31 Most Fascinating Facts About The Oscar Winning Actress Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett, with her trademark blue eyes and blonde hair, has been capturing the hearts of millions of people, giving out breath taking performances for more than half her life. Her deep wise voice is one of the few that anybody and everybody would recognize in an instant. Though there is such familiarity, Blanchett is known to keep surprising her fans always. Here are some really interesting things to know about the actress:

1. She holds the record to be the only Australian actress to win two Oscars – one for the portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in the “The Aviator” and the other for her role as Jasmine in the 2013 movie “Blue Jasmine.”
2. She is the first person to win a Best Lead Actress Award for her role in David Mamet’s “Oleanna” as well as the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Newcomer, for her role in the “Kafka Dances,” in the same year, in the history of Sydney Theatre Awards.
3. She is the first person to give an Oscar-winning portrayal of a real-life Academy Award Winner – Katharine Hepburn, with her performance as the former actress in the 2004 movie “The Aviator.”
4. Her career in acting started when she was asked to be an extra in a Egyptian boxing movie “Kaboria” by a fellow guest during her vacation in Egypt.
5. She was only 18 years old at the time of her debut in “Kaboria” and appeared in 3 scenes in that movie. She can be seen dancing to the main song of the movie in one of those scenes.
6. In the 2003 movie “Veronica Guerin,” the dance scene in which her character dances with her family to “Everlasting Love,” was entirely on spot improvisation by Blanchett.
7. It was reported that Director Shekhar Kapur chose Blanchett to portray the character of Queen Elizabeth I in the 1998 movie “Elizabeth,” after watching several scenes of her performance, in a promotional video for the movie “Oscar and Lucinda.”
8. For the movie “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou,” she had never rehearsed or even met most of the crew members, before the filming of the nighttime electric jellyfish scene, in an effort to add spontaneity to the scene.
9. To portray Bob Dylan in the 2007 movie “I’m Not There” she reportedly wore a sock down her trousers. She claimed that it helped her walk like a man.
10. Blanchett was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal in the 2001 Queen’s New Years Honours List for her services to acting and Australian society.
11. In preparation for her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in “The Aviator,” she was asked by the director to watch the first fifteen movies of the former actress and learn all her poise and mannerisms.
12. Talking about her role as Galadriel in the “Lord of the Rings” movies, she joked that she accepted the role because she had always wanted “pointy ears.”
13. However, after the completion of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, she reportedly kept and bronzed her elf ear prosthetics.
14. Blanchett is said to be the first and only choice of author Sebastian Faulks for the character of Charlotte Gray, in the 2001 movie of the same name.
15. In preparation of her role as Annie Wilson in “The Gifted,” she visited five fortune tellers in a period of one week. She was even advised to have a bodyguard by one of the fortune tellers.
16. In the 2015 movie “Manifesto,” she portrays a total of 13 different characters, recounting 12 artists manifestos. The entire movie was shot within a period of 12 days.
17. For her portrayal of Philippa in the 2002 movie “Heaven,” she immediately agreed to shaving off her hair and was also excited about it, as she found the experience to be very liberating.
18. Blanchett won the Rosemont Best Actress Award for her performance in “Oleanna,” and was nominated for the Best Female Performance by the Melbourne Green Room Awards, for the Belvoir St Theatre Company’s production of “Hamlet.”
19. She learned to play tennis and golf as a part of her preparation for the role of Katharine Hepburn in “The Aviator.” She also took cold showers, for which Hepburn was famous for.
20. During the filming of “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” while being fitted for her pregnancy prosthetic, she actually fainted, and was also surprised by that, as it was the very first occurrence. After a few days, she learned that she was indeed pregnant.
21. When co-Writer and Director Wes Anderson got wind of her pregnancy while filming “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” he jokingly accused her of taking method acting too far.
22. In the movie “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” she was more interested in playing the small supporting role of Meredith Logue, instead of the lead role of Marge Sherwood. When director Anthony Minghella got to know this, she expanded the role of Meredith to get her on board.
23. For her performance as Irina Spalko in the 2008 movie “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” she practiced Karate during the filming and also learned to fence.
24. In an effort to reproduce the Katharine Hepburn’s distinctive upper class New Englander accent accurately, for her portrayal of the iconic actress, she took voice exercises with Voice Coach Tim Monich every day and also learned from Hepburn’s early movies.
25. Blanchett accepted the role of Hela in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie “Thor: Ragnarok,” in an effort to please her children. In fact, it was her eldest son Dashiell John Upton who suggested her to take the role, claiming it would be a career boost.
26. She almost lost her Award-winning role of Katharine Hepburn in “The Aviator,” to Nicole Kidman, due to filming “The Missing” at that time. When the scheduled start date of “The Aviator” was delayed by several months, Martin Scorsese got Blanchett for the role, as she had been his first choice.
27. In the movie “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” for the scene of her entrance, she merely rotated her body, with actually no help from any prop, which is total contrast to the popular belief that she was on a swivel platform in order to create the delicate turn.
28. In preparation for her role of Hela in the “Thor: Ragnarok” movie, she studied the Afro-Brazilian martial art Capoeira. During the filming, she played the role in a motion-capture suit, which she felt was a bit awkward, as she got confused in a few scenes.
29. With her Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for portraying Queen Elizabeth I in the 2007 movie “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” Blanchett became the first female to receive multiple Oscar nominations for portraying the same character.
30. She holds the record for largest “Best Actress” award sweep – with a total of 42 wins, for her performance as Jasmine French in “Blue Jasmine.
31. Cate Blanchett Net Worth: $85 Million