Cate Blanchett's 12 Best Performances Ranked

There are few contemporary actors who are as consistently astounding as Cate Blanchett, who never fails to give a performance that will make the hairs on your arms stand up. Whether it be in a Marvel movie or a serious arthouse flick, Blanchett delivers the kind of performances that are hard to forget. Because she has so routinely delivered impressive work, you'd be hard-pressed to find a moviegoer who doesn't respect her as an artist. You don't have to be a film critic or a trained actor to understand the kind of power she brings to the screen.

Because the celebrity machine is what it is, some actors are beloved as much for their off-screen antics as they are for their actual acting. For Blanchett, the proof is very much in the pudding. Though she's certainly a charming person when she engages with the press, you need only watch a few minutes of a Cate Blanchett performance to see that the accolades she has received are well-deserved. Though Blanchett is a totally embodied, no-holds-barred actor, she has the unique ability to make you believe that she's always holding something back, that there's more to her characters than meets the eye.

We would love to spend all day dissecting every single one of Blanchett's performances, but we haven't the time. Instead, we thought we'd create a highlight reel of sorts, spotlighting the very best work of a truly prolific artist. Keep reading to dig into Cate Blanchett's 12 best performances.

"The Talented Mr. Ripley" is a beautiful movie. Its subject matter is not altogether pleasant, to be fair, but it's filled with beautiful people in beautiful locations acting in the most beautiful manner. One such beautiful person is Cate Blanchett, who plays Meredith Logue, an American socialite who has the misfortune of meeting the sociopathic Tom Ripley (Matt Damon). Blanchett may not have a central role in the film, but she exudes such charisma and grace that it's impossible to tear your eyes away from her when she's on screen.

In many ways, "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is an example of what Blanchett can do with very little. We don't know much about Meredith — apart from the fact that she's rich and beautiful — but she's positively dazzling every time we encounter her. It's rare for a Blanchett character to not be driving the action in some way, but Meredith's relative (though not absolute) immateriality to the plot doesn't make her any less compelling.

Indeed, it's interesting to watch what Blanchett does when handed a character who isn't outsmarting or out-charming everyone around her. Blanchett is able to give Meredith just enough mystery that we suspect she's not as vapid as she looks, but not too much mystery that she winds up derailing the whole film. (Though we would certainly watch another movie focused solely on Meredith's exploits.)

1997's "Oscar and Lucinda" was the first of Cate Blanchett's movies to be released in the United States, and it's clear why her career began to take off after its release. Directed by Australian filmmaker Gillian Armstrong, who earlier in the decade helmed "Little Women," the film is an adaptation of the Peter Carey novel of the same name. Blanchett plays Lucinda, an Australian heiress with an obsession with glass and a passion for gambling. Lucinda meets Oscar (Ralph Fiennes), an Anglican minister with whom she forms a unique bond.

Fiennes was a bonafide star in the late '90s, but Blanchett has no problem holding her own with — and in some cases, pulling our attention away from — the heartthrob. She possesses many of the qualities we've come to know her for: cheeky wit, willful determination, and a casual disregard for so-called social norms. The film itself is fairly restrained, but Blanchett takes every opportunity she can to make herself larger and more brilliant in the face of such moderation.

Blanchett is almost too powerful for such a quaint film, and it's no wonder she would go on to do even grander things. It was actually her role in "Oscar and Lucinda" that led her to be cast in "Elizabeth," the film that would skyrocket her to international fame (via The Independent).

If you're an actor lacking confidence or magnetism, Cate Blanchett is not someone you want to act alongside. Luckily, that situation is far from the case in 2005's "Notes on a Scandal," which pits Blanchett against the indomitable Judi Dench. Dench plays Barbara, a veteran history teacher at a school in London. Filled with both a deep-seated resentment and a voracious sense of loneliness, Barbara befriends Sheba (Blanchett), a new art teacher who she learns is having an affair with a student. Barbara uses this secret to manipulate Sheba until it blows up in both of their faces.

While the film's subject matter is rather sensational, Dench and Blanchett are so exceptional that it never becomes gaudy or overdrawn. While it's not without melodrama, the two actresses deliver a masterclass in grounded power, never straying too far from the truth of the matter despite the lurid circumstances. Dench and Blanchett play against each other like stray cats, tip-toeing around and sussing each other out while waiting for the right moment to strike.

