Ranking The Academy Award For Best Actress Winners' Performances From The Past Decade

By the time all is said and done, Cate Blanchett will go down as one of the greatest actresses of all time.

Alongside Meryl Streep, Katherine Hepburn (who Blanchett won an Oscar for playing), Ingrid Bergman, Maggie Smith and Judi Dench, there have been few actresses that have managed to totally change up their roles with such success.

Before Blue Jasmine came along, Blanchett had played a variety of roles to incredible acclaim, mostly consisting of strong female characters.

Like a fine wine, however, Blanchett just seems to be getting better with age. In the film, she plays a widower of a man who swindled people out of great sums of money, who having lost everything moves in with her sister.

It's a typical Woody Allen kind of character, complex and endeared with insecurities. However, Blanchett brings Jasmine to a level we understand because of her ability to show us why she is the way she is.

A career of playing strong female characters is cast aside for this woman whose entire life has been defined by how much her husband earns and the status she enjoys because of it. Cate Blanchett's great gift is being able to embody a fully realised three-dimensional person, without ever letting that veil slip.

Blanchett was up against some very tough competition in 2013; Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Sandra Bullock and Judi Dench all gave sublime performances. However, Blanchett was at the top of her game, which is as good as it gets.

Verdict: Deserved (Just).