Cate Blanchett Biography, Life, Interesting Facts

Catherine Elise Blanchett is an award-winning stage and film actress and theatre director. Born on May 14, 1969, she came to limelight with her role in Elizabeth, 1998 as Elizabeth I. She did gain not only fame but also won a Golden Globe Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actress for her role. In 2004, she played the role of Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator, and that earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Blue Jasmine.

Cate Blanchett has appeared in more than 50 films, and 20 theatre works. Her films include The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, (2001-2003,) Babel, 2006, How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2004) and Cinderella, 2015. Her stage works also includes Ophelia in Hamlet in 1994 at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney. Blanchett has won numerous awards including Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and BAFTA among several others.

Early Life And Education

Catherine Elise Blanchett was born on May 14, 1969, in Melbourne to June (née Gamble) and Robert DeWitt Blanchett, Jr. Her father is an American and worked as a US Navy petty officer while her mother is an Australian who worked as property developer and teacher. Catherine Elise Blanchett is the third child of five by her parents. Robert died of a heart attack leaving June to raise the children alone. Catherine Elise Blanchett was ten years at that time.

Cate Blanchett started her education at Ivanhoe East Primary School. As a child, Blanchett recounted being an extrovert and liked to dress in traditional masculine clothes. She continued her education at Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School and Methodist Ladies College. It was during her days at the latter that she took to performing arts. After graduating, she worked briefly at a nursing home in Victoria before continuing her education at the University of Melbourne where she studied fine arts. She dropped out after a year. Catherine Elise Blanchett returned to Australia to continue her education at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1992.

Acting Career

Catherine Elise Blanchett started her acting career on stage playing several minor roles. Her first significant role was in the David Mamet play Oleanna, 1992, playing opposite Geoffrey Rush for the Sydney Theatre Company. She won the Sydney Theatre Critics' Best Actress for the role. Her next role was as Clytemnestra in Electra followed by Timothy Daly’s Kafka Dances, 1993, which won her Sydney Theatre Critics' Best Newcomer Award. From 1994 to 1995, Blanchett played Ophelia in Company B’s Hamlet.

In 1997, Cate Blanchett made a debut in a feature film playing a supporting role in the film Paradise Road. That same year, she had her first lead role, playing as Lucinda Leplastrier opposite Ralph Fiennes in the Gillian Armstrong romantic drama, Oscar, and Lucinda. Her performance in the film earned her an AFI Award nomination for Best Leading Actress, which she lost to Deborah Mailman. She came back strongly to win the AFI Best Actress Award for her role in Thank God He Met Lizzie in 1997.

Catherine Elise Blanchett made an acting breakthrough and came to stardom with her role as Elizabeth, 1998 playing as Elizabeth Iof England. She won several awards for the role including a BAFTA, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Academy nomination. The Aviator, 2005, finally earned Blanchett an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her performance kept rising, and that came with several other awards. She was awarded the Australian Film Institute Best Actress for the role in Little Fish as Tracy Heart, a former heroin addict.

In 2007, Cate Blanchett reprised her role as Queen Elizabeth I in the sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age and that earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. That same year she starred in I’m Not There, as Jude Quinn, which won her Venice Film Festival’s Volpi Cup Best Actress Award, Independent Spirit, and Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress Award.

Cate Blanchett played the role of Jasmine French in Blue Jasmine, 2013. Her performance earned her positive reviews and several awards including a BAFTA, Golden Globe, SAG, Australian Academy Award and an Academy Award for Best Actress. Blanchett has appeared in several other stage works and films including The Talented Mr. Ripley, Babel, the Sydney Theatre Company play The Present, 2017, Thor: Ragnarok, 2017 among several others.

Blanchett is the President of the Jury of the Cannes Film Festival since 2018.

Personal Life

Cate Blanchett met playwright and screenwriter Andrew Upton, in 1996. The two started a relationship, and on December 29, 1997, they married. The couple has three sons Dashiell John (born in 2001), Roman Robert (born in 2004) and Ignatius Martin (born in 2008). They adopted a daughter Edith in 2015. Cate Blanchett has served in several ambassadorial positions. She is the ambassador and a patron of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts and Australian Film Institute. She was appointed a global Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2016

Awards And Honours

Catherine Elise Blanchett has been duly recognised for her hard work in the film industry. The Australian government has awarded her the Centenary Medal for Service to Australian Society. She has six AACTA Awards, three BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and two Academy Awards. Others include three British Academy Awards, three Critics Choice Movie Awards and six Australian Academy Awards among several others.