She starred in the highest-grossing film in history. Then she immediately took a role that required her character to urinate on herself. It wasn't career suicide — it was the smartest move she ever made.

In this episode, we trace the precise, counterintuitive strategies Kate Winslet used to build one of the most durable careers in modern cinema. We start in a working-class English household supported by an actors' charity, follow a bullied teenager through a deli job and a 175-to-1 audition for a Peter Jackson film about a real teenage murderer, and watch Ang Lee physically rewire her performance instincts through tai chi and gothic literature before she turned 20.

Then comes Titanic — hypothermia, near-drowning, four hours of sleep, and the death of a former partner during production. She skips the premiere to attend his funeral. The ...