Cate Blanchett
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
"Cate has this slightly magic quality, as if she can be transported into other worlds."---director Gillian Armstrong quoted in The New York Times, December 28, 1997.
"Film just chews up actors like nobody's business, and I'm not particularly interested in being chewed up. I think the camera can only look at somebody's face for so long. I guess you have to accept the roles you think are right at the time. You CAN build a career, but these days there doesn't seem to be much interest in people being actors. I'm sounding very holier than thou, but I sometimes think the whole thing is like one big commercial. I can't seem to separate the ideas from the images. Maybe I shouldn't be trying. But you do want people to remember the films you do for longer than the time it takes them to eat their popcorn."---Cate Blanchett in Interview, January 1998.
Biography
A gifted performer who developed her talent at a young age, actress Cate Blanchett grew into an exceptional actress who achieved international acclaim with her Oscar-nominated turn as a young Elizabeth I in "Elizabeth" (1998). Prior to that role, the alluring Australian found herself thrust into the spotlight with just her third feature, "Oscar and Lucinda" (1997). Post-"Elizabeth," Blanchett quickly blossomed into one of Hollywood's most esteemed actresses. Following a prominent turn as a wealthy socialite in "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999), she was a Southern woman with psychic abilities in "The Gift" (2000), played Kevin Spacey's wife in "The Shipping News" (2001) and was the titular slain Irish journalist in "Veronica Guerin" (2003). Seemingly favoring smaller films, it came as a surprise that Blanchett appeared as the elf Galadriel in the blockbuster trilogy, "The Lord of the Rings" (2001-03), which she followed with a critically hailed performance as Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator" (2004). From there, Blanchett traveled easily from small indies to major studio films, earning acclaim for her work in "Babel" (2006), "Notes on a Scandal" (2006) and "I'm Not There" (2007), to vamping her way through "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008). Following further critical praise for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (2008), Blanchett delivered memorable turns in Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine" (2013), winning the Best Actress Oscar for her role, and Todd Haynes' 1950s period piece "Carol" (2015), based on Patricia Highsmith's lesbian-themed novel The Price of Salt. Blanchett's range and remarkable skill solidified her status as one of Hollywood's most preeminent performers.
Born on May 14, 1969 in Melbourne, Australia, Blanchett grew up in suburban Ivanhoe near the Yarra River. Her mother, June, a native Australian, was a schoolteacher and her dad, Robert, a Texas-born Navy seaman who wound up Down Under when his ship broke down, put himself through night school and had a career in advertising. But when Blanchett was only 10, her father died from a sudden heart attack at age 40. Meanwhile, she developed a passion for films and putting on performances for her friends, which were later translated during her second year at the University of Melbourne. Originally an art history and economics major, Blanchett got her first real taste for acting after appearing in Kris Hemensley's "European Features." On a whim, she auditioned for a spot in the National Institute of Dramatic Arts, where she studied from 1990-92 and where, with her performance as Clytemnestra in a production of Sophocles' "Electra," she developed an early reputation as a gifted actress.
Although Blanchett left drama school with a solid reputation, she was by no means the hot go-to actress. But in 1993, she generated waves with her win for Best Newcomer at Sydney's equivalent for the Tony Award with her graceful turn in "Kafka Dances." That same year, she went on to earn accolades, as well as another award win - this time for Best Actress - for her turn as a female college student who brings charges of sexual harassment against her professor (Geoffrey Rush) in David Mamet's electric play "Oleanna" (1993). She later added the Shakespearean roles of Ophelia and Miranda to her credits, before playing Nina in Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull" in Australia in 1997. Blanchett made her London stage debut in 1999 with a revival of David Hare's "Plenty," playing protagonist Susan Traherne, whose life post-World War II is trapped in a permanent state of ineffectual dissent against the ensuing peace. Reviews on the play were scathing against both the play and Blanchett's performance. Even years later, Blanchett refused to read another review of her work.
