English actress gains the French trust at the start (7)

I believe the answer is:

winslet

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'english actress' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.

'gains the french trust at the start' is the wordplay.
'gains' becomes 'wins' (win is a kind of gain).
'the french' becomes 'le'.
'at the start' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'trust' is 't'.
'wins'+'le'+'t'='WINSLET'

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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