Cate Blanchett (born May 14, 1969,Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) is an Australian actress known for her multidimensional characters and wide range of roles. Her breakthrough came playing a young QueenElizabeth I inElizabeth (1998), and she later appeared in The Lord of the Rings series,The Aviator (2004), andBlue Jasmine (2013). For her work in the latter two films, Blanchett receivedAcademy Awards.

Early life and career

Blanchett grew up in suburban Melbourne with an Australian mother and an American father, who died when Blanchett was 10 years old. She studiedart history at theUniversity of Melbourne before graduating from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1992. Her professionalacting career began on the Australian stage. She performed with the Sydney Theatre Company inCaryl Churchill’sTop Girls and Timothy Daly’sKafka Dances. In 1993 she starred oppositeGeoffrey Rush inDavid Mamet’sOleanna, as a student who accuses her teacher ofsexual harassment.

Films:Elizabeth and the Lord of the Rings series

Blanchett made her televisiondebut in 1993, and she soon landed leading roles in the miniseriesHeartland (1994) andBordertown (1995). She moved to feature films withParadise Road (1997), a historicaldrama about a Japanese war camp inWorld War II. Blanchett’s reputation grew with her next two feature films: the bittersweetromantic comedyThank God He Met Lizzie (1997; later released asThe Wedding Party) andOscar and Lucinda (1997), in which she played a rebellious heiress ostracized from Australian society. Her breakthrough role was as young QueenElizabeth I in the 1998filmElizabeth, which earned her anAcademy Award nomination and aGolden Globe Award for best actress. Blanchett was praised for capturing the emotional complexity of the queen’s development from a lovestruck adolescent to an indomitable political force who represses her emotional vulnerability.

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Blanchett subsequently appeared in films that covered numerousgenres and character types, securing her reputation as a versatile actress. She took supporting parts inPushing Tin (1999), a comedy about air traffic controllers, and in the dramatic thrillerThe Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). As the lead character inThe Gift (2000), she played a psychic whose visions involve her in the investigation of a local woman’s murder. In 2001 she portrayed a kidnapped housewife who falls in love with her captors inBandits. She next appeared as the elf queen Galadriel inThe Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001,2002, and2003), the filmadaptations ofJ.R.R. Tolkien’sepic fantasy.

In the westernThe Missing (2003), Blanchett brought her trademark complexity to the role of a young woman forced to confront her estranged father (played byTommy Lee Jones) in order to reclaim her kidnapped daughter. She earned further critical acclaim for her performance as an Irish journalist who runs afoul of the mob inVeronica Guerin (2003). In 2004 she starred inWes Anderson’s offbeat comedyThe Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, playing a pregnant reporter in a bizarre love triangle with the ship’s captain (played byBill Murray) and someone who may be his son (played by Owen Wilson).

Hepburn, Dylan, and Academy Awards

Returning to her study of historical characters, Blanchett portrayed Hollywood starKatharine Hepburn inThe Aviator (2004),Martin Scorsese’s biopic of theeccentric millionaireHoward Hughes, and won an Academy Award for the role. She later appeared in the dramasBabel (2006),The Good German (2006), andNotes on a Scandal (2006). In the unconventional biopicI’m Not There (2007), she starred as one of several characters based on the musicianBob Dylan at different stages in his life. As the character Jude, a star making the dramatic shift from acoustic folk to electric rock, Blanchett was praised for capturing theelusive and bewildering qualities attributed to Dylan. Her performance earned her another Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe Award for best supporting actress.

In 2007 Blanchettreprised her role as the English queen inElizabeth: The Golden Age, which explores Elizabeth’s political battles with Spain and her personal relationship withSir Walter Raleigh; she earned another Oscar nomination for her performance. The following year she played the Soviet villain Irina Spalko inSteven Spielberg’sIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), another addition to the series of action-adventure films following the dashing archaeologist. In 2008 she also starred oppositeBrad Pitt inThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a drama about a man who ages backward. Two years later she appeared as Marion Loxley inRidley Scott’sRobin Hood. The action drama starredRussell Crowe in the title role as the outlaw hero.

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In the thrillerHanna (2011), Blanchett portrayed a CIA agent in pursuit of a former agent and his teenage daughter, whom he has trained to be an assassin. Blanchett again assumed the role of Galadriel in the Hobbit trilogy—An Unexpected Journey (2012),The Desolation of Smaug (2013), andThe Battle of the Five Armies (2014), all based on the Tolkien novel that precededThe Lord of the Rings. Her performance inWoody Allen’sBlue Jasmine (2013), as a socialite struggling tocope with a decline in circumstances, won her further acclaim, including an Oscar for best actress; she also received her third Golden Globe. She played a French art historian andResistance member inThe Monuments Men (2014), which fictionalized Allied efforts to recover art stolen by the Nazis during World War II.

Blanchett then sank her teeth into the role of the wicked stepmother of the title character inCinderella (2015). InTruth (2015) she playedCBS producer Mary Mapes, who was fired after the accuracy of a segment by reporterDan Rather on U.S. Pres.George W. Bush’smilitary service was called into question.Carol, a drama in which she played a married socialite who enters aromantic relationship with a younger store clerk (Rooney Mara), earned her a seventh Oscar nomination. She then joined the ensemble ofKnight of Cups (2015),Terrence Malick’s experimental meditation on Hollywood, and later appeared in his filmSong to Song (2017), a romantic drama set against the Austin,Texas, music scene. Also in 2017 Blanchett earned critical praise for hervivacious portrayal of Hela, the goddess of death, inThor: Ragnarok. The next year she starred inOcean’s 8, the female-driven reboot of the Ocean’s Eleven franchise from the early 2000s, andThe House with a Clock in Its Walls, anadaptation of a 1973 children’s fantasy novel.

Blanchett was then lauded for her guest appearance as aperformance artist akin toMarina Abramović on the mockumentary TV seriesDocumentary Now! in 2019. That year she also played theeponymous character inWhere’d You Go, Bernadette, a film based on the best-selling novel. Blanchett’s credits from 2020 included the TV miniseriesMrs. America, in which she portrayed the activistPhyllis Schlafly, who opposed theEqual Rights Amendment. In 2021 Blanchett appeared in the filmsDon’t Look Up, a dramedy about an impending comet strike that will destroy Earth, and  Guillermo del Toro’sNightmare Alley. In the latter, afilm noir adapted from a novel by William Lindsay Gresham, the actress played a manipulative psychoanalyst who meets a scheming carnival worker (Bradley Cooper).

Blanchett earned widespread acclaim for her performance inTár (2022), a character study about a trailblazing conductor whose career is derailed byallegations of sexual misconduct. In addition to winning a Golden Globe, she also earned her eighth Oscar nomination. Her credits from 2024 includeDisclaimer, a TV miniseries directed byAlfonso Cuarón. The twisty thriller centers on a journalist whose past secrets are in danger of being exposed. Blanchett later appeared inBlack Bag, a spy drama directed bySteven Soderbergh; she andMichael Fassbender played married intelligence agents.

Stage work

In addition to her film work, Blanchett remained active in the theater. In 2008 she and her husband, writer Andrew Upton, became artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company. Blanchett left the position in 2013, though Upton remained. Her performances with the company includedHedda Gabler (2004) andThe War of the Roses (2009). In 2017 she made her Broadway debut inThe Present, which was based on a play byAnton Chekhov. For her performance, Blanchett received aTony Award nomination.

Personal life

In 1997 Blanchett married Andrew Upton, a writer. The couple later had three sons: Dashiell, Roman, and Ignatius Upton. They also adopted a daughter, Edith Upton.