Celebrity Heights: Cate Blanchett

Profile: Cate Blanchett

Born May 14, 1969, in Melbourne, Australia, Cate is an award winning accomplished actress. Cate was born to an American father and an Australian mother. When her parents met, her mom was a teacher in Melbourne. Her father was a Texan in the United States Navy, who died when Cate was ten years old. Cate is the middle sibling of three children, Bob her older brother, and Genevive her younger sister. She has described her childhood as normal, while seeing herself as "part extrovert, part wallflower". Cate grew up in Melbourne, and she began her studies of fine arts and economics at the University of Melbourne, and then attended Methodist Ladies College. Cate left college life to continue her education via world travel. After the expiration of her visitor's visa forced her to leave England, she eventually found herself in Egypt. Oddly enough, while in Egypt, she found herself working as an extra on a boxing film. It was the first time she had ever been on a film set, and soon thereafter returned to Australia and enrolled in Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Art from which she graduated in 1992. Cate recalls, "It was only when I realized how actors have the power to move people that I decided to pursue acting as a serious profession". Her hard work paid off when she was cast as Australian nurse Susan Macarthy in her first feature, "Paradise Road", with Glenn Close. Cate has been married to screenwriter Andrew Upton since June 1997, and they have one child, Dashiell. It was Cate's star making portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in Shekhar Kapur's "Elizabeth" that shot her into the stratosphere in terms of both popular and critical acclaim. As a result of "Elizabeth", Cate was honored with the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Dramatic Motion Picture. Additionally, she was designated Best Actress for this performance by The Broadcast Film Critics Association, The Chicago Film Critics Association, The London Critics Circle, The Golden Satellite Awards, The Toronto Film Critics Association, and The Online Film Critics Society. In 1999, Cate played Meredith Logue in the film "The Talented Mr. Ripley", directed by Anthony Minghella, which stars Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow. Cate's fans rejoiced at the news that she had joined the cast of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Ring's film - "Trilogy", playing the part of the beautiful elf Queen, Galadriel. Her role in this newly released film is sure to generate huge box office crowd's and additional awards.