Cate Blanchett
Catherine Elise Blanchett (; born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actress and producer. Regarded as one of the finest actresses of her generation, she is known for her versatile work across independent films, blockbusters, and the stage. Blanchett is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. After graduating from the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Blanchett began her acting career on the Australian stage, taking on roles in "Electra" in 1992 and "Hamlet" in 1994. She came to international attention as  Elizabeth I in the drama film "Elizabeth" (1998), for which she won the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for Best Actress, and received her first of seven Academy Award nominations. Her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator" (2004) won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She later won the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing a neurotic former socialite in Woody Allen's comedy-drama "Blue Jasmine" (2013). Blanchett's other Oscar-nominated roles include "Notes on a Scandal" (2006), "I'm Not There" (2007), "" (2007), and "Carol" (2015). Blanchett has performed in  over 20 theatre productions. From 2008 to 2013, she and her husband, Andrew Upton, were the artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company. Some of her stage roles during that period were in revivals of "A Streetcar Named Desire", "Uncle Vanya" and "The Maids", garnering several theatre awards and nominations. She made her Broadway debut in 2017 in "The Present", for which she received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Blanchett has also received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and Outstanding Limited Series as producer  for the FX/Hulu historical drama miniseries "Mrs. America" (2020). The Australian government awarded Blanchett the Centenary Medal in 2001, and she was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2017. In 2012, she was appointed Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government. In 2015, she was honoured by the Museum of Modern Art and received the British Film Institute Fellowship. Blanchett has received honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from the University of New South Wales, University of Sydney and Macquarie University. "Time" magazine named her one of its 100 most influential people  in the world in 2007. In 2018, she was ranked among the world's highest-paid actresses. Early life and education. Catherine Elise Blanchett was born on 14 May 1969 in Ivanhoe, a suburb in Melbourne. Her Australian mother, June née Gamble, worked as a property developer and teacher, and her American father, Robert DeWitt Blanchett Jr., a Texas native, was a United States Navy Chief Petty Officer who later worked as an advertising executive. The two met when Robert's ship broke down in Melbourne. When Blanchett was ten, her father died of a heart attack, leaving her mother  to raise the family on her own. She is the second of three children, with a younger sister and older brother. Her ancestry includes English, some Scottish, and remote French roots. Blanchett has described herself as a "part extrovert, part wallflower" child. During her teenage years she had a penchant for dressing in traditionally masculine clothing, and went through goth and punk phases, at one point shaving her head. She attended primary school in Melbourne at Ivanhoe East Primary School; for her secondary education, she attended Ivanhoe Girls' Grammar School and then Methodist Ladies' College, where she explored her passion  for the performing arts. In her late teens and early twenties, she worked at a nursing home in Victoria. She studied economics and fine arts at the University of Melbourne but dropped out after one year to travel overseas. While in Egypt, Blanchett was asked to play an American cheerleader as an extra in the Egyptian boxing movie, "Kaboria" (1990); in need of money, she accepted. Upon returning to Australia, and after working in the pocket theatres of Melbourne, including La Mama, she moved to Sydney, and enrolled at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). She graduated from NIDA  in 1992 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Career. 1992–2000: Early work and international breakthrough. Blanchett's first stage role was opposite Geoffrey Rush, in the 1992 David Mamet play "Oleanna" for the Sydney Theatre Company. That year, she was also cast as Clytemnestra in a production of "Sophocles' Electra". A couple of weeks after rehearsals, the actress playing the title role pulled out, and director Lindy Davies cast Blanchett in the role. Her performance as Electra became one of her most acclaimed at NIDA. In 1993, Blanchett was awarded the Sydney Theatre Critics' Best Newcomer Award for her performance  in Timothy Daly's "Kafka Dances" and won Best Actress for her performance in Mamet's "Oleanna", making her the first actor to win both categories in the same year. Blanchett played the role of Ophelia in an acclaimed 1994–1995 Company B production of "Hamlet" directed by Neil Armfield, starring Rush and Richard Roxburgh, and was nominated for a Green Room Award. She appeared in the 1994 TV miniseries "Heartland" opposite Ernie Dingo, the miniseries "Bordertown" (1995) with Hugo Weaving, and in an episode of "Police Rescue" entitled "The Loaded Boy". She also appeared in the 50-minute drama short  Parklands (1996), which received an Australian Film Institute (AFI) nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Blanchett made her feature film debut with a supporting role as an Australian nurse captured by the Japanese Army during World War II, in Bruce Beresford's film "Paradise Road" (1997), which co-starred Glenn Close and Frances McDormand. The film made