The science fiction romance Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), in which Winslet was cast against type in a contemporary setting, proved to be a turning point in her career, and she gained further recognition for her performances in Finding Neverland (2004), Little Children (2006), The Holiday (2006), Revolutionary Road (2008), and The Reader (2008).

In 2022, she produced and starred in the single drama "I Am Ruth", winning two BAFTA TV Awards, and played a supporting role through motion capture in Cameron's top-grossing science fiction film Avatar: The Way of Water.

[9][15] At school, she was made head girl, took part in productions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and played the lead role of Wendy Darling in Peter Pan.

[17][18] In 1991, within two weeks of finishing her GCSE examinations, Winslet made her screen debut as one of the main cast members of the BBC science fiction television series Dark Season written by Russell T Davies.

[35] While promoting Heavenly Creatures in Los Angeles, Winslet auditioned for the minor part of Lucy Steele for a 1995 film adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility, written by and starring Emma Thompson.

[36] David Parkinson of Radio Times considered Winslet to be a standout among the cast, and Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle took note of how well she portrayed her character's growth and maturity.

[36] Twenty-year-old Winslet was intimidated by the experience of performing Shakespeare with established actors such as Branagh and Julie Christie, saying the job required a level of intellect that she thought she did not possess.

[47][48] Writing for Newsweek, David Ansen commended Winslet for capturing her character's zeal with delicacy,[49] and Mike Clark of USA Today considered her to be the film's prime asset.

[52][57] Janet Maslin of The New York Times credited Winslet for her decision to follow-up Titanic with such an offbeat project and highlighted how well she captured her character's "obliviousness and optimism".

[52][60] David Rooney of Variety wrote, "Showing the kind of courage few young thesps would be capable of and an extraordinary range ... from animal cunning to unhinged desperation, [Winslet] holds nothing back.

[63][64] In Quills (2000), a biopic of the erratic Marquis de Sade, starring Geoffrey Rush and Joaquin Phoenix, Winslet played the supporting role of a sexually repressed laundress working in a mental asylum.

[65][66] Hailing her as the "most daring actress working today", James Greenberg of Los Angeles magazine praised Winslet for "continuing to explore the bounds of sexual liberation".

[83][84] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone described it as a "uniquely funny, unpredictably tender and unapologetically twisted romance" and found Winslet to be "electrifying and bruisingly vulnerable" in it.

[96] Within three months of giving birth to her second child, Winslet returned to work on Romance & Cigarettes, a musical romantic comedy directed by John Turturro, in which she played Tula, a promiscuous and foul-mouthed woman.

[103] A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote that Winslet successfully "registers every flicker of Sarah's pride, self-doubt and desire, inspiring a mixture of recognition, pity and concern".

[111] After reading Justin Haythe's script for Revolutionary Road, an adaptation of Richard Yates's debut novel, Winslet recommended the project to her then-husband, director Sam Mendes, and her Titanic co-star Leonardo DiCaprio.

It is about the titular heroine (Winslet), a divorcée during the Great Depression struggling to establish a restaurant business while yearning for the respect of her narcissistic daughter (played by Evan Rachel Wood).

[144][145] Set in a dystopian future, the adaptation of Veronica Roth's young adult novel stars Shailene Woodley as a heroine fighting an oppressive regime headed by Winslet's character.

[45][161][162] Peter Howell of the Toronto Star commended Winslet for finding "strength and grace" in her part, and Gregory Ellwood of HitFix thought she improved on Hoffman's characterisation.

[176] When asked during the film's promotion about her decision to work with Allen despite an allegation of child sexual abuse against him, Winslet chose not to comment on the filmmaker's personal life but said she was pleased with the collaboration.

[177] In 2019, Winslet provided her voice to Moominvalley, an animated television series about the Moomins, and took on a leading role alongside Susan Sarandon and Mia Wasikowska in Blackbird, a remake of the Danish film Silent Heart (2014).

[177] Caryn James of the BBC credited Winslet for portraying Anning as "stern and brittle but immensely sympathetic" and considered her "contained, potent performance" to be one of the best of her career, and Manuel Betancourt of New York magazine welcomed it as a "return to form".

[195] She starred with her daughter Mia Threapleton in an improvised feature-length episode of the Channel 4 anthology series I Am..., titled "I Am Ruth", about the negative effects of social media.

[216] Winslet was voted one of the 50 greatest actors of all time in a 2022 readers' poll by Empire; the magazine termed her "a dramatic force, turning her hand to all kinds of periods and genres with an inimitable sense of dignity and strength".

[217] Winslet belongs to a group of esteemed British actresses who are typically showing "restraint, rendering emotions through intellect rather than feelings, and a sense of irony, which demonstrates the heroine's superior understanding".

[219] The journalist Mark Harris writes that she specialises in "unsentimentalized, restless, troubled, discontented, disconcerted, difficult women" and John Hiscock of The Daily Telegraph has identified a theme of characters who are free-spirited with a sexual edge to them.

[11][111] Anthony Lane of The New Yorker associates Winslet with stubbornness, writing that "the set of her jaw and the blaze of her glance suggest a self-freeing spirit who knows the path ahead and is determined to take it".

[235] While holidaying at Richard Branson's estate on Necker Island in 2011, Winslet met his nephew Edward Abel Smith (legally known as Ned Rocknroll from 2008 to 2019)[1] during a house fire.

[268] Jo Ellison of Vogue writes that she has an "authoritative, almost ambassadorial aura", and Kira Cochrane of The Guardian considers her to be "articulate, sophisticated, [with] a definite hint of grandeur".

[277] In an effort to encourage natural ageing, she formed the British Anti-Cosmetic Surgery League, alongside fellow actresses Emma Thompson and Rachel Weisz.