The Mermaid’s Tale: Halle Bailey makes a splash in the groundbreaking role of Ariel – under the sea and above it

Halle Bailey never anticipated that she would be called for the main role in Disney’s live-action musical adaptation of The Little Mermaid. She believed, Ariel, the Disney princess who gives up her voice and mermaid tail to be with a “spineless, savage, harpooning fish- eater” human – would not be played by an actress who looked like her, despite her obvious credentials. The 23-year-old popstar has been writing music since the age of eight, opened for Beyoncé in Europe at 16, and has five Grammy nominations.

“I love that there’s so much Black diversity on screen now,” she says. “There was a time when we’d barely see locs – and now we have a Disney princess with them. It was super important for me to have my natural hair in this film. I’ve had my locs since I was five, so they’re a huge part of who I am. We need to be able to see ourselves, we need to be able to see our hair on big screens like this so that we know that it’s beautiful and more than acceptable.”

Beyoncé protégé

Before her successful Disney big-screen debut, Bailey was best known as one-half of the sisterly pop duo Chloe x Halle, whose first claim to fame was their YouTube cover of Beyoncé’s Pretty Hurts grabbing the attention of the music legend herself. The song changed the teenagers’ lives, propelling them to overnight prominence. They became the opening acts for both Beyoncé’s The Formation World Tour and Andra Day’s Cheers to the Fall Tour in 2016 and released popular EPs and albums including Uncovered, Sugar Symphony and The Kids Are Alright.

Their musical style, which transcends genres, distinguishes Chloe x Halle, two years her senior, from other artists. “My sister and I would always play mermaid in the pool,” she recalls. “Our first mixtape was called The Two of Us – I think weput it out when I was 15–and on the cover,I’m wearing my favourite mermaid blanket; it’s like a mermaid tail. Looking back, I’m like, that’s so weird. In a way, it was a coincidence. But really, it was the universe or God [giving me] a hint.”

Musical youth

Born in Mableton, Georgia, Halle picked up the cello and violin at a very young age, and like her sister learned how to play the guitar by studying YouTube tutorials. Noticing their musical development, their father, Doug Bailey, became their full-time manager, arranging for the girls – the middle pair of four siblings – to perform in the Atlanta area.

The family relocated to Los Angeles in late 2012 when Halle was 12. Two years later, Chloe x Halle signed with Beyoncé’s Parkwood Entertainment management company and record label. By 2021, the sisters had released two albums and earned a slew of industry accolades.

“One major high would definitely be when my sister and I were nominated for Grammys,” she says. “We sang Where Is the Love by Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack, and that was actually the performance that got me noticed by Little Mermaid director Rob Marshall. It was confirmation for me that my own abilities and belief in myself [is enough]. I believed in myself for the first time.”

Purple patch

In addition, Bailey is a fantastic actress who made her screen debut in the 2006 romantic comedy Last Holiday. She then appeared in the 2012 films Let It Shine and Joyful Noise, and has played Skylar in the American TV sitcom Grown-ish. Completing a hat-trick of films this year is The Line, which premiered a few months before the Disney musical, and the much anticipated The Color Purple, based on the stage musical and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker.

“I am so excited to be playing young Nettie in The Color Purple. This film has meant a lot to me for a very long time – it’s a Black family staple,” she says. “I also got a chance to write an original song for the film. It’s been really cool to incorporate my artistry into this new world of acting. I’m just so grateful to be a part of the film. I cannot wait for people to see it. I think they’ll love it.”

Breaking the mould

Early this year, when the first pictures of Bailey as Ariel appeared on social media, there was a definite shift toward a new normal that was felt all over the world. The internet was inundated with videos of young Black girls excitedly responding to an Ariel they could identify with. Disney broke the mould when choosing its lead actor, and The Little Mermaid delivered a plethora of surprises appropriate for the new decade. The movie – and Bailey – are taking the responsibility of its global impact seriously.

She says: “My main goal has always been to stay true to myself. There’s so much more to being a young woman than this fairy-tale character. I think other people have a hard time separating who Halle is and who a princess is – and that’s natural when you’re a fan of an artist. But it’s a beautiful thing to be a layered individual and not fit into one certain image.”

Bailey imagines herself working as a nurse, paediatrician or a kindergarten teacher if she had not broken into entertainment. As to whether she ever yearns for the realism seen outside the Hollywood bubble, she remarks: “It’s fun to think about, but honestly, no, because this has been my normal for so long.”

