Best Actress: Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett speaks on stage after she won best actress for her work in "Blue Jasmine" at the 86th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California March 2, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

Cate Blanchett has won the Academy Award for best actress for her bravura performance as a fragile socialite experiencing a meltdown in Woody Allen's ``Blue Jasmine.''

Blanchett had been deemed the front-runner from the very beginning of the Oscar season. It was the sixth Oscar nomination for the Australian actress and her second win, though her first in the leading actress category. Previously she won the 2005 supporting actress trophy for "The Aviator."