The Amazonian (6'1") reddish-brown-haired Janet McTeer may have been too tall to play Juliet-like ingenues but it did not deter her from becoming one of England's most accomplished actresses. Her height and coloring, coupled with her extraordinary talent, have prompted numerous comparisons to Vanessa Redgrave, but this RADA graduate has made her own mark in theater, television and features. The long-faced, smoky-voiced actress made her London debut (and earned her first Olivier Award nomination) in the title role of "The Grace of Mary Traverse" in 1985 and built her resume with parts in plays like "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1986), "The Storm" (1987) and "Greenland" (1988). Although she had made her film debut in a small role as a secretary in "Half Moon Street" (1986), McTeer delivered an outstanding turn when cast against type as the clumsy, unsure Hazel in Robert Ellis Miller's "Hawks" (1988) and was fine as Ellen Dean in the uneven 1992 remake of "Wuthering Heights". Alternating between stage and screen, she etched a memorable, feisty Vita Sackville-West in the multi-part 1990 British TV production "Portrait of a Marriage" (aired in the USA in 1992 on PBS). In fact, aficionados of British imports like "Precious Bane" (PBS, 1989), "102 Boulevard Haussmann" (A&E, 1991) and "The Black Velvet Gown" (PBS, 1993) were familiar with her before she achieved international acclaim for her stage and screen roles.

Nominated again for an Olivier Award for her Yelena in a 1992 production of "Uncle Vanya", McTeer made a spirited Beatrice in the next year's "Much Ado About Nothing" prior to portraying Nora in a 1995 BBC radio version of Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House". Although initially considering herself too tall to play Nora (a character so often referred to as "petite" in the script) on stage, she flew in the face of convention and attacked the role with a vengeance, making sure that her Torvald (Owen Teale) was sufficiently "Viking" to tower over her. Refusing to reduce her heroine to a proto-feminist, she brought out all Nora's confusion and pain, as well as a prodigious sexuality, in a highly animated performance that earned her 1997 Olivier and Tony Awards, among other honors. Since then, she has been busy making movies, providing the opening narration for Todd Haynes' "Velvet Goldmine" (1998) and headlining "Tumbleweeds" (1999), a drama screened at the Sundance Film Festival in which she was cast a Southern woman coping with bad relationships and an unruly daughter. Her stellar work in that film brought her much acclaim including a richly deserved Best Actress Oscar nomination. McTeer also headlined the 2000 Sundance entry "Songcatcher", again portraying an American woman, this time a 19th-century musicologist who travels to the Appalachian Mountains and uncovers a unique blend of music. She also was cast as Billy Crudup's sister in the romantic thriller "Waking the Dead" (2000).