Madeleine Stowe: The Lady Macbeth of the small screen

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Madeleine Stowe (with Christa B. Allen as daughter Charlotte) plays the character you love to hate on “Revenge.”

Updated: March 9, 2012 8:19AM

In “Revenge,” the Hamptons are ruled by Queen Victoria.

An impeccably dressed billionaire schemer, Victoria Grayson is the scene-stealing matriarch we love to hate. She’s portrayed with icy perfection by Madeleine Stowe.

“I’m having a really good time with it,” said Stowe. “Not to compare this with Shakespeare, but there’s a Lady Macbeth kind of quality to her.”

The 53-year-old actress barely looks a day older than when she starred opposite Kevin Costner in the movie “Revenge” (unrelated to the ABC series) more than 20 years ago. Most of her acting has been on the big screen, not the small. In recent years, we hadn’t seen much of her on either.

“People asked me why I disappeared for so long,” Stowe said. After the 1996 birth of her daughter, May, “I didn’t have that same kind of drive that I once did.”

One project she’s passionate about is her upcoming directorial debut on the film “Unbound Captives.” She wrote the screenplay along with her husband, “Private Practice” actor Brian Benben. Part Western, part romance, the movie tells the story of a woman searching for her kidnapped children.

Production on the film is moving slower than Stowe would like, partly because of her TV busy schedule.

“I love doing the show,” she said. “But [the film] is a real soul-fulfilling endeavor. If I did that and retired, I’d be a very happy woman.”

Lori Rackl