Kate Hudson (born April 19, 1979) is an American actress and businesswoman. She has received awards and nominations, including Golden Globe Award, a Critics’ Choice Movie Award and Satellite Award, as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Hudson made her film debut in the 1998 drama Desert Blue, which was followed by supporting roles in 200 Cigarettes (1999), Dr. T & the Women, and Gossip (2000).
She rose to international prominence with her portrayal of Penny Lane in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous (2000), for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and received Oscar nomination in the same category.
Hudson starred in a succession of romantic comedies, such as Alex & Emma, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (both 2003), You, Me and Dupree (2006), Fool’s Gold, My Best Friend’s Girl (both 2008), and Bride Wars (2009). Her other film credits include The Four Feathers (2002), Raising Helen (2004), The Skeleton Key (2005), Nine (both 2009), The Killer Inside Me (2010), Something Borrowed (2011), The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013), Rock the Kasbah (2015), Deepwater Horizon, Mother’s Day (both 2016), Marshall (2017), Music (2021), and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022).
On TV, she played the recurring role of Cassandra July on the hit series Glee (2012–13).
Hudson is the co-founder of the fitness brand and membership program Fabletics, operated by TechStyle Fashion Group. In 2016, Hudson released her first non-fiction book, Pretty Happy: Healthy Ways to Love Your Body. This was followed in 2017 by “Pretty Fun: Creating and Celebrating a Lifetime of Tradition.”
Hudson was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Oscar-winning actress Goldie Hawn and Bill Hudson, an actor, comedian, and musician.
Her parents divorced when she was 18 months, and she and her older brother, actor Oliver Hudson, were raised in Snowmass, Colorado, and Pacific Palisades, California by her mother and her longtime boyfriend, actor Kurt Russell.
Hudson’s ancestry is Italian (paternal grandmother), Hungarian Jewish (maternal grandmother), and the remainder a mix of English and some German. She was raised Jewish; like her mother, she also practices Buddhism.
Hudson has stated that her biological father “doesn’t know me from a hole in the wall”, and she considers Russell her father. Hudson has described her mother as “the woman that I’ve learned the most from, and who I look up to, who has conducted her life in a way that I can look up to”.
She has four half-siblings: Emily and Zachary Hudson, from her biological father’s later marriage to actress Cindy Williams; Lalania Hudson, from his relationship with another woman; and Wyatt Russell, from her mother’s relationship with Kurt Russell.
In 1997, she graduated from Crossroads, a college preparatory school in Santa Monica. She was accepted to NYU, but chose to pursue acting career instead of an undergraduate degree.
At age 11, Hudson performed on stage at the Santa Monica Playhouse. She made her film debut in the dramedy Desert Blue (1998), and subsequently appeared in the romantic comedy 200 Cigarettes (1999). She took on the roles of a college student in the psychological thriller Gossip, the lesbian daughter of the titular character in the dramedy Dr. T & the Women and one of the lead roles in the romantic comedy About Adam, all of which were released throughout 2000.
Her breakthrough came with the role of a vgroupie in Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical dramedy Almost Famous (2000). She “hung in and had turned down leads in other movies just to play the part” and soon obtained it “because of her loyalty,” according to Crowe.[16] For her performance, she won the Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
She worked hard in avoiding association with her well-known parents, as she did not want to be perceived as someone who “rode on somebody’s coattails”.
In 2002, Hudson appeared in the remake of the historical romance The Four Feathers, as the fiancée of a young British officer (Heath Ledger). The film was panned by critics and had lukewarm box office.
In the romantic comedy How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), Hudson starred with Matthew McConaughey, as a writer for a women’s magazine who, for an article, starts dating a guy and trying to drive him away using only the “classic mistakes women make” in relationships. The film was box office success, grossing over $100 million upon its release. She also starred opposite Naomi Watts in the Merchant-Ivory film Le Divorce (2003), portraying a woman who, with her sister, dispute the ownership of a painting by Georges de La Tour with the family of her former brother-in-law.
Her romantic comedies, Alex & Emma (2003), in which she played a stubborn stenographer, and Raising Helen (2004), as a young woman who becomes the guardian of her deceased sister’s children, were released to varying degrees of success.
In 2005, Hudson starred in the supernatural thriller The Skeleton Key, as young hospice nurse who acquires a job at New Orleans plantation home, and becomes entangled in supernatural mystery. The film was a box office hit, grossing over $91.9 million worldwide ($47.9 million in US).
In You, Me and Dupree, in 2006, she appeared with Owen Wilson and Matt Dillon as one half of a couple who allows unemployed friend to move in. It eventually made $130.4 million worldwide.
In the romantic comedy Fool’s Gold (2008), her second film with Matthew McConaughey, Hudson played divorced woman who returns with her former husband while searching for lost treasure. She was certified in scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef for the underwater scenes. The film mad $111.2 million worldwide.
In My Best Friend’s Girl, another romantic comedy released in 2008, Hudson played the colleague of amiable guy (Jason Biggs). Despite negative reviews, it was a moderate commercial success.
