Cate Blanchett Biography:

An exceptional actress who began her adventure at a young age, the actress sprouted into a brilliant artist who gained worldwide praise with her brilliant Oscar nominated role as a young Elizabeth I in Shekhar Kapur’s “Elizabeth” (1998). Before taking that role, the charming Australian found herself thrown in the limelight with just her third feature, "Oscar and Lucinda" (1997), starring next to Ralph Fiennes. As the determined female heiress whose fondness for betting attracts her to a clergyman with the same desires, she delivered a star performance that gained the attention of the film industries most well-regarded directors.  

Born on May 14, 1969 in Melbourne, Australia, she grew up in suburban Ivanhoe near the Yarra River. Her mother, June, a native Australian, was a school teacher and her father, Robert, a Texas native Navy officer who ended up in Australia when his Navy ship broke down, put himself through night school and had a successful career in advertising. 

But when she was only ten, her father died from a sudden heart attack. He was just 40 years old. In the meantime, she developed an enthusiasm for movies and films and staging performances for her friends and family. Originally an art history and economics major, she received her first real desire for acting after appearing in Kris Hemensley’s “European Features.” 

She shortly made her movie introduction in the flick "Parklands" (1996), but soon was hired for her first feature role as one of the females imprisoned in a Japanese camp in Bruce Beresford's WWII  adventure drama "Paradise Road" (1997) where she starred alongside the illustrious Glenn Close. She gained more attention, and the 1997 Australian Film Institute Best Supporting Actress Award,  for her role in the dark comedy "Thank God He Met Lizzie" (1997). Her growing star celebrity standing was cemented when she received the leading role of the Tudor monarch in the biopic "Elizabeth.” Holding her own in an ensemble cast that included Geoffrey Rush, Richard Attenborough, Joseph Fiennes and Christopher Eccleston, she delivered a radiant role as the young woman who grows into the royalty of her office, and it earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

She next exhibited her comic side, complete with New Jersey accent as the wife of air traffic controller John Cusack in "Pushing Tin" (1999) starring with Hollywood idols Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie. Later that year, dhe was back in Oliver Parker's edition of Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband;” then as Meredith, a character created for the movie "The Talented Mr. Ripley," a 1950's period drama about a smooth American (Matt Damon) who plots to kill a playboy (Jude Law) in order to take his identity. Also appearing in the film was Gwyneth Paltrow who played the role of Marge Sherwood.

She next showed her abilities playing a Southern widow with psychic powers in the gothic adventure thriller "The Gift" (2000) working with another esteemed ensemble including Keanu Reeves, Katie Holmes and Hilary Swank. Immediately following was a terrific role as a gold digging Russian chorus girl in "The Man Who Cried" (2001) with Johnny Depp. The former was co-written by her "Pushing Tin" co-star Billy Bob Thornton, who based her role on his own mother. She stayed busy and always working, teaming again  with Thornton in the comedy "Bandits", starring next to Bruce Willis,  followed by a role as Kevin Spacey's ex-wife in "The Shipping News” and them with a small part in the production of "Charlotte Gray" (2001). 

She had a tiny, but important role as the Elf Queen Galadriel in the epic adventure "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy: "The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001) exited to work with friends and fellow actors Orlando Bloom and Liv Tyler, "The Two Towers" (2002) and "The Return of the King" (2003). Furthermore, she played opposite her "The Gift" co-star Giovanni Ribisi in "Heaven" (2002).

She received lots of attention for her role as the crusading Irish columnist whose life is at risk by criminal thugs when she pursues her mafia investigation too far in "Veronica Geurin" (2003) with buddy Colin Farrell. In 2004, she was nominated as Best Supporting Actress at the Independent Spirit Awards for her two part role as "herself" and a resentful family member in Jim Jarmousch's, "Coffee & Cigarettes.” Blanchett, who Leonardo DiCaprio referred to as "the female Daniel Day-Lewis" for her skills and talents, took on two outrageously different roles in 2004. First, she played a pregnant female member of the press trapped in an bad romantic triangle between an underwater explorer (Bill Murray) and his son (Owen Wilson) in Wes Anderson's comedy "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou"  

Next she took on the egotistical personality and remarkable New England stride of Hollywood super star celebrity  Katharine Hepburn, one of Howard Hughes' more serious love interests in director Martin Scorsese's block buster, "The Aviator", with an all-star cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Beckinsale, Gwen Stefani and Jude Law. She was applauded for her role and earned an award for Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards. 

She next starred in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Babel” (2006) starring with Brad Pitt, an intense and tragic look at upheaval, anxiety and the difficulties of love. Filmed on different continents, Asia, Africa and North America, “Babel” told three individual stories glued together by a single arbitrary act of violence. She played an American tourist traveling with her husband in Morocco when a stray bullet from a rifle crashes through their bus window, seriously wounding her and setting off a series of events. A truly huge powerhouse of a movie.

She next starred in “The Good German” (2006), playing the ex-lover of a United States Army war correspondent, George Clooney, in post-war Berlin who is trying to run away from the war’s outcome playing next to Tobey Maguire in the role of Tully. She next co-starred in “Notes on a Scandal” (2006), portraying an gorgeous art teacher at a London high school involved in an unlawful love affair with a 15 year old boy (Andrew Simpson) whose secret is safeguarded by the school’s neurotically voyeuristic history teacher (Judi Dench), a role that earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture. 

In 2007, she came back to common ground with “The Golden Age,” Shekhar Kapur’s sequel to “Elizabeth” that centered on the Queen’s bond with Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen). Even more inspiring, she played singer and songwriter prodigy Bob Dylan in the distinctive film recounting Dylan's life - "I'm Not There." So remarkable was she by playing the role of a man, and a strange man to boot, that she won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, and an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role at the 80th Academy Awards. 

Her next string of films were blockbusters. Starting out with "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008) with Harrison Ford and Shia Labeouf, where famed archaeologist and adventurer Dr. Henry "Indiana Jones" is called back into action when he becomes entangled in a Soviet plot to uncover the secret behind mysterious artifacts known as the Crystal Skulls. Next was "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (2008) with Brad Pitt, and tells the story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backwards with bizarre consequences. She then lent her voice to the animated fantasy "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" (2009) with George Clooney, about angry farmers, tired of sharing their chickens with a sly fox, look to get rid of their opponent and his family.

She was then cast and hired for the comedy "The Dangerous Husband" (2009), and the Western adventure film "North of Cheyenne" (2009), and wrapped the year with the comedy romance "As Bees in Honey Drown" (2009).