just over $2 million at the box office on a budget of $19 million and received mixed reviews from critics. Her first leading role came later that year as eccentric heiress Lucinda Leplastrier in Gillian Armstrong's romantic drama "Oscar and Lucinda  (1997), opposite Ralph Fiennes. Blanchett received wide acclaim for her performance, with Emanuel Levy of Variety" declaring, "luminous newcomer Blanchett, in a role originally intended for Judy Davis, is bound to become a major star". She earned her first AFI Award nomination as Best Leading Actress for "Oscar and Lucinda". She won the AFI Best Actress Award in the same year for her starring role as Lizzie in the romantic comedy "Thank God He Met Lizzie" (1997), co-starring Richard Roxburgh and Frances O'Connor. By 1997, Blanchett had accrued significant praise and recognition in her native Australia. Blanchett's first  high-profile international role was a young Elizabeth I in the critically acclaimed historical drama "Elizabeth" (1998), directed by Shekhar Kapur. The film catapulted her to international prominence and her performance garnered wide recognition, earning her the Golden Globe Award and British Academy Award (BAFTA), and her first Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In his review for "Variety", critic David Rooney wrote of her performance, "Blanchett conveys with grace, poise and intelligence that Elizabeth was a wily, decisive, advanced thinker, far too aware of her own exceptional nature to bow to any man. [She ] builds the juicy character almost imperceptibly from a smart but wary young woman who may be in over her head into a powerful creature of her own invention." Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" wrote that Blanchett's performance "brings spirit, beauty and substance to what otherwise might have been turned into a vacuous role", and Alicia Potter writing for the "Boston Phoenix" stated that, "In the end, Kapur's crown jewel is a tale of twin transformations, that of Elizabeth into one of history's most enigmatic and powerful women, and that of Blanchett into, well, a bona  fide screen queen." The following year, Blanchett appeared in "Bangers" (1999), an Australian short film and part of "Stories of Lost Souls", a compilation of thematically-related short stories. The short was written and directed by her husband, Andrew Upton, and produced by Blanchett and Upton. She also appeared in the Mike Newell comedy "Pushing Tin" (1999), with her performance singled out by critics, and the critically acclaimed and financially successful film "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999), alongside Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. She received her second BAFTA nomination for her performance as Meredith Logue  in "The Talented Mr. Ripley". 2001–2007: "The Lord of the Rings" and established actor. Already an acclaimed actor, Blanchett received a host of new fans when she appeared in Peter Jackson's Academy Award-winning blockbuster trilogy, "The Lord of the Rings", playing the role of elf leader Galadriel in all three films. The trilogy was a major critical and financial success, earning $2.981 billion at the box office worldwide, and all three films were later ranked within the top 10 greatest fantasy movies of all time in a poll conducted by American magazine "Wired" in 2012. In addition  to "The Lord of the Rings", 2001 also saw Blanchett diversify her portfolio with a range of roles in the dramas "Charlotte Gray" and "The Shipping News" and the American crime-comedy "Bandits", for which she earned a second Golden Globe and SAG Award nomination. "Bandits" marked Blanchett's first notable foray into the comedy genre, with Ben Falk of the BBC declaring her and co-star Billy Bob Thornton "a real find as comedians" and calling her performance as an unsatisfied housewife caught between two escaped convicts, "unhinged, though undeniably sexy". In 2002, Blanchett starred opposite Giovanni Ribisi in  Tom Tykwer-directed "Heaven", the first film in an unfinished trilogy by acclaimed writer-director Krzysztof Kieślowski. Her performance in the film as a grieving woman who commits a desperate act of terrorism was highly praised, with Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" calling it, "the most compelling screen performance of her career" and going on to state, "Although Ms. Blanchett face has always registered emotion with a mercurial fluidity, the immediacy of feeling she conveys in "Heaven" is astonishing." 2003 saw Blanchett again playing a wide range of roles: Galadriel in of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy  (which won the Academy Award for Best Picture); the Ron Howard-directed western thriller "The Missing"; Jim Jarmusch's "Coffee and Cigarettes", playing two roles (both against herself), for which she received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female nomination; and the biographical "Veronica Guerin", which earned her a Golden Globe Best Actress Drama nomination. In 2004, Blanchett portrayed a pregnant journalist chronicling an underwater voyage by an eccentric oceanographer in Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou". Blanchett won her first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2005, for her highly acclaimed portrayal of Katharine  Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator" (2004). This made Blanchett the first actor in history to win an Academy Award for portraying another Academy Award-winning actor. She lent her Oscar statuette to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. In his review for "Newsweek", David Ansen wrote that Blanchett portrayed Hepburn with "lip-smacking vivacity", and Roger Ebert lauded the performance, describing it as "delightful and yet touching; mannered and tomboyish". During her preparation for the role