I just don't see myself as the heroine in my own narrative.
— Cate Blanchett
An actress once advised me, 'Make sure you do your own laundry - it will keep you honest.'
My husband keeps me really honest.
Well, I've never looked upon myself as being a beauty, per se.
Every director works differently.
I'm scared of actors with a scheme.
I don't understand a way to work other than bold-facedly running towards failure.
Look, I live in the modern world as much as anyone else.
My everyday beauty routine is always rushed and pretty simple.
It's not the normal way to look at things but I experienced death at a really young age and because of that it's been part of my mental landscape that death is really very possible.
I'm always without sleep. I've got two kids. I understand sleep deprivation on a profound level.
Marriage is a risk; I think it's a great and glorious risk, as long as you embark on the adventure in the same spirit.
People love events - they love performances, they love music - and I think Australians are great entertainers.
I don't consciously think of how parenthood has changed me but I'm sure it must have.
I'm so misunderstood!
Planning cities is a necessary but risky business.
I think that's what I love about my life. There's no maniacal master plan. It's just unfolding before me.
My kids don't watch any TV, but they watch videos and films. I'm sure they watch it at friends' houses.
I went through a mod and goth-phase when I decided that I wouldn't ever be the bronzed beach-bunny. I started going as pale as I possibly could.
I'm not sitting on a soapbox telling women what they should and shouldn't do, but I know what works for me.
I have the embarrassing thing where often if you're watching a film, you kind of go through the emotions and the thought stages that your character went through, but you sort of do it with Tourette's. So I end up often crying when I'm crying, and looking angry when I'm looking angry, so it's pretty ugly.
When you're onstage, you're acutely aware of the reaction of a particular group of people, because it's like a wave.
Don't you find that work, if you love it, is actually really invigorating?
Things present themselves to you, and it's how you choose to deal with them that reveals who you are. We all say a lot of things, don't we, about who we are and how we think. But in the end it's your actions, how you respond to circumstance that reveals your character.
There's an expression in Australia that's called 'Go Bush,' which means to get out of the city and relax. I try and 'go bush' to places where there's no cell reception. But, I don't get to do that often, so for the most part, it's just a state of mind.
I think we should stop drinking bottled water. There's no need to be drinking it if you're living in western communities.
When you're a performer, of course you want an audience, but it's very, very different from courting fame.
When something is a vocation, you don't really make a decision about it.
If you age with somebody, you go through so many roles - you're lovers, friends, enemies, colleagues, strangers; you're brother and sister. That's what intimacy is, if you're with your soulmate.
There's not a long, entrenched tradition of theatergoing in Australia.
I'm not well read.
The word 'circumnavigate' is quite a beautiful word.
The one thing that all great cities have in common is that they are all different.
It was only when I realized how actors have the power to move people that I decided to pursue acting as a career.
I'm incredibly lucky that my profession allows me to be where I choose, really.
Being on stage a lot is quite physical.
I've an enormous respect for my mother who at the age of 39 raised three children, and I grew up with my grandmother in the household. And so it was a really strong household of women - my poor brother! It was great growing up with so many generations of women.
I'm very fast.
If you only exercise your soloist muscles, the other muscles quickly atrophy.
I think it's always good to take on things that at first seem bigger than you. Then you just try and surmount them.
I'm not particularly interested in playing characters that think the way I do.
I think Pilates is great, especially when you can do it with a trainer who keeps you on track.
I'm not sure if I want to direct a film, but certainly, as an actress, I'm always thinking, 'Surely this must be my last film.'
You can't really achieve anything in three years.
Some ideas, like what you're going to do with your life, take time to form.
When you're directing something, you absolutely have to be involved in all layers of the process.
For me, I think the bigger something is, the more difficult it is to make it nimble and fleet afoot.
I'm not focused on what other people think of me.
All cities do face similar, significant trends in the future... most importantly global warming and climate change.
Actresses can get outrageously precious about the way they look. That's not what life's about. If you starve yourself to the point where your brain cells shrivel, you will never do good work. And if you're overly conscious of your arms flapping in the wind, how can you look the other actor in the eye to respond to them?
