The high-profile couple credited with turning around the company’s finances during their tenure will step down at the end of 2013.

STC chairman David Gonski said in a statement yesterday, ”As they announced at the launch of the 2012 season, it was always their intention to only stay for two terms.

”We asked Cate and Andrew to stay on but we respect their decisions to leave in two years’ time to pursue other professional interests.

”As co-artistic directors and CEOs, with inspirational leadership, Andrew and Cate turned around the STC’s finances and made it a sustainable business while taking it to new artistic heights.

”They are a couple not only of extraordinary talents and profile but they have a strong business sense and a strong financial rigour.”

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The Samsung AACTA Awards are taking a different approach to their inaugural ceremony on January 31 at the Sydney Opera House, with president Geoffrey Rush running proceedings but not playing a traditional hosting role.

The AACTAs will be broadcast live on Channel 9 with Rush to be joined by presenters including Cate Blanchett, Jonathon LaPaglia, Rachael Taylor, Anthony LaPaglia, Xavier Samuel, Lincoln Lewis and Rob Carlton.

Carlton, who is nominated as best lead actor in a television drama for playing Kerry Packer in the ABC’s Paper Giants, yesterday told the Herald Sun he would fly by the seat of his pants in his presenting slot.

“Here’s my tactics: if you’re towards the end of the night and you don’t have comedy gold, you just get straight to it,” he said.

“If you’re in the middle of the night and things have been a little dry, you try to throw in an observation, so long as it’s not a complete U-turn.

“The key is to make sure you look like you’re having fun, so then if you bomb at least people can smile along with you as you’re falling down in front of them.”

Carlton admits he has tough competition in the best actor category from Alex Dimitriades, Don Hany and Jonathan LaPaglia. His co-star Asher Keddie, who played Ita Buttrose, is also nominated for best actress.

But far from dreaming of awards glory when he was making Paper Giants, Carlton said the role gave him nightmares.

“From the time I got cast to finishing the shoot, I would wake up and the first thought would be: terror, dread, Packer,” he said.

“I’d get home from shooting, last thought before bed: Packer. Then I’d dream about the bugger. Then wake up: dread, Packer.

“In the middle of that kind of anxiety, you do not start dreaming about how well it’s going to go.”

AACTA said Olivia Newton-John will perform during the ceremony, delivering a medley of songs from the soundtrack to her new Australian film A Few Best Men.

Other presenters who will hand out gongs at the new-look awards include Adam Elliot, Alex Dimitriades, Todd Lasance, Shane Bourne, Gigi Edgley, Blake Davis, Richard Wilkins, and Samara Weaving.

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The winners of the 2011 Sydney Theatre Awards have been announced. The prizes were presented in a ceremony held on January 16.

Among the winners is Cate Blanchett who was named Best Leading Actress in a Mainstage Production for Sydney Theatre Company’s Gross und Klein. The Best Leading Actor in a Mainstage Production prize was awarded to Colin Moody for his performance in Bell Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

The Sydney Theatre Award for Best Mainstage Production went to the theater company Belvoir for its production of The Wild Duck. In addition, Simon Stone won the Best Direction of a Mainstage Production for his work on the show and Anita Hegh and Anthony Phelan received supporting actor prizes for their performances in the production.

Among the winners of Sydney Theatre Awards for Independent Production are performers Danielle King and Anthony Gooley. The award for Best New Australian Work went to Angela Betzien for The Dark Room, and the winner of the Best Newcomer Award was Meyne Wyatt for his performances in The Brothers Size and Silent Disco.

In musical categories, Hairspray was awarded Best Production of a Musical, while the show’s lead actress Jaz Flowers won the Judith Johnson Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical. The Judith Johnson Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Musical went to Paul Capsis for Sydney theatre Company’s The Threepenny Opera.

For further information and a complete list of 2011 Syndey Theatre Award winners, click here.

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What’s your personal beauty ritual?

