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Cross-dressed for success

Having received an Oscar nomination for her role as the label-eschewing cross-dresser Hubert in Albert Nobbs, Janet McTeer tells Roe McDermott about why she hates labels, loves Brendan Gleeson and is enjoying life after 40.

Roe McDermott, 16 May 2012

Though Janet McTeer has been a working theatre actress since her teens, and has collected a mass of awards and accolades, including a Tony award, Laurence Olivier Theatre award, a Golden Globe and two Oscar nominations, cinema-lovers would be forgiven for only becoming familiar with her work in the past few years. Having acted the socks off Daniel Radcliffe and Ciaran Hinds in last month’s horror film The Woman In Black, she’s about to make another serious impression on audiences with her Oscar-nominated performance in Albert Nobbs, where she plays Hubert, a woman who lives a rich, fulfilling life – while posing as a man.

Having just turned 50, the recent surge in intelligent, complex roles available to her marks an inspiring shift in the priorities of Hollywood; an industry that has a reputation for placing more value on twentysomething blondes who can fill a push-up bra than on more mature actresses. The times, they are a-changing.

“There aren’t nearly as many roles for women as there are for men, and I know I’m very lucky that I get offered many of the roles that are. But you just have to look at the Oscars – of the 10 women that were nominated for ‘Best Actress’ or ‘Best Supporting Actress’, over half of us were over 40. It’s just not quite as true as it was. It’s a bit like people who get divorced at forty and say, ‘My life is over, I’ll be alone forever!’ It’s bollocks! Life does go on after middle-age – even for women!”

But the irony of both McTeer and Close being nominated for roles where they play women living as men isn’t lost on the actress – especially given her history with the Academy Awards. In an odd little twist of fate, McTeer lost out on her first Oscar nomination (for the 1999 film Tumbleweeds) to Hilary Swank’s cross-dressing performance in Boys Don’t Cry.

“It is a weird little pattern!” she laughs. “Now I’ve done the woman-as-man thing, I’ll have to find another really transformative role to catch the Academy’s attention. I suppose next time I’ll have to play somebody short!”



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