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Cate Blanchett - Biography |
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This statuesque beauty began her
distinctive acting career as a student at Sydney's National Institute of
Dramatic Art, after doing undergraduate study in art history and economics
at Melbourne University. In Los Angeles Magazine, fellow Aussie thespian
(and Elizabeth co-star) Geoffrey Rush recalled seeing Blanchett in a
student production of Electra. "[My housemate] had alerted me that she had
an astonishing young woman in her class, and I went to see the play," Rush
related. "Indeed, she was an extraordinary performer."
Blanchett graduated from the NIDA in 1992 and began appearing on
television and in theatrical productions staged at the Sydney Theatre
Company, making her impact two years later playing the female lead in
David Mamet's Oleanna. She considered the script to be such a
"misogynistic piece of crap" that she was compelled to take the role on as
a challenge, and she was rewarded for the effort with a Sydney Theatre
Critics Circle Rosemount Award for Best Actress. The production also
afforded the relative newcomer her first chance to work with one of her
biggest fans, Geoffrey Rush.
After earning further praise for work in Hamlet and The Tempest, Blanchett
essayed her first high-profile film, the 1997 Bruce Beresford feature,
Paradise Road. Her next big-screen production, Oscar and Lucinda, placed
Blanchett in the enviable position of love interest duty to Ralph Fiennes.
The movie's theatrical trailer caught the attention of director Shekhar
Kapur, who happened to be in the midst of a casting search for an actress
capable of portraying Queen Elizabeth I as both a young woman and as a
powerful monarch.
Thus, Blanchett jumped from the arms of Ralph to those of the actor's
younger brother, Joseph, who portrayed Elizabeth's first love, Lord Robert
Dudley. "I'm working my way through the Fiennes family," Blanchett told
the Herald. Not that the actress is likely to succumb to such tempting
leading men off-screen - she and her husband, Andrew Upton, wed in 1997,
despite a less than auspicious start. "He thought I was aloof and I
thought he was arrogant," Blanchett confided to Vanity Fair in March 1999.
"But once he kissed me, that was that." The couple endured an excruciating
separation while Blanchett filmed Elizabeth, and now the two travel
together whenever possible, living out of a suitcase "the size of a small
African village."
In addition to her sketch of a poised, late-'50s socialite in Minghella's
lavish noir The Talented Mr. Ripley, Blanchett appeared in two other films
in 1999: Mike Newell's Pushing Tin, in which she played New Jersey
housewife Connie Falzone and Miramax's Oscar Wilde adaptation An Ideal
Husband, in which she portrayed Lady Gertrud Chiltern.
Next, Cate filmed a role as a Russian cabaret dancer in The Man Who Cried,
which also stars John Turturro and Christina Ricci. Then it was off to New
Zealand to portray elf queen Galadriel in Peter Jackson's ambitious
attempt to simultaneously film all volumes of the Tolkien Lord of the
Rings trilogy. The movies, which Jackson originally claimed would have few
or no famous actors, now feature big names like Blanchett, Elijah Wood,
Liv Tyler, and Ian McKellen. |
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Cate Blanchett - Personal Quotes |
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"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."
It's part of my job. You can't play Veronica Guerin [puts on heavy
Strine] sounding like this. It just wouldn't wash. But what I find
fascinating about doing an accent - unless it's a farce - is that
it's not slapped on. [on doing many accents]
"I loved making it, I had a ball - cowboys and Indians. This is the
thing, I love doing things which I'd never envisaged before. And so
getting me on the back of a horse, with Tommy Lee Jones and shooting
guns and chasing Indians, it's just not something that I would have
expected myself to be doing." [On working with Ron Howard in The
Missing (2003/I).]
The more you do it, the more you learn to concentrate, as a child
does, incredibly intensively and then you sort of have to relax. I
remember the first film I did, the lead actor would in between
scenes be reading a newspaper or sleeping and I'd think, "How can
you do that?"
Thank you. I so didn't expected this. I wore a really tight dress
that's very ungracious walking up those stairs. Thank you very much,
I sort of don't know where to begin. Playing Katharine Hepburn, I
absolutely did not expect to be standing here in front of you all.
