Beginning her career as a child actor, Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Birds Eye frozen peas.

Kensit achieved further success in her breakthrough role as Suzette in the musical film Absolute Beginners (1986) and as Rika van den Haas in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) before starring in the films Blue Tornado (1991), Timebomb (1991), Twenty-One (1991), Blame It on the Bellboy (1992), Bitter Harvest (1993), Full Eclipse (1993), Angels & Insects (1995), Love and Betrayal (1995) and Grace of My Heart (1996).

Following a return to television, between 2004 and 2006, Kensit played the role of Sadie King in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale and then that of Faye Morton in the BBC One medical drama Holby City from 2007 to 2010, and again for an episode in 2019.

Kensit was nominated for the Young Artist Award for Best Juvenile Actress in a Motion Picture for her role in Hanover Street (1979).

Patricia Jude Francis Kensit was born on 4 March 1968, at the General Lying-In Hospital, Lambeth, to James and Margaret Rose (née Doohan).

Her mother was a secretary at Dior and former model, who had previously dated Aga Khan IV,[2] while Kensit's father was a close associate of both the Kray Twins and the Richardson Gang, earning himself the nickname "Jimmy the Dip", and was involved in the Great Train Robbery.

Following that, Kensit had a leading role in the 1976 Soviet-American co-production, The Blue Bird, and she struck up a friendship with actress and co-star Elizabeth Taylor.

In 1983, with her brother Jamie Kensit, she helped set up the band Eighth Wonder, which included Steve Grantley and Geoff Beauchamp.

In November 1987, she sang a duet with the Italian singer and songwriter Eros Ramazzotti, entitled La luce buona delle stelle ("The Good Light of the Stars").

In 1988, Kensit's band Eighth Wonder had two Top 40 singles: "I'm Not Scared", written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe and produced by the Pet Shop Boys and Phil Harding (for PWL), which reached Number 7 in the British charts.

Although the band's success quickly waned, Kensit focused solely on her acting career, appearing in the 1989 film Lethal Weapon 2 as Rika van den Haas, a South African consulate secretary with whom detective Martin Riggs, played by Mel Gibson, falls in love.

[10] In 1992, she had a leading role in the British film Blame it on the Bellboy as Miss Carolyn Wright, a desperate estate agent in Venice who would stop at nothing to clinch a deal.

In 1995, Kensit starred with Kristin Scott Thomas and Mark Rylance in Angels & Insects, which was directed by Philip Haas, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Costume Design.

In September and October 2005, Kensit appeared as a celebrity contestant in Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon, progressing through to Play Your Cards Right, before being eliminated by Carol Vorderman.

She appeared as the Grand High Witch of all the World at the Children's Party at the Palace in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's 80th birthday in 2006.

[11] In January 2007, Kensit joined the BBC One medical drama Holby City as ward sister Faye Morton.

In November 2022, it was announced that Kensit would join the cast of the BBC soap opera EastEnders as Emma Harding, the biological mother of Lola Pearce (Danielle Harold).

Kensit and Kerr divorced in 1996, and in April 1997, she married Liam Gallagher from the band Oasis, at Marylebone Town Hall.