Cate Blanchett Quotes & Sayings

We've enshrined the purity, sanctity, value, and importance of bringing children into the world, yet we don't discuss death. There used to be an enshrined period where mourning was a necessary part of going through the process of grieving; death wasn't considered morbid or antisocial. But that's totally gone. — Cate Blanchett

Things present themselves to you, and it's how you choose to deal with them that reveals who you are. We all say a lot of things, don't we, about who we are and how we think. But in the end it's your actions, how you respond to circumstance that reveals your character. — Cate Blanchett

For 'Blue Jasmine,' I made a decision not to wear any make up in the last shot of the film, as I felt like she had such a mask on - I thought it would be a good idea to leave her with nothing and become completely transparent. — Cate Blanchett

When I came out of drama school, I was in a shared house in Sydney. — Cate Blanchett

I have a very healthy relationship to my work, and I find that if a scene is working, no matter how intense it is, you have the catharsis on screen, and you can let it go. I think it's, if at the end of the day you feel like you haven't cracked it, that's when you go home and it's more difficult to switch off. — Cate Blanchett

Look, it's one of the great mysteries of the world, I cannot answer that question. I think I'm vaguely blonde. To be perfectly frank, I don't know. — Cate Blanchett

We talked about trying to create an image that would somehow, to an audience, create the sense of awe, wonder and shock that the troops must have felt that their monarch - and a female monarch - went to the frontline of battle and was prepared to lay down her life. This speech is so well known and has been done in virtually every version of the events of Elizabeth's life. — Cate Blanchett

There's many things that you can do with your life. It doesn't necessarily - I think if you're in a creative sphere, or if you're hungry for experience, then those experiences don't necessarily happen like rungs of a ladder or in a linear way. — Cate Blanchett

Playing the lead in a film where you shoot for three months away from home is not an easy thing for me when my children are in school and my husband is running a theatre company. — Cate Blanchett

I think if you're going to wear a red lip, you don't want it wearing you, so it's about finding the right colour. — Cate Blanchett

Well, I've never looked upon myself as being a beauty, per se. — Cate Blanchett

I'm constantly humbled. — Cate Blanchett

I live my life parallel with my work, and they are both equally important. I'm always amazed how much people talk about celebrity and fame. I don't understand the attraction. — Cate Blanchett

We're growing up with a very illiterate bunch of children who have somehow been taught that film is fact when, in fact, it's invention. Hopefully, an historical film will inspire people to go and read about the history but in the end it is a work of fiction and selection. As for the armour itself, no it wasn't particularly comfortable. — Cate Blanchett

The more you do it, the more you learn to concentrate, as a child does, incredibly intensively and then you sort of have to relax. I remember the first film I did, the lead actor would in between scenes be reading a newspaper or sleeping and I'd think, 'How can you do that?' — Cate Blanchett

Violence and racism are bad. Whenever they occur they are to be condemned and we should not turn a blind eye to them. — Cate Blanchett

I admire the work of brilliant actresses such as Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Helen Mirren, who have had such varied careers. They have never stopped working, and they are as great today as they ever were. — Cate Blanchett

Like any mum, I fear some mysterious illness befalling my children. — Cate Blanchett

No one is ever who they purport to be. — Cate Blanchett

Marriage is a risk; I think it's a great and glorious risk, as long as you embark on the adventure in the same spirit. — Cate Blanchett

Women have been doing very, very strange things for centuries. I mean ancient Egyptians were already doing that, but I don't necessarily judge people who do. I don't really think it makes people look better; they just look different. — Cate Blanchett

I guess I prefer to be quite private. It's a myth that actors are exhibitionists. — Cate Blanchett

Before having children, I think I probably approached work very differently, and you become much more economical and pragmatic about your relationship to it. — Cate Blanchett

If I had my way, if I was lucky enough, if I could be on the brink my entire life - that great sense of expectation and excitement without the disappointment - that would be the perfect state. — Cate Blanchett

It was fantastic to be able to have my kids on set. Dash, my eldest son, who's not quite five, was into knights and his godmother had given him a plastic Marks & Spencer knights' outfit and [first assistant director] Tommy Gormley said that he could stand to protect me during the scene where Clive [Owen] is talking about the immensity of sitting on the throne. I'm actually looking through an archway at my son standing in his knights' costume protecting me! — Cate Blanchett

If I'm not good at acting, I'm not good at anything else. — Cate Blanchett

When I was younger, I was actually looking forward to getting older, to have more insight, more understanding. — Cate Blanchett

My husband went through a phase of giving me vacuum cleaners, sewing machines and Mixmasters. It's ironic. He is encouraging me to develop a hobby, I think. — Cate Blanchett

I don't have a sense of entitlement or that I deserve this. You'd be surprised at the lack of competition between nominees - I think a lot of it's imposed from the outside. Can I have my champagne now? — Cate Blanchett

I was but three when he passed by, but I shall be grateful until the day I die. — Cate Blanchett

