Catherine Elise Blanchett aka Cate biography

Cate Blanchett is an award winning Australian actress.

Cate and her siblings were raised in Melbourne by her Aussie mom and Texan dad. After enjoying a drama course at Methodist College, Cate spent some time traveling before continuing her education. She eventually went on to study acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney.

Cate was a success almost as soon as her career began. She was frequently seen on stage and the small screen in Australia, earning awards right and left. During this time she met her husband, playwright and screenwriter Andrew Upton, to whom she's been married since 1997.

Eventually US casting directors took note, especially after her portrayal of the Queen in 1998's "Elizabeth". The next few years proved Cate's versatility as an actress. From comedy in "An Ideal Husband" to drama in "The Talented Mr. Ripley", Cate could sway an audience and earn critical praise.

In 2001, she began portraying a very different queen - Galadriel, the elf queen, in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. She has joked that she took the role because she thought she'd look hot in those pointy ears and has since had them cast in bronze.

Cate won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2005 for her dead-on portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator". She followed that with performances in the Oscar nominated film "Babel" and "Notes on a Scandal", for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress once again.

The film "I'm Not There" finds Cate portraying one of six versions of Bob Dylan - the only woman to do so in the film. Next you'll see her in the long ancipated fourth installment of the Indie series, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", and side by side with Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button".