Australian stage and screen actress Cate Blanchett has luminously played a number of diverse film roles in both Australia and overseas. For those who delight in fine acting, Cate Blanchett films are among the best to savour.
The Aviator
Cate Blanchett plays Katherine Hepburn in this biopic on an epic scale directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes. Blanchett won the 2005 best supporting actress Oscar for her work in this film. Also in the movie are Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner, Gwen Stefani as Jean Harlow and Jude Law as Errol Flynn.
Babel
Babel is the third film in director Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu's trilogy of films begun with Amores Perros (2000) and followed by 21 Grams (2003). This a great film comprising fine ensemble acting in seemingly disjointed episodes in various parts of the globe to manifest contemporary issues in very human struggles and mistakes. Cate Blanchett is here paired with Brad Pitt.Bandits
Directed by Barry Levinson, the film stars Cate Blanchett, Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton in an action comedy replete with dry humor, unique bank holdups, and an ensuing love triangle.Charlotte Gray
Directed by Australian filmmaker Gillian Armstrong, the film based on the book by Sebastian Faulks is beautifully filmed against the backdrop of war. Blanchett plays Charlotte Gray who gets involved with the French underground during World War II. With Billy Crudup and Michael Gambon.Elizabeth
Directed by Shekhar Kapur, this film brought Cate Blanchett to international attention in her role as Elizabeth I of England. The film won for Blanchett the Golden Globe Award for best actress, drama. She was also nominated for the Academy Awards but lost out to Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love.Elizabeth: The Golden Age
This is the 2007 sequel to Elizabeth (see above), for which Cate Blanchett was again nominated for a best actress Academy Award. I personally feel the first Elizabeth is the better — and more powerful — movie. In this sequel, Australian actors Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush are joined by fellow Australian Abbie Cornish.The Gift
Directed by Sam Raimi, The Gift stars Cate Blanchett as a small-town Georgia psychic who receives visions regarding the death of a local vamp (Katie Holmes). With Greg Kinnear, Keanu Reeves and Hilary Swank. An ingenious thriller.An Ideal Husband
Cate Blanchett plays Lady Gertrude Chiltern in the Oscar Wilde comedy of manners directed by Oliver Parker. With Rupert Everett and Julianne Moore.I'm Not There
In I'm Not There, Cate Blanchett received the Golden Globe for best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a motion picture. She was similarly nominated in the Academy Awards but lost out to Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton. The 2007 biographical film inspired by the life of iconic singer-songwriter Bob Dylan featured an ensemble cast of actors Marcus Carl Franklin, Ben Whishaw, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, and Cate Blanchett, who play characters based on Dylan but with different names.Little Fish
In this movie released in 2005, Cate Blanchett returns to Sydney to star as a recovering drug addict seeking to escape her past but hampered by the circumstances of the world she lives in, a world not only of drugs but also of deception and betrayal. Much of the film was shot in Cabramatta, a southwestern Sydney suburb noted for its large Asian population, renamed Little Saigon in the move. Starring with Blanchett are Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving, Martin Henderson, Noni Hazlehurst and Hollywood actor Dustin Nguyen of 21 Jump Street.