Greater purpose

Instead, she is careful not to let her work as an artist and entertainer distract from the purpose she would like to fulfil. “The awards and the accolades and the people complimenting, it’s all great, but what [am I] here for really?” she ponders. “What am I doing to give it back to God? What am I doing actively to be a better person every single day?”

Arguably, her historic role as Ariel is indeed part of her larger purpose, and something she is – and should be – remarkably proud of. Some people believe that our fate is predetermined. Some people think we can control our own future. But for Halle Bailey, both these factors may have contributed to her extraordinary rise from child prodigy to bona fide Hollywood actress.

Taylor to Perfection: Beyond the guitar strum, blonde locks and sold-out concerts, there is plenty of substance to Taylor Swift’s striking silhouette

It was music for Taylor Swift and Taylor Swift for music at the get-go. The country star turned pop star royalty showed a passion for music at a young age and quickly advanced from parts in children’s theatre to performing in front of a large audience. Before a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game at age 11, she sang The Star-Spangled Banner and the following year she picked up the guitar and started writing songs.

Swift created original music that expressed her experiences of tween alienation by drawing inspiration from country-music performers like Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks. Her parents, supportive of her ambition for a musical career, sold their farm in Pennsylvania when she was 13 and relocated to Hendersonville, Tennessee, so she could attract the attention of country labels in nearby Nashville.

Swift met recording-industry veterans through a development arrangement with RCA Records, and in 2004, when she was 14 years old, she signed with Sony/ ATV as a songwriter. She frequently played her own songs at venues in the Nashville region, and it was during one of these performances that record executive Scott Borchetta took note.

Swift was recruited by Borchetta to his budding Big Machine label, and in the summer of 2006, she released her debut single, Tim McGraw, which was heavily influenced by the teenager’s favourite country musician. And the rest, including her chart-topping discographies, as they say, is history (her story in that case).

Voice for feminism

When the Grammy Award-winning music video – full of strong women kicking ass – for her iconic hit Bad Blood came back to back with her topping Maxim’s 2015 Hot 100 list, she took a moment to speak out about feminism and equality: “A man writing about his feelings from a vulnerable place is brave; a woman writing about her feelings from a vulnerable place is oversharing or whining. Misogyny is ingrained in people from the time they are born. So, to me, feminism is probably the most important movement that you could embrace, because it’s just basically another word for equality.”

At the same time, Swift faced criticism for penning too many songs in the past about her ex-boyfriends and other intimate relationships. She finds this critique anti-feminist and no longer has time for it. “When I was a teenager, I would hear people talk about sexism in the music industry, and I’d be like, I don’t see it. I don’t understand. Then I realised that was because I was a kid,” she explains.

“I didn’t see myself being held back until I was a woman. Or the double standards in headlines, the double standards in the way stories are told, the double standards in the way things are perceived.” She used her 2019 song The Man to emphasise how women and men are treated differently in the industry.

Political pride

Taylor also wants people to know that she supports the LGBTQ community, having received criticism of inaction in this regard. She claims she has consistently supported the movement through her work and charitable contributions. Clarifying her viewpoint, she says: “I didn’t realise until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of. It’s hard to know how to do that without being so fearful of making a mistake that you just freeze.”

You Need To Calm Down, the smash-hit single from her 2019 album Lover, highlights her support of the LGBTQ community. The music video features Katy Perry, Ellen DeGeneres and iconic drag queens. The whole Lover catalogue was released at midnight on June 1, the beginning of Pride Month, when Swift introduced a petition in support of the US federal Equality Act. This legislation would amend the Civil Rights Act to outlaw discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

Swift also posted a letter to the Republican Lamar Alexander, then the US Senator from Tennessee, asking him to vote yes. The request, on her personal letterhead, denounced President Donald Trump for not supporting the Equality Act. “I personally reject the president’s stance,” Swift wrote. Need she say more?

Unfashionable authenticity

Since breaking into the public eye in 2006 as a 16-year-old wunderkind, Swift has become one of the most commercially successful singers of all time. Last year, her songs received 36.6 billion streams, but her aesthetic has never attracted the same kind of attention. Unlike her contemporaries, she isn’t necessarily a fashion icon. She rarely attends Fashion Week and frequently misses the Met Gala. She favours light-blue wash denim shorts, a faded pink vest and unassuming sneakers.

