Cate Blanchett

If you know more information about Cate Blanchett help us to improve this page

Birthday:

14 May 1969, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Birth Name:

Catherine Elise Blanchett

Height:

173 cm

Cate Blanchett was born on May 14, 1969 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, to June (Gamble), an Australian teacher and property developer, and Robert DeWitt Blanchett, Jr., an American advertising executive, originally from Texas. She has an older brother and a younger sister. When she was ten years old, her 40-year-old father died of a sudden heart attack. Her mother never remarried, and her grandmother moved in to help her mother. Cate graduated from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1992 and, in a little over a year, had won both critical and popular acclaim. On graduating from NIDA, she joined the Sydney Theatre Company's production of Caryl Churchill's "Top Girls", then played Felice Bauer, the bride, in Tim Daly's "Kafka Dances", winning the 1993 Newcomer Award from the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle for her performance. From there, Blanchett moved to the role of Carol in David Mamet's searing polemic "Oleanna", also for the Sydney Theatre Company, and won the Rosemont Best Actress Award, her second award that year. She then co-starred in the ABC Television's prime time drama Heartland (1994), again winning critical acclaim. In 1995, she was nominated for Best Female Performance for her role as Ophelia in the Belvoir Street Theatre Company's production of "Hamlet". Other theatre credits include Helen in the Sydney Theatre Company's "Sweet Phoebe", Miranda in "The Tempest" and Rose in "The Blind Giant is Dancing", both for the Belvoir Street Theatre Company. In other television roles, Blanchett starred as Bianca in ABC's Bordertown (1995), as Janie Morris in G.P. (1989) and in ABC's popular series Police Rescue (1994). She made her feature film debut in Paradise Road (1997). She also married writer Andrew Upton in 1997. She had met him a year earlier on a movie set, and they didn't like each other at first. He thought she was aloof, and she thought he was arrogant, but then they connected over a poker game at a party, and she went home with him that night. Three weeks later he proposed marriage and they quickly married before she went off to England to play her breakthrough role in films: the title character in Elizabeth (1998) for which she won numerous awards for her performance, including the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama. Cate was also nominated for an Academy Award for the role but lost out to Gwyneth Paltrow. 2001 was a particularly busy year, with starring roles in Bandits (2001), The Shipping News (2001), Charlotte Gray (2001) and playing Elf Queen Galadriel in the "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy. She also gave birth to her first child, son Dashiell, in 2001. In 2004, she gave birth to her second son Roman. Also, in 2004, she played actress Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's film "Aviator" (2004), for which she received an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress. Two years later, she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress for playing a teacher having an affair with an underage student in "Notes on a Scandal" (2006). In 2007, she returned to the role that made her a star in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (2007). It earned her an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. She was nominated for another Oscar that same year as Best Supporting Actress for playing Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There" (2007). In 2008, she gave birth to her third child, son Ignatius. She and her husband became artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company, choosing to spend more time in Australia raising their three sons. She also purchased a multi-million dollar home in Sydney, Australia and named it Bulwarra and made extensive renovations to it. Because of her life in Australia, her film work became sporadic, until Woody Allen cast her in the title role in Blue Jasmine (2013), which won her the Academy Award as Best Actress. She ended her job as artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company, while her husband continued there for two more years before he too resigned. In 2015, she adopted her daughter Edith in her father's homeland of America. That same year, she and her husband sold their multi-million dollar home in Australia at a profit and moved to America. Reasons varied from her wanting to work more in America to wanting to familiarize herself with her late father's American heritage. She played the title role of Carol (2015), a 1950s American housewife in a lesbian affair with a younger woman, for which she received an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. While most actresses might slow down in their forties, Blanchett did the opposite by stretching her boundaries even further, such as when she played 13 different characters in Manifesto (2015) and then making her Broadway debut in 2017 in "The Present", which is her husband's adaptation of Chekhov's play "Platonov." Show less «

If you know you are going to fail, then fail gloriously!

When asked what colour her hair is: "Look, it's one of the great mysteries of the world, I cannot answer that question. I think I'm vaguely ...Show more »

When asked what colour her hair is: "Look, it's one of the great mysteries of the world, I cannot answer that question. I think I'm vaguely blonde. To be perfectly frank, I don't know." Show less «

When asked if she has ever appeared in Neighbours (1985): "Absolutely not. I'm an actress."

