Academy Award frontrunner Cate Blanchett is “all but certain” to take the stage on Sunday night to accept her Best Actress award and express gratitude for those who supported her journey. Top on the list of people Cate will likely thank is Andrew Upton, her husband of 16 years.
Andrew Upton is an acclaimed successful playwright, screenwriter and director. He began as a playwright, creating both adaptations and original works. He also runs the Dirty Films Production Company with Cate and has directed a few short films.
Cate and Andrew met in 1996 on the set of an Australian TV show. She recently told Jay Leno it wasn’t love at first sight for either…
“It was mostly animosity,” Cate said on The Tonight Show last July. “He thought I was aloof and I thought he was arrogant.”
They began going out with small groups of friends, but “didn’t really connect” until an evening poker game.
“He was in the middle of telling me how he was attracted to a friend of mine and then we suddenly kissed and then he asked me to marry him three weeks later.”
Andrew and Cate wed on Dec. 29, 1997, when both were still relatively unknown — and didn’t have enough money for a photographer. The following year, Cate starred in Elizabeth, earning her first Academy Award nomination and launching her international career.
^Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton at the premiere of Elizabeth.
Cate and Andrew went on to work together on a few short films and served as co-artistic directors for the Sydney Theater Company. Cate told Time Out Sydney in 2010 she’s thankful for their dynamic: “When you can find someone to collaborate with — someone you can converse with and allow ideas to grow – and end up marrying them… I think that’s a really rare thing.”
Although Andrew’s name is undeniable less well-known than his wife’s, he told The Australian in 2010 that he wouldn’t change a thing…
“I love being close to the process,” said Andrew, who explained he transitioned from film editing to writing to spend more time with his family. “I got into continuity to get closer to what directing was – and, well, that’s where I met Cate.”
Andrew and Cate are parents to three sons. They are based in Australia.