Blanchett shortly made her film debut in the short "Parklands" (1996), but soon landed her first feature role as one of the females interned in a Japanese camp in Bruce Beresford's WWII-era drama "Paradise Road" (1997). She further garnered attention - and the 1997 Australian Film Institute Best Supporting Actress Award - as one leg of a romantic triangle (completed by Richard Roxburgh and Frances O'Connor) in the darkly comic "Thank God He Met Lizzie" (1997). Her rising star status was confirmed when she landed the leading role of the Tudor monarch in the biopic "Elizabeth." Holding her own in a cast that included Geoffrey Rush, Richard Attenborough, Joseph Fiennes and Christopher Eccleston, Blanchett delivered a brilliant turn as the young woman who grows into the stature of her office. By turns an emotional girl and a driven women, her Elizabeth was a multi-dimensional creation that earned numerous accolades including an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
After carrying a major film, it perhaps came as a bit of a surprise that her follow-up roles were predominantly supporting ones, such as with Blanchett exhibiting her comic side, replete with a New Jersey accent as the wife of air traffic controller John Cusack in "Pushing Tin" (1999). Later that same year, she was back in period clothes, first as the wife of a titled man being blackmailed in Oliver Parker's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband;" then as Meredith, a character created especially for the film "The Talented Mr. Ripley," a 1950s-era drama about a slick American (Matt Damon) who plots to kill a playboy (Jude Law) in order to assume his identity in Anthony Minghella's adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel.
Blanchett continued to alternate between showy supporting roles and strong leads. She demonstrated her chameleonic abilities essaying a Southern widow with psychic abilities in the gothic thriller "The Gift" (2000), and on the heels of that film, was terrific as a gold-digging Russian chorus girl in "The Man Who Cried" (2001). The former was co-written by her "Pushing Tin" co-star Billy Bob Thornton, who based Blanchett's character on his own mother. The actress remained busy and consistently employed, reuniting with Thornton in the comedy "Bandits," followed by a turn as Kevin Spacey's ex-wife in "The Shipping News" and the titular role in "Charlotte Gray" (all 2001). Meanwhile, Blanchett had a small, but significant part as the elf queen Galadriel in the epic "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy: "The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001), "The Two Towers" (2002) and "The Return of the King" (2003). Additionally, she acted opposite her "The Gift" co-star Giovanni Ribisi in "Heaven" (2002), Tom Tykwer's English-language debut.
Blanchett received rave reviews for her turn as the real-life crusading Irish journalist whose life is endangered by criminal elements when she pursues her mob investigation too far in "Veronica Geurin" (2003). In 2004, she was nominated as Best Supporting Actress at the Independent Spirit Awards for her dual performance as "herself" and a jealous relative in Jim Jarmousch's anthological riff, "Coffee & Cigarettes." Blanchett - who Leonardo DiCaprio referred to as "the female Daniel Day-Lewis" for her chameleon-like qualities - tackled two wildly different roles in 2004. First, she played a pregnant female journalist caught in an off-kilter romantic triangle between an undersea explorer (Bill Murray) and his possible son (Owen Wilson) in Wes Anderson's comedy "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou." Next she captured the coltish, often haughty charisma and unforgettable New England cadences of Hollywood superstar Katharine Hepburn, one of Howard Hughes' (DiCaprio) more serious paramours in director Martin Scorsese's impressive Hughes biopic "The Aviator." Blanchett was widely recognized for her performance and earned several awards for Best Supporting Actress, including, at last, the Academy Award. Blanchett's victory gave her the unique distinction of becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for playing an Oscar-winning actress.
Blanchett was little-seen on the big screen for most of 2005, though she did star in the Australian-made thriller "Little Fish," playing a recovering drug addict trying to get her life back in order when a criminal kingpin (Sam Neill) forces her to confront her greatest fear. She next starred in Alejandro González Iñárritu's complex "Babel" (2006), a dense and heartbreaking look at confusion, fear and the depths of love. Set in Asia, Africa and North America, "Babel" told three separate stories brought together by a single random act of violence. Blanchett played an American tourist traveling with her husband (Brad Pitt) in Morocco when a stray bullet from a rifle crashes through their bus window, seriously wounding her and touching off a series of events, including the couple's Mexican housekeeper (Adriana Barraza) trying to cross the border, a neglected Japanese girl (Rinko Kikuchi) scouring Japan for love in all the wrong places, and two Moroccan boys (Said Tarchani and Boubker Ait El Caid) dealing with their culpability in the shooting.
