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Actress Cate Blanchett and her husband, Andrew Upton, have been together for almost 30 years, despite their romance starting as the definition of a whirlwind.
It might be because they’re so well-matched: Blanchett is lauded for her amazing performances, and Upton is her creative equal. The couple is known for their collaborative work as well as their individual successes. And they’ve raised four children together.
Here’s everything to know about Blanchett’s husband, Andrew Upton.
Who is Andrew Upton?
Andrew Upton was born and raised in Sydney, Australia, and went on to study at the University of Sydney. Like his wife, he’s immersed in the entertainment world, working as a playwright, a screenwriter, and a director. He’s even acted a time or two. Upton’s projects have been seen at the National Theatre in London and the Sydney Theatre Company.
In 2020, Upton shared his thoughts on creativity while speaking at the University of Melbourne, specifically how he often uses a five-act structure to begin any new project.
“It comes down to the very simple syntactical notion of beginning, middle, and end,” he explained. “You get an audience together, and if you get them right on the edge of their seat and your actors are right on the edge of their readiness and everything’s unformed, then you have a genuine beginning. And if you have a genuine beginning and people come to the party and there’s a contact made, then I think it’s very, very satisfying to complete that.”
Blanchett and Upton find many ways to collaborate with one another. He was the executive producer for Blanchett’s movie Carol, and they both served as artistic directors for the Sydney Theatre Company together. They work together so well that they even started their own production company, Dirty Films. The company produced The New Boy and the Apple TV+ series Disclaimer.
Blanchett told E! in 2015 that she loves to work on creative projects with her husband.
“It’s been a great creative partnership with my husband and also a great love affair,” she said. “Working together, running a creative company in Australia. It’s been fantastic.”
How did they meet?
In 1997, she was working on a Chekov play when they met, but they didn’t like each other at first. And then they liked each other a whole lot.
“He thought I was aloof, and I thought he was arrogant,” she told Vanity Fair in 1999. “And it just shows how wrong you can be. But once he kissed me, that was that.”
In 2015, Blanchett shared more about their courtship in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, saying he proposed three weeks after they started dating. They had actually known one another for years, but three days into dating, she felt like she could see their future.
“We were in bed, as you are after three days, and he said, ‘Cate,’ and I thought, ‘Shit, he’s gonna ask me to marry him, and I’m gonna have to say yes,’” she said. “And then he said, ‘No, I’m hungry, do you want to go get something to eat?’”
She added, “Then he asked me after about 21 days, and I said yes.”
In the interview with Vanity Fair, she shared that after they got together, it totally changed her performance.
“Every night I would come to the theater so happy, so fulfilled, and I thought, ‘How am I going to get to the last scene, where my life has to be destroyed?’ I thought, ‘Okay, if I can’t cry, I’ll just apologize to everyone afterwards.’ But because the play was so good, and because joy and grief actually come from the same wellspring, I was just carried along.”
She also praised him some more, saying, “He’s one of the few grounded people I know whose head is in the stars. He’s able to stretch between the sky and the earth. Those people are very rare.”
Do they have any children?
The couple keeps their kids out of the public eye as much as possible, but they have four children: Dashiell, Roman, Ignatius, and Edith. Blanchett has said that her kids are “disinterested” in her fame.
“They have no idea…in the best possible, healthiest way,” she added.
What else have they said about each other?
In 2020, Blanchett shared a glimpse into her marriage after over 20 years together in an interview with the Mirror.
“My first wedding anniversary my husband gave me a vacuum cleaner and then he gave me a mixer,” she said. “It used to be silver and gold, but now that list includes coffee makers and irons, and gone is the sense of getting to the gold and diamond anniversary. Now it’s the microwave anniversary. It’s so less romantic now and timeless.”
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.