Cate Blanchett - Biography

Last Editor: PllyAlls				Cate Blanchett Biography -   Name : Cate Blanchett Birthdate : 14 May 1969 Birthplace : Melbourne, Australia Birth name : Catherine Elise Blanchett Height : 5' 8 1/2 Education : Melbourne University in Melbourne, Australia (majored in Art History) National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, Australia (graduated in 1992 Nationality : Australian Occupation : Actress, producer Claim to fame : as Elizabeth I in Elizabeth (1998)

Cate Blanchett Trivia -

In 1993, Cate Blanchett was the first person to win the Sydney Theatre Critic's Circle Theatre award for Best Newcomer for her role in "Kafka Dances", and Best Lead Actress for her role in David Mamet's Oleanna. She has an older brother named Bob who works in the computer field, and a younger sister, Genevieve who is a theater designer. When she was 18, Cate was on vacation in Egypt. A fellow guest at a cheap hotel in Cairo asked if she wanted to be an extra in a movie, and the next day she found herself in a crowd scene, cheering for an American boxer who was losing to an Egyptian. She dreaded the experience and walked off from the movie. She attended Methodist Ladies College (MLC) in Melbourne, Australia and was the School Drama Captain. Her father, Robert Blanchett was a Texan ad executive and he died of a heart attack when she was ten years old. She was considered for the role of Clarice Starling in Hannibal in 2001. The part eventually went to Julianne Moore. She gave birth of her son, Dashiell John Upton in December 2001. Chosen as one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful" in 1999. She has been in 6 movies where the title contains the name of the character she plays: Veronica Guerin (2003), Charlotte Gray (2001), Elizabeth (1998), Thank God He Met Lizzie (1997), Oscar and Lucinda (1997) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). Her second son, Roman Robert, with Andrew Upton, born 23 April 2004 in London, England. She was the original 'Tim-Tam' girl in the series of commercials promoting the product. In September 2004, Blanchett flew back home to Melbourne, Australia to launch the skincare range from SK-II at Australia's leading department store Myer. By winning the Oscar for her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn, she became the first person to give an Oscar-winning portrayal of a previous Oscar winner. In The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), she appears with Anjelica Huston, and in The Aviator (2004), she works with Danny Huston, the daughter and son, respectively, of director John Huston. In addition to having played Katharine Hepburn, who appeared in The African Queen (1951), directed by John Huston, she also appeared in a remake of a film that John Huston appeared in: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). In 1995, she was nominated for Best Female Performance by the Melbourne Green Room Awards, for the Belvoir St Theatre Company's production of "Hamlet". She won the Rosemont Best Actress Award for her performance in "Oleanna". In 1992, she became Graduate from Australia's NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art). Three of her five Oscar nominations are for playing real people like Queen Elizabeth I, Katharine Hepburn and Bob Dylan. She won Best Female Actor, Helpmann Award for her performance in "Hedda Gabler" in 2005. In "The Lord of the Rings", she worked with Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, who played "Frodo" and "Sam", respectively. Also appearing with her in those films, as well as in The Aviator (2004), was Ian Holm, who played "Frodo" in the BBC radio series. In Notes on a Scandal (2006), she worked with Bill Nighy, who played "Sam" in the BBC radio series. In Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), she worked with Samantha Morton, who is engaged to Ian Holm's son, Harry Holm. Cate Blanchett was Steven Spielberg's first choice for the role or Agatha in Minority Report (2002). After the death of Stanley Kubrick, he made Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001) his first priority, and she moved on to other projects. She was later able to work with Spielberg in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). In December 2007, she was ranked #45 on EW's The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood. She was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history in 2007. In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated her earnings for the year at $13 million. She has made Oscar history three times. In 2005, she won Best Supporting Actress for portraying Katharine Hepburn, who was a previous Oscar winner. In 2008, she was nominated twice: for Leading Actress for Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and for Supporting Actress for I'm Not There. (2007). In 1999, she was also nominated for playing "Elizabeth" in Elizabeth (1998). She is the only woman in Oscar history to be nominated for portraying the same people in two separate films. Her son, Ignatius Martin Upton, was born 13 April 2008 in Sydney, weighing 8 pounds.

