future may be in a different area. Kate developed an interest in soccer (football) and got to be very good at it. Growing up with 3 brothers, she always had something to compete against, and Kurt coached her and cheered her on (very) enthusiastically! But she moved away from the sport when she realised her legs were getting "quite large"! A part of her wishes she was still in competetive sport, because it is part of her nature, but she decided to continue following her true passion ...

At the age of 10 Goldie took Kate to an audition for a TV sitcom, "just so I could see what it was like," says Kate. "You know, as a kid, your parents want to make you feel like what you want to do is an important thing. And I did my audition - I'd practiced and practiced." Kate got the part - but Goldie turned the role down and didn't tell Kate until a year later. But from that point on Goldie put her daughter in acting class and Santa Monica Playhouse. In 1995 at the age of 16, Kate "was acting up a little bit. You know - I'm free and I can do what I want!" In the summer of that year, Goldie firmly told Kate that she was sending her to the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Kate protested, but Goldie promised her "'It will be the best experience of your life." Goldie was proved right, and Williamstown fuelled Kate's desire to act - "I saw how hard you have to work; if you love it so much, you put your heart into it, and that's how you succeed at it." When Kurt asked her why she wanted to act, she replied simply "because I love it".

In 1996 Kate landed her first on screen role, in the hit series Party Of Five. She only appeared in one episode, but it lead to another TV role, in the cop drama EZ Streets. Determined to succeed through her own hard work, she turned down a role in Kurt's film 'Escape To LA' (1996), explaining "I didn't want to be professionally associated with my dad. I just wanted to see if I could do the audition." After graduating from Crossroads School of Arts and Sciences, Santa Monica in 1997, Kate was accepted to NYU's Tisch School of Drama. She decided to defer a year, and went in search of getting more acting experience. Around this time Kate gained her first modelling job, for Tommy Hilfiger.

Roles in two small films followed - Desert Blue and Ricochet River (both 1998). In 1999 Kate appeared in the ensemble drama 200 Cigarettes, alongside such well known faces as Ben Affleck, Courtney Love, and Christina Ricci. Despite the film's poor reviews, it increased Kate's profile. The following year was set to make her a star.

Starting out 2000 Kate was almost famous, and could be seen in teen thriller Gossip and cute Irish romantic comedy About Adam. Later that year she was part of another ensemble cast in Robert Altman's Dr T & the Women. But her real breakthrough came from Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe's 1970's-set rock'n'roll film. Kate proved her talent with a mesmerising and heartbreaking performance as loyal but lonely "groupie" Penny Lane. She was initially cast as William's sister, Anita (the part which eventually went to Zoey Deschanel), but persuaded Cameron Crowe to let her take on the central role of Penny - "He couldn’t picture me in the role, even though I kept on telling him I could see myself as Penny Lane. He finally allowed me to audition, but it was a long process. I feel extremely blessed that Cameron took a chance on me." Kate dazzled the critics with her performance, and she received numerous awards and nominations, most notably a Golden Globe win, and an Academy Award nomination, both in 2001. Kate was a frontrunner for the Academy Award, but unfortunately lost out to Marcia Gay Harden on the night. It wasn't the end of her world though, nor her career, according to her Pa - "It was the most incredible experience. You can't imagine. 21 and being nominated for an Oscar is unbelievable. To me, I was just in shock. It was an incredible moment. When I lost, I just kind of went, "Okay," and my dad was saying, "Well, congratulations. Welcome to your life and welcome to the rest of your career." Despite this disappointment, Almost Famous had put Kate's career on a whole new level, and suddenly she had Hollywood at her feet!

2000/1 wasn't just a great year for her professionally, though. In early 2000 Kate met Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson at a party in New York. She knew it was the real deal very early on - "We kind of met, and that was it. Every rule just went out the window. We were telling each other we loved each other by the fourth day. I moved in in a week." The two started dating, and after a whirlwind romance, the couple married in a small ceremony in Colarado on December 31st 2000.

After the massive success of Almost Famous, Kate was careful to choose her next role. She was offered the role of Mary-Jane in Spiderman, but turned it down in favor of The Four Feathers, saying it was not the right time for her to do a movie as big as Spiderman. Upon the advice of her mother, Kate took a year out to "just be a wife". The war-time drama The Four Feathers, co-starring Australian actor Heath Ledger and under the direction of Shekhar Kapur, had a huge budget, but unfortunately did not make it up at the box office, instead turning out as a critical and commercial failure. Incidentally, it was released the same day as Goldie's groupie-movie, The Banger Sisters, with Goldie beating Kate at the box office that week. Kate decided to try something new in her career next, opting for the romantic comedy How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, co-starring Matthew McConaughey. The film was released in February 2003 to massive commercial success. Kate generated lots of laughs with her perfect comic timing, and had some great on screen chemistry with Matthew. How To Lose A Guy is Kate's biggest film to date, having grossed well over $170m worldwide. As a result, Kate's popularity and fame soared. 2003 gave us two more Kate movies - romantic comedy Alex & Emma with Kate playing a stenographer opposite author with writers-block Luke Wilson; and the classy Le Divorce, in which Kate and Naomi Watts played sisters in France, dealing with Naomi's characters divorce. Both gained mixed reviews and performed moderately at the box office. In between promoting these movies, Kate found time to film family romantic comedy Raising Helen, during which she fell pregnant!