and at the request of Scorsese, Blanchett reviewed 35-millimeter prints of all of Hepburn's first 15 screen performances to  study and memorise her poise, mannerisms and speech pattern. Blanchett spoke of the responsibility of portraying such an iconic star, stating, "Representing Kate in the same medium, film, in which she existed was very daunting. But because she was so private and few people really knew her, we basically know Hepburn through her films. So of course you have to give a nod to her screen persona when playing her." That year, Blanchett also won the Australian Film Institute Best Actress Award for her performance as Tracy Heart, a former heroin addict, in the Australian film "Little Fish" (2005), co -produced by her and her husband's production company, Dirty Films. Though lesser known globally than some of her other films, the "sober, sensitive" "Little Fish" received great critical acclaim in Blanchett's native Australia and was nominated for 13 Australian Film Institute awards. In 2006, Blanchett portrayed Hedda Gabler at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in the Sydney Theatre Company production of "Hedda Gabler", directed by Robyn Nevin. She then starred opposite Brad Pitt in Alejandro González Iñárritu's multi-lingual, multi-narrative drama "Babel", as one half of a grieving couple who get caught up in an international  incident in Morocco. "Babel" received seven Academy Award nominations. She also co-starred in the Steven Soderbergh-directed World War II-set drama "The Good German" with George Clooney, and the acclaimed psychological thriller "Notes on a Scandal" opposite Dame Judi Dench. Blanchett received a third Academy Award nomination for her performance in the latter film, where she portrays a lonely teacher who embarks on an affair with a 15-year-old student and becomes the object of obsession for an older woman played by Dench. Both Blanchett's and Dench's performances were highly acclaimed, with Peter Bradshaw writing  in "The Guardian", "Director Richard Eyre, with unshowy authority, gets the best out of Dench and Blanchett and, with great shrewdness, elicits from these two actors all the little tensions and exasperations - as well as the genuine tenderness - in their tragically fraught relationship." In 2007, Blanchett was named one of "Time" magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World, and appeared on "Forbes" Celebrity 100 list. She made a cameo as Janine, forensic scientist and ex-girlfriend of Simon Pegg's character, in Edgar Wright's action comedy film "Hot Fuzz" (2007). The cameo was uncredited and she gave  her fee to charity. She reprised her role as Queen Elizabeth I in the 2007 sequel "" directed by Shekhar Kapur, and portrayed Jude Quinn, one of six incarnations of Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes' experimental film "I'm Not There". She won the Volpi Cup Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Jude Quinn. At the 80th Academy Awards, Blanchett received two nominations – Best Actress for "Elizabeth: the Golden Age" and Best Supporting Actress for "I'm Not There" – becoming the first actress  to receive a second nomination with the reprisal of a role. Of her achievement that year, Roger Ebert said, "That Blanchett could appear in the same Toronto International Film Festival playing Elizabeth and Bob Dylan, both splendidly, is a wonder of acting." 2008–2011: Directing the Sydney Theatre Company. Blanchett next appeared in Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008), as the villainous KGB agent Col. Dr. Irina Spalko, Spielberg's favourite villain from the entire series. The film received mixed reviews from critics and audiences but was a major box office success, grossing over  $790 million worldwide. In David Fincher's Oscar-nominated "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", she co-starred with Brad Pitt for a second time, playing the title character's love interest, Daisy Fuller. In the same year, Blanchett voiced the character of Granmamare for the English language version of Hayao Miyazaki's "Ponyo", released in July 2008. Also in 2008, Blanchett and her husband Andrew Upton became co-CEOs and artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company. Blanchett returned to acting in the theatre in 2009 with the Sydney Theatre Company production of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named  Desire", directed by Liv Ullmann. She starred as Blanche DuBois alongside Joel Edgerton as Stanley Kowalski. Ullmann and Blanchett had been meaning to collaborate on a project since Ullman's intended film adaption of "A Doll's House" fell by the wayside. Blanchett proposed embarking on "Streetcar" to Ullmann, who jumped at the opportunity after initial discussion. "A Streetcar Named Desire" production traveled from Sydney to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. It was a critical and commercial success and Blanchett received acclaim for her performance as Blanche DuBois. "The New  York Times" critic Ben Brantley said, "Ms. Ullmann and Ms. Blanchett have performed the play as if it had never been staged before, with the result that, as a friend of mine put it, 'you feel like you're hearing words you thought you knew pronounced correctly for the first time. John Lahr of "The New Yorker" wrote of her portrayal, "with her alert mind, her informed heart, and her lithe, patrician silhouette, [Blanchett] gets it right from the first beat ... I don't expect to see a better performance of this role in my lifetime." Jane Fonda, who attended  a New York show, deemed it "perhaps the greatest stage performance I have ever seen", and Meryl Streep declared, "That performance was as naked, as raw and extraordinary and astonishing and surprising and scary as anything I've ever seen ... I thought I'd seen that play, I