Few actors in Hollywood can compete with the likes of Cate Blanchett. The two-time Oscar winner and three-time Golden Globe winner appears to be in a league of her own when it comes to top-tier performances. She can do drama and comedy with equal aplomb, play real or fictional characters, including men and women, and remain believable each time out.

In her decades-long career, she has both stood out in fantastic films and managed to elevate mediocre material with her stellar acting talents. She has played many roles spectacularly, but these are her best movie performances thus far.

UPDATE: 2022/09/29 15:45 EST BY SHAWN S. LEALOS

Cate Blanchett has had a long career with versatile and impressive roles under her belt. Over the last two years alone, she took on an Oscar-worthy role in Nightmare Alley and two voice roles as the narrator in The School for Good and Evil and the animated Pinocchio. While she has been in some amazing movies, it is what she brings to the roles that really lets her stand out among her peers. While Nightmare Alley was polarizing for many fans, almost everyone agreed that Cate's Lilith was a fantastic femme fatale performance, and she has brought that to everything from dramas and comedies to superhero movies over her impressive career.

Meredith Logue - The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

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While Cate Blanchett didn't get an Oscar nomination for her role in The Talented Mr. Ripley, she really deserved it. In this movie, she starred as Meredith Logue, and she was so good in the role that her character became much more important in the movie than she was in the source novel.

Blanchett really provides a nice counterpoint to the manipulative and calculating Mr. Ripley. As an American traveling abroad for the first time, she always seems to notice him before he sees her, despite his constant looking for a new victim. The way she played the unaware and crass wealthy woman to her downfall at the hands of Ripley wouldn't have worked as well with any other actor.

Hela - Thor: Ragnarök (2017)

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe has done a great job of casting the perfect people for the iconic comic book roles. Even if they don't always look the same, and sometimes have a different origin story, the actors almost always look like fans feel they should. Cate Blanchett perfectly portrayed Hela in Thor: Ragnarok.

Hela was different in Thor: Ragnarok than in Norse myths, because she was portrayed as Thor's sister instead of Loki's daughter. However, when it comes to carrying herself, she was as queenly and evil as the comic book character ever was. Blanchett was perfect as Hela, and she nailed her role in what ended up as the best Thor movie to date.

Mary Mapes - Truth (2015)

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Cate Blanchett starred as Mary Mapes in Truth. This was a case where Blanchett took on a real-life person, and this was difficult since Mapes was a celebrated news producer at CBS news and people knew who she was. This woman broke some big news stories in her life, and Blanchett had to honor the real person while making her a great movie character as well.

This was a tough role since Mapes broke the huge news investigation but ended up fired and falling from grace because of the methods she used.

Lilith Ritter - Nightmare Alley (2021)

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In 2021, Guillermo del Toro released his remake of the classic film noir movie Nightmare Alley. The movie followed a grifter who worked for a carnival before making his name as a psychic in the big city. However, as with any film noir, he would crash back to earth thanks to the machinations of a femme fatale.

Cate Blanchett played this femme fatale, and she was a throwback to the classic film noirs of the past. From the lighting to her sultry acting, Blanchett was able to very much look the part of a woman who might appear in a Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe movie. She was pure evil, but she carried herself in a way that made it clear she would win in the end.

Bernadette Fox - Where'd You Go, Bernadette (2019)

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While the film drew middling reviews overall, Blanchett brought the title character alive with an array of vivid emotions. As a result, Blanchett scored her most recent Golden Globe nod and the 10th of her career.

Bernadette is a stifled artist who, in the absence of creation, falls into deep despair. She thinks a trip abroad will cure her spirit but does not anticipate the pain it causes her young daughter Bee (Emma Nelson) and estranged husband Elgie (Billy Crudup).

Annie Wilson - The Gift (2000)

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Just before Sam Raimi landed the Spider-Man gig, he made a terrific thriller with an all-star cast called The Gift. While yet to be a household name at the time, Blanchett gives the best performance in the film as an outcast with special powers.

When a young girl suddenly disappears in a dank small town, authorities look to Annie Wilson, the local medium with extrasensory abilities. Reluctant to help at first, Annie uses her clairvoyance to help find the missing girl and identify her captors.

Galadriel - Lord Of The Rings (2001)

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Given the monumental impact the Galadriel has to be included among Blanchett's best to date.

From 2001 to '03, Blanchett brought mystical life to Galadriel, one of the most formidable Elves of Middle Earth. She also gave birth to Nenya, one of the three Elvin rings of power.

Veronica Guerin - Veronica Guerin (2003)

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One of Blanchett's best performances of her early career came in the form of Veronica Guerin, in which she played the real-life Irish journalist who doggedly worked to shine a light on the corrupt practices in her country.

Specifically, Guerin boldly took on the drug dealers and organized criminals that shredded the fabric of the Irish economy. Guerin was a martyr who paid the ultimate price when assassins shot her down in the streets.

Sheba Hart - Notes On A Scandal (2007)

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Blanchett burns up the screen opposite Dame Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal, in which she plays a lascivious art teacher who cannot resist seducing one of her 15-year-old students. As such, Blanchett earned Oscar and Golden Globe nods for her work.

The heat turns up when Sheba (Blanchett) and Barbara (Dench) share the secret and begin their own sordid affair with one another. As the tagline suggests, one woman's secret is another woman's power.

Carol Aird - Carol (2015)

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Few actresses can radiate the level of grace, elegance, and sophisticated beauty that Blanchett does in Carol, Todd Hayne's luscious adaptation of the famed Patricia Highsmith novel.

Carol Aird is a classy socialite who begins to harbor sexual feelings for a young female photographer named Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) in the 1950s. As their taboo relationship is kept clandestine, Carol's controlling side comes out and threatens to undermine their bond. Blanchett earned her seventh and most recent Academy Award nod for her performance.