Biography

Janet Mahoney - now better known by her stage name of Janet Fielding - was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1953. She gained A levels in Physics, Chemistry and Maths and joined Queensland University, where she first took up acting. After leaving university she worked with an English writer/director named Albert Hunt, who in 1977 brought her to England in one of his shows.

Once in England, she joined Ken Campbell at the Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool and appeared in productions including "The Warp" and "The End is Nigh." Following this she won a small part in an episode of the Hammer House of Horror (1980) series. She was then cast in Doctor Who (1963) as the Australian airline stewardess Tegan Jovanka in Tom Baker's final serial Logopolis: Part One (1981), and became the longest-running companion of Peter Davison's Doctor, appearing until Resurrection of the Daleks: Part Two (1984). After leaving the series, she appeared in episodes of the ITV series Shelley (1979) and Minder (1979) and in productions of "The Collector" and the pantomime "Aladdin" in the theatre.

In 1991, she gave up acting to work as an administrator in the pressure group Women in Film and Television, where she stayed for three-and-a-half years. She then became a director of Marina Martin Associates, an actors' agency, representing amongst others the Eighth Doctor, Paul McGann.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous

The casting call for Tegan (an airline stewardess) in Doctor Who (1963) had a minimum height requirement of 5' 4" as British Airways had that requirement. In her audition with producer John Nathan-Turner, Fielding claimed that her height (5'2") was the minimum for Australian Airways, so she should be considered for the role. She eventually got the role and was very successful in it, and only later did in come out that she had completely made up the bit about being minimum height.

She was the first non-British actor to play a companion in Doctor Who (1963).

Retired from Acting in 1991.

She graduated from the University of Queensland, in Brisbane, with an Arts Degree in Drama. She comes from an academic family. The daughter of a doctor, her two brothers attended the same university as herself - one graduating with a degree in Medicine and the other with a degree in Dentistry.

Janet's real surname is not Fielding. She took this surname as her stage name, calling herself after her Grandmother (who was also an actress).

[on her bafflement at the continuing popularity of Doctor Who (1963)] You do find yourself wondering, because the affection endures: "So what is it that people are so very fond of?".

Dinosaurs have 50 years' worth of male Dr Whos to watch in their basements. The rest of us want to embrace the future.