I have been watching Hollywood for many years. Making this list is incredibly hard for me, as I have to select the 50 most beautiful actresses from hundreds. No doubt, Hollywood has always been home to some of the most stunning women on the planet.
But beauty isn’t enough to pick. The actresses I have picked on this list have built empires, won awards, and have millions of fans from all around the world.
I put together a list of the 50 beautiful actresses by compiling fan polls, magazine rankings, box office data, and cultural impact. Some of these women have been around for decades, while others showed up yesterday and immediately took over.
1. Margot Robbie
She has always been my favourite. Margot Elise Robbie was born on July 2, 1990, in Dalby, Queensland, Australia. She grew up on the Gold Coast and was raised by a single mother, Sarie Kessler, alongside her three siblings. Margot worked three jobs at once as a teenager just to make ends meet.
She studied drama at Somerset College and landed her first acting role on the Australian soap Opera Neighbours in 2008. By 2011, she packed her bags and moved to Hollywood with almost nothing to her name.
Her big break came in 2013 when Martin Scorsese cast her in The Wolf of Wall Street opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. That role changed everything for her.
Best Movies:
- The Wolf of Wall Street
- Tonya
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
- Birds of Prey
- Bombshell
- Babylon
- Barbie
Awards
Margot has received two Academy Award nominations: Best Actress for I, Tonya and Best Picture as a producer for Barbie. She has earned BAFTA nominations, Screen Actors Guild nominations, and Golden Globe nominations.
Robbie won the Critics’ Choice Award and was nominated for virtually every major award for her work in I, Tonya. Her work on Barbie also earned widespread recognition.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Margot auditioned for The Wolf of Wall Street by slapping Leonardo DiCaprio across the face during the audition.
- She is also a licensed tattoo artist (self-taught), once worked at Subway before her acting career took off, and speaks fluent English with an American accent so convincing that most people do not realize she is Australian until they see an interview.
2. Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson was born on November 22, 1984, in New York City. Her father, Karsten, is Danish, and her mother, Melanie, is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family from the Bronx. Scarlett has a twin brother named Hunter.
She started acting at a very young age and made her film debut at just nine years old in North (1994). By the time she was a teenager, she had already been in critically acclaimed films like The Horse Whisperer (1998) and Ghost World (2001). Her collaboration with Sofia Coppola on Lost in Translation (2003) at age 17 turned her into an international star.
Best Movies:
- Lost in Translation
- Girl with a Pearl Earring
- Match Point
- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
- Marriage Story
- Jojo Rabbit
Awards
Two Academy Award nominations in the same year (2020) for Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit. She has won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for A View from the Bridge. She has received BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. She also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Facts You Did Not Know
- Scarlett’s twin brother Hunter has appeared alongside her at numerous award shows and events.
- She was rejected from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
- She released two music albums: Anywhere I Lay My Head (2008) and Break Up (2009).
- She has also done extensive voice acting work, including voicing the AI assistant in Spike Jonze’s Her, for which she won several critics’ awards despite never appearing on screen.
Also Checkout The Top 50 Favorite Actors of All Time
3. Zendaya
Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman was born on September 1, 1996, in Oakland, California. Her mother, Claire Stoermer, is of German and Scottish descent, and her father, Kazembe Ajamu Coleman, is African American with roots in Arkansas.
She began performing at a young age, studying at the CalShakes conservatory program and dancing with a hip-hop troupe called Future Shock Oakland. She got her big break on the Disney Channel show Shake It Up in 2010, then transitioned to K.C. Undercover. Her film career took off when she was cast as MJ in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017).
Best Movies:
- Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Spider-Man: Far From Home
- Spider-Man: No Way Home
- The Greatest Showman
- Dune
- Dune: Part Two
- Challengers
- Euphoria
Awards
Two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Euphoria (2020 and 2022), making her the youngest person and first Black woman under 30 to win the category. She has received multiple BET Awards, a Satellite Award, and numerous Teen Choice and People’s Choice Awards. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Challengers.
