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Janet McTeer (born 5 August 1961) is an English actress. She began her career training at the RADA before earning acclaim for playing diverse roles on stage and screen in both period pieces and modern dramas. She has received numerous accolades including a Tony Award, an Olivier Award, a Golden Globe Award and nominations for two and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2008 she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to drama.
McTeer made her professional stage debut in 1984, and was nominated for the 1986 Olivier Award for Best Newcomer for The Grace of Mary Traverse. She received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress, and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in A Doll's House in 1997. For her roles on Broadway, she received two other nominations for Mary Stuart in 2009 and Bernhardt/Hamlet in 2019.
McTeer has also gained acclaim for her film roles, having received two Academy Award nominations, one for Best Actress for Tumbleweeds in 1999, and the other for Best Supporting Actress for Albert Nobbs in 2011. Other roles include Wuthering Heights (1992), Carrington (1995), Velvet Goldmine (1998), Songcatcher (2000), As You Like It (2006), The Divergent Series (2015–2016), and The Menu (2022).
On television, she starred in the title role of Lynda La Plante's The Governor (1995–1996), and received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her portrayal of Clementine Churchill in the HBO film Into the Storm (2009). She is also known for her roles in Damages (2012), The White Queen (2013), The Honourable Woman (2014), Jessica Jones (2018), Sorry for Your Loss (2018–2019), and Ozark (2018–2020).
She attended the now defunct Queen Anne Grammar School for Girls, and worked at the Old Starre Inn, at York Minster and at the city's Theatre Royal.York Press 26 January 2012 She performed locally with the Rowntree Players at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, then trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
In 1996, McTeer garnered critical acclaim – and both the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award and Critics' Circle Theatre Award – for her performance as Nora Helmer in a West End production of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. The following year, the production transferred to Broadway theatre, and McTeer received a Tony Award, a Theatre World Award, and the Drama Desk Award for 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-teenage daughter. He was determined that she star in the film. When prospective backers balked at her relative anonymity in the US, he produced the film 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 played Mary, Queen of Scots in Mary Stuart, a play by Friedrich Schiller in a new version by Peter Oswald, directed by Phyllida Lloyd. She acted opposite Harriet Walter as Queen Elizabeth I in London's West End in 2005, a role she reprised in the 2009 Broadway transfer.Jones, Kenneth. "London's Mary Stuart, With Walter and Tony Winner McTeer, Heading to Broadway in 2009", Playbill, 14 July 2008. McTeer received a Tony Award nomination for her role in Mary Stuart, and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play.
In 2008, she starred in God of Carnage in the West End alongside Tamsin Greig, Ken Stott and Ralph Fiennes, at the Gielgud Theatre.De Jongh, Nicholas. "Carnage in the dark does not dim the acting", London Evening Standard, 26 March 2008. She reprised her role on Broadway opposite Jeff Daniels from March to June 2010.
In 2009, she portrayed Clementine Churchill in the HBO feature Into the Storm about Sir Winston Churchill's years as Britain's leader during World War II.
In 2013 McTeer was cast as Jacquetta of Luxembourg, the mother of the title character in The White Queen, a British television drama series based on Philippa Gregory's best-selling historical novel series The Cousins' War. Her performance was applauded, with Sam Wollaston of The Guardian suggesting she stole the show.Sam Wollaston, "The White Queen; Agatha Christie's Marple – TV review", The Guardian, 17 June 2013 In December 2013, McTeer was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Jacquetta.
On 29 July 2013, it was announced that McTeer had joined the cast of The Honourable Woman, a BBC spy-thriller miniseries starring Maggie Gyllenhaal. In 2015, McTeer starred as Commander Kim Guziewicz in CBS comedy-drama Battle Creek, and filmed Exception based on The Kaiser's Last Kiss (in which she was due to portray Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz), set for a 2016 release.
In 2016, McTeer played Petruchio in the New York Public Theater Shakespeare in the Park all-female production of The Taming of the Shrew, directed again by Phyllida Lloyd. She co-starred alongside Liev Schreiber in Les Liaisons Dangereuses on Broadway, with McTeer cast as Marquise de Merteuil. The play ran from October 2016 to January 2017.
In 2018, she played Alisa Jones in the Marvel Television and Netflix production Jessica Jones. In September 2018, she took on the role of Sarah Bernhardt in Theresa Rebeck's Broadway play Bernhardt/Hamlet. Bernhardt/Hamlet ibdb.com, retrieved 30 April 2019 She was nominated for the 2019 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play.