She next starred in "The Good German" (2006), playing the former lover of a U.S. Army war correspondent (George Clooney) in post-war Berlin who is trying to escape the war's aftermath and her own dark past before being discovered. Blanchett next co-starred in "Notes on a Scandal" (2006), playing an attractive new art teacher at a London high school engaging in an illicit affair with a 15-year-old student (Andrew Simpson) whose secret is guarded by the school's obsessively voyeuristic history teacher (Judi Dench), a role that earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. Though she lost out to newcomer Jennifer Hudson, Blanchett earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 2007, Blanchett returned to familiar territory with "The Golden Age," Shekhar Kapur's sequel to "Elizabeth" that focused on the Virgin Queen's relationship with Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen). Even more impressive, Blanchett essayed singer-songwriter legend Bob Dylan in the unique film chronicling Dylan's life, "I'm Not Here." So impressive was she morphing into a man that she won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, paving the way to an Oscar nomination.
Hot off the critical praise she received for "I'm Not There," Blanchett fulfilled a long-time ambition to play a villain when she was cast as a Soviet agent who battles Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) for the mysterious title object in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008). From there, she returned to more upscale drama with "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (2008), where she portrayed the longtime love of a man (Brad Pitt) who mysteriously ages backwards. While Pitt received the lion's share of critical praise, Blanchett did earn several critics award nominations. She followed up with a leading turn as Lady Marian to Russell Crowe's Robin Hood in director Ridley Scott's traditional take on "Robin Hood" (2010), which fared well at the global box-office despite tepid reviews. Meanwhile, Blanchett relished the opportunity to again play the villain, this time as a double-crossing CIA officer trying to hunt down and kill a 16-year-old girl (Saoirse Ronan) trained by her CIA agent father (Eric Bana) to be a ruthless assassin in the kinetic action thriller "Hanna" (2011). She next reprised Galadriel in the highly anticipated adaptation of The Hobbit, which mastermind Peter Jackson stretched out into a three-part epic, with the first installment, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," unveiled in late 2012. The next year, she won raves (and an Oscar) as a wealthy woman sent into a personal and financial tailspin in Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine," and she was back in elf ears for the holiday season in "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug." After completing the trilogy with "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" (2014), Blanchett tackled a favorite fairy tale as Lady Tremaine, the wicked stepmother in Kenneth Branagh's "Cinderella" (2015). Her next performance, in Todd Haynes' 1950s-set romantic drama "Carol" (2015), won acting nominations for both Blanchett and her co-star Rooney Mara.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1994
Co-starred on Australian TV program "Heartland"
1997
Joined Glenn Close and Frances McDormand in "Paradise Road"
1997
Featured in Australian film "Thank God He Met Lizzie"; won Best Supporting Actress Award from Australian Film Institute
1997
Co-starred opposite Ralph Fiennes in "Oscar and Lucinda," directed by Gillian Armstrong
1999
Landed featured roles in Barry Levinson's "Pushing Tin" and Anthony Minghella's "The Talented Mr. Ripley"
1999
Made London stage debut in the Donmar revival of David Hare's "Plenty"
2000
Co-starred as a Russian chorus girl in "The Man Who Cried"; screened at Venice; released in U.S 2001
2000
Cast as a southern widow with psychic abilities in "The Gift"
2001
Cast as Petal Bear, the wife of Quoyle (Kevin Spacey) in "The Shipping News"
2001
Played the title character in Gillian Armstrong's "Charlotte Gray"
2002
Starred in "Heaven," Tom Tykwer's English-language directorial debut
2006
With husband Andrew Upton, named as joint artistic directors of Australia's Sydney Theatre Company (STC)
2006
Portrayed an art teacher who is arrested for having an affair with a 15-year-old student in "Notes on a Scandal"; received Golden Globe, SAG and Oscar nominations for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
2008
Cast as the villain in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford
2010
Portrayed Marian opposite Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott's adaptation of "Robin Hood"
2011
Played a ruthless intelligence operative in Joe Wright's thriller "Hanna"
2013
Starred in Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine"
2015
Played the wicked stepmother in Kenneth Branagh's "Cinderella"
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
"Cate has this slightly magic quality, as if she can be transported into other worlds."---director Gillian Armstrong quoted in The New York Times, December 28, 1997.
