Blanchett's stellar movie career

The 38-year-old Australian star is a previous Oscar winner, earning the golden statuette for her role as Katherine Hepburn in 2004's The Aviator.

She has been nominated two further times - for her breakthrough appearance in the lead role in Elizabeth, and for playing an art teacher who has an affair with a 15-year-old pupil in Notes on a Scandal.

Blanchett has now reprised her role as the Virgin Queen in the sequel to Elizabeth, The Golden Age, which received its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Sunday.

And her role in the upcoming Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There - playing the young singer during his "folk-rock" years - has earned her the award at Venice.

It is such versatility that has made Blanchett one of the most respected actors in Hollywood.

A talented stage actress, she graduated to the big screen and came to international attention at the age of 29, playing Elizabeth I in Shekhar Kapur's 1998 historical drama.

But she missed out on the Academy Award for best actress that year to Shakespeare In Love star Gwyneth Paltrow.

But subsequent films only emphasised Blanchett's talent.

Her CV reveals an eclectic list of roles, ranging from the flaky housewife in comedy Bandits, to elf queen Galadriel in the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, to hard-hitting Irish journalist in Veronica Guerin.

Indeed, the star's sure-footed command of any cinematic genre - in a career that has seen few flops - has established Blanchett at the top of many directors' wish-list.

But for Blanchett, the most important thing is that the audience finds her credible.

"Always, whether you're playing a fictional character or someone who lived, it is an active invention, because you have to tell the story, play the character that's been described in the script, and try to feed as much detail as you can," she has said.

Out of the seven actors who play various facets of the Dylan role in the new biopic, including Heath Ledger and Richard Gere, it is Blanchett who is garnering critics' attention.

And she will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of last year's best actress at Venice, Dame Helen Mirren, who crowned her success with glory at the Academy Awards.

Blanchett's next major outing is due next year in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - the fourth instalment of the action-packed franchise.

The star also has interests outside the film world. She will be installed as artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company, alongside her playwright husband Andrew Upton, in January.

The pair are committed to the project for the next three years, but the actress is able to take three months off each year to devote to her film career.

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