Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett is an Australian actress who has appeared extensively on screen and on stage. She made her stage debut in 1992 by playing Electra in the National Institute of Dramatic Art production of the same name. She followed it with performances in Timothy Daly's Kafka Dances (1993) and the Sydney Theatre Company stage production of Oleanna (1993), opposite Geoffrey Rush. Blanchett won the Sydney Theatre Critics Award for Best Newcomer for the former, and Best Actress for the latter, making her the first person to win both awards at once. She went on to perform several roles on stage, notably Susan Traherne in Plenty (1999), Hedda Gabler in Hedda Gabler (2004), Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (2009), Yelena in Uncle Vanya (2011), and Claire in The Maids (2013). Blanchett's first leading role on television came with Heartland (1994), and she followed it with the miniseries Bordertown (1995). In 1997, she made her feature film debut in a supporting role in the World War II drama Paradise Road. The same year, she had her first leading role in Oscar and Lucinda, which earned her an AACTA Award nomination for Best Actress. Blanchett received worldwide attention for playing Queen Elizabeth I of England in the acclaimed drama Elizabeth (1998). Her performance garnered her a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, and her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Elizabeth and her next film, the thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), performed well at the box office. However, her other 1999 releases—the widely praised An Ideal Husband and the largely panned Pushing Tin—were unsuccessful. Blanchett found greater success for portraying Galadriel in Peter Jackson's epic fantasy trilogy The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, among other honors, for portraying Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's 2004 drama The Aviator, making her the only actor to win an Oscar for portraying another Oscar-winning actor. Her only screen appearance in 2005 was in Little Fish, for which she won the AACTA Award for Best Actress. Blanchett's performance in the 2006 thriller Notes on a Scandal garnered her another Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 2007, she received both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominations for her roles in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and I'm Not There, becoming one of the few actors to achieve this feat. In 2008, Blanchett appeared in Steven Spielberg's action adventure Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and in David Fincher's fantasy drama The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. She briefly reprised her role of Galadriel in The Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014). For her performance as the titular socialite in Woody Allen's 2013 drama Blue Jasmine, Blanchett won the Golden Globe, the BAFTA Award, the SAG Award, and the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2014, she voiced Valka in the $620 million-grossing animated fantasy How to Train Your Dragon 2 and its 2019 sequel How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. In 2015, she received praise for playing Lady Tremaine in Disney's live action film Cinderella, Mary Mapes in Truth, and the titular character in Todd Haynes's romantic drama Carol. Cinderella was a notable box office success, while Carol garnered her seventh Oscar nomination. Blanchett made her Broadway debut in 2017 with The Present, receiving her first Tony Award nomination for the Best Actress in a Play. In 2017, she assumed the role of primary villain in the film Thor: Ragnarok as Hela. The following year, Blanchett starred in Ocean's 8, the all-female spin-off of the Ocean's Eleven franchise, directed by Gary Ross, and the Eli Roth-helmed film, The House with a Clock in Its Walls.

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