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From SCIFIPEDIA
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Catherine Elise Blanchett (May 14, 1969) is an Academy award-winning Australian actress born in Melbourne, Australia to US Navy officer Robert Blanchett and Australian schoolteacher, June. She is the second of three children; she has one older brother, Bob and a younger sister, Genevieve. The three siblings lost their father when Catherine was ten-years-old.
Blanchett attended Methodist Ladie's College where she explored acting before attending the University of Melbourne to study economics and fine art. She left Australia to explore the world. While vacationing in Egypt she appeared in her first film as an extra in a crowd scene. Following the experience she returned to Australia and settled in Sydney where she studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art from which she graduated in 1992.
Career
Blanchett began her professional acting career on stage. She starred opposite Geoffrey Rush in Oleanna which earned her a Rosemont Best Actress Award and also appeared in a production of Hamlet alongside Richard Roxburgh. She also won a New Comer Award from the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle. Early television roles include Police Rescue, the miniseries Heartland, and Bordertown. In 1997, she starred in the WWII drama, Paradise Road as an Australian nurse captured by the Japanese alongside France McDormand and Glenn Close.
Blanchett gained international notice starring as Queen Elixabeth I in the 1998 film Elizabeth. The role earned her an Oscar nomination. The Oscar went to Gwyneth Paltrow but Blanchett earned a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award for the role. She earned another BAFTA nomination for her role in The Talented Mr. Ripley and won the Academy Award for her role as Katherine Hepburn in the Martin Scorcese picture The Aviator.
Blanchett's first genre role was in the film The Gift in which she played Annabelle Wilson, a woman with ESP. She followed up with the role of Galadriel in the epic The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings. Other notable roles include The Shipping News with Kevin Spacey, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Veronica Guerin, The Missing, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. In 2006 she appeared in the Oscar-nominate film Babel which also starred Brad Pitt. Upcoming roles include The Golden Age in which she'll star as Queen Elizabeth I for the second time, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Personal Life
Blanchett married screenwriter Andrew Upton on December 29, 1997. They met during the production of The Seagull. They have two children Sashiell John and Roman Robert.
Quotes
- "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.
- "I had never done anything with blue screen before, or prosthetics, or anything like that. Lord of the Rings was like stepping into a videogame for me. It was another world completely. But, to be honest, I basically did it so that I could have the ears. I thought they would really work with my bare head."
Awards
- 1992 Sydney Theatre Critics Award in the category: Best Actress for David Mamet's Oleanna
- 1993 Sydney Critics Circle Award in the category: Best Newcomer for Timothy Daly's Kafka Dances
- 1997 AFI Award in the category: Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Thank God He Met Lizzie
- 1997 Sydney Film Critics Award in the category: Best Supporting Actress for Thank God He Met Lizzie
- 1998 BAFTA Award in the category: Best Actress for Elizabeth
- 1998 Golden Globe Awards in the category: Best Actress, Drama, for Elizabeth
- 2002 Goldene Kamera (a German award) in the category: Best Actress
- 2003 Screen Actors Guild Awards in the category: Best Ensemble Cast for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- 2005 Academy Award in the category: Best Supporting Actress for The Aviator
External Links
To see specific information, such as individual movies, please click the Cate Blanchett category link at the bottom of this article. To see other articles that reference Cate Blanchett, please click the What Links Here tool in the toolbox at the bottom of this page.
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