[on the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy] I had never done anything with blue screen before, or prosthetics, or anything like that. Lord of the R...Show more »

[on the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy] 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. Show less «

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 t...Show more »

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. Show less «

It's part of my job. You can't play Veronica Guerin puts on heavy Strine] sounding like this. It just wouldn't wash. But what I find fascina...Show more »

It's part of my job. You can't play Veronica Guerin puts on heavy Strine] sounding like this. It just wouldn't wash. But what I find fascinating about doing an accent - unless it's a farce - is that it's not slapped on. [on doing many accents] Show less «

[on working with Ron Howard in The Missing (2003)] I loved making it, I had a ball - cowboys and Indians. This is the thing, I love doing th...Show more »

[on working with Ron Howard in The Missing (2003)] I loved making it, I had a ball - cowboys and Indians. This is the thing, I love doing things which I'd never envisaged before. And so getting me on the back of a horse, with Tommy Lee Jones and shooting guns and chasing Indians, it's just not something that I would have expected myself to be doing. Show less «

The more you do it, the more you learn to concentrate, as a child does, incredibly intensively and then you sort of have to relax. I remembe...Show more »

The more you do it, the more you learn to concentrate, as a child does, incredibly intensively and then you sort of have to relax. I remember the first film I did, the lead actor would in between scenes be reading a newspaper or sleeping and I'd think, "How can you do that?" Show less «

[SAG acceptance speech Feb. 5, 2005] Thank you. I so didn't expected this. I wore a really tight dress that's very ungracious walking up tho...Show more »

[SAG acceptance speech Feb. 5, 2005] Thank you. I so didn't expected this. I wore a really tight dress that's very ungracious walking up those stairs. Thank you very much, I sort of don't know where to begin. Playing Katharine Hepburn, I absolutely did not expect to be standing here in front of you all. But Hepburn aside, I actually would like to say, as an actor coming from another country to this country, I am so astounded and amazed, and grateful, at the power of the SAG union and what it does for its members. And I hope that other countries, mine own included, you know, is inspired by that - I think it's incredible. Show less «

[on the pressures women face regarding plastic surgery] It's not just women on film, 18-year-old girls feel pressure to do preventative inje...Show more »

[on the pressures women face regarding plastic surgery] It's not just women on film, 18-year-old girls feel pressure to do preventative injecting. I see someone's face, someone's body who'd had children and I think they're the song lines of your experience, and why would you want to eradicate that? I look at people sort of entombing themselves and all you see is their little pin holes of terror... and you think, just live your life, death is not going to be any easier just because your face can't move. Show less «

I'm one of those strange beasts who really likes a corset.

You know, when you see yourself on a big screen, I tend to watch from behind my hands. There is absolutely the regret. You always get that a...Show more »

You know, when you see yourself on a big screen, I tend to watch from behind my hands. There is absolutely the regret. You always get that at the end of every project. That's what's great about theater: at least every night you get the chance to go out and re-offend. I'm endlessly disappointed, which is what propels me into the next project, probably, not to repair the damage but to kind of hopefully keep developing. Otherwise there's no reason to keep doing it, is there? Show less «

There's this sense that of course you want to be famous. When you're a performer, of course you want an audience, but it's very, very differ...Show more »

There's this sense that of course you want to be famous. When you're a performer, of course you want an audience, but it's very, very different from courting fame. Show less «

[on her first Oscar loss, in 1999] Sometimes I think it's so good not to win those things. And, anyway, who wants to peak when they're 28?

Of course one worries about getting older--we're all fearful of death, let's not kid ourselves. I'm simply not panicking as my laugh lines g...Show more »

Of course one worries about getting older--we're all fearful of death, let's not kid ourselves. I'm simply not panicking as my laugh lines grow deeper. Who wants a face with no history, no sense of humor? Show less «

Don't you think like most things, like comedy, like sex, like anything, it's about timing? I think [my husband and I] collided with each oth...Show more »

Don't you think like most things, like comedy, like sex, like anything, it's about timing? I think [my husband and I] collided with each other at what turned out to be the perfect time. We knew each other socially and we didn't get on and we played poker one night and I don't know how we ended up kissing but we did and he asked me to marry him about three weeks later and we got together in the same spirit. . . . Maybe I've got a lack of consequence, a healthy lack of consequence. Show less «

[In 2012, on collaborating with husband Andrew Upton]: We've had some doozies and we've had some stinkers. No one sets out to have a stinker...Show more »

[In 2012, on collaborating with husband Andrew Upton]: We've had some doozies and we've had some stinkers. No one sets out to have a stinker. Show less «

[I have] this strange, probably unachievable fantasy about performing in German in Berlin. [But] I don't speak German.

