Blanchett's first stage role was opposite Geoffrey Rush, in the 1992 David Mamet play "Oleanna" for the Sydney Theatre Company. That year, she was also cast as Clytemnestra in a production of "Sophocles' Electra". A couple of weeks after rehearsals, the actress playing the title role pulled out, and director Lindy Davies cast Blanchett in the role. Her performance as Electra became one of her most acclaimed at NIDA. In 1993, Blanchett was awarded the Sydney Theatre Critics' Best Newcomer Award for her performance in Timothy Daly's "Kafka Dances" and won Best Actress for her performance in Mamet's "Oleanna", making her the first actor to win both categories in the same year. Blanchett played the role of Ophelia in an acclaimed 1994–1995 Company B production of "Hamlet" directed by Neil Armfield, starring Rush and Richard Roxburgh, and was nominated for a Green Room Award. She appeared in the 1994 TV miniseries "Heartland" opposite Ernie Dingo, the miniseries "Bordertown" (1995) with Hugo Weaving, and in an episode of "Police Rescue" entitled "The Loaded Boy". She also appeared in the 50-minute drama short "Parklands" (1996), which received an Australian Film Institute (AFI) nomination for Best Original Screenplay.