Facts You Did Not Know
- Zendaya’s first name means “to give thanks” in the Shona language of Zimbabwe.
- She was a competitive dancer before she became an actress.
- She designed a clothing line for Daya by Zendaya.
- She is a self-proclaimed introvert and has said she often feels anxious at large public events, despite looking completely at ease.
- She was also a vegetarian by choice since she was very young.
4. Ana de Armas
Ana Celia de Armas Caso was born on April 30, 1988, in Havana, Cuba. She grew up in Santa Cruz del Norte, a small town outside the capital. She enrolled in Cuba’s National Theatre School at age 14 and landed her first role in the Spanish-Cuban film Una rosa de Francia (2006) at 16.
She moved to Madrid at 18, where she worked in Spanish television and film for several years. Her transition to Hollywood began around 2015 when she moved to Los Angeles, barely speaking English. She learned the language by watching Friends episodes on repeat.
Best Movies:
- Blade Runner 2049
- Knives Out
- No Time to Die
- Blonde
- The Gray Man
- Ghosted
Awards
Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for Blonde (2022). Golden Globe nomination for Knives Out. She has received numerous Critics’ Circle nominations and won the Satellite Award for Best Actress. The National Board of Review also recognized her.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Ana learned English primarily by watching Friends with subtitles.
- She earned Cuban citizenship but gave it up when she moved to Spain because Cuba did not allow dual citizenship at the time.
- Her audition for Blade Runner 2049 was done partially in English and partially in Spanish because her English was still developing at the time. Director Denis Villeneuve cast her anyway because her emotional range was so impressive.
5. Emma Stone
Emily Jean Stone was born on November 6, 1988, in Scottsdale, Arizona. She grew up in a middle-class family. Her father, Jeff, ran a contracting company, and her mother, Krista, was a homemaker. Emma suffered from severe anxiety and panic attacks as a child and has been open about using improv comedy as a form of therapy.
She convinced her parents to let her move to Hollywood at 15 by making a PowerPoint presentation called “Project Hollywood.” She dropped out of school, moved to LA with her mom, and started auditioning. Her first major role came in Superbad (2007).
Best Movies:
- Easy A
- The Help
- Birdman
- La La Land
- The Favourite
- Cruella
- Poor Things
Awards
Two Academy Awards for Best Actress: La La Land (2017) and Poor Things (2024). One additional Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Birdman. She has won Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards. She is one of only a handful of actresses to win two Best Actress Oscars.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Emma’s real name is Emily, but she had to change it to Emma because another actress named Emily Stone was already registered with the Screen Actors Guild.
- She used to go by “Riley Stone” early in her career.
- As a baby, she had severe colic and cried so much that she developed calluses on her vocal cords, which gave her the distinctive raspy voice she is known for today.
- She also baked pumpkin bread for the entire La La Land crew every week during filming.
6. Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie Voight was born on June 4, 1975, in Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. Her parents divorced when she was just a year old, and she was raised primarily by her mother. Angelina had a turbulent adolescence. She struggled with depression, self-harm, and a sense of not belonging.
She attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute at age 11 and began studying acting seriously. Her early career included small roles in films like Hackers (1995) and Foxfire (1996). Her breakout came with HBO’s Gia (1998), where she played supermodel Gia Carangi.
Best Movies
- Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
- Mr. & Mrs. Smith
- Changeling
- Salt
- Unbroken
- Eternals
- Maria
Awards
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Interrupted (1999). Three additional Oscar nominations. Three Golden Globe Awards. Two Screen Actors Guild Awards. She received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy in 2013 for her extensive charitable work. She has also received an honorary damehood from Queen Elizabeth II for her service to UK foreign policy and her campaign against sexual violence in conflict zones.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Angelina was a licensed pilot and owned a Cirrus SR22 aircraft.
- She and Brad Pitt’s wedding rings had their children’s drawings engraved on the inside.
