Kate Winslet Gets Mistaken for This Fellow Actress “A Lot”—But Calls the Mix-Up “A Huge Compliment”

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 2 March 2024

Kate Winslet is an Academy Award winner, a star of blockbuster films like Titanic, and a Hollywood veteran of over 25 years, but she still gets mistaken for another Kate (well, in this case, Cate) in the business—Cate Blanchett, to be exact.

Cate Blanchett and Kate Winslet — Winslet said she often gets mistaken for Blanchett, but takes it as a huge compliment

Winslet said the mix-up “happens a lot,” but it doesn’t upset her—in fact, she said, it “is a huge compliment,” per People. Winslet was at the premiere of her forthcoming HBO show The Regime when she told Access Hollywood that not only does the confusion happen frequently, but that she goes along with it: “I say ‘Oh, thank you so much,’” she said. “And they say, ‘Loved you in Elizabeth,’ and I say, ‘Thank you. That’s so kind.’ And she gets the same thing, where people will say to her, ‘Loved you in Sense and Sensibility,’ or ‘Loved you in Titanic.’” Showing reverence to her fellow Oscar winner, Winslet added “To be mistaken for Cate Blanchett is a huge compliment. So, no, I’ll take it. I’ll take it.”

Both Winslet and Blanchett were on The Graham Norton Show last week, and Blanchett confirmed that it’s not just Winslet who gets mistaken for her: “I get it all the time,” Blanchett said of being mistaken for her fellow Cate/Kate. “People will say, ‘Is it you? Is it you?’ and I say, ‘Yes. I think so.’ And then they say, ‘I loved you in Titanic.’”

Cate Blanchett at the BAFTAs — Blanchett at the 2024 BAFTAs

Winslet recently opened up to PORTER about struggling with fame early in her career, dealing with especially difficult scrutiny on the heels of Titanic’s 1997 release. “I felt like I had to look a certain way, or be a certain thing, and because media intrusion was so significant at that time, my life was quite unpleasant,” she said. “Journalists would always say, ‘After Titanic, you could have done anything and yet you chose to do these small things.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, you bet your life I did! Because guess what? Being famous was horrible.’”

Winslet’s The Regime premieres tomorrow at 9 p.m. Eastern on HBO, and will stream on Max.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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