Countdown to the Oscars! Nominee Janet McTeer's Top Five Stage Roles
Five of Broadway’s finest actors are in the running for 2012 Academy Awards! In honor of their stellar work onscreen, Broadway.com is looking back at the most unforgettable stage roles of Oscar nominees Glenn Close, Viola Davis, Janet McTeer, Christopher Plummer and Meryl Streep. Check back each day for a different Oscar Watch feature, then tune in to ABC's live telecast on February 26, hosted by Broadway vet Billy Crystal, to find out which stage great will take home Hollywood's biggest prize.
JANET McTEER, Best Supporting Actress Nominee for Albert Nobbs
Uncle Vanya (1992): After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Newcastle native McTeer launched an instantly successful stage career, including lauded turns as Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. McTeer cemented her reputation with an Olivier Award-nominated performance as Yelena, the bored and seductive heroine of Uncle Vanya, in a National Theatre revival co-starring Ian McKellen.
A Doll’s House (1997): McTeer collected every award on both sides of the Atlantic, including a Best Actress Tony, for her Nora in Ibsen’s classic drama. (Times critic Ben Brantley began his review of her by gushing, “This is why I love the theater.”) At six feet tall, McTeer was anything but doll-like in the role, but her impassioned performance made modern audiences understand why this 19th-century housewife would feel compelled to shut the door on her family.
The Taming of the Shrew (2003): Almost a decade before her Oscar-nominated performance as faux-male painter Hubert in Albert Nobbs, McTeer explored her masculine side as Petruchio in an all-female company of The Taming of the Shrew. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia!) at London’s open-air Globe Theatre, McTeer was praised for her comic take on a man modern audiences love to hate.
God of Carnage (2008/2010): Yasmina Reza’s dark comedy about how parenthood makes couples crazy had its English language debut in London with McTeer giving a sly performance as Veronique, the role that later won Marcia Gay Harden a Tony. (In London, the couples were French; on Broadway, they lived in Brooklyn.) Two years later, McTeer played the clafouti-wielding hostess (now called Veronica) on Broadway opposite Jeff Daniels, Lucy Liu and Dylan Baker.
Mary Stuart (2009): Fierce and unyielding (even during an onstage rainstorm), McTeer received a second Tony nomination as Mary Queen of Scots in Phyllida Lloyd’s striking production of this seldom-seen historical drama, which transferred to Broadway after a successful run in London. The actress’ naturally regal bearing served her well in this battle to the death between Mary and her reigning cousin, Elizabeth I (Harriet Walter).
