Deborah Mailman and Cate Blanchett host the AACTA Awards

In 2015, Deborah Mailman joined Cate Blanchett to co-host the Australian film and television industry’s night of nights – the AACTA Awards, for productions released in 2014. Mailman became the first Aboriginal woman to host the ceremony.

In this excerpt from the opening sequence, the two women engage in a little light-hearted banter at the expense of the Australian entertainment industry and some of its players before scanning the crowd to highlight some well-known faces in the audience.

The writing for award-show banter is often slightly awkward and stiff, and this clip is no exception. But the two women handle it with a high degree of professionalism and humour and draw plenty of laughs and applause from the crowd.

The 2015 AACTAs (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards) were held in January 2015 at The Star Event Centre in Sydney.

At the time of writing, Mailman has been nominated for 14 AFI/AACTA Awards and has won 6, across 4 categories – Lead Actress in a Film (for Radiance, 1998 and The Sapphires, 2012), Supporting Actress in a Film (Bran Nue Dae, 2009), Guest or Supporting Actress in a TV Drama (Offspring, 2010 and Mystery Road, 2018) and Lead Actress in a TV Drama (Total Control, 2019).