Janet McTeer was born in 1961 (August 5)
in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom, the daughter of Jean
and Alan McTeer. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and
began her successful theatrical career with the Royal Exchange Theatre
after graduating.
McTeer’s television work includes the BBC production of Nigel Nicolson’s book Portrait of a Marriage in which she played Vita Sackville-West and the popular ITV series The Governor written by Lynda La Plante. She made her screen debut in Half Moon Street, a 1986 film based on a novel by Paul Theroux. In 1991 she appeared in Catherine Cookson’s The Black Velvet Gown , with Bob Peck and Geraldine Somerville; this won the International Emmy award for best drama. She appeared in the 1992 film version of Wuthering Heights (co-starring Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes) and the 1995 film Carrington (which starred Emma Thompson and Jonathan Pryce).
In 1996, McTeer garnered critical acclaim - and both the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award and Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for her performance as Nora in a West End production of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.[3] The following year, the production transferred to Broadway, and she was honored with a Tony Award, Theatre World Award, and Drama Desk Award as Best Actress in a Play.
During the show’s run, McTeer was interviewed by Charlie Rose on his PBS talk show, where she was seen by American filmmaker Gavin O’Connor, who, at the time, was working on a screenplay about a single mother’s cross-country wanderings with her pre-teen daughter. Enamoured with the actress, he was determined that she star in the film. When prospective backers balked at her relative anonymity in the States, he produced the movie himself. Tumbleweeds proved to be a 1999 Sundance Film Festival favourite, and McTeer’s performance won her a Golden Globe as Best Actress and Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild nominations in the same category.
McTeer’s screen credits include Songcatcher (with Aidan Quinn), Waking the Dead (with Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly), the dogme film The King is Alive (with Jennifer Jason Leigh), The Intended (with (Brenda Fricker and Olympia Dukakis), and Tideland, written and directed by Terry Gilliam. She also starred in the dramatisation of Mary Webb’s Precious Bane.
McTeer appeared in the British TV series The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, Five Days, the Five Days sequel Hunter[3] and the new Agatha Christie’s Marple series starring Anne Protheroe in the episode entitled The Murder at the Vicarage,[8] and is the voice of the Shaman in the computer game Populous: The Beginning.[9] (also see game credits)
McTeer played Mary, Queen of Scots in Mary Stuart, a play by Friedrich Schiller in a new version by Peter Oswald, directed by Phyllida Lloyd. McTeer acted opposite Harriet Walter as Elizabeth I of England in London’s West End in 2005, a role she reprised in the 2009 Broadway transfer of the production.[10] McTeer received a Tony Award nomination for her role in Mary Stuart and won the Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Actress in a Play.
In 2008, McTeer starred in God of Carnage in the West End alongside Tamsin Greig, Ken Stott and Ralph Fiennes, at the Gielgud Theatre.[11] McTeer reprised her role at the Jacobs Theatre on Broadway opposite Jeff Daniels from March to June 2010.
In 2009, McTeer starred as Clementine Churchill opposite Brendan Gleeson as Winston Churchill in the made-for-TV HBO film Into the Storm, about Churchill’s years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II.
In 2011, McTeer starred in Island and, as Helen Bingham, in Cat Run.
In 2012, McTeer stars alongside Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs, and as Daily’s wife in The Woman in Black, based on the 1983 novel of the same name, with Daniel Radcliffe
McTeer was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours
Trivia
She was awarded the 1997 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Play of the 1996 season for her performance A Doll’s House at the Playhouse.
She was awarded the 1996 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre) for Best Actress for her performance in A Doll’s House.
Became an Associate Member of RADA.
Graduated from RADA.
Won Broadway’s 1997 Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) for portraying Nora in a revival of Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House.”
She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honors List for her services to drama.
Nominated for the 2009 Tony Award for Best Performance for a Leading Actress in a Play for “Mary Stuart”.
Personal Quotes
The older you get, the better you get, because you’ve seen more. You don’t necessarily have to go through a lot, but you have to witness it in order to recreate it.
Q: If someone saw one of your performances in 1,000 years’ time, what would it tell them about the year 2007? A: That nothing has really changed. People will still love and hurt and yearn.
(On the Academy Awards) The whole thing was just silly. All those awards are a bit silly, aren’t they? It’s quite funny if you’re English, because we take them all with a bucket of salt really; we’re always a bit embarrassed to go ‘I’d quite like to win that award’. The Americans are very: ‘Oh my God! Is this the most exciting day of your life?’ I just thought ‘no, not really. It’s good fun and you get to see everyone on the carpet, but frankly, get a grip!