Despite being quite nondescript, this style is notable for how Taylor Swift really is. Her attire suggests that she may be performing at a local talent show even though she is playing to tens of thousands of fans on a stadium tour. Lots of slogan T-shirts, sparkly bodysuits and prom dresses with meringue skirts. Her current tour, dubbed Eras, is a retrospective of the outfits from each of her 10 studio albums.

However, a lack of fashion cred is not always a terrible thing. She is a sincere and cinematic hitmaker who effortlessly navigates embarrassing confessionals on Lover and small- town stagnation on Midnight (2022). All of this is done with an unfashionable authenticity.

Swift is portrayed in pop culture as the wise best friend that her followers wish they had when they were teenagers (the Swifties actually exchange friendship bracelets). She is someone who may have covered their eyelids in glitter after being rejected by their preferred prom date, a person who would take great satisfaction in creating the ideal ‘heartbreak’ sundae with heaped piles of whipped cream, Oreos and chocolate syrup.

Swift’s songwriting, in contrast to that of so many of her peers, is more likely to make references to her pet cats and a home-for- the-holidays crush than a Hermès bag. And this ordinariness resonates with many more people than perhaps she ever imagined when she first visited Nashville as a child and dreamed of making it big.

Gosling the Great: Whether a psychopath, action hero or action figure, there is no character Ryan Gosling cannot master

Ryan Gosling has generally preferred to keep his cards close to his chest offscreen, in contrast to the thrilling and diverse parade of characters he has portrayed onscreen. From Jewish neo-Nazi in the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning The Believer (2001) and teen psycho-killer in Murder by Numbers (2002) to the romantic lead in The Notebook (2004) and a drug-addicted teacher in Half Nelson (2006), the former child actor showed a mesmerising range at the start of his adult career.

Half Nelson earned him the first of two Academy Award Best Actor nominations; the second came a decade later for the musical La La Land, which landed him a Golden Globe. Nominations for the latter trophy have been plentiful – Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Blue Valentine (2010), The Ides of March and Crazy, Stupid, Love (both 2011). Critics and fans alike hail his standout performance as Ken in this year’s Barbie, opposite Margot Robbie, as deserving of the highest acting accolade.

Rambo Moment

Gosling’s fascination with all things dramatic, action-packed and comedic began early in life. Reared in Cornwall, Ontario, the young Canadian watched Sylvester Stallone’s primal and vicious revenge epic First Blood, the original Rambo movie, on videocassette one evening when he was in the first grade. He put the family’s steak knives in his Fisher-Price magic kit the next day, and armed to the teeth, made his way to school, eager to apply the knowledge he had just acquired.

“I didn’t think it through, you know,” he says, looking back at his foolhardiness. “I just thought, in my mind: This is not right, what is happening, and something has to be done. Thank God, you know, I was suspended. I should have been. My mother was mortified. And it was like reality came in. I had to get control of my imagination.”

Music to movies

The acclaimed actor is a talented singer, too. At age 12, he went on his first audition for a role in The Mickey Mouse Club. He was cast as a Mouseketeer and later shared the TV screen with future stars Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. He frequently sang on the show and was supposedly invited to join The Backstreet Boys by band member AJ McLean, his then-next-door neighbour. In 2007, Gosling released his own music and started an indie rock group called Dead Man’s Bones.

Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera

One of his great bait and switches is that, despite the fact that it’s obvious there are many deep, dark and bizarre things churning inside of him as an artist, his face and behaviour give the impression of a regular guy. From First Blood to other less violent pictures, movies clearly helped shape his young mind. Over time, they beckoned him toward them.

“When I saw Dumbo and The Elephant Man, I felt like those films were smashing down some wall inside of me and creating a room called empathy,” he says. “And being very grateful for having seen those films even though they were painful, and the idea of watching them again was scary because I didn’t know that I wanted to feel those things again, but it did feel different after seeing them. Like they had exposed some part of myself to me that I didn’t know was there.”

He credits his uncle, who was an Elvis impersonator, with setting him on the road to performing. “I remember things being very mundane until he came [for an extended stay], and suddenly he was wearing a jumpsuit around the house and talking like Elvis, putting together a show and putting my mom as a backup singer and my father as head of security,” he recalls. “And all our family was coming around, making costumes… family members that didn’t necessarily talk before. It just brought everyone together. I was in the act – I handed out teddy bears and scarves.”