thought I knew all the lines by heart, because I've seen it so many times, but I'd never seen the play until I saw that performance." Blanchett won the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. The production and Blanchett received Helen Hayes Awards, for Outstanding Non -Resident Production and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Non-Resident Production award, respectively. In 2010, Blanchett starred as Lady Marion opposite Russell Crowe's titular hero in Ridley Scott's epic "Robin Hood". The film received mixed reviews from critics but was a financial success, earning $321 million at the worldwide box office. In 2011, she played the antagonist CIA agent Marissa Wiegler in Joe Wright's action thriller film "Hanna", co-starring with Saoirse Ronan and Eric Bana. In 2011, Blanchett took part in two Sydney Theatre Company productions. She played Lotte Kotte in a new translation of  Botho Strauß's 1978 play "Groß und klein" ("Big and Small") from Martin Crimp, directed by Benedict Andrews. After its Sydney run, the production traveled to London, Paris, the Vienna Festival and Ruhrfestspiele. Blanchett and the production received wide acclaim. Blanchett was nominated for the London Evening Standard Award for Best Actress, and won the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and the Helpmann Award for Best Actress. She then played Yelena, opposite Hugo Weaving and Richard Roxburgh, in Andrew Upton's adaptation of Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya", which traveled to the Kennedy Center and  the New York City Center as part of the Lincoln Center Festival. The production and Blanchett received critical acclaim, with "The New York Times" Ben Brantley declaring, "I consider the three hours I spent on Saturday night watching [the characters] complain about how bored they are among the happiest of my theatregoing life ... This Uncle Vanya gets under your skin like no other I have seen ... [Blanchett] confirms her status as one of the best and bravest actresses on the planet." "The Washington Post"s Peter Marks dubbed the production Washington D.C's top theatrical event of 2011. Blanchett received the  Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Non-Resident Production, and the Helpmann Award for Best Actress. 2012–2016: "Blue Jasmine" and resurgence in Hollywood. Blanchett reprised her role as Galadriel in Peter Jackson's adaptations of "The Hobbit" (2012–2014), prequel to "The Lord of the Rings" series, filmed in New Zealand. While less critically acclaimed than "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "The Hobbit" trilogy was nonetheless a major box office success, earning nearly $3 billion worldwide. The character of Galadriel does not appear in J.R.R. Tolkien's original novel, but the story was amended by co -writer Guillermo del Toro and director Peter Jackson so that Blanchett could appear in the film trilogy. She voiced the role of "Penelope" in the "Family Guy" episode "Mr. and Mrs. Stewie", which aired on 29 April 2012, and Queen Elizabeth II in the episode "Family Guy Viewer Mail 2". Blanchett returned to Australian film with her appearance in "The Turning" (2013), an anthology film based on a collection of short stories by Tim Winton. She was head of jury of the 2012 and 2013 Dubai International Film Festival. The Sydney Theatre Company's 2013 season was Blanchett's final  one as co-CEO and artistic director. In 2013, Blanchett played Jasmine Francis, the lead role in Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine", co-starring Alec Baldwin and Sally Hawkins. Her performance garnered widespread acclaim, with some critics considering it to be the finest of her career to that point (surpassing her acclaimed performance in "Elizabeth"). In his review for "The Guardian", Mark Kermode proclaimed, "Blanchett takes on the challenge like a peak-fitness runner facing a marathon, ploughing her way through 26 miles of emotional road pounding, with all the ups and downs, strains and tears, stomach turns and heartburns  that that entails, a feat that occasionally leaves her (and us) gasping for breath." Peter Travers, reviewing the film for "Rolling Stone", called Blanchett's performance, "miraculous", and went on to write, "The sight of Jasmine – lost, alone and unable to conjure magic out of unyielding reality – is devastating. This is Blanchett triumphant, and not to be missed." The performance won her more than 40 industry and critics' awards, including the LAFCA Award, NYFCC Award, NSFC Award, Critics' Choice Award, Santa Barbara International Film Festival Outstanding Performance of the Year Award, SAG Award, Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Award, Independent Film  Spirit Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress. Blanchett's win made her just the sixth actress to win an Oscar in both of the acting categories, the third to win Best Actress after Best Supporting Actress, and the first Australian to win more than one acting Oscar. Allen's adopted daughter Dylan Farrow has since criticised Blanchett and other actresses for working with Allen. Blanchett responded, "It's obviously been a long and painful situation for the family and I hope they find some resolution and peace." On the subject of the Me Too movement, Blanchett said she  thinks that "social media is fantastic about raising awareness about issues, but it's not the judge and jury" and the cases "need to go into court, so if these abuses have happened, the person is prosecuted, so someone, who is not in the shiny industry that I am, can use that legal precedent to protect themselves. Always, in my industry or any other industry, they're preyed upon because they're vulnerable." In 2014, Blanchett co-starred with Matt Damon and George Clooney in the latter's ensemble film, "The Monuments