Cate Blanchett, 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'

This Australian import, now 39, has proved popular with the academy, racking up five nods in 10 years, including a double dose last year when she picked up her third supporting nom, for "I'm Not There," and her history-making second bid for playing the same character -- in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," the sequel to 1998's "Elizabeth."

This year, Blanchett is hoping to join that small sorority of women who have won both supporting and lead Oscars: Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Maggie Smith, Meryl Streep and Jessica Lange. She is reunited with her "Babel" leading man Brad Pitt in an adaptation of an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story. While he gets the showy role of a man aging in reverse, she is the dutiful love interest. However, the role of the long-suffering wife has proved Oscar-worthy from the show's first year -- when Janet Gaynor was nominated for "Sunrise."