[on being directed by Woody Allen in Blue Jasmine (2013)] I found him forthcoming, generous and refreshingly honest. It can be brutal when p...Show more »

[on being directed by Woody Allen in Blue Jasmine (2013)] I found him forthcoming, generous and refreshingly honest. It can be brutal when people are honest, but I much prefer to know if it's not working, because you can do something with it - rather than people who go, 'Oh, we'll fix it up in post [-production].' There is no post in a Woody Allen movie. If it doesn't happen then, it doesn't happen at all. Show less «

I love Brighton. We lived in Lewes Crescent and it was the genesis of the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland; so magical.

No one is ever who they purport to be. And I suppose I'm most interested in the gap between who we project socially and who we really are.

I don't know if I ever really wanted to be an actor. I'm an active person - the thought of waiting for the phone to ring wasn't something th...Show more »

I don't know if I ever really wanted to be an actor. I'm an active person - the thought of waiting for the phone to ring wasn't something that sat happily with me. But I kept doing it, trying not to do it, and then doing it. There's such a blessed unrest that you feel all the time, but maybe that's what keeps you going. Show less «

I can be a real pessimist. You know that when you win an Oscar and you walk offstage and your first thought is: "Oh God, I've peaked."

I've done a lot of talking over the past six years. My husband and I have been running the Sydney Theatre Company and it's been magic - my k...Show more »

I've done a lot of talking over the past six years. My husband and I have been running the Sydney Theatre Company and it's been magic - my kids have been able to see so many of those transient moments between acting and real life behind the scenes. But now that I've given it up I'm looking forward to being a bit quieter. I'm very conscious of that. There have been times when I've heard myself in the past and thought: "Aw, just shut up." Show less «

You don't ever really get to know Woody Allen. He's not the sort of person where you can knock on his door and say: "I've got this really in...Show more »

You don't ever really get to know Woody Allen. He's not the sort of person where you can knock on his door and say: "I've got this really interesting idea." You just have to hope that he's written your name on a little scrap of paper somewhere and that one day he will call and say: "I've got a script I want you to read." Show less «

Working with Woody [Allen] is like an emotional strip club without the cash.

[on winning her 2nd Oscar for Blue Jasmine (2013)] Sit down. You're too old to be standing. Thank you, Mr. Day-Lewis, from you it exacerbate...Show more »

[on winning her 2nd Oscar for Blue Jasmine (2013)] Sit down. You're too old to be standing. Thank you, Mr. Day-Lewis, from you it exacerbates this honor to and it blows it right out of the ballpark. Thank you so much to the Academy. As random and as subjective as this award is, it means a great deal in a year of extraordinary, yet again, extraordinary performances by women. Amy Adams, everything you do, but your performance in American Hustle blew my mind. And Meryl, what can I say? Sandra [Bullock], I could watch that performance to the end of time, and I sort of felt like I had. Julia [Roberts], #suckit. You know what I mean? And Judi Dench, I mean what a career. She's not here tonight because at the age of 79, her film was so successful that she's in India doing a sequel. I mean what a career that is, if I could hope. And me, I'm here accepting an award in an extraordinary screenplay by Woody Allen. Thank you so much, Woody, for casting me. I truly appreciate it. I'm so very proud that Blue Jasmine stayed in the cinemas for as long as it did. And thank you to Sony Classics, to Michael and Tom for their extraordinary support. For so bravely and intelligently distributing the film and to the audiences who went to see it and perhaps those of us in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films with women at the center are niche experiences. They are not. Audiences want to see them and, in fact, they earn money. The world is round, people. Thank you to my mum, to my sister, to my brother, to my three glorious sons. I would not be standing here without you. To my husband, Andrew, you are a legend. Thank you to my agent, Hylda Queally, you're behind the pillar somewhere up there. You are a goddess. To my agent in Australia, Robyn Gardiner, I love you so very much. To my publicist Lisa Kasteler. To the sublime Sally Hawkins. And to the extraordinary cast of Blue Jasmine. I don't know how to do this without other actors and this I share with you. To the hair and makeup people who sweat-ed me up and tried to make me look attractive. Thank you for the attempt. To Carla Meyer for getting Sally and I together and for incredible support. To Helen Robin. To everyone involved in Blue Jasmine, I thank you so much. And finally, I would like to thank every single member of the Sydney Theatre Company, one of the great theater companies in the world. For me, working on Blue Jasmine, it was a real synthesis of my work in the theater and on film. And not only working with you for the last six years has been the most enormous privilege of my career but it's made me a better actress. There is so much talent in Australia and Michael Wilkinson and C.M. and I are just tonight's tip of the iceberg. Thank you so much. Thank you. Show less «

