Janet McTeer

The statuesque she's 6ft 1in smokey-voiced redhead is one of the UK's most accomplished stage talents. Setting her sights on a theatre career after seeing a performance of She Stoops To Conquer aged 16, she went on to train at RADA, and won her first Olivier Award nod in 1985. She was nominated again in 1992 for Uncle Vanya. In addition to a long list of theatre credits, the Newcastle-born actress has a host of TV productions under her belt - including crime series Five Days, comedy The Amazing Mrs Pritchard and prison dramaThe Governor. Her highest profile big screen work is 1999's Tumbleweeds, which earned her a best actress Oscar nomination.