Well, it’s been pretty constant actually for the last ten years now. I’ve been using SK-II, I discovered it through a friend. I was pregnant with our first child, and a friend of mine who is a makeup artist recommended I use the SK-II whitening range because I had noticed an unevenness in my skin — you know how you often get a bit of discoloration and pigmentation. She gave me the Essence, and I didn’t know what to do with it at first. She told me it was actually a moisturizer. So I used it for a couple weeks, and it was incredible. There were no breakouts and I began to notice a shift in tone. Then I began to explore the rest of the range. I think it’s the consistency of using the one thing, for me, that’s been really great.

What would you consider to be SK-II’s hero product?

I think it has to be Essence. It’s the most mysterious product, but it’s also the key to the rest of the brand because there’s so much pitera in it. I use it for many different purposes. I use it under makeup, but I use to set makeup. I’ll often use it in conjunction with a cleanser, because particularly when you’re on a film set or doing a play, as I’m doing at the moment, you’re often doing two shows a day and you might have press in the middle of the day, so you’re taking your makeup off two to three times a day. They’ve got wonderfully gentle cleansers, but it’s sometimes good to give it a bit of a boost. Sometimes I’ll even wipe makeup off with that.

The beauty staple — either skincare or makeup — that you always have in your bag?

I’ll always have the Signs Nourishing Cream — it’s relatively small, so that’s something I’ll always pop into my handbag. And the eye cream is quite small, and there’s a travel-sized portion of the Essence. The Essence is a little bit like a cologne for your skin in a way, it’s really refreshing in the middle of the day. As far as makeup in my handbag, I’ve got a liquid eyeliner from MAC, and a mascara. Someone gave me some Tarte, and that’s great because it’s like a stain, so it’s not thick. And NARS has quite a great range of bronzers. But I’m not as loyal with my makeup, you know, because that changes.

Is there a person, place or memory that inspires you beauty-wise?

I worked with Liv Ullmann a couple years ago. And from a creative perspective, her career, and her as a person, but also her, as an incredibly beautiful woman, I find her really inspiring. But a place, I really do love the desert. Sort of central Australia. We went up to the Kimberley in Northern Australia at Easter time, and it was amazing. We were up there with organization called the Australian Wildlife Conservatory. The Australian bush inspires me. It’s usually not a city, as much as I need to get a good coffee, those inspirational places tend to be pretty devoid of people.

Any skincare advice that you learned from your mother?

She was quite obsessed quite early — before everyone was talking about it — with sun protection. She would always send us out in shirts or hats which I was always trying to rip off. So there was always a big awareness of that. She was big on moisturizing, before you even think you need to. It didn’t make me skin-obsessed, but it was certainly made me aware.

How does your skincare routine change when you’re in a film or in a play?

We’re doing a production of Chekov’s Uncle Vanya, so there’s a lot of mood swings — big releases of tears and rolling around on the floor. My eyes have been taking a bit of a beating, so I’ve been using the eye masks and the eye cream quite a bit. Also their oil-based cleanser is really good for removing eye makeup because it’s really gentle. That’s the wonderful thing about all the cleansing products, even the foundation, you’re not just removing something from your skin, or putting something on your skin, there’s pitera in everything. So even when you cleanse, you’re putting something good into your skin, and I think that’s really important when you have to take makeup on and off. And the times where I’ve had to wear a lot prosthetics, the masks were really fabulous.

Of all the characters that you’ve played, which beauty look did you get into the most?

I think probably two of the most challenging ones were Todd Haynes film “I’m Not There,” when I had to play a version of Bob Dylan, and “The Aviator,” because obviously I look nothing like Katharine Hepburn, but trying to find a way where you got the signature nature of her style, without trying to be a looky-likey, because I was never going to look like her. So that was a really interesting challenge. And working with Morag Ross who’s a wonderful makeup artist. You learn so much about how you can sculpt your face, hold your face, you experiment a lot with the makeup artist, it really informs the performance. So makeup is a real ally. All those tricks about shading has been really useful when you do your own makeup on stage.

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The campaign fronted by Blanchett and fellow Australian actor Michael Caton calls on the public to “Say Yes” to cutting carbon pollution.

Nine organisations – including Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund and the Climate Institute – are behind the ads, which will start screening during shows like MasterChef tonight.

