Arts Gala 2021

Blanchett served alongside Upton as the co-Artistic Director and co-CEO of the Sydney Theatre Company between 2008-2013, producing between 19 and 20 shows a year, which toured extensively nationally and internationally. Their most notable productions include; Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Liv Ullman; Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya directed by Tamas Ascher, Steven Soderbergh’s Tot Mom; Benedict Andrew’s highly acclaimed productions of the War of the Roses, The Maids, Gross Und Klein, and the sminal adaptation of The Secret River by Neil Armfield which has since inspired the title-sharing ABC television series; Andrew Upton’s The Present, directed by John Crowley for which Blanchett earned a Tony Award nomination. Recently, Blanchett’s has appeard on stage on the controversial adaptation of Martin Crimp’s National Theatre production When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other.

In 2010, Blanchett and Upton were awarded with the Green Globe Award for their Green Contribution at the Sydney Theatre Company, becoming one of the World’s Greenest Arts Organizations.

Blanchett’s film credits include; Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies; David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; Steven Soderbergh’s The Good German; Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Babel; Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

She has created visual artworks with Julian Rosefeldt’s art film and installation, Manifesto, Marco Brambilla’s The Four Temperaments, and a video portrait of herself with David Rosetzky.

Blanchett most recently completed work on Adam McKay’s film, Don’t Look Up, as well as Guillermo Del Toro’s Nightmare Alley and Pinocchio, and is about to commence filming on Eli Roth’s Borderlands. In 2015, she appeared in the title role of Carol, which she produced with Dirty Films and was directed by Todd Haynes. She received an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, Independent Spirit and SAG nomination for her performance. The same year, she appeared as Mary Mapes in Truth opposite Robert Redford. Blanchett has won Academy Awards for Best Actress on behalf of her performance as Jasmine in the film Blue Jasmine, and Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator. In 2008, Blanchett was nominated for two Academy Awards; one for Best Actress in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and one for Best Supporting Actress in I’m Not There. She was only the fifth actor in Academy history to be nominated in both acting categories in the same year. She also received dual SAG and BAFTA Award nominations for each role, and won a Golden Globe Award, Independent Spirit Award, several critics groups’ awards, and the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for I’m Not There. Other recent film credits include How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019), Ocean’s Eight (2018), The House With a Clock in Its Walls (2018), Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018), as well as Thor: Ragnarok (2017).

Blanchett is a Global Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency and a lifetime member of the Australian Conservation Foundation, a strong supporter of the Actors Benevolent Fund, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, the Australian Wildlife Concervancy, an AFI Ambassador and Patron of the Sydney Film Festival and the NIDA Foundation.

Blanchett holds a BFI Fellowship from the BFI London Film Festival and was awarded the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Award for expanding the roles of women in film; the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2018 for her work with UNHCR and has received the 2018 Stanley Kubrick Award for Excellence in Film. She has been awarded the Centenary Medal of Service to Australian Society through Acting and has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2018, Blanchett served as Jury President of the 71st Cannes International Film Festival and she was the Jury President of the 77th Venice International Film Festival in 2020.

Blanchett holds Honorary Doctorates of Letters from the University of New South Wales, the University of Sydney, and Macquarie University. In recognition of her continued advocacy for the arts and her support of humanitarian and environmental causes, Blanchett has been awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia in the General Division; she was also awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture. She lives in the english countryside with her husband Andrew Upton, their four children, three dogs, twelve chickens and two pigs.

The Husband’s Secret was a number one UK bestseller, an Amazon Best Book of 2013 and has been translated into over forty languages. CBS Films has acquired the film rights with Blake Lively attached as lead actor and executive producer.

With Big Little Lies, Liane became the first Australian author to have a novel debut at number one on the New York Times bestseller list and it has been adapted for television by Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon who also star in the series, scripted by David E Kelley. The first season of the HBO series of Big Little Lies was nominated for sixteen, and won five Emmy Awards, including ‘Outstanding Limited Series’ and ‘Outstanding Lead Actress’ for Nicole Kidman’s role as Celeste.

Truly Madly Guilty also debuted at number one in its first week of publication on the New York Times bestseller list and both Big Little Lies and Truly Madly Guilty were number one bestsellers in Australia. Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon have also optioned the film rights to Truly Madly Guilty.

Nine Perfect Strangers, also a New York Times Top Ten Bestseller, and also optioned by Nicole Kidman, went straight to no. 1 in Australia and was the highest selling fiction title in 2018, resulting in the third year running that Liane Moriarty was the highest selling fiction author overall.

Liane has also written a children’s book series, Nicola Berry and the Petrifying Problem with Princess Petronella, Nicola Berry and the Shocking Trouble on the Planet of Shobble and Nicola Berry and the Wicked War on the Planet of Whimsy.

Due to the success of the feature films Mystery Road and Goldstone, Bunya Productions went on to produce Mystery Road into a multi award winning television series for the ABC, which aired in 2018. Aaron went on to be nominated for Best Actor in a Drama at the 2018 AACTA awards and nominated for Most Outstanding and Most Popular Actor at the 2019 TV Week Logie Awards for his outstanding performance. Mystery Road – The Series received the 2019 TV Week Silver Logie Award for Most Popular Drama. Due to the overwhelming popularity of the first series, Mystery Road 2 was commissioned and filmed late 2019. The second series has been accepted and will have its International premier at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival in January 2020 .

2019 continued to be a busy year for Aaron as it also included shooting two feature films Dirt Music due to be released in 2020 and High Ground, also produced by Bunya productions, which is to have its worldwide premiere at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival. Along with his feature films Aaron also filmed another two television series, the multi award nominated series Total Control alongside Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths, and the STAN/Disney ABC Studios international miniseries The Gloaming.

2020 began with Aaron shooting a German/Australian feature film Outback Odyssey in outback Australia. Then followed the ABC documentary Australia Remastered which comprises 23-hour long episodes that Aaron hosts and narrates. Aaron is currently finishing filming on a second ABC documentary Back To Nature which saw him travel to the most remote areas of Australia. 2020 will finish with Aaron reprising his role of Cam Delray alongside Guy Pearce in the final chapter of the Jack Irish series.

Aaron is a proud descendant of the Arrernte and Arabana nations