Men", based on the true story of a  crew of art historians and museum curators who recover renowned works of art stolen by Nazis. The French heroine Rose Valland was an inspiration for Blanchett's character of Claire Simone. "The Monuments Men" received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $155 million at the worldwide box office. That year, Blanchett also voiced the part of Valka in the DreamWorks Animation film "How to Train Your Dragon 2". The film received critical acclaim and was a box office success. It went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film and receive a nomination for the  Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Blanchett guest starred on the Australian show "Rake", as the onscreen female version of Richard Roxburgh's rogue protagonist, Cleaver. On 29 January 2015, she co-hosted the 4th AACTA Awards with Deborah Mailman. In 2015, Blanchett starred in five films. She portrayed Nancy in Terrence Malick's "Knight Of Cups", which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. "IndieWire" named Blanchett's performance in "Knight of Cups" one of the 15 best performances in Terrence Malick films. She starred as the villainous Lady Tremaine in Disney's Kenneth Branagh-directed live-action adaptation  of "Cinderella", to critical acclaim. Writing for "Time" magazine, Richard Corliss declared that "Blanchett [earns top billing], radiating a hauteur that chills as it amuses; the performance is grand without skirting parody." She then starred opposite Rooney Mara in "Carol", the highly acclaimed film adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's "The Price of Salt", reuniting her with director Todd Haynes. Blanchett, who also served as an executive producer of the film, drew rave reviews for her performance as the titular character, which was widely cited as one of the best of her career, alongside "Elizabeth" and "Blue Jasmine". Justin Chang of  Variety proclaimed, "As a study in the way beautiful surfaces can simultaneously conceal and expose deeper meanings, [Blanchett's] performance represents an all-too-fitting centerpiece for this magnificently realized movie." For "Carol", Blanchett received again Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Award nominations. Blanchett portrayed Mary Mapes opposite Robert Redford's Dan Rather in "Truth" (2015), a film about the Killian documents controversy. Blanchett's production company was a producing partner for the film. She then starred in "Manifesto", Julian Rosefeldt's multi-screen video installation, in which 12 artist manifestos are depicted by 13 different characters all played by  Blanchett. The project, and Blanchett, received critical acclaim, with Roberta Smith of "The New York Times" stating: "If the art world gave out Oscars, Cate Blanchett should win for her tour de force of starring roles in 'Manifesto'". In 2016, Blanchett narrated one of two versions of Terence Malick's documentary on Earth and the universe, "Voyage of Time", which had its world premiere at the 73rd Venice Film Festival. 2017–2020: Broadway debut and television success. In 2017, Blanchett starred in the Sydney Theatre Company play "The Present", Andrew Upton's adaption of Anton Chekhov's play "Platonov", directed by  John Crowley. The production debuted in Sydney in 2015, to critical acclaim, and transferred to Broadway in 2017, marking Blanchett's Broadway debut. Blanchett's performance during the play's Broadway run received acclaim. Ben Brantley of "The New York Times" remarked that "Blanchett knows how to hold a stage and, if necessary, hijack it ... Such commanding, try-anything charisma is useful if you're attempting to hold together a badly assembled party or, for that matter, play." For her work, Blanchett received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play, a Drama Desk Award nomination, and a  Drama League Award nomination for the Distinguished Performance Award. In 2017, Blanchett also appeared in Terrence Malick's "Song to Song", shot back-to-back with "Knight of Cups" in 2012, and portrayed the goddess of death Hela in the Marvel Studios film "", directed by Taika Waititi. "Thor: Ragnarok" was both a critical and financial success, earning $854 million at the worldwide box office. In 2018, Blanchett starred in "Ocean's 8", the all-female spin-off of the "Ocean's Eleven" franchise, directed by Gary Ross, opposite Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson, Mindy Kaling, Helena Bonham Carter , Rihanna and Awkwafina. The film garnered mainly mixed reviews but was a box office success, earning over $297 million worldwide. She also portrayed Florence Zimmerman in the film adaptation of "The House with a Clock in Its Walls" directed by Eli Roth. Blanchett was appointed the president of the jury of the 71st Cannes Film Festival, which took place in May 2018. That year, "Forbes" listed her as one of world's highest-paid actresses with annual earnings of $12.5 million. Blanchett portrayed a female version of the python Kaa in Andy Serkis' adaptation of "The Jungle Book  titled " (2018). Serkis utilised a mixture of motion capture, CG animation and live-action in the film, and the role of Kaa was written to be much closer to the original character in the short stories by the author Rudyard Kipling, which is as a mentor-like figure for Mowgli. The film was released on Netflix in 2019. In the same year, Blanchett starred in Where'd You Go, Bernadette", an adaptation of the best-selling book of the same name, which was directed by Richard Linklater. The film received mostly mixed reviews and made $10.4 million at the  box office against a budget of $18 million, but Blanchett's performance as the titular character received praise, with Pete Hammond writing in his review for "Deadline", "[The film] doesn't quite measure up to expectations, despite