"Film just chews up actors like nobody's business, and I'm not particularly interested in being chewed up. I think the camera can only look at somebody's face for so long. I guess you have to accept the roles you think are right at the time. You CAN build a career, but these days there doesn't seem to be much interest in people being actors. I'm sounding very holier than thou, but I sometimes think the whole thing is like one big commercial. I can't seem to separate the ideas from the images. Maybe I shouldn't be trying. But you do want people to remember the films you do for longer than the time it takes them to eat their popcorn."---Cate Blanchett in Interview, January 1998.
"She's so fantastic. She reacts to small instructions, works in fine brush strokes. If you say, 'Can you adjust this performance?' she'll be able to do it in degrees, 5%, 10%, each take is just a little different, She's the most finely tuned actress I've ever worked with."---"Elizabeth" director Shekhar Kapur quoted in Los Angeles Times, November 6, 1998.
"I'm very interested in the ephemerality of the theater. It's like falling in love, really. People talk about those gossamer days when they first met the love of their life. I think the same thing happens in theater. Each night 300 or 400 or 500 people are going to see something that's only going to happen once. It's a bit like a cloudscape, it's never exactly the same."---Blanchett quoted in The Boston Globe, November 15, 1998.
"It's really important to me as an actor that I try to rise to a part and not reduce it down to me. Obviously I agree with [David] Mamet. You never want to lose yourself in a role. I'm interested in doing someone who is bigger than me."---Cate Blanchett quoted in The Chicago Sun-Times November 15, 1998.
"When she does speak, there's that remarkable voice, silky on the surface but drawn downward as well, primed for her sudden dives into a rich, dark lower register. Blanchett is fluent when talking about the nuts and bolts of acting, never once drifting into ditsy actor speak about 'getting centered' ... "---From "Cate Blanchett's Pale Fire" by Laura Jacobs, Vanity Fair, March 1999.
"Go on. Say it. I've looked ugly. That's O.K. The greatest compliment I think I've ever had was when another actor said I had an 'actor's face'. There's a line in the Botho Strauss play 'Big and Little' where it describes a character as 'a woman ... not old, not young,' and I hope that I'm a woman, not ugly, not beautiful. I'm as vain as the next person, let's face it, but it's really important to try to shed that vanity. I'm not opposed to looking what is commonly termed as ugly."---Blanchett quoted in Vanity Fair, March 1999.
"I'll see an extraordinary performance by a woman and it's reduced to the word 'luminous', it does piss me off. I read a review of Kate Winslet in 'Hideous Kinky', and it said she looked ravishing; it didn't even talk about her [acting]."---Blanchett on how critics evaluate actresses to Premiere, March 1999.
"I almost don't know what a character is until six months after I finish playing it."---Cate Blanchett quoted at the Web magazine Urban Cinefile (www.urbancinefile.com.au), February 9, 2000.
"People always treat me like I'm being coy or untruthful if I say there's no grand plan, that acting is just an interesting thing that I found myself doing. It's not an end point."---Blanchett to The Guardian, December 1, 2000.
"She is, without question, one of the best actresses of her generation. And when I say best I mean that she is someone who could play anything. I could give her any character, and she could do it. She can transform. Besides having an incredible quality on camera, a real unusual beauty, she is very intelligent and has great emotional depth. But she could also play a really dumb broad, too."---director Gillian Armstrong quoted in The New York Times, December 24, 2000.
