TV & Movies
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Before she was Elizabeth I or the mystical Galadriel, the ultra-glamorous Carol or the terrifying Lydia Tár, Cate Blanchett was an ambitious upstart from Melbourne, making a splash on the Australian theater scene. After graduating from Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Art, she began scooping up awards for her stage work—and, within a few years, was cast as the young monarch in Elizabeth. Cue her first Oscar nomination, as well as Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Critics’ Choice Award wins. Cut to more than two decades later, and she’d have two Academy Awards to her name, not to mention the unwavering attention and respect of her industry.
As the actor celebrates her 57th birthday, here, we rewind to the earliest years of her career.
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1994
A fresh-faced, 24-year-old Cate Blanchett with her Sydney Theatre Critics’ Award for Best Newcomer.
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1997
Now 28—and in a hat, scarf, and leather jacket—for the premiere of the Australian rom-com Thank God He Met Lizzie in Sydney.
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1997
All smiles with her co-star Ralph Fiennes at the New York premiere of Oscar and Lucinda, the Gillian Armstrong film that marked her first leading role.
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1998
Gloriously low-key at a theater season launch in Sydney, two months after the release of Elizabeth.
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1999
Embracing her husband, Andrew Upton, at the 4th Annual Broadcast Film Critics Awards—later to be known as the Critics Choice Awards.
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1999
No image says 1999 more clearly than this one: a red-lipped Blanchett with Melanie Griffith, Gillian Anderson, and co, dressed in feather boas for a Valentine’s Day performance of The Vagina Monologues.
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1999
In an LBD with cut-out detailing for the London Film Critics’ Circle Awards with Helena Bonham Carter.
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1999
In an angelic white dress for the SAG Awards in LA, with her Elizabeth co-star Geoffrey Rush.
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1999
In a leather dress, cardi, and mules for the Oscar nominees’ luncheon.
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1999
For her first time at the Oscars, Blanchett wore this now-iconic, John Galliano-designed dress. She may have lost the best-actress statuette to Shakespeare in Love’s Gwyneth Paltrow, but she and the gown certainly left their mark on Hollywood.
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1999
Backstage at London’s Noël Coward Theatre (then called The Albery) with her opening night flowers, ahead of starring in David Hare’s Plenty.
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1999
Luminous at the LA premiere of The Talented Mr. Ripley.
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2000
Back at the Oscars—as a presenter this time (alongside Jude Law for the best-live-action-short category—in another unforgettable look: a backless Jean Paul Gaultier couture number with gold chain detailing. A Y2K triumph.
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2000
In sequins for the BAFTAs in London, where she was nominated for best supporting actress for The Talented Mr. Ripley.
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2000
In a delicate sheer blouse for the premiere of Sally Potter’s The Man Who Cried at the Venice Film Festival.
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Radhika Seth is the film & culture editor at British Vogue. She works across both the magazine and the website’s Arts & Lifestyle section, writing and editing pieces on film, TV, and awards season, as well as travel and food. She previously held the same role at Vogue Global Network, ... Read More