As one of Australia’s most successful film exports, Cate’s celebration promises to be one of the AACTA highlights.
First awarded in 1968 at the Australian Film Industry Awards, the Longford Lyell Award is the highest honour that the Australian Academy can bestow upon an individual in ‘recognition of a truly outstanding contribution to the enrichment of Australia’s screen environment and culture.’
Since its inception many renowned Australian screen icons have been bestowed with the award, including directors Peter Weir and Fred Schepisi, actors Geoffrey Rush, Jack Thompson and Jacki Weaver and critic David Stratton.
At this year’s 5th Australian Academy of Cinema, Television and Arts Awards (previously the AFI Awards) the 46-year-old stunner is to be presented with the accolade by Richard Roxburgh and Hugo Weaving.
The presentation will include a tribute from Australian director Gillian Armstrong, and filmed tributes from Martin Scorsese, Robert Redford, Ridley Scott and Ron Howard, to name a few.
Of the award Cate has said; “I am truly honoured to be considered among venerable practitioners and performers; creative spirits who have had a strong and lasting influence, not only on my work, but on what I thought creatively possible in this country.”
Cate began her acting career on the stage after graduating from NIDA and from very early on she received critical acclaim and industry recognition for her work, including Best Actress for her performance in David Mamet’s Oleanna, opposite Geoffrey Rush.
From the stage Cate soon moved onto the silver screen with the ABC crime drama Police Rescue and landed her first lead screen role soon after as Elizabeth Ashton in the 1994 Australian drama mini-series, Heartland.
By 1998 and off the back of her BAFTA and Golden Globe Award-winning performance in Elizabeth, for which she also received her first Oscar nomination, Cate had become a highly sought-after performer.
The release of Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning blockbuster trilogy, The Lord of the Rings in 2001 saw Cate become a household name.
In 2005 Cate became the first to win an Oscar for playing an Oscar-winning actress for her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator.
Other career highlights include her performance in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine in 2013 which earned her more than 40 global industry and critics’ awards, including the AACTA International Award for Best Actress, an Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe.
In total, Cate has now won a total of six awards from the Australian Academy, three BAFTAs, three Golden Globes and two Oscars – the most acting Oscars won by an Australian to date.
As she finishes up as co-director of Sydney Theatre Company with husband Andrew Upton, it’s hard to deny this has been a successful year for the Aussie starlet.
Cate is an actress that AACTA President, Geoffrey Rush has said; “would be celebrated for generations to come as one of the finest performers of our times.”
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