The folks back home will be rooting for York's latest Oscar hopeful, Janet McTeer, on Hollywood's biggest night.

Janet has been nominated as Best Actress for her role as eccentric Southern mother Mary Jo in Tumbleweeds, a performance which has already won her a prestigious Golden Globe.

Last year the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress went to York's Dame Judi Dench for playing Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love, after being nominated the year before as Best Actress in Mrs Brown.

This is the first Oscar nomination for Janet, and a far cry from her stage beginnings - serving coffee as a teenager working in the caf bar of the Theatre Royal.

Between 1972 and 1980 the 38-year-old attended the city's Queen Anne School, which has already passed on congratulations on the Golden Globe in its school newsletter.

Head teacher Chrissie Priestley said: "Queen Anne School - pupils, parents and staff - wish Miss McTeer every success. We have followed her career with pride. She is fully deserving of the honour of the Oscar nomination - and good luck!"

Her parents, Allan and Jean, were not at their Haxby home, but neighbour and friend, Katherine, Brown said she would definitely being sitting up into the early hours of Monday to watch the Oscar ceremony and hoping Janet would gain the big award.

"She's really nice and friendly, and down to earth," said Katherine. "They are a lovely family altogether."

She said Janet still came back to Haxby, though less frequently since her career took off in the USA.

Sadly the bookies are not backing her for success at the Oscars. A spokesman for William Hill said she was rated at only 20-1, while Annette Bening in American Beauty was at 4-6 and Hilary Swank was at 11-10 for Boys Don't Cry. Local bookmaker Baz Oxtoby, of Clifton, said he had not been taking bets on the Oscars despite Janet's nomination. He said he thought only the big companies were running books on the ceremony.

Michael Caine, who is up for best supporting actor for his role in The Cider House Rules, has been tipped as a dead cert in a poll of Oscar voters by The Wall Street Journal.

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