Fame and fatherhood

The grownup Ryan Gosling has made it known that his family comes before his job. The 42-year-old has two daughters, Esmeralda, aged eight, and seven-year-old Amada with long-time partner Eva Mendes. Supporting child-soldier awareness group Invisible Children and the Enough Project, which works to end genocide, he has long campaigned against the conflicts in Central Africa. His own children had a big impact on his choice to star in the Netflix action thriller The Gray Man last year, and he intends to introduce his daughters to his work through the widely acclaimed Barbie.

Gosling, who plays the iconic Ken doll, explains: “Barbie was a way to do that. Not necessarily like I’m making it for them, but it’s the first time I think they kind of are understanding it. Although, they can’t for the life of them understand why I want to play Ken because nobody plays with Ken. But that’s why we must tell his story.”

The Barbie promo cycle has branded Ken as just some guy. He’s not just any person, though; he’s Ken; and that’s what exactly the creator and director of the Barbie movie intended it to be. Along with a legion of Kens defending their right to own some kind of personality, Gosling performs a massive 1980s’ power ballad. Incredibly blonde and impossibly ripped, Ken pulls himself together and finds some value in himself through words of self affirmation. “I’m just Ken and I’m enough / And I’m great at doing stuff,” he sings.

It’s an apt line for the actor as well as the character. In real life and in his chosen craft, Ryan Gosling has proven to be one of the greats.

Also Read: Barbie Composition: Margot Robbie adds another layer of character to her versatile body of work

Barbie Composition: Margot Robbie adds another layer of character to her versatile body of work

Margot Robbie wasn’t a huge Barbie lover growing up. The Australian actress who conquered Hollywood with seeming ease in her early 20s is unsure if she ever even had a Barbie doll. She spent a lot of time in Queensland, preparing mud pies with her cousin, playing with trucks and constructing forts.

The fashion sense came later; Robbie’s strong, glam femininity is currently being honoured in the Goddess: Power, Glamour, Rebellion exhibition at Australia’s National Museum of Screen Culture, alongside other female screen icons who have taken creative control and shaped their own image. “The clothes are a huge part of this movie and a huge part of Barbie,” she says. “It’s super superficial – but it’s incredibly profound at the same time. Everything in this movie had to be authentically artificial.”

Also Read: Barbie at 60: We salute several of her more intriguing incarnations

Transformed into a fantasy comedy directed and co-written by Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women), Barbie hits cinemas this month. The Barbie actress not only plays the lead Barbie character (opposite Ryan Gosling as the main Ken) but also pulls the production strings through her company, LuckyChap Entertainment.

The actress, who turns 33 this month, has already had a career filled with memorable movie roles and, in real Barbie fashion, red-carpet looks. She got her start on the popular Australian soap, Neighbours, then quickly relocated to Los Angeles to pursue her Hollywood ambitions. Her rapid rise continued, as she was able to share credits with a number of well-known actors and filmmakers during her first few years in the US, earning praise from both the public and critics.

Life is her creation

Straight away, Margot Robbie landed top billing beside Christina Ricci in the period TV series Pan Am (2011), then appeared in the time-travel romantic comedy About Time, and shone alongside Leonardo di Caprio in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). She won the hearts of the DC Comics faithful with her portrayal of villainess Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad (2016), a role she reprised in 2020 for Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) and again in The Suicide Squad the following year.

Also Read: How well do you know ‘The Suicide Squad’ actress Margot Robbie?

Robbie garnered her first Oscar nod for her complex portrayal of controversial US figure skater Tonya Harding in I, Tonya (2018), and then regularly landed award-season nominations – including Bafta supporting actress shots for her performance as Sharon Tate in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) and her work in Bombshell (2019). The latter also brought in a second Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe shout-out.

While taking home a top award still eludes her, there is no question that Robbie will dominate the big screen for years to come. Acting is not her only concern, though; through her behind-the-scenes work as a producer, she has become a powerful advocate for women in Hollywood.

Beyond the Barbie world

Co-founded by Robbie in 2014 with three friends – one of whom, Briton Tom Ackerley, became her husband – LuckyChap has been committed to producing compelling female tales and assembling teams of female artists. These include I, Tonya, and multi-Oscar nominee Promising Young Woman, written and directed by Emerald Fennell and starring Carey Mulligan. More doors are being opened for women in Hollywood by Robbie and co., and she is also promoting women’s rights in the industry on her own platform. She has been an outspoken proponent of the #MeToo movement and has pushed to make the film industry a safer place.