- She was offered the role of Black Widow in the MCU before it went to Scarlett Johansson.
- She directed a film entirely in the Bosnian language (In the Land of Blood and Honey, 2011).
- She spent $5 million on a heart-shaped island in New York as a gift for Brad Pitt.
7. Gal Gadot
Gal Gadot-Varsano was born on April 30, 1985, in Petah Tikva, Israel. She grew up in Rosh HaAyin, a small city near Tel Aviv. Her father, Michael, is an engineer, and her mother, Irit, is a teacher. At 18, she won Miss Israel 2004 and represented Israel at the Miss Universe pageant.
After that, she served two years in the Israel Defense Forces as a combat fitness instructor. She studied law and international relations at IDC Herzliya. Her film career started with small roles in Israeli television before she landed a part in Fast & Furious (2009). She was cast as Wonder Woman in 2013, a role that changed her life and career completely.
Best Movies:
- Wonder Woman
- Wonder Woman 1984
- Superman: Dawn of Justice
- Justice League
- Death on the Nile
- Red Notice
Awards
Gal’s awards have largely been in the populist and audience-driven categories. She won the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie for Wonder Woman. She has received multiple Teen Choice Awards, People’s Choice Awards, and Kids’ Choice Awards. She was honored with the #SeeHer Award at the Critics’ Choice Awards in 2018 for advocating for accurate portrayals of women in entertainment.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Gal almost did not audition for Wonder Woman because she did not know what role she was auditioning for. The casting call was deliberately kept secret. She performed many of her own stunts in the Wonder Woman films while pregnant during some of the reshoots for Justice League. The crew covered her baby bump with a green screen material.
- She studied law for a year before deciding to pursue acting full-time. She has said she was so unknown when cast as Wonder Woman that she googled “Gal Gadot Wonder Woman” expecting no results.
8. Jennifer Lawrence
Jennifer Shrader Lawrence was born on August 15, 1990, in Indian Hills, Kentucky, a suburb of Louisville. She is the youngest of three children born to Gary, a construction company owner, and Karen, who manages a children’s camp. Jennifer was discovered at age 14 during a family vacation in New York City when a talent scout spotted her on the street.
She dropped out of middle school (she was later homeschooled to get her GED) and moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Her breakout came with her Oscar-nominated performance in Winter’s Bone (2010), and she became a global superstar almost overnight when she was cast as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games (2012).
Best Movies:
- Winterβs Bone
- The Hunger Games
- Silver Linings Playbook
- American Hustle
- Joy
- Mother!
- Red Sparrow
- Donβt Look Up
Awards
Academy Award for Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook (2012). Four total Oscar nominations by the age of 24, making her the youngest person to achieve that milestone. She has won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical, a BAFTA Rising Star Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has been nominated for seven Golden Globes total.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Jennifer was a cheerleader, a field hockey player, and a softball player growing up, and she played on a boys’ basketball team that her dad coached.
- The talent scout who discovered her in New York wanted to take her photo for a commercial; she ended up getting signed to an agency that same week. She has said her guilty pleasure is watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
- She once told a story about accidentally destroying sacred Hawaiian rocks on a film set and causing a minor scandal.
9. Blake Lively
Blake Ellender Lively was born on August 25, 1987, in Los Angeles, California. Her entire family works in entertainment. Her father, Ernie Lively, was an actor. Her mother, Elaine, was a talent scout. Her siblings are all actors or work in the industry.
Blake was literally born into the business. She landed her first major role as Bridget in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) when she was 16. But it was her casting as Serena van der Woodsen in Gossip Girl (2007 to 2012) that made her a household name and defined early 2010s pop culture.
Best Movies:
- The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants
- Gossip Girl
- The Town
- The Age of Adaline
- The Shallows
- A Simple Favor
- It Ends with Us
Awards
Blake has received several Teen Choice Awards and People’s Choice Awards for her work on Gossip Girl and in films. While she has not yet received major award nominations (Oscars, Golden Globes), her critical reputation has grown significantly with films like The Town and A Simple Favor. Her work as a producer on It Ends with Us has further established her as a creative force beyond acting.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Blake’s name was inspired by her grandmother’s brother. She was her father’s date to the Emmys when she was a child because he could not find a babysitter.
