Warner Bros. Entertainment Wiki
Advertisement
Warner Bros. Entertainment Wiki

Catherine Elise "Cate" Blanchett, AC (/ˈblæntʃət/; born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actress and theatre director. She has received international acclaim and many accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, three BAFTA Awards, six AACTA Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. Blanchett came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in Shekhar Kapur's 1998 film Elizabeth, for which she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress, the Golden Globe Award, and earned her first Academy Award for Best Actress nomination. Her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's 2004 film The Aviator brought her critical acclaim and many accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, making her the only actor to win an Oscar for portraying another Oscar-winning actor. In 2013, she starred as Jasmine Francis in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, for which she won numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Blanchett is one of only six actors, and the only actress, to receive Academy Award nominations for portraying the same role in two films, accomplished with her performance as Queen Elizabeth I. She is additionally the only Australian to win two acting Oscars. A seven-time Oscar nominee, she has also received nominations for Notes on a Scandal (2006), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), I'm Not There (2007) and Carol (2015). Her other notable films include The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003) and The Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014), Babel (2006), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (both 2008), Robin Hood (2010), How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), Cinderella (2015), and Thor: Ragnarok (2017).

Blanchett has also had an extensive career on stage and is a four-time Helpmann Award winner for Best Female Actor in a Play. Her earlier roles include the title role in Electra at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (1992), Ophelia in Hamlet at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney (1994), Susan in Plenty in the West End (1999), and the title role in Hedda Gabler with the Sydney Theatre Company (2004). From 2008 to 2013, she and her husband Andrew Upton were co-CEOs and artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company. Her other roles on stage include Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire in Sydney, New York at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Center (2009); Yelena in Uncle Vanya in Sydney, Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Center and New York at Lincoln Center (2011); and Claire in The Maids in Sydney (2013) and New York at Lincoln Center (2014). Blanchett made her Broadway debut in 2017 with The Present, and received Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Drama League Award nominations for her performance in the play.

Blanchett has been awarded the Centenary Medal for Service to Australian Society by the Australian government. She was appointed Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 2012. She has been presented with a Doctor of Letters from University of New South Wales, University of Sydney, and Macquarie University in recognition of her extraordinary contribution to the arts, philanthropy and the community. In 2015, she was honoured by the Museum of Modern Art and received the British Film Institute Fellowship in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the industry. In 2017, Blanchett was made a Companion in the Order of Australia for "eminent service to the performing arts as an international stage and screen actor, through seminal contributions as director of artistic organisations, as a role model for women and young performers, and as a supporter of humanitarian and environmental causes."

Advertisement