Cate Blanchett

Hot Hollywood Kates
-Entertainment Weekly Magizine

World Premire

Little Fish

As Katherine Hepburn in
THE AVIATOR

Life Aquatic

Coffee & Cigarettes

THE MISSING

Veronica Guerin

Pushing Tin

Bangers

Oscar & Lucinda

Heaven

Birth name:Catherine Elise Blanchett
Date of birth:14 May, 1969
Place of birth: Melbourne, Australia
Height:5' 8 1/2"

Spouse:Andrew Upton (1997 - present)

Cate Blanchett was born to an American father and an Australian mother. When her parents met, her mom was a teacher in Melbourne. Her father was a Texan in the United States Navy, who died when Cate was ten years old. Cate is a middle child, sandwiched between an older brother and a younger sister. She studied Economics and Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne, but she was having some trouble with it, so when she was eighteen she decided to get away from it all and do a bit of traveling.

Oddly enough, she found herself in Egypt, working as an extra on a boxing film. Bitten hard by the acting bug, she returned to Australia and enrolled in Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Art, from which she graduated in 1992. All her commitment and hard work paid off when she was cast as Australian nurse Susan Macarthy in her first feature, "Paradise Road", with Glenn Close.

Cate has been married to screenwriter Andrew Upton since June 1997. They have one child, Dashiell John [born December 2001].

Cate Blanchett 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 Timothy 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. (1994) and in ABC's popular series Police Rescue (1994).

She made her feature film debut in Paradise Road (1997), and, in 1998, she played the title character in Elizabeth (1998), winning 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), _Shipping News, The (2001) (qv), Charlotte Gray (2001) and playing Elf Queen Galadriel in the much-anticipated Lord Of The Rings (2001) trilogy.

Awards

Children: Dashiell John

She lives in Sydney, Australia

She was the first person to win the Critics Circle Theatre award for Best Newcomer and Lead Actress in the same year Attended Methodist Ladies College in Melbourne, Australia and was the School Drama Captain

She bites her nails

Doesn't exercise often

She carries Bach Rescue Remedy in her bag (it's an herbal solution that you put under your tongue and it gives you energy)

She uses Stila lipstick in taupe (she says it "makes (her) feel clean")

Trivia

She was the first person to win the Critics Circle Theatre award for Best Newcomer and Lead Actress in the same year. One of the performances which won Cate this award was for her role in David Mamet's Oleanna opposite Shine star Geoffrey Rush.

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.

Attended Methodist Ladies College (MLC) in Melbourne, Australia and was the School Drama Captain.

(1 June 2001) Announced that she and her writer husband, Andrew, are expecting their first child together.

Her father, a Texan ad executive, died of a heart attack when she was ten years old.

After completing work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the role of Galadriel, she kept and bronzed her elf ear prosthetics.

Was considered for the role of Clarice Starling in Hannibal (2001). The part eventually went to Julianne Moore.

Son, Dashiell John Upton, born December 2001. He was named after the author of classic crime novel _Maltese Falcon, The (1941)__ (qv), Dashiell Hammett.

In an interview she gave to Fox Television Network, she admitted blushingly that she had accepted the role of Galadriel, the Elf Queen, in The Lord of the Rings trilogy because she always wanted to appear in a movie wearing pointed ears.

Enjoys making lists and crossing items off as she accomplishes them.

(1999) Chosen as one of People magazine '50 most beautiful'

Personal quotes

"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 blonde. To be perfectly frank, I don't know."

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 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."

"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."

---

Degrees of Seperation