Biography
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.
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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. |
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