Kate Beckinsale

Actress Kate Beckinsale is seen at The Museum of Contemporary Art's 30th anniversary gala in Los Angeles on Nov. 14, 2009. The British actrress attended Oxford University while working on her movie career. She twice won the British bookseller W.H. Smith Young Writers' competition - once for three short stories and once for three poems. Both awards came while she still was in her teens.

Credit: AP