- She once made a cake for Martha Stewart that was so good, Martha asked for the recipe.
- She does not have a personal stylist and has styled herself for many major red carpet events.
- Taylor Swift named her daughter Betty after Blake and Ryan’s daughter, and the two families are extremely close. Blake’s “Gossip Girl” audition was one of the last ones the casting directors saw, and they nearly cast someone else before she walked in.
10. Anya Taylor-Joy
Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy was born on April 16, 1996, in Miami, Florida, but she grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, until she was six years old. Her family then moved to London. She has a mixed heritage: her father is Scottish-Argentine, and her mother is Spanish-English. She is the youngest of six children (from blended families on both sides).
Anya did not speak English when she moved to London and has talked about being bullied in school because of it. She was discovered by a talent scout while walking her dog in London at age 16. Her film debut came with the critically acclaimed horror film The Witch (2015), which announced her as a major talent.
Best Movies:
- The Witch
- Split
- Glass
- Emma
- The Queenβs Gambit
- Last Night in Soho
- The Menu
- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Awards
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Limited Series for The Queen’s Gambit. Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series. Critics’ Choice Award. She has been nominated for BAFTA Awards and has won numerous critics’ circle awards. The Queen’s Gambit itself won 11 Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Limited Series.
Facts You Did Not Know
- Anya did not speak English until she was eight years old. She was so traumatized by bullying at school in London that she refused to go to school for a period and was briefly homeschooled.
- She was cast in The Witch after the director saw a single photo of her and said she had “a face that could have existed in any century.”
- She learned to play chess at a high level for The Queen’s Gambit and worked with chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov as a consultant.
- She has described herself as a “night person” who does her best thinking after midnight.
11. Sydney Sweeney
Sydney Bernice Sweeney was born on September 12, 1997, in Spokane, Washington. She grew up in a small town in Idaho, where she played sports in school and competed in MMA (mixed martial arts) grappling tournaments. When she was 12 years old, she put together a five-year business plan to convince her parents to let her pursue acting.
The family moved to Los Angeles so she could audition, which put a serious financial strain on them. Sydney has been open about the fact that her parents went into debt to support her acting dreams. She got small roles in shows like Criminal Minds and Pretty Little Liars before landing her breakout role as Cassie Howard in Euphoria (2019).
Best Movies
- Euphoria
- The White Lotus Season
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
- Anyone but You
- Immaculate
- The Housemaid
- Reality
Awards
Two Emmy nominations: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Euphoria and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series for The White Lotus. She has won multiple MTV Movie & TV Awards and has been recognized at the Hollywood Critics Association Awards.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Sydney competed in MMA grappling competitions in high school and won tournaments.
- She built the engine of her 1969 Ford Bronco from scratch.
- She once revealed that she had to take on multiple projects simultaneously because she could not afford to pay her mortgage with just one role.
- She is a trained scuba diver.
12. Alexandra Daddario
Alexandra Ana Daddario was born on March 16, 1986, in New York City. She comes from a prominent family. Her father, Richard, is a prosecutor, and her mother, Christina, is a lawyer. Her grandfather was a Democratic congressman from Connecticut.
She has a brother, Matthew, who is also an actor. Alexandra started acting at age 16 and got her first notable roles as Annabeth Chase in the Percy Jackson film series (2010 and 2013). She studied at the Professional Childrenβs School in New York and then at Marymount Manhattan College.
Best Movies:
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
- Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
- San Andreas
- Baywatch
- The White Lotus Season 1
- Mayfair Witches
Awards
Screen Actors Guild Award nomination as part of The White Lotus ensemble cast. She has received multiple Teen Choice Award nominations. Her performance in The White Lotus was particularly praised by critics and significantly elevated her career standing.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Alexandra’s piercing blue eyes are 100% natural. She does not wear colored contacts.
