Kate Garry Hudson (born April 19, 1979) is an American film actress. She came to fame in 2000, after an Oscar-nominated role in the drama Almost Famous, and has since established herself as a Hollywood lead actress, starring in several successful films, including How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Skeleton Key, and You, Me, and Dupree.
 
 Hudson's breakthrough role was as Penny Lane in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous (2000), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. She had previously appeared in the lesser-known films Gossip, a teenage drama, and 200 Cigarettes, a New Year's-set comedy with a large cast of actors. Regarding her early career and success, Hudson has noted that she is a "hard worker", and did not want to be associated with her well-known parents, wishing to avoid the perception that she "rode on somebody's coattails".
 
 Hudson turned down the part of Mary Jane Watson in the 2002 film version of Spider-Man, and instead starred in remake of the historical romance The Four Feathers, a film which was not well received by critics or audiences. Her next film, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, a romantic comedy, became a big success at the box office, grossing over $100 million after its February 2003 release. Hudson subsequently appeared in several romantic comedies, including Alex and Emma and Raising Helen; the films met with varying degrees of success.
 
 Hudson headlined a thriller called The Skeleton Key in 2005. The film, which had a production budget of $43 million, enjoyed box office success, grossing over $91.9 million worldwide ($47.9 million in the US alone). Her later film, a comedy titled You, Me and Dupree and co-starring Owen Wilson and Matt Dillon, grossed $21.5 million on its opening weekend of 14 July 2006, within industry expectations.
 
 In 2007 Hudson directed the short film Cutlass, one of Glamour magazine's "Reel Moments" based on readers' personal essays. Cutlass co-stars Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Virginia Madsen, Chevy Chase and Kristen Stewart.