Cate Blanchett is considered one of the best actresses of her generation. The Australian, nominated for best actress for Tár, has left empty, despite the fact that the role she plays in the film has earned her many awards, including the Golden Globe, the BAFTA, the Critic’s Choice and the Volpi Cup .
Catherine Élise Blanchett (May 14, 1969, Melbourne) saw how her childhood was marked by the sudden death of her father, who died at the age of 40 from a heart attack. This event especially affected the Australian, who defined herself at this stage as an “extroverted girl, but at the same time closed”. Along with her siblings, Bob and Genevieve, she was raised by her mother in a suburb on the outskirts of Melbourne.
During her high school studies, Blanchett took her first steps as an actress in several plays, but she did not plan to dedicate herself to the world of acting, she wanted to dedicate herself to art. She began studying at the University of Melbourne Economics and Fine Arts, a career she dropped out to take a gap year to travel and think about her future. It was precisely on an impromptu trip to Cairo, in Egypt, where she discovered cinema. She was 18 years old and a man asked her to play an extra in a movie. She accepted because she needed the money and that’s when she knew she wanted to be an actress.
When she returned to Australia, she enrolled at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney and in 1992, after graduating, she began working on various plays, such as David Mamet’s Oleanna or Hamlet, where she played Ophelia. She also combined the theater with television series and made her film debut with the film Parkland (1994). But the role that changed her life was that of Elizabeth I in Elizabeth, a job with which she became internationally known and which earned her several awards, such as a BAFTA, a Golden Globe or her first Oscar nomination.
After this first success, Blanchett became one of the most desired actresses in Hollywood. The biggest directors in the industry wanted to work with her. She participated in the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings directed by Peter Jackson, as well as in the movie The Hobbit. In 2004, Martin Scorsese signed her to give life to the film legend, Katharine Hepburn, in The Aviator, a role with which she won her first Oscar for best supporting actress.
This project was followed by other highly acclaimed ones such as Babel (2006), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) or Blue Jasmin (2013), the Woody Allen film that earned her her second Oscar for best actress. In total, Blanchett has been nominated for awards up to eight times, which is why she is considered one of the best actresses of the 21st century.
Other of his outstanding films are Carol (2015) or Ocean’s 8 (2018), a production where he shared the lead with other renowned actresses such as Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson or Helena Bonham Carter.
For her work in Tár, the Australian learned to speak German -part of the film takes place in Berlin-, to play the piano and to conduct an orchestra. In fact, all the movements and music that appear in this film directed by Todd Field are made by herself.
Blanchett has other passions besides movies. She is passionate about art, she not only paints in her moments of disconnection between projects, she also has a large collection of paintings by contemporary artists such as Rosalie Gascoigne, Guan Wei, Bill Robinson or Tim Maguire.
The actress also has a weakness for fashion. For many years she has been the muse of Giorgio Armani and she stands out on the red carpet for a minimalist style with original touches such as volumes or paillettes. In addition, she is one of the few Hollywood celebrities who is committed to recycling the designs that she has previously worn at other awards, reaffirming her commitment to sustainability and demonstrating that nothing happens to repeat the same dress or suit on a carpet. red.
Blanchett has been happily married since 1997 to Australian playwright Andrew Upton, whom she met a year before their wedding. “He thought I was distant, and I thought he was arrogant. This shows how wrong one can be. Once he kissed me, everything changed,” she confessed in an interview. The couple have three sons: Dashiell John 82001), Roman Robert (2004) and Ignatius Martin (2008).
In 2015, they expanded the family with the adoption of Edith Vivian Patricia, a girl who filled the family with happiness. “We are madly in love with her,” said the actress at the Cinderella premiere, where she played her stepmother.