Cate Blanchett Detailed Biography -

Cate Blanchett was born in Melbourne, Australia on May 14, 1969, to an Aussie mother and a Texan father. She is of French ancestry, was raised by her mother following her father's passing when she was ten. She attended Methodist Ladies College [MLC] where she was part of "Cato" House drama group. One of her very first plays was "Odyssey of Runyon Jones"...a fantasy about a young boy whose dog dies. Cate also directed her fellow students in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?". After growing up in Melbourne, she began studies of fine arts and economics at the University of Melbourne, but, departed, after a fashion, to continue her education via travel. After the expiration of her vistor's visa forced her to leave England, she eventually found herself in Egypt, desperate for money. In an effort to earn some cash, and get a crack at craft services, she signed on as an extra in an Arabic boxing film. It was the first time she had ever been on a film set, but, it wouldn't, obviously, be the last. Upon her return to Melbourne, she enrolled at Australia's prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art. After graduation she joined the Sydney Theatre Company's production of Caryl Churchill's "Top Girls", then played Felice Bauer, the bride in Timothy Daly's musical "Kafka Dances". She won the Newcomer Award from the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle for her performance. From there, Cate went on to star as Carol opposite Geoffrey Rush in David Mamet's searing polemic, "Oleanna", also for The Sydney Theatre Company. Consequently, she achieved an unprecendented feat, picking up her second gong of the year by also winning the Rosemont Best Actress Award. In 1995, she was nominated for Best Female Performance for her turn as Ophelia in the Belvoir Street Theatre Company's production of "Hamlet". Her 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. Later, like "Oscar and Lucinda" co-star, Ralph Fiennes, she moved on to Chekov, playing Nina in "The Seagull". In the realm of television, Cate co-starred in ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) Televsion's "Heartland", winning critical acclaim in this examination of rural aborigines. She also earned notice as Bianca in ABC's "Bordertown", as Janie Morris in "G.P.", and in ABC's popular series, "Police Rescue". Cate revised her character of Rosie from "Heartland" in the non-feature film, Parklands. She made her feature debut as a shy Australian nurse in Bruce Beresford's, Paradise Road. She next starred in Cherie Nowlan's debut feature, Thank God He Met Lizzie, playing the title role. For this, Cate won the prestigious AFI (Australian Fim Institute) Best Supporting Actress Award. Cate's next venture was the critically acclaimed, Oscar and Lucinda, directed by noted Australian director, Gillian Armstrong. Cate captivated audiences and critics alike, playing opposite Ralph Fiennes, with her bewitching and mesmerizing portrait of Lucinda Leplastrier. In June of 1997, she married Andrew Upton, a script and cointinuity editor she had met on the Parklands shoot. It was Cate's starmaking portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth that shot her into the stratosphere in terms of both popular and critical acclaim. Cate's chameleonlike qualities astounded both the industry and the public. As a result of Elizabeth, Cate was honored with many awards for her performance. Blanchett went on to star with Angelina Jolie, John Cusack, and Billy Bob Thornton in the Mike Newell comedy Pushing Tin (1999). Although the film got a lukewarm response, Blanchett was praised for her performance as a Long Island housewife. The same year, she played another housewife, albeit one of an entirely different stripe, in Oliver Parker's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband. Despite a uniformly strong cast including Jeremy Northam, Rupert Everett, and Julianne Moore, the film received very mixed reviews, although, as was usually the case, Blanchett won praise for her contribution to it. Remaining remarkably busy through 2003, Blanchett would appear in no less than five films in 2001 alone. After following Pushing Tin with a supporting role in The Talented Mr. Ripley, Blanchett joined Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci with her role as a kindhearted though materialistic showgirl in The Man Who Cried before starring as a fortune teller who may hold the key to a mysterious murder in director Sam Raimi's The Gift. Gaining positive notes for her uncanny ability to move effortlessly and convincingly between a wide range of characterizations, Blanchett appeared as a hostage of love in the crime comedy Bandits before re-teaming with Gift co-star Giovanni Ribisi in director Tom Tykwer's Heaven. Her busy year already off to a hectic start, Blanchett then faced the daunting task of appearing in not one but three films with her role as Galadriel, Queen of Lothlorien, in the eagerly anticipated Lord of the Rings trilogy. As if her plate wasn't full enough, Blanchett would also appear in 2001 in both The Shipping News and director Gillian Armstrong's Charlotte Gray before rounding out the Lord of the Rings trilogy with The Two Towers in 2002 and The Return of the King in 2003.