“What if we say yes, to making big companies pay, when they pollute our skies? We’d be saying yes to less carbon pollution,” Caton says in the ad.

“And finally, doing something about climate change,” Blanchett adds.

Climate Institute chief executive John Connor said about $1 million had been invested in the Say Yes campaign so far.

“There has been a significant scare campaign out there and there’s been a lot of companies looking after their own self-interest,” Mr Connor said.

“Australia is a high-polluting economy and we want to get the simple fact through that this approach would be one which started to make the big companies pay for their pollution.

“If you do that you can not only have money for clean energy but also money to help low- and middle-income households.”

Blanchett’s involvement in the campaign immediately drew criticism, with the Australian Families Association telling the Sunday Telegraph:” It’s easy for her to advocate it, she’s one of the people who can afford to pay it.”

Mr Connor said the Say Yes campaign would also include a week of action finishing with rallies in capital cities on World Environment Day next Sunday.

“We’ve got to take this (message) out to mainstream Australians,” he said.

The campaign came as a leading business lobby group’s report on a proposed carbon price was claimed as a victory by both the Gillard government and the opposition, with each saying it’s proof they are on the right policy track.

But the Greens say it’s laughable.

As the multi-party climate change committee edges closer to deciding on what the nation’s future carbon price will be in talks in Canberra this weekend, the Business Council of Australia has called for a low starting point of $10 a tonne.That price would then increase slowly to minimise the need for household and business compensation.

“(It would also recognise) the limited opportunities for domestic emissions reduction in the early years and in the absence of international linkage,” the council said in its submission to the climate change department.

It warned that the Australian economy had experienced a significant downturn that was still having an impact on many industries and the introduction of a carbon price would lead to extra costs for businesses and consumers.

The council recommended the Productivity Commission carry out regular reviews of the progress of other comparable countries and that all trade-exposed industries be eligible for a 100 per cent allocation of their permits to offset the cost.

“The cost impost on trade-exposed industries of any policy to price greenhouse gas emissions should be fully offset to ensure Australia’s policy to price greenhouse gas emissions is trade and investment neutral,” it stated.

Greens senator Christine Milne Milne said the council’s proposal was laughable.

“The council ought to be embracing a market mechanism … the fact is we have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and we have to transform the economy,” she said.

“What they are proposing, a $10 price and then 100 per cent compensation for anyone who is trade exposed, just isn’t a realistic contribution to the debate.”

Opposition climate spokesman Greg Hunt said the council’s submission was a big blow to the government.

“The Business Council has put a dagger through the heart of the carbon tax,” Mr Hunt told reporters in Melbourne yesterday.

“This is a vote of no confidence in the government.

“It’s a vote of no confidence in the government’s model.”

Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said yesterday the talks in Canberra this weekend had been very constructive.

Despite the BCA’s submission for a price on carbon well below what the government is aiming for, Mr Combet still viewed it as a positive step.

“One of the major, peak business organisations in Australia clearly indicating that a carbon price is appropriate, and that a market mechanism to achieve it is necessary,” Mr Combet said.

“They’re supporting a carbon price and they’re supporting it to be set via a market mechanism.

“Those are the fundamental frameworks for starting the task of tackling climate change, cutting pollution, driving investment in clean energy.

“Really it’s a debate about the detailed design of the scheme that we’re engaged in.”

The federal government wants to introduce carbon pricing laws to parliament by September, with the aim of having them passed by year’s end with a fixed price to start from July 1, 2012.

The multi-party climate change committee is meeting in Canberra this weekend to continue their deliberations in a more informal fashion.

Ms Milne said while the group had begun to bring all its findings together, agreement on a carbon price was unlikely to be finalised in the next 36 hours.

“Whilst it is unlikely this weekend we’ll come out with anything definite, what we will be able to do is put together a lot of the puzzle that we’ve been working on in the last several months,” Ms Milne told reporters today.

“It’s complex and now is the time to bring it all together.”

Independent MP Rob Oakeshott agreed the controversial carbon pricing issue probably wouldn’t be put to bed anytime soon.

“There is agreement there in the mix,” Oakeshott said as he headed into the meeting. “I hope we can get it but we’ve got a long way to go before we can get there.”