Reflecting on her own self-education about the prevalence of misogyny in the workplace, she says: “It horrified me just how that particular crime plays in the grey area. That’s where it really flourishes when a situation isn’t black and white, and that’s when insidious people like Roger Ailes [as depicted in Bombshell] or Harvey Weinstein take advantage of that grey area.”

She is passionate about getting women involved in action movies since that particular genre is where the big money is. “Also, the perception that women aren’t interested in action is ridiculous,” she adds.

With the industry on the precipice of great change, Robbie finds herself not in the position of the burgeoning film starlet that she was a decade ago, but an executive producer making tectonic shifts to break the patriarchal mould.

Never going out of style

And then there’s her influence through fashion, which is a way of expression but also a powerful key for change. Empowering women through fashion is something strong and possible.

Barbie makes her own statement by dressing with intention. She doesn’t dress for the day; she dresses for the task, which might involve a leisure activity or a form of employment. In the official movie trailer, one scene stands out as it pokes fun at the way the Barbie universe seems to blur such distinctions.

Stepping into the shoes of stereotypical Barbie, Robbie describes what makes her special beyond the many clothes she gets to wear: “[Wonder Woman actress] Gal Gadot is [the inspiration for] Barbie energy. Gal Gadot is so impossibly beautiful, but you don’t hate her for being that beautiful, because she’s so genuinely sincere, and she’s so enthusiastically kind, that it’s almost dorky. Yes, she can wear a short skirt, but because it’s fun and pink. Not because she wants you to see her butt.”

Also Read: Gal Power: Gal Gadot shatters superhero glass ceiling with Wonder Woman Debut

When the acclaimed actress is not in character, she is often checking the websites of train companies as travelling on the Orient Express was on her bucket list for a long time. “All I want to do is live on a train,” she says. “You literally wake up and you open the window, [you are in Switzerland] and it looks like The Sound of Music.”

Margot Robbie is at full speed and in the driver’s seat of her childhood dream of making it big in Hollywood. With Barbie, an intriguing cinematic take on a past childhood icon, it’s clear that the actress-producer won’t be hitting the brakes any time soon. Or as Barbie would say, live your dream.

As Manny As Possible: More than just another pretty face, Manny Jacinto isn’t silent on how Hollywood should change

Manny Jacinto is in a good place and it has only got better. The Filipino-Canadian actor’s breakout role in the Golden Globe-nominated hit show, The Good Place, drew viewers, especially Southeast Asians, to his effortless charisma and comedic prowess; he played a DJ and dancer who was initially mistaken to be a Taiwanese Buddhist monk observing a vow of silence as he happened to be wearing a barong-inspired outfit. When he did speak and the credits rolled at the end of the first season (2016-17), fans of the show were proven right – his performance had caught the eye of the critics, gaining favourable reviews. His portrayal of a “lovable doofus” from Florida goes against the stereotypes of how Asian men are often portrayed in Hollywood.

The show’s success allowed him more room for role experimentation. Last year, he joined the stellar cast led by Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick – though disappointingly, in another silent performance, his lines were cut – and was among the leads in the romantic comedy, I Want You Back. He also cinched his next TV gig with no less than Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy in the Hulu miniseries, Nine Perfect Strangers, an adaptation by David E. Kelley of Liane Moriarty’s 2018 novel of the same name.

PacMan revival?

Born in the Philippines and raised in Vancouver, Jacinto had a few small roles in film and TV before landing his biggest breaks. He happened to appear in a 2013 episode, titled “Pac-Man Fever”, of the long-running dark fantasy-drama Supernatural, and the PacMan adjacencies stirred instant connections to legendary Filipino international boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, not least because of the name similarity.

Making a name in Hollywood is, of course, a feat for our Manny, not just as a Filipino but as an Asian actor. As with any success, it took a lot of hard work, determination and patience. Having had the privilege of working alongside some of the industry’s biggest names, he is sure of one thing: he doesn’t want to get too comfortable.

Engineering a break

Life had a different path for Manny Jacinto before making it to the city of stars. Believe it or not, he was once a practising civil engineer. The University of British Columbia graduate was supposed to become a pharmacist, but having failed chemistry, he took another route – towards his dad, actually, thinking if his father could be an engineer, then why couldn’t he? But having accomplished that, he discovered his dancing feet.

