Kate Winslet's best roles

A rentable selection of her best performances

She plays: Juliet, a poor little rich girl in New Zealand, caught up with her best friend in a fantasy life that leads them to commit a shocking murder. Based on a true story, this imaginative gem puts the 17-year-old Winslet's acting promise on full display, even though she's the arm candy.

She plays: Impetuous little sister Marianne to Emma Thompson's buttoned-up Eleanor in the best Jane Austen screen adaptation ever. Winslet's ruddy-cheeked, lovelorn desperation transcends period drama to strike directly at the heart of every romantic naif who ever fell for a cad. She won a British Academy Award for this role, and her first Oscar nomination.

She plays: Maddy LeClerc, laundress and confidante to the imprisoned Marquis de Sade. Winslet nearly steals the show from scenery- gnawing Geoffrey Rush. In danger of tumbling from the crest of her post-"Titanic" wave after a couple of so-so movies, she proved once again that she was one to watch, despite impending corset-era typecasting.

She plays: The young version of English novelist Iris Murdoch, whose husband chronicled her Alzheimer's descent. Winslet held her own against the formidable Judi Dench, who played the older Murdoch, and furthered her smarty-pants- firebrand franchise.

She plays: Freewheeling Clementine, who with her ex-lover (Jim Carrey) has undergone a memory-erasing process in this Charlie Kaufman brain-bender. Winslet made her an aggressive child-woman who changes her hair color like other people change their socks.

She plays: Sarah, a role similar to April in "Revolutionary Road," but set in the present day. Winslet and Patrick Wilson, playing a pair of disaffected suburban adulterers, appeared on a recent Entertainment Weekly cover for the "top 100 movie sex scenes." That's the least important reason to see this film (though they're pretty steamy). Winslet is subtly mesmerizing as a woman enslaved by her own psychologically imposed limitations.