a game performance from the incandescent Cate Blanchett, who clearly is the best reason to see this movie." She received her tenth Golden Globe nomination for her performance in the film. Also that year, she reprised her role as Valka in "", which was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 92nd Academy Awards. In 2020, Blanchett's Dirty Films production company was  signed with New Republic Pictures for feature films and FX Networks for television. Blanchett returned to television by starring in two miniseries. She played a supporting role in the Australian drama series "Stateless", inspired by the controversial mandatory detention case of Cornelia Rau. "Stateless" was funded by Screen Australia and Blanchett also served as co-creator and executive producer for the series. It aired from 1 March 2020 to 5 April 2020 on Australian public broadcaster ABC, and premiered internationally on Netflix in July 2020. Blanchett won two awards at the 10th AACTA Awards for "Stateless": Best Guest or Supporting  Actress for her performance, and Best Mini-Series for her role as executive producer. Blanchett also headlined and produced the FX/Hulu historical drama miniseries "Mrs. America" (2020), starring as conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly. The nine-part series debuted in the US on 15 April 2020, to widespread critical acclaim, with James Poniewozik writing in his review for "The New York Times", "Her final scene, wordless and devastating, might as well end with Blanchett being handed an Emmy onscreen"; and Michael Idato for "The Sydney Morning Herald" proclaiming, "Blanchett's track record speaks for itself, but here something else is  happening. Every time Blanchett's Schlafly glides perfectly into the frame, there is simply nowhere else to look." At the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, she received nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and Outstanding Limited Series, as well as nominations for the Golden Globe Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award (both for her performance), and the Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Drama. Blanchett also served as an executive producer on the Greek film "Apples" (2020), directed by Christos Nikou. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival to critical praise, and  was selected to be the country's submission to the Academy Awards as their Best Foreign Language Film, though it did not get the nomination. 2021–present. In 2021, Blanchett starred alongside Bradley Cooper in Guillermo del Toro's film adaptation of the novel "Nightmare Alley", which was released to positive reviews and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. She also appeared alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio in Adam McKay's "Don't Look Up", a political satire film for Netflix, which also received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. With "Nightmare Alley" and "Don't  Look Up"s Best Picture Oscar nominations, Blanchett broke the record held by actress Olivia de Havilland of being the female actor with the most credited roles in Best Picture nominees. Blanchett will next voice a role in the Netflix film adaptation "Pinocchio", reuniting her with director Guillermo Del Toro. She is also set to portray Lilith in "Borderlands", a live action adaptation of the video game of the same name for Lionsgate, reuniting her with director Eli Roth. She will also star in the feature adaptation of 1960s British TV series "The Champions" with Ben Stiller, who will also direct  the project. Blanchett's production company, Dirty Films, is set to produce Christos Nikou's English-language film debut, "Fingernails", starring Carey Mulligan. She is also set to star alongside Kevin Kline in the Apple TV+ thriller series "Disclaimer", written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. In January 2022, it was announced that Blanchett will star in Pedro Almodovar's first English-language feature film "A Manual for Cleaning Women". She will also serve as a producer on the project. In February 2022, Blanchett was set to star in "The New Boy" written and directed by Warwick Thornton. Reception. Blanchett is  often regarded to be among the finest actresses of her generation and has been noted for her ability to play characters from many different walks of life, as well as for headlining a wide range of film genres, from low-budget independent films to high-profile, mainstream productions. She has also been praised for her mastery over a wide array of diverse accents, from English, Irish and French to various regional American accents. Commenting on her appeal as a screen actor in "Vulture", Will Leitch and Tim Grierson stated that her greatest skill was "her ability to combine relatability and  elusiveness: She is always completely present and yet just out of grasp. She has been forever daring, uncompromising and perpetually, resolutely, herself." Blanchett's performance in the film "Carol" was ranked as the 2nd best movie performance of the decade by "IndieWire" in 2019. Writing of her performance in the film, Christian Zilko states, "The greatest performance in a career where almost every role feels like a legitimate contender, Cate Blanchett's take on Carol Aird is a veritable symphony of repressive silence." Blanchett has been cited in the press as being a style icon and has frequently topped lists  of the best dressed women in the world. In 2004, Blanchett was named the third most naturally beautiful woman of all time by a panel of beauty and fashion editors, make-up artists, model agencies and photographers, behind Audrey Hepburn and Liv Tyler. She was in "Empire"'s list of the "100 Sexiest Movie Stars of All-Time" in 2007 and 2013. In 2006, a portrait of Blanchett and her family painted by McLean Edwards was a