Andrew Upton

Early life and education

Upton attended The King's School, Parramatta, and the University of Sydney.

Career

As a playwright, Upton created adaptations of Hedda Gabler, The Cherry Orchard, Cyrano de Bergerac, Don Juan (with Marion Potts), Uncle Vanya, The Maids, Children of the Sun and Platonov for the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) and Maxim Gorky's The Philistines for the Royal National Theatre in London.

Upton's original play Riflemind opened with Hugo Weaving, playing an ageing rock star planning a comeback, at the Sydney Theatre Company on 5 October 2007, and received a favourable review in Variety. The London production of Riflemind, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, opened in 2008, but closed due to the 2008 financial crisis after receiving poor popular press reviews.

In 2008, Upton and wife Cate Blanchett became joint artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company for what became a five-year term.

Upton and Blanchett formed a film production company, Dirty Films, whose projects include the films Bangers (1999) and Little Fish (2005). Upton wrote, produced and directed the short, Bangers, Upton shares writing credits for the feature film Gone (2007).

Upton wrote the libretto to Alan John's opera Through the Looking Glass, which premiered with the Victorian Opera in Melbourne in May 2008.

Upton acted in one of Julian Rosenfeldt's thirteen-part art film, Manifesto (2015).

Awards and recognition

In June, 2014, Upton was recognised with the Rotary Professional Excellence Award, an award instituted "to honour a person who has demonstrated consistent professional excellence in his or her chosen vocation by contributing to the benefit of the wider community beyond their typical workplace role".

Personal life

Upton and Blanchett met in Australia in the mid-1990s and married in 1997. The couple have three sons and one daughter, the last adopted in 2015. The couple's children appeared with Upton in segment 11 of the 2015 film Manifesto.

Upton and Blanchett purchased a house in East Sussex, England, in early 2016.

References

References

1. (11 September 1984). "Playwright Andrew Upton at Sydney University".
2. "Playwright Andrew Upton at Sydney University.Eighteen-year-old Andrew...".
3. "RGM Literary – Andrew Upton". RGM Artist Group.
4. "Sydney Theatre Company Children of the Sun". Sydney Theatre Company.
5. "Australian library collections". Libraries Australia.
6. "Author Profile – Andrew Upton". Currency Press.
7. "Sydney Theatre Company and UBS present: ''Riflemind'' by Andrew Upton". Sydney Theatre Company.
8. Boland, Michaela. (10 October 2007). "''Riflemind''". [[Variety (magazine).
9. Adams, Stephen. (8 August 2008). "Philip Seymour Hoffman to direct Australian play Riflemind in London". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
10. Singh, Anita. (20 October 2008). "Financial Crisis: West End shows closing". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
11. London Theatre Staff. (17 October 2008). "''Riflemind'' posts early closing notices for 25 Oct 2008". LondonTheatre.co.uk.
12. (19 September 2008). "Who could have imagined that a play about sex and drugs and rock and roll would prove as punishingly boring as this". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
13. Billington, Michael. (19 September 2008). "''Riflemind'' (review)". [[The Guardian]].
14. The Sunday Times Staff. (28 September 2008). "''Riflemind'' Misfires". The Sunday Times.
15. Taylor, Paul. (19 September 2008). "A dull sex, drugs and rock and roll reunion". [[The Independent]].
16. "''Riflemind'' gets on reunion bandwagon". [[London Evening Standard]].
17. (17 August 2012}}
    * {{Cite web). "For Andrew Upton, it's words that count". [[The Australian]].
18. (2015-08-27). "Andrew Upton: so much more than the crumpled-looking Mr Cate Blanchett".
19. Otterson, Joe. (2020-07-10). "Cate Blanchett's Dirty Films Sets First-Look TV Deal at FX".
20. (2020-07-11). "Cate Blanchett's Dirty Films lands major US TV deal".
21. "Andrew Upton".
22. (2007-06-07). "Gone".
23. John, Alan. (2010). "Through the Looking Glass – Chamber Opera to a libretto by Andrew Upton based on Lewis Carroll's book and the life of Alice Liddell (2008)".
24. (2008-07-18). "Alan John and Andrew Upton".
25. Rosenfeldt, Julian. (December 3, 2021). "Manifesto Scenes / ''Pop-Art'' [Part 11 of 13 channel film installation]". JulianRosefeldt.com.
26. (11 June 2014). "News: Professional Excellence Award". Sydney Theatre Company.
27. (24 February 2012). "Cate Blanchett, theatre boss". [[The Economist]].
28. (5 February 2007). "The Evolution of Cate Blanchett". [[Condé Nast]].
29. (19 August 2008). "Andrew Upton: Life in the shadow of his wife". [[The Independent]].
30. (March 1999). "Cate Blanchett's Pale Fire".
31. (4 December 2009). "Cate Blanchett and Dashiell hop to it". People.
32. (26 April 2004). "Cate Blanchett gives birth to a son". People.
33. (13 April 2008). "Cate Blanchett welcomes third son, Ignatius Martin". People.
34. (6 March 2015). "Cate Blanchett Has Adopted a Baby Girl". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
35. Rothman, Michael. (6 March 2015). "Cate Blanchett and Husband Andrew Upton Adopt a Baby Girl". ABC News.
36. Spangaro, Alexandra. (18 January 2016). "Cate Blanchett purchases $6 million English manor 'Highwell House'". [[Domain Group]].