The Oscar-winning Titanic star will be presented with the Variety award at the London ceremony in December (15) to mark her global impact on the independent movie industry.

"I am thrilled to be receiving this award and to be in the company of a whole host of brilliant filmmakers and actors, many of whom I'm lucky enough to call friends and colleagues," she says. "It's an honour to be flying the flag for British filmmaking."

"From the beginning of her illustrious film career over 20 years ago, Kate Winslet has never ceased her eagerness to tackle new creative challenges and to turn those challenges into amazing, lasting performances," adds Variety's Steven Gaydos.

Kate follows in the footsteps of previous winners including Helen Mirren, Daniel Craig and Michael Caine.

The prizegiving takes place in London on 6 December (15).

Kate's latest movie Steve Jobs was released this month (Oct15), and it received a slew of top ratings from movie reviewers but garnered criticism from the late Apple boss' friends and family.

Kate recently defended the film and insisted she had the approval of her real-life character, Steve's colleague Joanna Hoffman.

"People obviously are going to react in very sensitive ways," she told U.S. breakfast show Today. "Especially if they have had something very specific to do with Steve's personal life.

"But to be honest, I don't know that those people have seen the film and all I would say is, actually, and this is speaking from Joanna Hoffman herself, who sent me a lovely email when she'd see it. She said, 'It was really lovely to see the real Steve.'

"She's talking about the softer side of him that she got to experience as a friend and the stiller sides of him that I do think the film really does reveal in ways that perhaps they haven't been seen before. He's very much a man and a father in this story, as well as the perfectionist that he was.

"I'm very proud of the film, I have to say. I think it's a very, very honest portrayal of who he really was as a man."