Hudson starred in Bride Wars (2009), alongside Anne Hathaway, playing two best friends who become rivals after their weddings are scheduled on the same day. The film was named among the 10 worst chick flicks of all time by Time in 2010, but was successful financially, grossing $114.6 million globally.
In the musical Nine, directed by Rob Marshall, she played a Vogue fashion journalist, alongside Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, and Judi Dench. Hudson garnered praise for her dancing skills, showcased in a 1960s-inspired original called “Cinema Italiano.”
Hudson starred with Casey Affleck and Jessica Alba, as the wife of West Texas serial killer, in the film adaptation The Killer Inside Me, which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Fest.
In 2011, Hudson played a quick-witted, carefree ad executive in the romantic comedy A Little Bit of Heaven, and a party girl in another romantic comedy, Something Borrowed, based on Emily Giffin’s novel. Both were dismissed as “feckless duds.”
In 2012, Hudson was cast on the Fox teen comedy series Glee, in the recurring role of Cassandra July, a dance teacher at the fictitious New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts.
In 2013, Hudson appeared in the political thriller The Reluctant Fundamentalist, as a photographer and the girlfriend of professor at the University of Lahore.
In 2014, she starred in the comedy Wish I Was Here, as the wife of struggling actor, and the thriller Good People, as one half of a couple who fall into severe debt while renovating their family’s home. The aforementioned films received limited release and mixed reviews from critics.
In Rock the Kasbah (2015), Hudson played top-hatted hooker with a heart of gold who befriends a has-been actor manager (Bill Murray) in Afghanistan. Despite $15 million budget, the film only made $3 million at the North American box office.
Hudson voiced a crazy ribbon-dancing panda in the DreamWorks Animation film Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016), which grossed $521.1 million globally, and became her most widely seen film.
She starred as a woman married to an Indian man and the sister of a lesbian woman, both of which had not told their conservative parents, in the romantic comedy Mother’s Day (2016), directed by Garry Marshall and opposite Julia Roberts, Timothy Olyphant, and Jason Sudeikis. The film was panned by critics and was a moderate commercial success.
She next played the wife of a chief electronics technician (Mark Wahlberg) in the drama Deepwater Horizon, based on the Deepwater Horizon explosion. While critical response was positive, the film was only slightly profitable, making $121.8 million on a budget of $110 million.
In the 2017 film Marshall, Hudson portrayed employer accusing her black chauffeur of rape. It received positive reviews from critics but found limited audience.
In 2019, she starred in Blood Moon, a fantasy-adventure film by writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour.
In 2021, Hudson co-starred as Kazu Gamble in Music, co-written and directed by Sia. received her second Golden Globe nomination for her work on the film.
She will also star alongside Michael Shannon in Shriver directed by Michael Maren.
In 2022, Hudson co-starred in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, playing the role of Birdie, a Manhattan supermodel turned fashion designer involved in murder mystery.
In 2013, Hudson, in partnership with online fashion retailer TechStyle Fashion Group, launched her own line of workout clothes and active wear, Fabletics, which currently operates 25 stores in the US. The venture became her focus: “I work more on Fabletics now than I do on movies.”[59]
In 2016, Hudson released her first book, Pretty Happy: Healthy Ways to Love Your Body. In 2017, she released her second book, Pretty Fun: Creating and Celebrating a Lifetime of Tradition.
In August 2018, Hudson and New York & Company announced their partnership, a multi-year deal to represent the ambassador for the company’s $200 million Soho Jeans collection, and to develop her own fashion line.
In 2018, Hudson collaborated with her mother Goldie to create a capsule collection, with 50 percent of net proceeds to benefit MindUP, a program within the Goldie Hawn Foundation.
In November 2019, Hudson launched King St. Vodka, vodka from California. A podcast, Sibling Revelry, by Kate and her brother Oliver, resulted in “playfully bickering” while promoting it on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in 2022.
In early 2006, Hudson sued the British version of the National Enquirer after it reported she had eating disorder, describing her as “painfully thin.” The newspaper apologized and compensated her.
Hudson does not enjoy seeing herself on screen: “I get cold and I shake and I sweat” when watching her performances for the first time.
In 2016, Hudson said: “Meditation has been the most helpful and life-changing thing for me. You can feel the difference when you meditate on a regular basis.
Hudson married Chris Robinson, the front man for the Black Crowes, on December 31, 2000, in Aspen, Colorado. Their son was born in January 2004. They traveled together during Hudson’s film shoots and Robinson’s music tours. On November 18, 2006, Robinson filed divorce papers, citing “irreconcilable differences”. The divorce was finalized on October 22, 2007, with Hudson granted joint custody.
In early 2010, Hudson began dating Muse front man Matt Bellamy. They became engaged in April 2011 and their son was born in July 2011. On December 9, 2014, they had ended their engagement. They are reported to be on good terms with one another and co-parenting their son.
In December 2016, Hudson had her first date with Danny Fujikawa, a musician, actor, and co-owner of record company. They met when she was 23, through her best friends, Sara Foster and Erin Foster, who are his stepsisters. On October 2, 2018, via Instagram, she announced the birth of their daughter Rani, whom they named after his grandfather, Ron Fujikawa. On September 13, 2021, they announced their engagement.