(From Wikipedia, Internet Movie Database, Internet Broadway Database)
McTeer’s television work includes the BBC production of Nigel Nicolson’s book Portrait of a Marriage in which she played Vita Sackville-West and the popular ITV series The Governor written by Lynda La Plante. She made her screen debut in Half Moon Street, a 1986 film based on a novel by Paul Theroux. In 1991 she appeared in Catherine Cookson’s The Black Velvet Gown , with Bob Peck and Geraldine Somerville; this won the International Emmy award for best drama. She appeared in the 1992 film version of Wuthering Heights (co-starring Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes) and the 1995 film Carrington (which starred Emma Thompson and Jonathan Pryce).
In 1996, McTeer garnered critical acclaim - and both the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award and Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for her performance as Nora in a West End production of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.[3] The following year, the production transferred to Broadway, and she was honored with a Tony Award, Theatre World Award, and Drama Desk Award as Best Actress in a Play.
During the show’s run, McTeer was interviewed by Charlie Rose on his PBS talk show, where she was seen by American filmmaker Gavin O’Connor, who, at the time, was working on a screenplay about a single mother’s cross-country wanderings with her pre-teen daughter. Enamoured with the actress, he was determined that she star in the film. When prospective backers balked at her relative anonymity in the States, he produced the movie himself. Tumbleweeds proved to be a 1999 Sundance Film Festival favourite, and McTeer’s performance won her a Golden Globe as Best Actress and Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild nominations in the same category.
McTeer’s screen credits include Songcatcher (with Aidan Quinn), Waking the Dead (with Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly), the dogme film The King is Alive (with Jennifer Jason Leigh), The Intended (with (Brenda Fricker and Olympia Dukakis), and Tideland, written and directed by Terry Gilliam. She also starred in the dramatisation of Mary Webb’s Precious Bane.
McTeer appeared in the British TV series The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, Five Days, the Five Days sequel Hunter[3] and the new Agatha Christie’s Marple series starring Anne Protheroe in the episode entitled The Murder at the Vicarage,[8] and is the voice of the Shaman in the computer game Populous: The Beginning.[9] (also see game credits)
McTeer played Mary, Queen of Scots in Mary Stuart, a play by Friedrich Schiller in a new version by Peter Oswald, directed by Phyllida Lloyd. McTeer acted opposite Harriet Walter as Elizabeth I of England in London’s West End in 2005, a role she reprised in the 2009 Broadway transfer of the production.[10] McTeer received a Tony Award nomination for her role in Mary Stuart and won the Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Actress in a Play.
In 2008, McTeer starred in God of Carnage in the West End alongside Tamsin Greig, Ken Stott and Ralph Fiennes, at the Gielgud Theatre.[11] McTeer reprised her role at the Jacobs Theatre on Broadway opposite Jeff Daniels from March to June 2010.
In 2009, McTeer starred as Clementine Churchill opposite Brendan Gleeson as Winston Churchill in the made-for-TV HBO film Into the Storm, about Churchill’s years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II.
In 2011, McTeer starred in Island and, as Helen Bingham, in Cat Run.
In 2012, McTeer stars alongside Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs, and as Daily’s wife in The Woman in Black, based on the 1983 novel of the same name, with Daniel Radcliffe
McTeer was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours
Trivia
She was awarded the 1997 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Play of the 1996 season for her performance A Doll’s House at the Playhouse.
She was awarded the 1996 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre) for Best Actress for her performance in A Doll’s House.
Became an Associate Member of RADA.
Graduated from RADA.
Won Broadway’s 1997 Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) for portraying Nora in a revival of Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House.”
She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honors List for her services to drama.
Nominated for the 2009 Tony Award for Best Performance for a Leading Actress in a Play for “Mary Stuart”.
Personal Quotes
The older you get, the better you get, because you’ve seen more. You don’t necessarily have to go through a lot, but you have to witness it in order to recreate it.
Q: If someone saw one of your performances in 1,000 years’ time, what would it tell them about the year 2007? A: That nothing has really changed. People will still love and hurt and yearn.
(On the Academy Awards) The whole thing was just silly. All those awards are a bit silly, aren’t they? It’s quite funny if you’re English, because we take them all with a bucket of salt really; we’re always a bit embarrassed to go ‘I’d quite like to win that award’. The Americans are very: ‘Oh my God! Is this the most exciting day of your life?’ I just thought ‘no, not really. It’s good fun and you get to see everyone on the carpet, but frankly, get a grip!
(From Wikipedia, Internet Movie Database, Internet Broadway Database)