finalist for the Art Gallery of New South Wales' Archibald Prize. Another portrait of Blanchett was a finalist for the Archibald Prize in  2014. Blanchett appeared in a series of commemorative postage stamps called Australian Legends in 2009, in recognition of the outstanding contribution made to Australian entertainment and culture. In 2015, Madame Tussauds Hollywood unveiled a wax statue of Blanchett draped in a recreation of the yellow Valentino dress she wore to the 77th Academy Awards in 2005. In 2019, Blanchett was among the "10 inspirational women honored with a larger-than-life bronze sculpture" as part of the Statues for Equality project, which "aims to balance gender representation in public art and honor women’s contributions to society". The bronze statues  were unveiled on Women's Equality Day: August 26, 2019 on Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Blanchett's statue is "a creation based on a single image from the 2003 photoshoot by Matt Jones for "Movieline's Hollywood Life" magazine." Activism. Environmental. Blanchett has been a long term proponent of individual and collective action on climate change and other environmental issues. In 2006, she joined former US Vice-president Al Gore's Climate Project. In 2007, Blanchett became the ambassador for the Australian Conservation Foundation. She was made an honorary life member of the Australian Conservation Foundation  in 2012, in recognition of her support for environmental issues. At the beginning of 2011, Blanchett lent her support for a carbon tax. She received some criticism for this, particularly from conservatives. Blanchett is a patron of the international development charity SolarAid, which works to create a sustainable market for solar lights in Africa. From 2008 to 2011, the Sydney Theatre Company under the leadership of Blanchett and her husband Andrew Upton, initiated a comprehensive large scale environmental program called "Greening the Wharf", which invested in solar energy, rainwater harvesting, energy efficiency measures and best practice waste management. The program  won a Green Globe Award which was accepted by Blanchett and Upton. In January 2014, Blanchett took part in the Green Carpet Challenge, an initiative to raise the public profile of sustainable fashion, founded by Livia Firth of Eco-Age. In September 2020, as part of her role as Jury President of the 77th Venice International Film Festival, Blanchett vowed that during the festival she would only wear outfits that she had previously worn at public events in an effort to highlight the issue of sustainability in the fashion industry. In October of the same year, Blanchett was appointed by  Prince William, Duke of Cambridge as a council member for the Earthshot Prize, which provides 50 environmental pioneers with the funds needed to further their work in tackling major problems impacting the environment. In 2022, Blanchett launched the "Climate of Change" podcast on Audible together with Danny Kennedy to discuss climate change and the importance of preserving the environment. Humanitarian. Blanchett has been working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) since 2015. In May 2016, the UNHCR announced her appointment as a global Goodwill Ambassador. Blanchett, along with other celebrities, featured in a video from the UNHCR  to help raise awareness to the global refugee crisis. The video, titled "What They Took With Them", has the actors reading a poem written by Jenifer Toksvig and inspired by primary accounts of refugees, and is part of UNHCR's "WithRefugees" campaign, which also includes a petition to governments to expand asylum to provide further shelter, integrating job opportunities, and education. Blanchett has undertaken missions with the UNHCR to Jordan in 2015, Lebanon in 2016 and Bangladesh in 2018 to meet with and highlight the issues faced by both Syrian and Rohingya refugees in those areas. In January 2018, she  was awarded the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum to honor her advocacy for refugees and displaced people around the world, and in August 2018, she addressed the United Nations Security Council about the atrocities committed against the Rohingya people in Myanmar. In July 2020, the Australian mini series "Stateless", which was co-created and produced by Blanchett (and originally aired on the ABC network in Australia), premiered on Netflix. The series was inspired by Blanchett's work with the UNHCR and focuses on four strangers whose lives collide at an immigration detention centre in Australia. In Blanchett's  words, the show's aim is to "build empathy and understanding for refugees, particularly those who have been and still are in detention." As an esteemed member of the performing arts community that was seriously impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and a person concerned about environmental and humanitarian issues, Blanchett contributed an essay to "Upturn: A Better Normal After COVID-19", a book published in 2020 about what could be done to improve society after the pandemic in her native Australia. Blanchett said:We engage with the performance of the gesture and the whole of it is greater than the sum  of its parts. I think this need to gather is fundamental to who we are, and it has been stymied by Covid-19 but also underlined by it, and that need in us for community addresses the difficult lesson we have to learn: business is not government and government is not a business. Personal life. Blanchett is married to playwright and screenwriter Andrew Upton. They met in Australia in the mid-1990s and married on 29 December 1997. The couple have three sons and one daughter. Their sons are Dashiell John Upton (born 2001), Roman Robert Upton (born 2004), Ignatius Martin Upton  (born 2008), and daughter Edith Vivian Patricia Upton (adopted