Kate admits she was a "jolly" pregnant woman, and made the most of her cravings (sour food). She also loved the idea of maternity clothes - "I've been waiting for this moment. I can't wait until it's time to find fun and stylish maternity wear. I'm actually more excited about dressing as a pregnant woman. You get to present something so completely female." From being a flat-chested girl before, Kate embraced her new curves, and expressed her delight at her new "bosoms"! She put on 60lbs whilst pregnant. On January 7th 2004 Kate gave birth to Ryder Russell Robinson. "I can't wait to bring a little human being onto this planet! When it happens, it will be the most beautiful thing in the world."

Whilst enjoying the first few months of motherhood, Kate also had to work hard to lose her pregnancy weight, as she was due to start another film in April. The producers of The Skeleton Key had put the film on hold, waiting for her to come back to work after her pregnancy. Kate admitted that losing the weight was hard - "I'd lose 20lb then I wouldn't lose any weight for two weeks. I'd be working out and working out, having no reward. I was breastfeeding so I was sore. I was tired, and I'd cry on the treadmill." Kate's only film release of 2004 was family comedy/drama Raising Helen. The film received mixed reviews but most agreed that Kate brightened up the film.

Kate spent much of 2004 and 2005 on the road with Chris and Ryder (who instantly took to the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, according to Kate!), touring with Chris' band. In early 2005 Kate did her bit for the One campaign, featuring in an advert along with other famous faces. In the summer of 2005 Kate went back to work to promote her new supernatural-thriller movie The Skeleton Key. Speaking about the film, Kate said it resonated with her because "This movie's based on things that I believe really exist. Those to me are the scariest movies. That's why I loved this movie when I read it. It can stretch your imagination or it can heighten what you think can be reality." Kate gave a strong performance playing against the usual perky blonde image she'd created after a string of romantic comedies, and the film brought in just over $90m worldwide at the box office. Later that year, it was announced she was taking legal action against a number of publications for claiming she had an eating disorder, and in July 2006 she won a "massive payment" from the British National Enquirer. Kate explained that she had sued to save "impressionable young girls" from thinking an eating disorder was something to be taken lightly - "There are lines that are drawn and lines that are crossed and that's completely inappropriate and not something to be taken lightly. It's not something to be rumoured, it's a serious problem. I don’t want little girls thinking that (an eating disorder) should be taken lightly, either. It’s a real horrible thing. People struggle with it all the time.”

Kate teamed up with funny-man Owen Wilson next, to film the comedy You, Me and Dupree in Hawaii. She kept a low profile after that, untilshe started the promotional rounds for the comedy. Opening in July 2006, You, Me and Dupree took in over $75m at the US box office, making it her biggest hit since How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. This success was overshadowed by the August news that Kate and Chris were separating, after 5 and a half years of marriage. Few details were released at the time, but within days the press were claiming Kate had had an affair with Owen Wilson. Owen was quick to deny his involvement. Perhaps signalling they twosome were working it out, Kate and Chris were photographed out with Ryder soon after their separation announcement. Once seen as a rock solid, down-to-earth couple, only time will tell what's really going on with them.

Events in late 2006 confirmed that Kate was seeing Owen Wilson - literally, at least! The twosome were photographed eating out together in October, and candid shots of Kate & Owen out and about together continued to appear. In May 2007 Kate attended the after party of Owen's latest movie 'The Wendall Baker Story' - their first official public appearance together. Fellow party-goers reported seeing them being close all night, kissing and dancing to the classic rock songs being played. However, only a few weeks later it was reported that they had split up. No reason has been given but it seems possible that Owen's womanising ways were partly to blame.

During all this, Kate spent a few months in Australia to film the action-adventure-comedy-romance Fool's Gold, which re-unites her with her How To Lose A Guy co-star Matthew McConaughey. The film is due for release in February 2008 and promises to be a big success with movie-goers. Kate is also in line to star in A Dream Of Red Mansions, Sleight Of Mind and Bride Wars, although firm details about these projects have yet to be released. With this collection of projects, it looks like Kate's career is set to enter an exciting new phase.

Biography written by the Kate Hudson Heaven webmistress. Do not reproduce without permission.