The tension is palpable, and Sheba's quickly eroding sanity and sense of hope are magnificently played out by Blanchett. Though Dench's character is certainly painted as the villain in the film, Blanchett's Sheba is in some ways equally as dark, and Blanchett allows that fact to slowly creep up on us until the dam finally breaks.

Cate Blanchett has played three iconic historical figures in her career: Queen Elizabeth I, Bob Dylan, and Katherine Hepburn. Each one of these performances is excellent, and they're all distinct in their approach to the subject at hand. In Martin Scorsese's 2005 epic "The Aviator," Blanchett plays Katherine Hepburn, one of several leading ladies who Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio) has a fondness for.

Blanchett is the only actress to have ever portrayed Hepburn, who was known as much for her beauty as she was for her unique quirks and dynamic personality. Hepburn and Hughes didn't actually last all that long in real life, but it's one of the film's most central components. Playing an iconic figure like Hepburn — who actually died the day Blanchett started filming, per The New York Times — couldn't have been an easy task, but Blanchett embodies the late actress in such a way that makes us feel silly for ever having worried about the outcome.

She's as ethereal and mysterious as Hepburn always seemed to be, but Blanchett also imbues her with a sense of heart and grounded energy that she never feels irredeemably larger-than-life. While a Hepburn impression could easily land itself in grandiose territory, Blanchett never takes it there, portraying Hepburn with a subtlety that leaves us forever wanting more. It's truly devastating every time she leaves the screen, which makes it all the more believable that DiCaprio's Hughes could never get over their breakup. Blanchett is not a greedy actor, but she tends to rest our attention away from the film's leading man, leading to her first Oscar for best supporting actress (via IMDb).

Cate Blanchett has a knack for playing women who find themselves unraveling, and no film better illustrates her expertise than Woody Allen's 2013 film "Blue Jasmine." Blanchett plays the titular character, a New York Socialite who moves in with her less well-off sister (Sally Hawkins) in San Francisco after her marriage falls apart. Like most of Allen's protagonists, Jasmine is hard to love, and even harder to like. She's mean-spirited, rude, stuck-up, and seems to have a disdain for those around her (but perhaps most of all, herself.)

But, despite the fact that Jasmine has very few redeeming qualities, Blanchett plays her so tragically that it's impossible to avert your eyes, even when you want to. Blanchett isn't trying to get you to love Jasmine, per se, but she does all that she can (and in the end, succeeds) to make you understand her. Jasmine is a woman fighting against the tide, suffocating because of her own refusal to adapt to her new circumstances. Nothing about Jasmine's behavior is pretty, but Blanchett's explosive, eviscerating performance is awe-inspiring, something akin to watching a tornado destroy everything in its wake.

Blanchett went on to receive her first best actress Oscar for the performance, going up against a stacked lineup that included Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, and Judi Dench (via IMDb).

Cate Blanchett has taken a lot of big swings over the years. She's never been the kind of actor who backs down from brazen excellence, and her awe-inspiring talent is hard to miss. But sometimes, the best performances are the kind that sneak up on us, the kind that aren't flashy or obvious, but instead, simmer just underneath the surface. For Cate Blanchett, that performance is her title role in the Todd Haynes film "Carol."

Blanchett plays a lonely housewife who falls in love with a young saleswoman she meets while Christmas shopping. "Carol" is a beautiful film in every sense of the word, but it is Blanchett's performance that makes it truly brilliant. On the surface, Carol comes off as a reserved, sometimes cold woman. But when Blanchett embodies Carol, something happens. When she peels back the layers, even just for a moment, we see the real Carol. Someone who is lost, lonely, and insecure. As she tells Therese (Rooney Mara) on the phone one night, she just wants to be asked things.

For a 1950s housewife like Carol, appearances are everything. But what Blanchett does is bring us into Carol's emotional world, even if we only get to see her true feelings through something as simple as a glance or a touch on the shoulder. It's a wonderfully subtle and nuanced performance, and even in her more dramatic moments — such as when negotiating with her husband — the struggle to maintain her dignity is written all over her face. It's equal parts devastating and hopeful, and it simply can't be topped.