Fellow independent Tony Windsor said it would be impossible to get an agreement on a carbon price by tomorrow night.

“That won’t happen, the Productivity Commission haven’t given their report … and there’s other international work that’s got to be delivered to the committee as well,” Mr Windsor said.

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The ‘Hanna’ actress and her husband, playwright Andrew Upton, believe being strict with sons Dashiell, nine, Roman, seven, and Ignatius, three, and teaching them boundaries is more important than being their friend.

She said: “I don’t enjoy being the bad cop but sometimes I have to be.

“My husband and I worry about our generation trying to be friends with their children rather than parents of their children. If you’re going to try and make your children like you, you’re in dangerous waters I think.”

However, although the 41-year-old star can be strict with her children she understands how important it is to listen to them and hopes they will feel able to talk to her as they grow older.

She explained in an interview with the Daily Mirror newspaper: “I think I’m pretty loving, but what I do know is that you have to let them talk and you have to listen. I hope that when they’re 15, they’re still talking as freely to us as now.”

Cate always puts her children before her career and revealed that she almost turned down playing a CIA agent in ‘Hanna’ alongside Eric Bana and Saoirse Ronan because she worried she would be away from her family for too long – but eventually accepted the part when filming was reduced from eight weeks to 22 days.

She said: “Sometimes you have to say no to things, but in the end the right people make the film whether you’re part of it or not.”

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The fashion designer outfits the actress in the stylish thriller.

Designer Giorgio Armani is no stranger to the big screen.

His impeccably tailored styles have already appeared in American Gigolo, Ocean’s Thirteen and The Dark Knight – and now they can be seen on Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett in the new movie Hanna (Focus Features).

In the film from director Joe Wright (2005’s Pride and Prejudice and 2007’s Atonement), Blanchett plays dark intelligence operative Marissa Wiegler who has secret ties to a teenage girl (Saoirse Ronan) with the skills of an assassin and her ex-CIA father (Eric Bana). “Joe’s vision of Marissa as the Wicked Witch of the story meant that her colors would be red [for her hair] and green [in her attire],” says head costume designer Lucie Bates, who worked closely with Armani.

Armani turned out an elegant, army green pencil-skirt suit and a ladylike emerald-hued cashmere coat for Blanchett’s character.

“Working with Cate has always been a highlight for me,” says Armani, who often dresses the actress in one-of-a-kind Armani Privé gowns for the red carpet. “She embodies the perfect combination of consummate actor and world-class fashion icon.”

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Whether she’s front-and-center as the star of a film or playing a juicy supporting part, Cate Blanchett is always fascinating to watch, with her astounding versatility and transfixing, chameleon-like features.

This week, Blanchett plays a villainous CIA operative on the hunt for a teenage killing machine in “Hanna.” The Australian actress works a Texas drawl that drips with menace, but she’s also quite adept at running in Prada heels. So we took on the daunting task of selecting five — and only five — of her best performances:

— “The Aviator” (2004): Blanchett won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn opposite Leonardo DiCaprio’s tormented Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese’s spectacle of a biopic. She’s a complete joy to watch. Blanchett isn’t doing a dead-on impression, and she shouldn’t be, but she definitely embodies the actress’ spirit. Just seeing her stride across a golf course and hearing her ask Hughes in that hard New England accent whether he likes the the-a-tah — because she just loves the the-a-tah — is a total hoot.

— “I’m Not There” (2007): Writer-director Todd Haynes took an ambitious approach to the often-cliched musical biography genre by casting six different actors to play Bob Dylan. But the boldest choice of all was in selecting Blanchett as one of them. This may sound gimmicky but she’s riveting to watch: lanky, androgynous, jittery, evasive and combative. She’s repeatedly shown she can immerse herself in any role — why not have her play Dylan? You quickly forget you’re watching a woman playing a man; she’s so good, she makes you wish she’d been playing the singer throughout the entire film.

