BEST ACTRESS: CATE BLANCHETT
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Age 38 Role English ruler Queen Elizabeth I (reprising her Oscar-nominated role in 1998's Elizabeth). Uneasy Lay the Crowned Head She found it odd revisiting a historical figure she played as a young woman nearly a decade ago. ''It was discombobulating,'' she confesses. ''It was like being followed by a shadow quite a lot of the time. The first film was such a surprise to people. No one expected it to register with audiences as strongly as it did.'' Up Next She stars in this May's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and then November's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button opposite her Babel costar Brad Pitt. —Steve Daly