6 MAY 2004            

With her onscreen life currently fizzing – her latest flick Van Helsing has just premiered in the US – Kate Beckinsale has taken on a bubbly new role as the new face of Diet Coke.

The British actress joins Oscar winner Adrien Brody in the new series of ads. Donning a bikini and sipping on a soda, she delivers a stream of bubbles over a gaggle of poolside hunks, sending them plunging into the water.

Kate, 30, whose father, much-loved UK TV actor Richard Beckinsale, was struck down tragically with a heart attack at the age of 32, has become one of Hollywood's hottest properties of late. Past endeavors including Pearl Harbor and Underworld have helped place her firmly on Tinseltown's A list.

Her latest venture sees her in the role of leather-clad vampire hunter opposite X-Men co-star Hugh Jackman. The film goes on general release in the UK and the US on Friday.