I discovered early on that some performers live their life in order to act, so all their relationships are simply an experience that they can feed back into their work. Which I find vampiric. — Cate Blanchett

What I love about the theater is that you know who you're acting for: your audience. And the thing I find really hard in film is, you don't. The audience is invisible. And we're sitting there, hoping there's other people out there. — Cate Blanchett

Conservatism is affecting the way women perceive who they are in the world. — Cate Blanchett

I think about my father and how sad it was that he never had grandchildren. — Cate Blanchett

I do tend to move on anyway. This is a part of my life, but it doesn't rule my life. — Cate Blanchett

A lot of people are frightened by old age - by being around people who are, basically, on their way out - but I'm fascinated by it. It's an amazing thing to be around someone who has had a life well lived. — Cate Blanchett

When anyone plays a mother on film, there is a whole raft of judgment in that a mother is a particular archetype or that every mother is the same. That's complete rubbish. — Cate Blanchett

My father died when I was young, and after he did, my mother had it tough. Very tough. — Cate Blanchett

When you're onstage, you're acutely aware of the reaction of a particular group of people, because it's like a wave. — Cate Blanchett

Who would want a face that hasn't seen or lived properly, hasn't got any wrinkles that come with age, experience and laughter? Not me, anyway. — Cate Blanchett

Some days I'm very lazy, and some days I'm more inspired. I've got things I've had since I was fifteen-I don't throw anything away. I prefer to give it to a friend so I can wear it again ... The way I dress doesn't necessarily have to do with fashion, or what is current, or what is in right now, it's more about rediscovering things. — Cate Blanchett

I went through a mod and goth-phase when I decided that I wouldn't ever be the bronzed beach-bunny. I started going as pale as I possibly could. — Cate Blanchett

There's not a long, entrenched tradition of theatergoing in Australia. — Cate Blanchett

Those of us in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films with women at the center are niche experiences - they are not. Audiences want to see them and, in fact, they earn money. The world is round, people. — Cate Blanchett

I love 'Annie Hall,' but then I adore 'Hannah and Her Sisters.' Dianne Wiest is amazing in 'Bullets Over Broadway,' but her in 'Hannah and Her Sisters,' I absolutely loved it. — Cate Blanchett

You do get scrutinized in the digital age. You know they're zooming in on every pore, which you've got to forget about. — Cate Blanchett

You know, you do have a self-awareness as an actor. — Cate Blanchett

I think good theaters are really important. They allow you to exist in a space with other people. — Cate Blanchett

I certainly think that when I flick through all the magazines at the hairdresser's I like to see and am drawn to images that have an intelligence and mind at work behind them. — Cate Blanchett

I'm always without sleep. I've got two kids. I understand sleep deprivation on a profound level. — Cate Blanchett

I've an enormous respect for my mother who at the age of 39 raised three children, and I grew up with my grandmother in the household. And so it was a really strong household of women - my poor brother! It was great growing up with so many generations of women. — Cate Blanchett

I've been mostly influenced by experiences in the theater growing up. — Cate Blanchett

Men are boys for such a long time and really don't start getting the great roles until they're in their mid-thirties. But then they've got a long time to do them, whereas for women, it's all about playing younger and younger and younger. — Cate Blanchett

People who say, 'There's nothing to fear from spiders' have clearly never been to Australia. — Cate Blanchett

I think our Western society is very much about, 'Tuck your head in; make sure you're safe. Don't rock the boat.' — Cate Blanchett

I am the age that I am and I am trying to do the best with what I got. — Cate Blanchett

I think that what appeals to me in my work is having the opportunity to inhabit different genres and so to reach different audiences. — Cate Blanchett

Planning cities is a necessary but risky business. — Cate Blanchett

Don't you find that work, if you love it, is actually really invigorating? — Cate Blanchett

I want to be able to follow the example of those extraordinary British actresses who move effortlessly from film to TV to theatre roles. — Cate Blanchett

There is not a lot of separation between work and home life. — Cate Blanchett

I've reprised roles in the theatre, which is somehow more accepted, and where one can automatically go deeper and further into the role. — Cate Blanchett

There are certain things in ancient practices that are not worth adhering to. — Cate Blanchett

I think you need to have a healthy sense of doubt because I think doubt leads to inquiry. — Cate Blanchett

All cities do face similar, significant trends in the future ... most importantly global warming and climate change. — Cate Blanchett

For me, I think the bigger something is, the more difficult it is to make it nimble and fleet afoot. — Cate Blanchett

That's definitely true! It was before my father died, so I can't attribute it to an obsession with death. When I was seven, I loved those old Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone. The Scarlet Claw was one of my faves. And I loved all the Halloween's and that film about the haunted house ... Burnt Offerings, with Oliver Reed. Every birthday party was a slumber party and we'd watch horror films. — Cate Blanchett

I think the more you do as an actor, the more facility you have to switch on and off. — Cate Blanchett

Theater is all about foyers and conversation and digesting what you've seen. — Cate Blanchett

