'SOMETIMES I FEEL INCREDIBLY POWERFUL'

HOLLYWOOD STAR CATE BLANCHETT ON WHY HER FAMILY WILL ALWAYS COME FIRST AND HOW TINSELTOWN HAS CHANGED

With two Oscars and her latest Golden Globe win for Actress In A Drama Motion Picture - as well as many other accolades - Cate Blanchett is arguably one of Australia's most successful exports.

The star, who was sadly unable to attend the awards last week due to filming commitments, is a powerhouse both on screen and stage. So it's no surprise that her latest role in Tár, a psychological drama about the life of renowned composer and conductor Lydia Tár, won her the coveted award.

But while she always seems to pick roles that perfectly showcase her supreme acting talents, mum-off our Cate is the first to admit that, as well as the script and the director, her decision around which jobs to take are based on family logistics as much as anything these days.

On a recent episode of Desert Island Discs, the star told host Lauren Laverne that since she's had children, the first question she asks when she's offered a new role is, "When are they shooting and for how long?" The 53-year-old, who has been married to theatre director Andrew Upton for 25 years, made it clear that her kids come first so she can tend to their various "needs". She explained, "I love what I do, but there's only so many hours in a day, and there's a lot of competing needs.

You don't have to have children to have competing needs. It's the practical versus the inspirational, I think." Cate and Andrew, 56, have three sons together - Dashiell, 21, Roman, 18, and Ignatius, 14. They also have daughter Edith, seven, who they adopted in 2015 and have referred to as "an absolute gift".