- Her younger brother, Matthew Daddario, starred as Alec Lightwood in Shadowhunters.
- She turned down several roles early in her career because she did not want to be typecast as just “the pretty girl.”
13. Natalie Portman
Natalie Hershlag was born on June 9, 1981, in Jerusalem, Israel. Her father, Avner, is an Israeli fertility specialist, and her mother, Shelley, is an American homemaker who also works as his agent. The family moved to Washington, D.C. when Natalie was three and later settled in Long Island, New York.
She was discovered by a Revlon agent at a pizza parlor at age 10 but chose to pursue acting over modeling. Her film debut came at age 12 in Luc Besson’s The Professional (1994), a performance so extraordinary that it immediately signaled the arrival of a once-in-a-generation talent.
While building her acting career, she graduated from Harvard University with a degree in psychology in 2003.
Best Movies
- The Professional
- The Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999, 2002, 2005)
- Closer
- V for Dendetta
- Black Swan
- Jackie
- Annihilation
- Thor: Love and Thunder
- May December
Awards
Academy Award for Best Actress for Black Swan (2010). Two additional Oscar nominations for Closer and Jackie. Two Golden Globe Awards. BAFTA nomination. Screen Actors Guild Award. She has also received a special award from the Harvard Hasty Pudding Theatricals and the honor of being named a Woman of Valor by the Israeli Knesset.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Natalie co-authored two research papers that have been published in scientific journals.
- She invented a method for the enzymatic production of hydrogen during her high school science fair.
- She was Moby’s neighbor, and he once wrote about their brief relationship (she disputed his characterization).
- She learned to speak Japanese for a role and kept studying it because she enjoyed it.
14. Halle Berry
Halle Maria Berry was born on August 14, 1966, in Cleveland, Ohio. Her mother, Judith, is a retired psychiatric nurse of English and German descent, and her father, Jerome, was African American. Her parents divorced when she was four, and she was raised primarily by her mother.
Harry was a star student, becoming prom queen and class president. She competed in beauty pageants, winning Miss Teen All American in 1985, Miss Ohio USA in 1986, and finishing as first runner-up at the Miss USA pageant.
Best Movies:
- Jungle Fever
- Boomerang
- Losing Isaiah
- Bulworth
- Die Another Day
- Catwoman
- Bruised
- Moonfall
- X-Men: Days of Future Past
Awards
Academy Award for Best Actress for Monster’s Ball (2001). Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. Screen Actors Guild Award. She has also received the NAACP Image Award multiple times. She unfortunately also won a Razzie for Catwoman, which she accepted in person with great humor, bringing her Oscar on stage with her.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Halle lived in a homeless shelter in New York when she first tried to make it as an actress.
- She lost 80% of her hearing in her left ear after an abusive partner struck her.
- She almost died of a diabetic coma before she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
- She was named after the Halle Building in Cleveland, which was in turn named after the Halle Brothers department store.
15. Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Joanna Aniston was born on February 11, 1969, in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles. Her father, John Aniston, was a Greek-born actor best known for Days of Our Lives, and her mother, Nancy Dow, was also an actress and model.
Jennifer grew up surrounded by the entertainment industry, but did not have an easy path. Her parents divorced when she was nine, and she had a complicated relationship with her mother that became public over the years.
She attended LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City and studied drama. She also worked as a waitress and did various odd jobs before landing the role that changed everything: Rachel Green on the Friends series.
Best Movies:
- Friends (1994 to 2004)
- Office Space
- The Break-Up
- Marley & Me
- Horrible Bosses
- Millers
- Cake
- Murder Mystery
Awards
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Friends (2002). Screen Actors Guild Awards with the Friends cast. Golden Globe nomination for The Morning Show. SAG nomination for Cake. She has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has won multiple People’s Choice Awards.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Jenniferβs godfather was actor Telly Savalas.