“There were lots of risks or jumps but a lot of it came through a series of steps because if you told me eight years ago that I would be an actor, I would laugh. I wouldn’t believe you. It’s crazy, Filipinos and Asians performing onscreen. Dance and music were things I really resonated with so I was like, hey, I think that’s super cool, maybe let’s try it out.”

He took a dance class in downtown Vancouver and fell in love with performing. From dancing, he went on to acting and from there, it snowballed. Once this spark had activated his “acting bug”, he realised that he could express himself through different methods – from voice projection to gesticulation – and the floodgates to his career opened.

“I had a civil engineering degree in my back pocket so I knew that if things didn’t pan out, I could always go to engineering. I also have incredibly supportive parents who never frowned upon or hindered my need to explore the creative arts,” he shares.

Filipino etiquette

Filipinos, as many would and could attest, put a lot of emphasis and importance on work ethic, and for Jacinto, this is something that he has in his genetic makeup. He stresses that it was passed on to him by his parents, especially his father, who always finds a way to make things work and who has sacrificed everything for the family.

“That’s something I would love to tie into the script I’m writing,” he says, adding: “Filipinos have this general sense of optimism and sense of ease. I remember going back to the Philippines when I was younger, and there was just so much joy being around family.”

Despite growing up in Canada, the boyish-looking star identifies himself as a Filipino, with habits unique to the culture, such as the simple preference “to eat with a spoon and a fork”.

When the shoe fits

As for his physical attributes, Jacinto’s stunning looks, particularly his cheekbones and jaw, have also sparked rhapsodic gushing in The New York Times. When complimented on his supermodel jawline, he notes: “It’s very flattering, but the reaction usually involves me blushing and sweating in my palms.”

Often seen dressed down in denim jeans and t-shirts, the actor is quick to point out that shoes play an important role in his craft. “I have too many different shoes. I apply this to acting as well like I put on shoes to fit different characters,” he explains. “So, if I need to be Jason Mendoza [in The Good Place] – someone who moves a lot and is light on his feet – I wear sneakers, like a pair of Jordan’s or something like that.

“Yao of Nine Perfect Strangers is more of a minimalist so he will probably wear a Birkenstock. Logan from I Want You Back is more of a hipster, so he’ll probably be in vintage boots. Shoes help me get more grounded with the characters.”

More and/or Less

Like many other Asian talents currently making waves in the international mainstream media, Jacinto hopes to see more diverse faces on screen in the future – and not just in roles that are sidekicks, but those that occupy the lead spots. He also urges Hollywood to be more of a force for change and creativity: “I want to see more diverse stories. This isn’t a revelation, but a lot of things are being recycled or rebooted. There’s this fear for change or fear to do something different. I’d like to see less repetition and see more originality in the stories we tell.”

Cate of the Art: Strong on and off screen, Tár star Cate Blanchett finds it hard to leave the limelight

Porcelain perfection is what many would instantly notice about Cate Blanchett. Shining on the big screen is a quality she has always had, and it is hard to think of times over the past decade when she wasn’t having a big year. With that caveat, the Australian Hollywood actress is enjoying a massive 2023 following her outstanding performance in the Todd Field epic, Tár.

The 53-year-old thespian is known for her versatile work across independent films, blockbusters and the stage and has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards and four Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for a Tony and two Primetime Emmys. Every award-giving body out there has given Blanchett the attention she so richly deserves.

Taking the biscuit
It’s always fascinating to look back on the humble beginnings of celebrated icons – and for Cate Blanchett, this is the iconic TV commercial for Tim Tam, the chocolate biscuits sold in her homeland. In between theatre roles after she finished a degree in fine arts, the Melbourne native played a woman who, after freeing a genie from a lamp, is granted three wishes. Blanchett’s cookie-craving character merely requests an endless supply of Tim Tams.

Blanchett’s extensive appearances both on screen and stage can be traced back to 1992 when she debuted as Electra in the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art production of the play of the same name. From there, she landed her first leading role on local television in 1994’s Heartland, and Bordertown with Hugo Weaving in 1995.

The international viewing public first discovered Blanchett’s incredible potential for transformation in 1998 when she played Elizabeth I in Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth. Pale-faced, with flame-red hair and a steely character, the actress gave a punchy performance as the British monarch who took the throne in 1558 at the age of 25. The Virgin Queen ruled England during one of its most opulent eras in a world dominated by men. She received both a Bafta and a Golden Globe for Best Actress for the breakthrough role.

