With her regal bearing and elegant features, it is no surprise that Cate Blanchett broke through the Hollywood ranks with her Academy Award-nominated performance as Elizabeth the First in Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth. Her performance, equal parts poignant and fierce, won the admiration of both critics and filmgoers who wondered where this extraordinary actress had been all these years. The actress had, in fact, been in Australia, where she was born in Melbourne on May 14, 1969. The daughter of an Australian mother and an American father hailing from Texas, Blanchett was one of three children. Following her father's death when she was ten, Blanchett was raised by her mother. Blanchett went on to study economics and fine art at the University of Melbourne before deciding that such studies weren't her real vocation. In true Australian fashion, she went travelling for awhile, living in England for a time before her visa ran out. She then found herself in Egypt, where, desperate for money, she agreed to work as an extra on an Arabic boxing film. This initial film experience led to her enrollment, after her return to Australia, at Sydney's prestigious National Academy of Dramatic Arts. Following her graduation from NIDA, Blanchett joined the Sydney Theatre Company, where she first performed in a production of Caryl Churchill's Top Girls. A subsequent role in Timothy Daley's musical Kafka Dances won Blanchett a 1993 New Comer Award from the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle, an honor that was doubled that same year with a Rosemont Best Actress Award for her performance opposite Geoffrey Rush (who was later to star with her in Elizabeth) in David Mamet's Oleanna. The considerable prestige that accompanied these theatrical triumphs led Blanchett to television, where she appeared in various programs for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation including the drama Heartlands and the popular series Police Rescue. Her television performances caught the attention of director Bruce Beresford, who cast her in his upcoming film Paradise Road. Blanchett made her film debut in the 1997 POW drama as a shy Australian nurse, playing opposite Glenn Close and Frances McDormand. Also in 1997, Blanchett starred in the comedy Thank God He Met Lizzie, for which she won an Australian Film Institute Best Actress Award. With the considerable amount of praise and recognition Blanchett was receiving in her native country, it was only a matter of time and opportunity before she became known to a wider audience. Her opportunity came that very same year with her role in Gillian Armstrong's adaptation of Peter Carey's novel Oscar and Lucinda. Playing opposite Ralph Fiennes, Blanchett won almost uniform praise for her performance in a film that incurred very mixed reactions. The attention she received got her a small patch of land on the Hollywood map, something she would soon exchange for what amounted to prime Hollywood real estate with her performance in the title role of Elizabeth the following year. The critical and popular reaction to Elizabeth was swift and unequivocal, with Blanchett's portrayal of the queen netting her a spot in the roster of Hollywood royalty. A whole spectrum of awards greeted both the film and Blanchett's performance, including eight Oscar nominations, one of which was a Best Actress nomination for Blanchett. The actress won a Golden Globe and British Academy Award, as well as a host of critics' circles awards. With the industry wrapped neatly around her little finger, Blanchett went on to star with Angelina Jolie, John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton in the Mike Newell comedy Pushing Tin (1999). Although the film got a lukewarm response, Blanchett was praised for her performance as a Long Island housewife. The same year, she played another housewife, albeit one of an entirely different stripe, in Oliver Parker's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband. Despite a uniformly strong cast including Jeremy Northam, Rupert Everett and Julianne Moore, the film received very mixed reviews, although, as was usually the case, Blanchett won praise for her contribution to it.