But Hepburn aside, I actually would like to say, as an actor coming
from another country to this country, I am so astounded and amazed,
and grateful, at the power of the SAG union and what it does for its
members. And I hope that other countries, mine own included, you
know, is inspired by that - I think it's incredible. (SAG acceptance
speech Feb. 5, 2005)
On her disgust of how so many of her Hollywood peers have succumbed
to using face-paralyzing Botox: "It's not just women on film,
18-year-old girls feel pressure to do preventative injecting. I see
someone's face, someone's body who'd had children and I think
they're the song lines of your experience, and why would you want to
eradicate that? I look at people sort of entombing themselves and
all you see is their little pin holes of terror... and you think,
just live your life, death is not going to be any easier just
because your face can't move."
"I'm one of those strange beasts who really likes a corset."
"You know, when you see yourself on a big screen, I tend to watch
from behind my hands. There is absolutely the regret. You always get
that at the end of every project. That's what's great about theater:
at least every night you get the chance to go out and re-offend. I'm
endlessly disappointed, which is what propels me into the next
project, probably, not to repair the damage but to kind of hopefully
keep developing. Otherwise there's no reason to keep doing it, is
there?" |
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Cate Blanchett - Filmography |
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Fourth Installment of the
Indiana Jones Adventures (2008)
The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2008) (pre-production) (voice) .... Mrs. Fox
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) (post-production) ....
Daisy
The Golden Age (2007) (post-production) .... Queen Elizabeth I
I'm Not There (2007) (completed) .... Bob Dylan/Jude
Hot Fuzz (2007) (uncredited) .... Jeanine
Notes on a Scandal (2006) .... Sheba Hart
The Good German (2006) .... Lena Brandt
Babel (2006) .... Susan
... aka Babel (France)
Little Fish (2005) .... Tracy
Stories of Lost Souls (2005) .... Julie-Anne (segment Bangers)
The Aviator (2004) .... Katharine Hepburn
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) .... Jane
Winslett-Richardson
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) .... Galadriel
... aka Herr der Ringe: Die Rückkehr des Königs, Der (Germany)
... aka The Return of the King (USA: short title)
The Missing (2003/I) .... Maggie Gilkeson
Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) .... Cate/Shelly (segment "Cousins")
Veronica Guerin (2003) .... Veronica Guerin
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) .... Galadriel
... aka Herr der Ringe: Die zwei Türme, Der (Germany)
... aka The Two Towers (USA: short title)
Heaven (2002) .... Philippa
... aka Heaven (France) (Germany)
The Shipping News (2001) .... Petal
... aka Noeuds et dénouements (Canada: French title)
Charlotte Gray (2001) .... Charlotte Gray
... aka Liebe der Charlotte Gray, Die (Germany)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) ....
Galadriel
... aka The Fellowship of the Ring (USA: short title)
... aka The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: The
Motion Picture (USA: promotional title)
Bandits (2001) .... Kate Wheeler
The Gift (2000) .... Annabelle 'Annie' Wilson
The Man Who Cried (2000) .... Lola
... aka The man who cried - Les larmes d'un homme (France)
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) .... Meredith Logue
... aka The Mysterious Yearning Secretive Sad Lonely Troubled
Confused Loving Musical Gifted Intelligent Beautiful Tender
Sensitive Haunted Passionate Talented Mr. Ripley (USA: complete
title)
Pushing Tin (1999) .... Connie Falzone
... aka Turbulenzen - und andere Katastrophen (Germany)
An Ideal Husband (1999) .... Lady Gertrude Chiltern
Bangers (1999) .... Julie-Anne
Elizabeth (1998) .... Elizabeth I
... aka Elizabeth: The Virgin Queen (closing credits title)
Oscar and Lucinda (1997) .... Lucinda Leplastrier
Thank God He Met Lizzie (1997) .... Lizzie
... aka The Wedding Party (USA: video title)
Paradise Road (1997) .... Susan Macarthy
Parklands (1996) .... Rosie
"Bordertown" (1995) (mini) TV Series .... Bianca
Police Rescue (1994) .... Vivian
... aka Police Rescue: The Movie (Australia: promotional title)
"Heartland" (1994) (mini) TV Series .... Elizabeth Ashton
"Police Rescue" .... Mrs. Haines (1 episode, 1993)
- The Loaded Boy (1993) TV Episode .... Mrs. Haines |
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Cate Blanchett - Related Links |
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Wikipedia: Cate Blanchett
YouTube: Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett at Babemania.com
Top Celebrities Sites:
The Celebrity
Cafe |
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