CATE BLANCHETT

'Catherine Élise Blanchett' (born on May 14, 1969) is an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning Australian actress.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Filmography

Awards won

Awards nominated

Quotes

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Blanchett was born in Ivanhoe, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia to Robert Blanchett, a Texas-born United States Navy Petty Officer who later worked in advertising, and June, an Australian schoolteacher. When Blanchett was 10, she lost her father to a heart attack. She has two siblings; the elder, Bob, is a computer systems engineer, and her younger sister, Geneviève, is a theatrical designer. She is of partial French ancestry.

Career

Blanchett attended primary school in Melbourne at Ivanhoe East Primary School before completing secondary education at Methodist Ladies' College, where she explored her passion for acting. She studied economics and fine art at the University of Melbourne before leaving Australia to travel. When she was 18, Blanchett went on a vacation to Egypt. A fellow guest at a cheap hotel in Cairo asked if she wanted to be an extra in a movie, and the next day she found herself in a crowd scene, cheering for an American boxer who was losing to an Egyptian. She walked off from the set. She returned to Australia and later moved to Sydney to study at the National Institute of Dramatic Art; graduating in 1992 and beginning her career in the theatre.
Her first major stage role was opposite Geoffrey Rush in the 1993 David Mamet play ''Oleanna''. She also appeared as Ophelia in an acclaimed 1994–95 Company B production of ''Hamlet'', directed by Neil Armfield, starring Rush and Richard Roxburgh.
Blanchett appeared in the mini-series ''Heartland'' opposite Ernie Dingo, the mini-series ''Bordertown'' and in the ''Police Rescue'' episode, "The Loaded Boy".
She made her film debut as an Australian nurse captured by the Japanese in a production of ''Paradise Road'' directed by Bruce Beresford, co-starring Glenn Close and Frances McDormand.
Blanchett's first high-profile role was as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 movie ''Elizabeth''. This role earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, losing to Gwyneth Paltrow for ''Shakespeare in Love''. However, Blanchett's performance won her a British Academy (BAFTA) Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama.
The following year, Blanchett was nominated for another BAFTA Award for her supporting role in ''The Talented Mr. Ripley''. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2005 for playing Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's ''The Aviator''. This made Blanchett the first person ever to garner an Academy Award for playing a previous Oscar-winning actor/actress.
Already an acclaimed actress, Blanchett received a host of new fans when she appeared in Peter Jackson's ''The Lord of the Rings'' movies. She played the role of the High Elf Queen Galadriel in all three films, which hold the record as the highest grossing film trilogy of all time.^[1]
In 2006 she starred in both ''Babel'' opposite Brad Pitt, and ''Notes on a Scandal'' playing Sheba Hart opposite Dame Judi Dench. Dench won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for playing Elizabeth I, the same year Blanchett lost for playing the same historical figure, albeit in a different category. She received her third Academy Award nomination for her performance in the film (Dench was also Oscar nominated).
Blanchett will reprise her role as Elizabeth I in the upcoming sequel tentatively entitled ''Golden Age''. She is set to star as a young Bob Dylan in the feature film ''I'm Not There''.
As of 2008, she and her husband will commence three-year contracts as artistic co-directors of the Sydney Theatre Company. The contracts include a clause that will allow either of them to take three months out each year to pursue other activities. Blanchett also makes a cameo appearance in the fourth installment to the Indiana Jones sequel.
Blanchett also works as the face of SK-II, the luxury skin care brand owned by Procter & Gamble.
In 2007, Blanchett was listed among Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World.
Also in 2007, Blanchett was named one of the most successful actresses by Forbes.

Personal life

Blanchett's husband is playwright and screenwriter Andrew Upton, whom she met in 1996 while she was performing in a production of ''The Seagull''. They were married the following year 1997. It was not love at first sight, however. "He thought I was aloof and I thought he was arrogant," Blanchett later remarked. "It just shows you how wrong you can be. But once he kissed me that was that." The two were married on December 29, 1997. Their first child, Dashiell John, was born on December 3, 2001; their second child, Roman Robert, was born on April 23, 2004. The younger son received a minor burn injury on May 15, 2005 while the family was in Marrakech, Morocco, for the filming of the movie ''Babel''. After initial treatment there, Blanchett flew with him to London for further treatment.
After making England her main family home for most of the early 2000s, she and her husband returned to their native Australia. In 2006, Blanchett said in a ''Vogue'' interview of November 2006: "Andrew and I realized how much Australia meant to us. We saw the theatre community in Sydney and we felt, well, we know you all; we have worked with many of you. We have tried to live a few other places, but something really hit us in the gut. It's just a feeling about what home is. It became clear to us, particularly after the children were born, that family and the theatrical community in Australia were a large part of who we are."
In 2006 a portrait of Cate Blanchett and family painted by McLean Edwards was a finalist in the Archibald Prize. The prize is awarded for the "best portrait painting preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, Science or Politics". Archibald Prize 07