— “Coffee and Cigarettes” (2003): Jim Jarmusch’s film features 11 black-and-white vignettes in which various actors and musicians play versions of themselves while chatting over the titular coffee and cigarettes. But Blanchett stars alone in one of the most subtly poignant segments. She plays herself, staying at an upscale hotel for a movie junket, and she also plays a cousin who arrives for a quick hello and reveals that she’s bitterly jealous of Blanchett’s success. Each character is fully realized and distinct from the other, yet the melding of both performances is seamless.

— “The Gift” (2000): Sam Raimi’s supernatural thriller oozes Southern gothic atmosphere, and its strong cast led by Blanchett elevates it beyond its B-movie origins. She stars as a widow raising three young sons in a small Georgia town who makes money by performing psychic readings. She sarcastically dismisses this “gift,” but her visions are crucial to solving the disappearance of a young woman. Blanchett’s naturalism is mesmerizing; she manages to be grounded and yet otherworldly. She’d been nominated for a best-actress Oscar a year earlier for “Elizabeth,” but she can actually be more compelling in a less showy role like this.

— “Notes on a Scandal” (2006): Blanchett and Judi Dench are both so exceedingly skilled, you could just turn on the camera and let them go to work; both women received Oscar nominations for the film. Their scenes together percolate with tension, with Dench as a lonely teacher who manipulates Blanchett as the school’s new art instructor. It’s a classier version of “Single White Female,” but Blanchett finds subtlety in the role as a woman filled with insecurity who makes one bad choice after another. An affair with a teenage student is only the beginning.

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Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett is urging Australian children to pick up a video camera and raise awareness for youth homelessness.

Blanchett was in Sydney on Wednesday to launch the The Oasis: Homeless Short Film Competition to coincide with Young Homelessness Matters Day.

The national competition is asking students to make a three-minute short film about homelessness.

Ms Blanchett says the competition will help young people become more aware of the struggles less fortunate children go through.

“Film and theatre and the visual arts I really strongly believe have an exceptional and unique capacity to spread important social issues and help produce change in our community,” she said.

“I’d like to encourage school students both primary and secondary to not only pick up a camera and participate in the competition but to use the education resource and to delve into the issues and make outstanding films.

“Films that raise awareness, tell really inspiring stories and provide solutions that not only touch our hearts, but provoke us into making real action.”

The winners, announced in November, will receive $25,000 for their school.

The competition is part of the five-year Oasis initiative that began in 2008 when the AFI award-winning documentary The Oasis screened on the ABC, and The National Youth Commission Report on Youth Homelessness was released.

The documentary, about a homeless youth refuge called Oasis in inner-city Sydney, pulled in more than 1.1 million viewers.

Ms Blanchett said she can remember being very moved when she watched the documentary for the first time.

“I was at the premiere screening of the documentary in 2008 a week before I gave birth to our third son Ignatius and it was a powerful reminder to me that not every child born in Australia is born into a home that is safe and secure and stable,” she said.

Blanchett said she was “shocked by the extent of the problem of youth homelessness”, but was also inspired by the work of carers, social workers and the stories of the “street kids” themselves.

She said youth homelessness is an issue Australia can no longer ignore and believes one way to “tackle the issue is creatively”.

She said the competition would get the stories out and heard by those young people who have homes, families, and an education.

“Because of course these kids who pick up these cameras will be the strategists and policy makers and artists of the future,” she said.

Blanchett is also co-artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company and said the 15 competition finalists will be screened there later this year – the same place the Oasis documentary has its premiere.

“(So) get going, pick up those cameras and inspire us,” she said

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Cate Blanchett – Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett wasn’t nominated for any awards at Sunday’s Oscars but the actress still remains the talk of the web.

The usually regal actress donned a soft lavender Givenchy Haute Couture gown with a cut-out in the front that many fashion analyst were not thrilled about calling it “the back of a well upholstered chair”. Yet, Cate has viewers nearly split down the middle. Huffington Post readers Loved the gown at 49% while 51% Loathed it! Many voters who initially loathed the gown are admitting to the piece “growing” on them.

It’s certainly a risky choice but perhaps UK’s The Metro puts it best, “It was an edgy and fashion forward look that only someone as beautiful as Blanchett could carry off”. What’s your take on Cate Blanchett’s Givenchy gown?

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