I think the height of ridiculousness was when I was playing Elizabeth in 'The Golden Age' while preparing to start shooting 'I'm Not There.' I literally finished filming Elizabethan grandeur on Friday, flew to Montreal, and started being Bob Dylan on Monday. — Cate Blanchett

If you only exercise your soloist muscles, the other muscles quickly atrophy. — Cate Blanchett

It's not just women in film, 18-year-old girls feel pressure to do preventative injecting. I see someone's face, someone's body who has had children and I think, they're the song lines of your experience, and why would you want to eradicate that? I look at people sort of entombing themselves and all you see is their little pin holes of terror ... and you think, just live your life, death is not going to be any easier just because your face can't move. — Cate Blanchett

When you're stretching yourself, as a role like 'Blue Jasmine' did for me, you risk falling flat on your face. — Cate Blanchett

I don't mind not looking conventionally - you know, attractive if that's what the part requires. — Cate Blanchett

When you've had children, your body changes; there's history to it. I like the evolution of that history; I'm fortunate to be with somebody who likes the evolution of that history. I think it's important to not eradicate it. I look at someone's face and I see the work before I see the person ... You're certainly not staving off the inevitable. And if you're doing it out of fear, that fear's still going to be seen through your eyes. The windows to your soul, they say. — Cate Blanchett

I feel like I've been marinated in Australian theatre. — Cate Blanchett

When you are proud of something you have done, and you have made a film you feel has merit, and it's found an audience and is critically well received, that's a pretty pleasurable place to be. I mean, you don't want it gathering dust at the bottom of someone's DVD collection. — Cate Blanchett

As an actor I suppose you're constantly observing. I don't sit in restaurants making notes, I don't live my life in order to then feed it into my work. — Cate Blanchett

I cook a mean Sunday lunch. My idea of Heaven is a lunch outside on a beautifully sunny Sunday afternoon. It's the time to gather everyone together. — Cate Blanchett

I think it's always good to take on things that at first seem bigger than you. Then you just try and surmount them. — Cate Blanchett

You're always more critical of your own country. People will talk about stuff in Britain, and I'll go: 'Aw, it's not that bad,' but at home, it's different. It's inside you. — Cate Blanchett

I don't feel like, 'Now I'm a great actress.' — Cate Blanchett

I never want to work. Even when you're presented with these great opportunities, I think, 'I really love being in my pajamas with the kids.' — Cate Blanchett

I think when you fall in love, whether you're heterosexual, transgender, gay, lesbian, whatever, straight, you feel like it's happening to you for the first time. — Cate Blanchett

The thing I love about live performance the most, is that the doors are closed, the lights are turned down, and the audience has to be reverential to what's happening onstage. — Cate Blanchett

There are very few issues that lie specifically in one region now. Polio in Syria doesn't affect Syria alone. I don't think any issue can ever be isolated into local politics these days, because we all know too much. — Cate Blanchett

I'm not interested in using my father's death as some touch point for why I've become an actor - it's grossly opportunistic. — Cate Blanchett

I think that the benefit of playing someone like Queen Elizabeth is that so much has been written about her, and there's so much speculation about her - was she a hermaphrodite? She's so mythologised, and there are a lot of images of her. — Cate Blanchett

Yaron has elevated the way Australia perceives circus, both nationally and internationally ... I mean remarkable. — Cate Blanchett

I think we should stop drinking bottled water. There's no need to be drinking it if you're living in western communities. — Cate Blanchett

When I emerged from drama school, I had no expectation that I would ever work in film. — Cate Blanchett

When my husband turned 40, I was obsessed. 'Has he had his medical checkup?' He needed to go to the doctor; he needed to go to the dentist. Any little cough, I was really on him. Then he turned 40, and I thought, 'Maybe that's why I've been so obsessed with his health!' — Cate Blanchett

You know you've made it when you've been moulded in miniature plastic. But you know what children do with Barbie dolls - it's a bit scary, actually. — Cate Blanchett

If you over plan New Year's Eve it's going to be a disaster so you have to be alive to changes. — Cate Blanchett

If you age with somebody, you go through so many roles - you're lovers, friends, enemies, colleagues, strangers; you're brother and sister. That's what intimacy is, if you're with your soulmate. — Cate Blanchett

It's important to travel and move and have a continual set of experiences so you've got more to feed back into your work. For me, it's a natural thing. — Cate Blanchett

I don't consciously think of how parenthood has changed me but I'm sure it must have. — Cate Blanchett

What I think of as a mistake might be something that does really well at the box office, so I'm my own harshest critic - as we all are, really. — Cate Blanchett

The interesting thing for me about the debate about same-sex marriage is that it's one of those issues where it has no impact on anyone apart from the people that it impacts upon. So I find it quite bewildering that it's - that it's so complicated for people. — Cate Blanchett

I'm not interested in saying what people should and shouldn't do. It depends on how people feel about themselves. I suppose personally if you do anything out of fear or to mask who you are, then that's a bit scary. You've got to work with what you got ... — Cate Blanchett