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes and Awards
'1996'	''Parklands''	Rosie
'1997'	''Oscar and Lucinda''	Lucinda Leplastrier	Nominated for Australian Film Institute award for Best Lead Actress
	''Thank God He Met Lizzie''	Lizzie	Won Australian Film Institute award for Best Supporting Actress
	''Paradise Road''	Susan Macarthy
'1998'	''Elizabeth''	Elizabeth I of England	Nominated for Academy Award for Best Actress Won Golden Globe for Best Actress - Drama Won BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated for SAG award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Won BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress
'1999'	''Bangers''	Julie-Anne
	''The Talented Mr. Ripley''	Meredith Logue	Nominated for BAFTA for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
	''Pushing Tin''	Connie Falzone
	''An Ideal Husband''	Lady Gertrude Chiltern
'2000'	''The Gift''	Annabelle "Annie" Wilson
	''The Man Who Cried''	Lola
'2001'	''The Shipping News''	Petal Quoyle
	''Charlotte Gray''	Charlotte Gray
	''	Galadriel	Nominated for SAG award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast
	''Bandits''	Kate Wheeler	Nominated for Golden Globe for Best Actress - Comedy or Musical Nominated for SAG award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
'2002'	''	Galadriel	Nominated for SAG award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast
	''Heaven''	Philippa
'2003'	''	Galadriel	Won SAG award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast Won BFCA award for Best Acting Ensemble
	''The Missing''	Magdalena 'Maggie' Gilkeson
	''Coffee and Cigarettes''	Herself & Shelly
	''Veronica Guerin''	Veronica Guerin	Nominated for Golden Globe for Best Actress - Drama
'2004'	''The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou''	Jane Winslett-Richardson	Nominated for BFCA award for Best Acting Ensemble
	''The Aviator''	Katharine Hepburn	Won Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Won BAFTA award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Won SAG award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated for BFCA award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated for Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress
'2005'	''Little Fish''	Tracy Heart	Won Australian Film Institute award for Best Lead Actress
'2006'	''Babel''	Susan Jones	Won Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Nominated for SAG award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated for BFCA award for Best Acting Ensemble
	''The Good German	Lena Brandt
	''Notes On A Scandal''	Sheba Hart	Nominated for BFCA award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated for Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated for SAG award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
'2007'	''Hot Fuzz	Janine	Uncredited Cameo
	''	Elizabeth I
	''I'm Not There	Bob Dylan
	''In the Company of Actors''	Self
'2008'	''Indiana Jones 4
	''The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button	Daisy
'2009'	''Fantastic Mr. Fox	Mrs. Fox	Voice

Awards won

★ 1992 Sydney Theatre Critics Award: Best Actress for David Mamet's ''Oleanna''

★ 1993 Sydney Critics Circle Award: Best Newcomer for Timothy Daly's ''Kafka Dances''

★ 1997 AFI Award: Best Actress in a Supporting Role for ''Thank God He Met Lizzie''

★ 1997 Sydney Film Critics Award: Best Supporting Actress for ''Thank God He Met Lizzie''

★ 1998 : Best Actress, Drama, for ''Elizabeth''

★ 1999 BAFTA Award: Best Actress for ''Elizabeth''

★ 2002 Goldene Kamera (a German award): Best Actress

★ 2003 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Best Ensemble Cast for ''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King''

★ 2005 Academy Award - Best Supporting Actress for ''The Aviator''

★ 2005 BAFTA Award: Best Supporting Actress for The ''Aviator''

★ 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Best Supporting Actress for ''The Aviator''

★ 2005 AFI Award: Best Lead Actress for ''Little Fish''

★ 2006 Mo Award: Best Female Actor in a Play for ''Hedda Gabler''

★ 2007 Golden Lion: Best Actress for ''I'm Not There''

Awards nominated

★ 1997 AFI Award: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for ''Oscar and Lucinda''

★ 1998 Academy Award: Best Actress for ''Elizabeth''

★ 1999 BAFTA Award: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for ''The Talented Mr. Ripley''

★ 2001 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actress, Musical or Comedy, for ''Bandits''

★ 2004 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actress, Drama for ''Veronica Guerin

★ 2005 Golden Globe Awards: Best Supporting Actress for ''The Aviator''

★ 2007 Golden Globe Awards: Best Supporting Actress for ''Notes on a Scandal''

★ 2007 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Best Supporting Actress for ''Notes on a Scandal''

★ 2007 Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actress for ''Notes on a Scandal''

Quotes

★ "If you know you are going to fail, then fail gloriously."

★ On the Lord of the Rings trilogy: "I had never done anything with blue screen before, or prosthetics, or anything like that. Lord of the Rings was like stepping into a video game for me. It was another world completely. But to be honest, I basically did it so that I could have the pointy ears. I thought they would really work with my bare head."

★ "If I had my way, if I was lucky enough, if I could be on the brink my entire life - that great sense of expectation and excitement without the disappointment - that would be the perfect state."

References

1. Top Trilogies - Worldwide http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/trilogyww.htm 'Box Office Mojo' September 21 2004

External links

★ CateBlanchett.net

★ Cate Blanchett - Australian Film Commission

★

★ Photo of Cate Blanchett in costume and article about the Montreal shoot of ''I'm Not There'' (in French)