Professor Blanchett reports for duty.
Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett has been confirmed to make a surprise new career move as the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theater at the prestigious St Catherine’s College, Oxford University in the UK. She will assume this position for the 2026-2027 academic year this fall.
Professorship – was established in 1990 thanks to a gift from the famous British theater producer responsible for such legendary shows as Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera and Cats – It has a history of bringing “figures of international importance from theatre, film and performance into direct dialogue with students” and the university community. Blanchett follows a lineage of previous visiting professors including Stephen Sondheim, Ian McKellen, Arthur Miller, Mira Syal, Tom Stoppard, Adjoa Andoh, Stephen Fry, Diana Rigg, Trevor Nunn, Deborah Warner, and others.
Blanchett will be tasked with contributing to a program of talks and lectures and engaging with students and the university community. She follows closely in the footsteps of artist and stage designer Ace Devlin, who helped expand the scope and importance of the professorship.
“Art breaks down the boundaries and limits of our imagination; it poses questions, and playing with them and dissecting them expands and challenges our current reality. Years of creative practice have given me the opportunity to sharpen feelings into ideas and provide paths to insight,” Blanchett said in a statement. “The visiting professorship is an exciting opportunity for me to be in direct and powerful creative dialogue with the next generation of creative thinkers and doers. I look forward to starting this creative collective.”
McIntosh is understood to have said he was “delighted” that Blanchett would be taking over the gig. “I know that her incredible career, as an actor and producer across stage, screen and television, will be a huge inspiration to Oxford students,” he said. “Kate’s tenure as Artistic Director at the acclaimed Sydney Theater Company in her native Australia has been a fantastic success, and her ability to balance a life in the arts with her family life has given St. Katz this exceptional opportunity to draw on her extraordinary range of talent and experience.”
Jude Kelly, MA, St Catherine’s College, added: “Cate Blanchett is one of the most important and influential artistic voices today, not only through the extraordinary range of her work across stage and screen, but through her long-standing commitment to cultural dialogue, collaboration and public engagement. The Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professorship was created to bring the world’s leading practitioners into meaningful conversation with students, academics and audiences, and Cate’s appointment represents a hugely exciting next chapter in that story.”
Blanchett’s story extends far beyond the big screen. In addition to her diverse acting career, she works as a producer, arts advocate and humanitarian while also serving as co-artistic director and co-executive director of the Sydney Theater Company alongside her husband, Andrew Upton.
A visiting professorship isn’t the only thing on the horizon for Blanchett. Will cooperate again with tar Co-star Nina Hoss Elektra/Personaa new play by Benedict Andrews, ran at the Lyttelton Theater at the National Theater in London from 19 August to 10 October. On screen, she stars in the following: Alpha Gang, Swetsik and How to train your dragon 2.
