BLANCHETT: IT'S NOT EASY BEING FRONT-RUNNER

The Associated Press
Cate Blanchett poses in the press room with the award for best actress in a leading role for "Blue Jasmine" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday, March 2, 2014, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Winning acting honors at other major awards shows didn't make the Oscars ceremony any easier for Cate Blanchett.

The night figured to be a coronation for the actress, who'd won best actress honors at the Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globe Awards and other shows for her role in "Blue Jasmine." Instead, the prospect of waiting until nearly the end of Sunday's ceremony proved stressful for the two-time Oscar winner.

"It was an intense, unbearable pressure which I'm so glad is over," Blanchett said after her win. "It has been every year."

Blanchett, who has been nominated for acting Oscars five times, took a hiatus from films in recent years to focus on theater work. She won a best supporting actress Oscar in 2005 for "The Aviator."

"Every year I watch this thing remotely and every year there are five, six, 10, 12 or 20 performances by women that I'm gob smacked by and inspired by," she said. "And it gets whittled down to five. To be in conversation with those women by proxy ... that's the privilege and the rest is just chocolate."

— Anthony McCartney — http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP .

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