- She once worked as a waitress, a bike messenger, and a telemarketer before Friends.
- The cast of Friends negotiated their salaries collectively, eventually all earning $1 million per episode.
- She suffered from undiagnosed dyslexia until her 20s.
16. Elizabeth Olsen
Elizabeth Chase Olsen was born on February 16, 1989, in Sherman Oaks, California. Yes, she is the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Growing up surrounded by fame gave her an inside look at the entertainment industry, and it honestly scared her.
She seriously considered not acting at all because she did not want to be defined by her sisters’ celebrity. She studied at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and also spent time at the Atlantic Theater Company and the Moscow Art Theatre School in Russia. Her debut in Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) at the Sundance Film Festival immediately proved she was her own force.
Best Movies:
- Martha Marcy May Marlene
- Silent House
- Godzilla
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Captain America: Civil War
- Avengers Infinity War
- Avengers: Endgame
- Wind River
- Sorry for Your Loss
Awards
Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series for WandaVision. Critics’ Choice Award nominations. Screen Actors Guild Award nominations (both individual and as part of MCU ensemble casts). Multiple MTV Movie & TV Award wins for her Marvel work.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Elizabeth almost used the stage name “Elizabeth Chase” to avoid being connected to her famous sisters.
- She studied at the Moscow Art Theatre School and speaks some Russian.
- She was nearly cast in Game of Thrones as Daenerys Targaryen before Emilia Clarke got the role.
- She has said that watching her sisters deal with the pressures of childhood fame made her very cautious about how she approached her own career.
17. Emilia Clarke
Emilia Isabel Euphemia Rose Clake was born on October 23, 1986, in London, England. Her father, who passed away in 2021, was a theatre sound engineer, and her mother is a businesswoman. Emilia grew up in Oxfordshire and became interested in acting at age three after seeing a production of Show Boat.
She studied at the Drama Centre London, one of the UKβs most prestigious acting schools. Almost immediately after graduating, she was cast as Daenerys Targaryen in HBOβs Game of Thrones, replacing the originally cast actress after the pilot was reshot.
Best Movies:
- Game of Thrones (2011- 2019)
- Me Before You
- A Star Wars Story
- Last Christmas
- Above Suspicion
Awards
Four Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Game of Thrones. She has received BAFTA nominations. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2020 for her charitable work with SameYou. She has also won multiple MTV Awards and People’s Choice Awards.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Emilia was not the original Daenerys. Another actress filmed the entire pilot before being replaced.
- During her first brain aneurysm, Emilia could not remember her own name and was terrified she had lost her ability to act forever.
18. Jessica Alba
Jessica Marie Alba was born on April 28, 1981, in Pomona, California. Her father, Mark, is Mexican-American, and her mother, Catherine, has Danish and French-Canadian ancestry. The family moved frequently due to her fatherβs career in the United States Air Force.
Jessica suffered from various chronic illnesses as a child, including pneumonia multiple times, a ruptured appendix, and a tonsillar cyst. She developed an interest in acting at age five and enrolled in acting classes at 11.
She won an acting competition that earned her a scholarship, and she got her first role at 13. She was cast as the lead in James Cameronβs Dark Angel.
Best Movies:
- Dark Angel (2000 to 2002)
- Honey
- Sin City
- Fantastic Four
- Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
- Into the Blue
- Good Luck Chuck
- Machete Kills
Awards
Jessica’s awards have been more in the popular and commercial space. She has received multiple Teen Choice Awards, ALMA Awards (for her Latino heritage), and People’s Choice Awards. She was recognized by the Environmental Media Association for her work with The Honest Company. She has been featured on Fortune’s “40 Under 40” list and Forbes’ “Richest Self-Made Women” list.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Jessica was so sick as a child that she spent much of her early years in and out of hospitals.
- She originally wanted to be an Olympic swimmer.
- She developed a severe allergy to many household cleaning products and baby products after the birth of her first daughter, which directly inspired her to create.