In 2018-2020 McTeer portrayed cartel attorney Helen Pierce on the Netflix crime drama Ozark.
| 1986 | Half Moon Street | Van Arkady's Secretary | |
| 1988 | Hawks | Hazel | |
| 1992 | Wuthering Heights | Ellen "Nelly" Dean | |
| 1995 | Carrington | Vanessa Bell | |
| 1996 | Saint-Ex | Genevieve de Ville-Franche | |
| 1998 | Velvet Goldmine | Narrator (voice) | |
| 1999 | Tumbleweeds | Mary Jo Walker | |
| 2000 | Waking the Dead | Caroline Pierce | |
| Songcatcher | Professor Lily Penleric | ||
| Liz | |||
| 2002 | Sarah Morris | ||
| 2005 | Tideland | Dell | |
| 2006 | As You Like It | Audrey | |
| 2011 | Cat Run | Helen Bingham | |
| Island | Phyllis Lovage | ||
| Albert Nobbs | Hubert Page | ||
| 2012 | The Woman in Black | Elisabeth Daily | |
| Hannah Arendt | Mary McCarthy | ||
| 2014 | Maleficent | Elderly Princess Aurora (voice) | |
| 2015 | Angelica | Anne Montague | |
| Edith Prior | |||
| Fathers and Daughters | Carolyn | ||
| 2016 | Edith Prior | ||
| Me Before You | Camilla Traynor | ||
| Marquise de Merteuil | |||
| Paint It Black | Meredith | ||
| The Exception | Princess Hermine 'Hermo' Reuss of Greiz | ||
| 2022 | The Menu | Lillian Bloom | |
| Glimpse | Lucienne | ||
| 2025 | Walters | ||
| 1985 | Juliet Bravo | Esther Pearson | Episode: "Flesh and Blood" |
| 1986 | Gems | Stephanie Wilde | 2 episodes |
| 1987 | Theatre Night | Miss Julie | Episode: "Miss Julie" |
| 1988 | Les Girls | Susan | 7 episodes |
| 1989 | Precious Bane | Prue Sarn | Television film |
| 1990 | Juliet Horowitz | Episode: "Yellowbacks" | |
| Portrait of a Marriage | Vita Sackville-West | 4 episodes | |
| Screen Two | Celeste | Episode: "102 Boulevard Haussmann" | |
| 1990–1991 | Screen One | Adult Claudie/Caroline | 2 episodes |
| 1991 | Riah Millican | Television film | |
| 1992 | Dead Romantic | Madeleine Severn | |
| Loretta Lawson | |||
| 1993 | Don't Leave Me This Way | ||
| 1994 | Jackanory | Reader | Episode: "The Iron Woman" |
| 1995–1996 | The Governor | Helen Hewitt | 12 episodes |
| 2004 | Agatha Christie's Marple | Anne Protheroe | Episode: "Agatha Christie's Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage" |
| 2006 | The Amazing Mrs Pritchard | Catherine Walker | 6 episodes |
| 2007 | Five Days | DS Amy Foster | 4 episodes |
| Daphne | Gertrude Lawrence | Television film | |
| 2008 | Sense and Sensibility | Mrs Dashwood | 3 episodes |
| Masterpiece Theatre | Episode: "Sense and Sensibility" | ||
| 2009 | Hunter | DS Amy Foster | 2 episodes |
| Into the Storm | Clementine Churchill | Television film | |
| Psychoville | Cheryl | 2 episodes | |
| 2011 | Weekends at Bellevue | Diana Wallace | Television film |
| 2012 | Parade's End | Mrs Satterthwaite | 4 episodes |
| Damages | Kate Franklin | 9 episodes | |
| 2013 | The White Queen | Jacquetta of Luxembourg | 6 episodes |
| 2014 | The Honourable Woman | Julia Walsh | 8 episodes |
| 2015 | Battle Creek | Commander Kim Guziewicz | Main cast, 13 episodes |
| 2016 | Marks and Spencer | Mrs Claus | Advert |
| 2018 | Jessica Jones | Alisa Campbell | 11 episodes |
| 2018–2019 | Sorry for Your Loss | Amy Shaw | Main role; 11 episodes |
| 2018–2020 | Ozark | Helen Pierce | Recurring role (seasons 2 & 3) |
| 2020 | The President Is Missing | Carolyn Brock | Television film |
| 2023 | Julius Caesar: The Making of a Dictator | Narrator | Miniseries |
| 2024 | Kaos | Hera | Main Cast; 8 episodes |
| The Old Man | Marion | Recurring role (season 2) | |
| 2025 | Gangs of London | Isabel Vaughn | Episode: "Episode #3.8" |
| MobLand | Kat McAllister | Completed | |
| 2027 | Harry Potter | Minerva McGonagall | Main Cast |
| TBA | The Artist | Marian Henry | Upcoming series |
| Playhouse Theatre, London |
| Belasco Theatre, Broadway |
| Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, Broadway |
| Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway |
| Booth Theatre, Broadway |
| American Airlines Theatre, Broadway |
| National Theatre, London |
| 1998 | The Shaman, Additional voices (voice) |
| 1986 | Olivier Award | Most Promising Newcomer of the Year in Theatre | The Grace of Mary Traverse | ||
| 1992 | Olivier Award | Actress of the Year | Uncle Vanya | ||
| 1997 | Critics Circle Award | Best Actress | A Doll's House | ||
| Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Actress in a Play | ||||
| Olivier Award | Best Actress | ||||
| Tony Awards | Best Actress in a Play | ||||
| 2006 | Olivier Award | Best Actress | Mary Stuart | ||
| 2009 | Tony Awards | Best Actress in a Play | |||
| 2016 | Olivier Award | Best Actress | Les Liaisons Dangereuses | ||
| 2019 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play | Theresa Rebeck | ||
| 2023 | Olivier Award | Best Actress | Phaedra |
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