Oscars 2014: Cate Blanchett wins lead actress

Cate Blanchett won the Academy Award for lead actress Sunday for her portrayal of Jasmine, the fallen New York socialite in the Woody Allen film “Blue Jasmine.”

It is Blanchett’s second Oscar win, following supporting honors for playing Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese’s 2004 movie “The Aviator.” She was also nominated for “Elizabeth,” “I’m Not There,” “Notes on a Scandal” and “Elizabeth: The Golden Age.”

The Oscar comes on the heels of a virtual awards-season sweep for Blanchett. She won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards and honors from the National Film Critics Society, the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. and New York Film Critics Circle.

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“You already decide when Woody calls that you’re going to do it, but I went through the charade and said, ‘Absolutely. I’d love to read it,’” Blanchett, 44, told The Times last year. “So he sent it, and I was just gob-smacked. He asked me to call him as soon as I read it, which I did the next day, and then it was a really short call. You could count the seconds. ‘See you in San Francisco. Thank you.’”

Blanchett beat Sandra Bullock as a stranded astronaut in “Gravity,” Judi Dench as an Irish mother searching for the child she was forced to give up in “Philomena,” Meryl Streep as a pill-popping, truth-telling matriarch in “August: Osage County” and Amy Adams as a sexy, steely con artist in “American Hustle.”

The 86th Academy Awards are being held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

For complete Oscars coverage, go to latimes.com/envelope.

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