Celebrity Profile: Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Cate Blanchett has the distinction of being one of the best actresses of her generation. There’s simply no doubt about it. Grabbing the most prestigious awards the industry could bestow on her, Blanchett is equally at home in playing lead heroine or film antagonist.  And this, she does with gusto, enough to garner the applause of critics. Simply put, no role is too small for a great an actress like Cate.

Catherine Élise Blanchett  was born 14 May 1969 in Ivanoe, a sub urban community outside Melbourne, Victoria. Her mother, June (née Gamble), worked as an Australian property developer as well as teacher. Her father, Robert DeWitt Blanchett, Jr., was born in Texas and served with the US Navy as a Petty Officer. After being discharged from service, he worked as a advertising executive.

Blanchett’s first major stage role was when she was cast opposite Geoffrey Rush in Oleanna (1992), a play by David Mamet. The young actress immediately gained fame as was honored with the the Sydney Theatre Critics' Best Newcomer Award.

In 1997, Blanchett was launched as an international actress, playing a supporting role as an Australian nurse trapped in the hands of the Japanese in the World War II saga Paradise Road. That same year, she was cast in her first starring role in Oscar and Lucinda, opposite Ralph Fiennes.

In 1998, Blanchett made her breakthrough performance as Elizabeth I of England, a highly acclaimed film that earned her the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and Golden Globe awards for best actress, as well as her first Academy Award nomination.

Commercial success eventually followed after she was cast the elf queen Galadriel in Peter Jackson's colossal The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001 to 2003).

In 2004, Blanchett's portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator garnered her numerous awards. She eventually won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first performer to win an Oscar for portraying another Oscar-winning actor.

Since then, Blanchett scored critical acclaim after critical acclaim in such films as Babel (2006), Notes on a Scandal (2006), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008).

In 2007, Time magazine honored the seasoned actress by including her on its list of 100 Most Influential People in the World. Forbes magazine, meanwhile, named her one of the most successful actresses in Hollywood.

That same year, she grabbed the Volpi Cup Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for portraying one of six incarnations of Bob Dylan in I'm Not There. She also reprised her role as Elizabeth I in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, the sequel of her first Elizabeth film.

Blanchett is one of the very few performers to earn Oscar nominations for a lead and supporting performance. She garnered the Best Actress nomination for Elizabeth: the Golden Age, while the Best Supporting Actress nomination for I'm Not There.

In 2012, Blanchett reprised her role as Galadriel in first series of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014). She is also expected to grace the succeeding two installments.