Check out these great portraits from the New York Times, their “photographic portfolio of the actors and actresses who defined excellence in the past year.” Celebrities featured include:

• Christian Bale, The Prestige
• Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
• Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
• Ken Watanabe, Letters form Iwo Jima
• Cate Blanchett, Babel & Notes on a Scandal
• Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed & Blood Diamond
• Brad Pitt, Babel
• Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat
• Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
• Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
• Annette Benning, Running with Scissors
• Vin Diesel, Find Me Guilty
• Eddie Murphy, Norbit
• Ivana Baquero, Pan’s Labyrinth
• Maggie Cheung, Clean
• Peter O’Toole, Venus
• Helen Mirren, The Queen
• Abbie Cornish, Somersault
• Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
• Gael Garcia Bernal, The Science of Sleep
• Paul Dano, Little Miss Sunshine
• Penelope Cruz, Volver

You can check out the rest of the New York Times portraits here.

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Aussie actress Cate Blanchett promotes her two films Notes On A Scandal and The Good German during the 57th Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) this week in Berlin, Germany. What gorgeous outfits!! Cate, 37, wears Yves Saint Laurent in purple above and is pictured below with British co-stars Andrew Simpson, 18, Judi Dench, 72. More pictures of Cate, Andrew, and Judi here!!

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Newsweek sat down with Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Forest Whitaker, Helen Mirren, Penelope Cruz, and Leonardo DiCaprio for their Oscar Roundtable at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. Watch the videos here; check out the transcript after the jump! Two excerpts below…

How strippers changed Brad Pitt’s life: “Yeah, my job was to drive them to bachelor parties and things. I’d pick them up, and at the gig I’d collect the money, play the bad Prince tapes and catch the girls’ clothes. It was not a wholesome atmosphere, and it got very depressing. After two months I went in to quit, and the guy said, “Listen, I’ve got this one last gig tonight.” So I did it, and this girl—I’d never met her before—was in an acting class taught by a man named Roy London [a famous acting coach]. I went and checked it out, and it really set me on the path to where I am now.”

When Penelope Cruz knew she was famous: “One day I came out on the street for a walk with my dad, and somebody screamed from a car, “I love you!” And a minute later, somebody else screamed, “Whore!” [Laughter] Then I knew I was famous.”

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Aussie actress Cate Blanchett was spotted filming her new movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, this past Friday in New Orleans. The 37-year-old actress walked around with her two sons — Dashiell, 5, and Roman, 2 — during her lunch break. Total cutie pies! This film also stars Brad Pitt, who plays a man that undergoes reverse aging.

Cate has been married to screenwriter Andrew Upton for almost 10 years.

Cate Blanchett heats up the pages of Marie Claire magazine February 2007. Just this past weekend, Cate jokingly apologized for starring in so many movies at the same time as she accepted the Palm Springs International Film Festival’s Career Achievement Award (Babel, Notes on a Scandal, and The Good German were all released around the same time). Babel which also starred Brad Pitt took home the Ensemble Performance Award.

Zahara Jolie-Pitt turns the big 2 today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ZAHARA!

More pictures from Saturday of cast members from the film Babel, Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Rinko Kikuch, and Adriana Barrazai backstage after receiving the ensemble performance award at the 18th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala in Palm Springs, Calif.

• On wanting more siblings for Maddox, Zahara, and Shiloh: “Always, of course. We’ll let you know when we get there.”
• On living in New Orleans to film “Benjamin Button”: “I do like it there. It’s one of our most unique cities and it certainly needs some help right now. I know it will do fine, and the people are just fantastic.”
• Brad on his film “Babel”: “I love the undercurrent of this film, and that is the inability, sometimes, to understand where the other side is coming from.”
• On “Babel” being honored at PSFF: “For us, it’s about the ensemble award. Given the international nature of our cast, it’s a really nice honor.”

Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett took on the red carpet together at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in bold blue.

Cate looked like a walking piece of art in that dress paired with Christian Louboutin pumps. She received a Career Achievement Award during the festival.

Brad Pitt (dressed in a Lacoste polo) and Cate Blanchett were spotted filming scenes earlier today in the Caribbean for their new film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Thank goodness Brad’s character ages backwards because all that baldness and that fat suit did not suit him. Plus, it gave him pimples.

A zit for Mr. Pitt? Well, according to Cate, the fat suit and the prosthetic make-up Brad had to wear caused him to break out in a rash. Cate told Scotland’s Daily Record newspaper: “We went through three weeks of make-up tests and he was covered in eczema from it all. We were talking about what we were going to do because our skin was taking a battering. So I had this girlie conversation with him and put these skin creams down, lined them up in front of him and he and Angelina went around the table trying them. Brad is so smart and generous. He’s so wonderful I love him. I don’t love him in the sense that I love my husband, but I adore him.”

A little more about the plot: As Brad’s character (Benjamin Button) regains his youth, Cate’s character (Daisy) grows older. The movie’s million dollar question: Will their love continue to grow? (I also wonder how young Brad’s character will get in the film.)

Brad, 43, and Cate, 37, were also seen taking a lunch break after filming a few scenes on a sailboat named “BUTTON UP.” Below the boat name is “NEW ORLEANS.” The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is directed by David Fincher (Panic Room, Fight Club, Se7en) and is set for a release between Christmas 2007 and May 2008. Light years away…

UPDATE :: Apologies, images removed!