in 2015). Blanchett said that she and her husband had been wanting to adopt ever since the birth of their first son. After making Brighton, England, their main family home for nearly 10 years, she and her husband returned to their native Australia in 2006. In November 2006, Blanchett attributed this move to desires to select a permanent home for her children, to be closer to her family, and to have a sense of belonging to the Australian theatrical community. She and her family lived in the Sydney suburb of Hunters  Hill. Their Hunters Hill residence underwent extensive renovations in 2007 to be made more eco-friendly. Following the sale of their property there in late 2015, Blanchett and Upton purchased a house in East Sussex, England, in early 2016. Blanchett has spoken about feminism and politics, telling Sky News in 2013 that she was concerned that "a wave of conservatism sweeping the globe" was threatening women's role in society. She has also commented on the pressures women in Hollywood face now: "Honestly, I think about my appearance less than I did ten years ago. People talk about the golden  age of Hollywood because of how women were lit then. You could be Joan Crawford and Bette Davis and work well into your 50s, because you were lit and made into a goddess. Now, with everything being sort of gritty, women have this sense of their use-by date." Blanchett was the first ambassador and has been a patron of the Australian Film Institute and its academy, the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts, since 2001. She is also a patron of the Sydney Film Festival. Blanchett is a patron of the new Australian Pavilion in the Venice Biennale , and spoke at its opening at the Venice Giardini in May 2015. Blanchett spoke at former Prime Minister of Australia Gough Whitlam's state funeral in 2014, and at the Margaret Whitlam dinner and fundraiser event hosted by Tanya Plibersek MP in June 2015. Blanchett became a spokeswoman for and the face of SK-II, the luxury skin care brand owned by Procter & Gamble, in 2005, and brand ambassador for Giorgio Armani fragrances for women in 2013, being paid $10 million for the latter. In 2018 Armani announced Blanchett would become the first beauty ambassador for the company, representing  the company globally by absorbing responsibilities for skincare and make-up, in addition to her previous 2013 commitments to fragrances. Acting credits and awards. Blanchett has appeared in over 70 films and over 20 theatre productions. , Blanchett's films have grossed over $9.8 billion at the worldwide box office. Her highest-grossing films include "The Lord of the Rings" (2001–2003) and "The Hobbit" (2012–2014) trilogies, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (2008), "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008), "Cinderella" (2015), "" (2017), and "Ocean's 8" (2018). Among her numerous accolades for her acting work, Blanchett  has won two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. Her performance as Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator" made her the only actor to win an Academy Award for portraying an Academy Award-winning actor. Blanchett is one of only four actresses to win the Academy Award for Best Actress after winning Best Supporting Actress. She is the only actress (and one of only six actors) in Oscar history to be nominated twice for playing the same role in two films (Elizabeth I for "Elizabeth" and ""), and the eleventh actor to receive  two acting nominations in the same year. She is also the only Australian to win two acting Oscars. Blanchett has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the following performances: Blanchett received "Premiere" magazine's Icon Award in 2006. In 2008, she received the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Modern Master Award in recognition of her accomplishments in the film industry. That year, she received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, inducted at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard outside Grauman's Egyptian Theater. She received Women in Film and Television International's Crystal Award for  excellence in the entertainment industry in 2014. In 2015, Blanchett was honoured at the Museum of Modern Art's Film Benefit for her outstanding contributions to the industry. She received the British Film Institute Fellowship in recognition of her outstanding contribution to film, presented to her by fellow actor Ian McKellen. Blanchett was also the recipient of the AACTA Longford Lyell Award in 2015, for her "outstanding contribution to the enrichment of Australia's screen environment and culture." In 2016, she received the Costume Designers Guild Lacoste Spotlight Award, in honour of an "enduring commitment to excellence" and her "appreciation  for the artistry of costume design and collaboration with the Costume Designers." Blanchett was awarded the Centenary Medal for Service to Australian Society by the Australian government. In 2012, she was appointed Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture, in recognition of her significant contributions to the arts. In 2017, Blanchett was made a Companion of the Order of Australia by the Queen for "eminent service to the performing arts as an international stage and screen actor, through seminal contributions as director of artistic organisations, as a role model for women and young  performers, and as a supporter of humanitarian and environmental causes." She has been presented with honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales and Macquarie University in recognition of her contribution to the arts, philanthropy and the community. In 2022, she received the Honorary César award from the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma for her "absolutely remarkable career and personality."