The Great Pretender
After headline-hitting roles in The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Lord of the Rings, she appeared in the seminal 2003 film Coffee and Cigarettes by Jim Jarmusch. She portrayed both herself and a fictitious cousin, Shelly, in one of 11 vignettes shot in black and white. One more time Cate played chameleon on screen.

Blanchett is also the only actress in history to be nominated for the same role, following up her lead turn in Elizabeth with a sequel, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, nine years later. Her Oscar triumph for portraying Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator made her the first person to win the award for playing another Oscar winner.

Complex metamorphoses and playing people of the other sex do not faze her. She stunned reviewers and viewers in 2007 when she appeared as Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes’ biopic I’m Not There. Dylan was played by six different actors at six different phases of his life, with Blanchett turning in a standout performance. This role brought her a notable distinction: she is one of three women to be nominated for an Oscar for portraying a man.

“I wanted to be him,” Blanchett has said of the singer. “It’s the first time I ever had that feeling. I actually wanted to be Dylan. Ultimately, he just really didn’t care. He’s on his own path.”

(Read the full article in the May 2023 issue (pg: 114). Available on the Gafencu app on Android and Apple.)

Shades of Pascal: Painting a portrait of Pedro Pascal’s art-centric life and mounting that picture into one small frame.

After years of obscurity, Pedro Pascal’s recent breakthrough roles have added a line to the ‘life begins at 40’ tally. Fame is now rushing to the 48-year-old thespian who has drifted away from being “he’s the guy from” to a bona fide Hollywood name. Long-overdue recognition has come from his recent hit TV series, The Last of Us, as well as The Mandalorian – where he was a constant presence but his face was rarely seen – and the game-changing Game of Thrones. Countless trending social-media memes and flattering photos gush praise for his charisma. All to his credit; not a lot of people get to be in their 40s and have their lives change workwise, especially in show business. So what really makes Pedro Pascal tick?

American Dream Reversal
“The smallest of opportunities kept me going,” says the actor of making ends meet with TV work and his not inconsiderable stage presence. Now that he has the recognition he has long deserved, he is not about to waste his chance in the limelight. Born José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal in Santiago, Chile, and raised in San Antonio and Orange County, California, he is a self-confessed movie buff which did little to help his social life. His parents, both from the medical field, fled Chile in the 1970s during the military junta and worked out a life of comfort in the US.

However, when his father became embroiled in an Orange County fertility clinic controversy that made national headlines, his comfortable upbringing was upended. While he was studying at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, his parents and two younger siblings returned to Chile. Soon afterwards, his mother took her own life.

Having to fend for himself, young Pedro pursued acting work while sharing an apartment with his sister in Manhattan. He secured plentiful theatre assignments and a few TV roles, including one-offs on the likes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Touched by an Angel. He had it rough and money was obviously tight, amounting to earnings of only about US$515 (HK$4,043) a week.

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Politically Compassionate
In the age of wokeness, producers from that time would now be called out for typecasting actors for a role – sex, race and age-wise – but not Pedro. He was desperate to be typecasted just so he could get a job. He played a series of masculine gay men and vaguely ethnic characters. But breakout roles, both onstage and on television, proved elusive, and there were plenty of times when he was ready to quit.

Pascal also has a glowing reputation as an outspoken ally of the LGBTQ community. His supports his sister Lux, a transwoman, and the Instagram fiasco with his former Mandalorian co-star Gina Carano – whose right-wing views are contrary to his own – served to highlight what a true ally he is; he called out Carano for publicly mocking the preferred pronouns concept.

Just recently his on-screen daughter-like figure, Last of Us co-star, Bella Ramsey who identifies as non-binary, has testified that they share many conversations around gender – not necessarily always deep, but also funny and honest about the whole spectrum.

In an interview about his personal values, he comes across as refreshingly grounded, saying: “My entire heart is set on the marginalised underdog. It’s not a choice. The truth is that I don’t think I do nearly enough. I’m, like, a LIB-ER-AL, but there are contradictions there as well because we live capitalistically. I guess we carry the weight of that shame?”

(Text: Joseff Musa)

Read the full interview in the April 2023 issue (pg: 114). Available on the Gafencu app on Android and Apple.