Between The Aviator (2004) Notes on a Scandal (2006), I'm Not There (2007), Carol (2015), and Tár (2022), Cate Blanchett has played numerous queer roles over the course of her career — and even won major awards for them. Now, it seems like the actress is ready to retire.
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The Academy Award-winning actress started a recent interview saying her name out loud for the purposes of recording that conversation.
"Cate Blanchett," she said, upon starting an interview with Radio Times. "Actress."
When John Tiffany, of Radio Times magazine, noted that Blanchett had to think about that as if she was forgetting her stage name for a second, the actress didn't disagree: "I did, didn't I? It's because I'm giving up."
"My family roll their eyes every time I say it, but I mean it. I am serious about giving up acting," Blanchett revealed, adding that there are "a lot of things I want to do with my life."
Cate Blanchett at an event to promote Black Bag.
Samir Hussein/WireImage
"No one is more boring to me than myself and I find other people much more interesting," Blanchett noted in the interview. "I find myself profoundly dull."
She went on, "When you go on a talk show, or even here now, and then you see soundbites of things you've said, pulled out and italicized, they sound really… Loud."
"I'm not that person," the actress declared.
Blanchett was nominated for an Academy Award for every single queer character she has played on the big screen. Her first-ever Oscar win, for instance, came from her role as Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator. She was subsequently nominated for her performances as Sheba Hart in Notes on a Scandal and Jude in I'm Not Here.
Despite winning her second Oscar at the 86th Academy Awards — hosted by none other than Ellen DeGeneres — for playing Jasmine in 2013's Blue Jasmine, the last two Academy Award nominations from Blanchett also came from queer roles. First, as Carol Aird, in Carol. Then, as Lydia Tár, in Tár.
While Blanchett is currently attached to two upcoming projects — Father, Mother, Sister Brother (2025) and Alpha Gang (T.B.D.) — the idea of her retirement will surely disappoint many queer cinephiles who have followed her career for a few decades now.
