Luminous beauty and film star Cate Blanchett is looking more radiant than ever, and with good reason.

The Aussie actress has the female lead in possibly the number-one summer blockbuster, and she has also welcomed her third baby into the world.

She plays scary KGB agent Irina Spalko -- wearing an ill-fitting uniform and sporting a malevolent haircut -- who tries to outwit Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Meanwhile, she has given birth to baby boy Ignatius. He is Cate and her husband Andrew Upton's third son after Dashiell, aged six, and Roman, aged three.

Cate said: "Having kids is very addictive, if you can, if you're able to and it's your choice and you've got a supportive relationship."

Cate appears to juggle career and family effortlessly. At the age of 39, which in Hollywood years is fairly ancient, there is no sign of any young star catching up with her.

It's clear Cate has something extra special in the eyes of Hollywood. Observers of the movie industry comment on her lively intelligence and natural grace.

One commentator said: "So many actresses in their early prime seem in arrested adolescence. Their coquetry and little-girl voices suggest they're campaigning for prom queen, not great film roles. Cate Blanchett is gloriously different. She's a grown-up, radiating an aristocracy that has no fancy airs, just a warm, alert intelligence."

It is these qualities that enable her to nail such roles as Lady Lorien in The Lord of the Rings or Elizabeth I. Other hit movies include Veronica Guerin, and she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator.

Cate first met her screenwriter husband in 1996 when she was performing in Chekhov's The Seagull. She has admitted that it wasn't love at first sight. She told Hello! magazine: "He thought I was aloof and I thought he was arrogant. It just shows you how wrong you can be. But once he kissed me that was that."

She has now left Brighton in England for her native Australia to be closer to her family and the Australian theatrical community.

- Anna Coogan