CATE BLANCHETT MY LIFE IN 10 Pictures

AFTER GROWING up “trying to be Nancy Drew,” Catherine Elise Blanchett wanted to investigate what was beyond her life in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia.

“I didn’t know where I was going at all,” she admits. But after the passing of her father and passing on a college degree in economics, this “part extrovert, part wallflower” would set out to find the part she wanted to play in life and decided to travel the globe. Eventually, she’d find her place in the world back home — first on stage, then on TV and film, before heading to Hollywood and stardom. And whether as an actress, wife or mother of four, Cate, who turns 55 on May 14, has reveled in her journey. “I think that’s what I love about life,” she says. “There’s no maniacal master plan. It’s just unfolding before me.”

1 1998 QUEEN SIZE When she came out of drama school, the theaterloving Cate “didn’t think I’d ever make a film at all.” Yet, soon after her feature debut in 1997’s Paradise Road, she’d land her breakthrough role as Queen Elizabeth I. “I was shocked,” she confessed. “I called my agent after making Elizabeth and said, ‘I think I’ve ended my career before it’s even begun.’”

2 2001 ELF AWARENESS “Galadriel is a special character to me, mythic and fascinating,” she’d admit of her turn in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, which she’d reprise in five more movies. “[But] I was very young when I [first] played Galadriel. I hope to have evolved, to be a better actress, person and mother.”