Who Is Cate Blanchett's Husband? All About Australian Playwright Andrew Upton

Mar. 15, 2025

Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton attend The 43rd London Critics' Circle Film Awards on February 5, 2023 in London, England.Photo:David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty

Oscar-winning actressCate Blanchetthas nothing but love and admiration for her husband, Andrew Upton.

“He’s one of the few grounded people I know whose head is in the stars,” theBlack Bagactress toldVanity Fairin 1999 of her husband, an Australian screenwriter and director. “He’s able to stretch between the sky and the earth. Those people are very rare.”

The couple first met in 1997 while Blanchett was performing in a play in Sydney. Even though they claimed to have not liked each other at first, Upton returned to see her onstage inThe Seagullmore than a dozen times, perVogue.

They were engaged within three weeks of meeting and wed later that same year. In the nearly three decades they’ve been married, Blanchett and Upton welcomedfour children: Dashiell, Roman, Ignatius and Edith.

The playwright toldThe Telegraphin 2013 that his family is about as typical as they come.

“To be honest, we’re so boring there’s not much to write about," Upton said. “We’re naturally quite quiet in our lifestyle – the work and family come first.”

So, who is Cate Blanchett’s husband? Here’s everything to know about Andrew Upton and his relationship with the actress.

He’s Australian

Upton attended an all-boys boarding school where he landed multiple roles in drama productions likeMacbeth. After graduating, he attended the University of Sydney and pivoted from performing in plays to writing them.

He wrote his first script when he was just 16 years old and still keeps it locked in a drawer. “It was called ‘The Plumber,’ " the screenwriter toldThe Independentin 2008. “A Pinteresque title, without any of the skill, depth or capacity.”

He’s a playwright, screenwriter, director and producer

Andrew Upton and actress Cate Blanchett attends 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 18, 2014 in Los Angeles, California.Stefanie Keenan/WireImage

Upton wears many hats in the theater and entertainment world. The multihyphenate has done everything from adapting classic plays, like Anton Chekhov’sThree Sisters, to directing onstage performances and writing feature films for the big screen, per his talent agency’sbio.

From 2008 to 2012, he and Blanchett famously served as the co-artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company. Under their reign, they held multiple internationally acclaimed productions — two of which starred Blanchett, perPlaybill.

Upton has also worked with actressRose Byrneand the latePhilip Seymour Hoffman.

He and Blanchett didn’t like each other at first

Cate Blanchett and husband Andrew Upton attend the Fourth Annual Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards on January 25, 1999 at the Hotel Sofitel in Los Angeles, California.Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection

According to Blanchett, she was acting in a Chekov play when she encountered the man she would eventually marry in 1997. But it wasn’t love at first sight — the two didn’t like each other initially.

“He thought I was aloof and I thought he was arrogant,” she toldVanity Fairin 1999. “And it just shows how wrong you can be. But once he kissed me, that was that.”

Blanchett added that her newfound happiness with Upton had an impact on her performance, saying, “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, ‘O.K., if I can’t cry I’ll just apologize to everyone afterwards.’ "

He and Blanchett got engaged quickly

Only three weeks after they met, Upton asked Blanchett to marry him. TheBorderlandsstar toldEllen DeGeneresin 2015 that three days after they met, she knewhe was the one.

“We were in bed, as you are after three days, and he said, ‘Cate,’ and I thought, ‘S— he’s gonna ask me to marry him and I’m gonna have to say yes.’ " she recalled, laughing. “And then he said, ‘No, I’m hungry, do you want to go get something to eat?’ "

The couple married in 1997, and regretfully, Blanchett saidthey only have one photofrom their ceremony because the two friends they asked to be photographers failed to take any pictures.

“One guy who got so drunk he forgot to load film in the camera and the other one had such a good time that he didn’t take any pictures,” the actress said during a March 2025 appearance onThe Drew Barrymore Show. “I wept at the time … but in the end I’m kind of quite pleased … because I then constantly try and recall the evening.”

He and Blanchett share four kids

The couple have kept their children out of the public eye and have only taken them to red-carpet events a handful of times. Blanchett has said that her children are “disinterested” in their mom’s fame.

“They have no idea,” the actress toldPage Sixin 2022, adding that their lack of amusement is “in the best possible, healthiest way.”

He and Blanchett are business partners

Cate Blanchett and husband Andrew Upton launch the new Sydney Theatre Company season in their roles as Sydney Theatre Company Artistic Directors at the Sydney Theatre on September 25, 2009 in Sydney, Australia.Mike Flokis/WireImage

Upton also executive produced Blanchett’s 2015 movieCarol, for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

“We’ve always worked together in a way,” he toldThe Independent. “You have your odd, ‘No, no, no, we have to do this,’ but in the end you can say, ‘Oh, all right, I’ll fight for that next year, then.’ That collaborative approach is a really important part of theatre — it’s compromise that adds, not detracts.”

Blanchett, too, finds creative purpose in their partnership. “It’s been a great creative partnership with my husband and also a great love affair,” she toldE! Onlinein 2015. “Working together, running a creative company in Australia. It’s been fantastic.”

He calls himself “the hand” in Blanchett’s photos

Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton attend the premiere of `Toy Symphony' at the Belvoir St Theatre on November 14, 2007 in Sydney, Australia.Don Arnold/WireImage

Upton often accompanies his wife on the red carpet and joked withThe Independentthat he’s “the hand” featured in all of her paparazzi photos. “They just look and think, ‘he’s not interesting, cut him out,’ " the director said. “You can almost see the scissors.”

But he doesn’t mind the attention that Blanchett often receives. Upton said, “Her public identity is very associated with her work, which I think is good, right and proper because she’s bloody good at it.”

source: people.com