Winslet Among Time's 100 Most Influential People For 'Mare' Role

DELAWARE COUNTY, PA — Kate Winslet stunned the nation with her performance in the hit HBO series "Mare of Easttown" playing a heavily accented Delaware County detective probing a young mother's murder.

Now, Winslet is among Time Magazine's 100 most influential people thanks to her work in portraying a Delconian struggling to balance a murder investigation, family, friends, and love.

Winslet herself told time making "Mare" was an extraordinary experience.

"It's been really overwhelming, the reaction to 'Mare,'" she said, "and largely unexpected."

The show boasts a 94 percent "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is up for six Emmy awards this year, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. "Mare of Easttown" creator and Main Line native Brad Ingelsby is also up for the Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Emmy.

The final episode brought in 1.5 million viewers.

"We always had a great script and a really compelling story, but you can only guess whether or not an audience is going to respond to that," she told Time. "And I think people responded to how flawed Mare is because that's real life. She struck a chord with people and sort of felt like the way we've all been feeling for the last 18 months now with the pandemic."

She went on to say the character embodies real women who don't need to reach "some strange idea of perfection that doesn't exist."

"It means a lot to be sort of shifting that dynamic of how women can be portrayed on film, on television," she said. "It's just very, very rewarding."

Writing for Time, British actor-director-writer Kenneth Branagh said Winslet's "Mare" performance was "magnificent to watch."

"Kate Winslet disappears, and Mare emerges complete, without vanity or artifice," he wrote.

See Time's piece on Winslet and "Mare of Easttown here.