Why Anna Valerious From Van Helsing Looks So Familiar

Beckinsale's first major credited role was in the 1991 television film "One Against the Wind" as Barbe Lindell, the daughter of Marie Lindell (Judy Davis) — a woman working for the French Red Cross in Nazi-occupied France and smuggling Allied pilots out of the country. But it was "Much Ado About Nothing," Kenneth Branagh's 1993 adaptation of Shakespeare's classic play that served as her cinematic debut. Beckinsale played Hero, the obedient and innocent daughter of Leonarto. Serving as a foil to the more outspoken Beatrice (Emma Thompson), she is described as a jewel by Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard). The two fall in love over the course of the film, and are eventually married.

Beckinsale would go on to play starring roles in films like the 1998 dramedy "The Last Days of Disco" and the 1999 drama "Brokedown Palace" opposite Claire Danes. But it would be her next major role that would make her a blockbuster star.