CATE BLANCHETT

She was born Catherine Elise Blanchett on the 14th of May, 1969, at the Jessie McPherson Hospital in Melbourne (popularly known as the Jessie Mac, now - like so many hospitals - a vacant lot). Her father, Bob, was a Texan and ex-US Navy man who'd met Cate's mother, a teacher named June, and moved into advertising in Melbourne. There were two siblings: older brother Bob, now in computers, and younger sister Genevieve, a theatre designer. Cate claims there's some French ancestry in there somewhere, one antecedent being Louis Bleriot, the first aviator to fly across the English Channel. Or La Manche, depending on how you look at it.
As a kid, Cate recalls herself as "part extrovert, part wallflower". The extrovert part was fuelled early when, at a friend's birthday party at age 6, she was hugely impressed by a magician and began to dream of life as a performer. Her parents encouraged her, particularly in the field of music. She has an abiding love of classical music, even now guesting regularly on ABC Classic FM radio in Sydney, both playing and discussing.