[on who's the best between her and Marion Cotillard - Cannes Film Festival, 2014] There is no competition. Marion, hands down. I think she i...Show more »

[on who's the best between her and Marion Cotillard - Cannes Film Festival, 2014] There is no competition. Marion, hands down. I think she is one of the world's greatest actresses. From the first few frames of La môme (2007), I just thought that I'd never seen anything like it. To see her in comic roles, and I was blown away again in De rouille et d'os (2012). We share the same agent at CAA, much to my chagrin. I think she's a genius. I can't wait to see her Lady Macbeth. Show less «

[on if she get fed up with being asked how she handles motherhood and her career] That question is only directed toward women: "How do you h...Show more »

[on if she get fed up with being asked how she handles motherhood and her career] That question is only directed toward women: "How do you have it all?" I think we live in a world where there's still not equal pay for equal work. I still don't understand how in 2014 why that's not the case. I'm not necessarily talking about the industry in which we work. It's every industry. I think the things that have been said about women not only in African countries but also the English-speaking world is absolutely appalling. I think sometimes we're back in the Middle Ages. But I'm an actress at a film festival [Cannes 2014]. I can cope with those questions, but it's still surprising that we're still asking those questions. Show less «

[on why she got involved with How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)] It's a gift to be a part of a project like this. My children and I adored t...Show more »

[on why she got involved with How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)] It's a gift to be a part of a project like this. My children and I adored the first. And so when Dean [DeBlois, writer/director of "How to Train Your Dragon 2"] ambushed me a few years ago at an awards ceremony, I was intrigued. As an actor, you're used to using your body, your face, everything you can to communicate stuff. And when you have to only do it through your voice, and you're doing it in tandem with the most extraordinary, state-of-the-art animation, I found it an intriguing ride over the last three-and-a-half, four years to watch the character evolve quite separate from me, and how you can enhance and work with what the animators are doing. I didn't actually get to work with the other actors. I acted opposite Dean most of the time. It was very interesting. Show less «

I always remember something that Michelle Pfeiffer said a few years ago, which is that if you put a dollar in a jar every time you screw up ...Show more »

I always remember something that Michelle Pfeiffer said a few years ago, which is that if you put a dollar in a jar every time you screw up with your children, then by the time they're grown you'll have saved enough to pay for their therapy. And I think that's true - although with inflation it's probably gone up to five dollars by now! Show less «

[on her reaction when her father died when she was 10 years old] I was playing the piano. He walked past the window. I waved goodbye [but di...Show more »

[on her reaction when her father died when she was 10 years old] I was playing the piano. He walked past the window. I waved goodbye [but didn't hug or kiss him]. He was going off to work. He had a heart attack that day. He was only forty. I developed this ritual where I couldn't leave the house until I could actually physically say goodbye to everyone. Show less «

[on Blue Jasmine (2013)] Every day on set I'd tell myself: don't screw up. It wasn't born out of anxiety, it was just pragmatic. You've been...Show more »

[on Blue Jasmine (2013)] Every day on set I'd tell myself: don't screw up. It wasn't born out of anxiety, it was just pragmatic. You've been given a really great opportunity - it's my job to make it jump off the page. Not to make it less than Woody's offering. But I say that to myself every time. I'm not particularly needy and I'm not particularly anxious. I don't look for a director to tell me I'm doing a good job, or that I'm great. I don't need to be stroked. It's more my own yardstick. Show less «

For me it felt less about the period and more about the gaze. If the cigarette was held in a certain way and perceived by the camera in a ce...Show more »

For me it felt less about the period and more about the gaze. If the cigarette was held in a certain way and perceived by the camera in a certain way, it was because it was viewed through the prism of someone's desire, rather than the prism of the period. Show less «

[on working with Sally Hawkins on Blue Jasmine (2013):] Sally's got the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met. I clung to her like a life ra...Show more »

[on working with Sally Hawkins on Blue Jasmine (2013):] Sally's got the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met. I clung to her like a life raft. Show less «