19. Jenna Ortega
Jenna Marie Ortega was born on September 27, 2002, in Coachella Valley, California. She is the fourth of six children in a Mexican-American and Puerto Rican family. Her father, Edward, is of Mexican descent, and her mother, Natalie, is of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage. Jenna started acting at age 8 after her mother posted a monologue of hers on Facebook, which caught the attention of an agent.
She began getting small roles in television and landed a recurring part on the CW series Jane the Virgin (2014 to 2019). She also starred in the Disney Channel series Stuck in the Middle (2016 to 2018). Her breakout into mainstream stardom came with Netflix’s Wednesday (2022), where she played Wednesday Addams.
Best Movies:
- Wednesday
- Screm
- Scream VI
- X (2022)
- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
- Millerβs Girl
- Iron Man 3
Awards
Jenna has been nominated for a Golden Globe for Wednesday. She has won multiple MTV Movie & TV Awards, Teen Choice Awards, and Kids’ Choice Awards. She received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination as part of the Wednesday cast. She was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in 2023.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Jenna choreographed her own famous dance scene on Wednesday.
- The viral dance she did on Wednesday was entirely her creation, inspired by goth club dancing from the 1980s.
- She started acting because her mom posted a video of her performing a monologue on Facebook
20. Megan Fox
Megan Denise Fox was born on May 16, 1986, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. She was raised in Rockwood, Tennessee, and later in St. Petersburg, Florida. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she was raised by her mother and stepfather.
Megan started modeling at age 13 after winning several awards at a modeling convention. She made her acting debut at 15 in the holiday film Holiday in the Sun (2001) with the Olsen twins. Her career took off when she was cast as Mikaela Banes in Michael Bay’s Transformers (2007), a role that made her one of the most talked-about women on the planet overnight.
Best Movies
- Transformers (2007)
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
- Jenniferβs Body
- Jonah Hex
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
- Till Death
- Johnny & Clyde
Awards
Megan has received multiple Teen Choice Awards and Scream Awards. She won the Breakthrough Award at the Spike Video Game Awards. While she has not received traditional awards nominations (Oscars, Golden Globes), the retroactive critical reappraisal of Jennifer’s Body has significantly changed how her work is viewed in academic and film criticism circles.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Megan has a fear of flying and has described experiencing extreme anxiety on airplanes.
- She always listens to Britney Spears’ music during takeoff because she believes it calms her down and will protect the plane.
- She has OCD, and she has talked about her specific compulsions.
21. Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron was born on August 7, 1975, in Benoni, South Africa. She grew up on a farm outside Johannesburg. Her childhood was difficult. Her father, Charles, was an alcoholic, and when Charlize was 15 years old, her mother shot and killed him in self-defense during a violent altercation. No charges were filed.
Charlize has been open about how this trauma shaped her. She moved to the United States at 18, first studying ballet at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York before a knee injury ended her dance career.
She then moved to Los Angeles and was discovered at a bank when she was having a loud argument with a teller who refused to cash her check. A talent agent standing in line gave her his card.
Best Movies:
- The Devilβs Advocate (1997)
- The Cider House Rules
- Monster
- North country
- Hancock
- Young Adult
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Bombshell
- The Old Guard
- Fast X
Awards
Academy Award for Best Actress for Monster (2003). Two additional Oscar nominations for North Country and Bombshell. Golden Globe Award. Screen Actors Guild Award. She has been recognized by virtually every major film body. She also received the American Cinematheque Award in 2019, the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- The talent agent who discovered Charlize was standing behind her in line at a bank while she was arguing about a check.
- She was a ballerina first and considered dancing her true calling before the knee injury.
- She gained 30 pounds for Monster by eating Krispy Kreme donuts every morning.
- She actually performed most of her own stunts in Atomic Blonde and Mad Max: Fury Road.
22. Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez was born on July 24, 1969, in the Bronx, New York City. Her parents, Guadalupe and David, are both Puerto Rican. She grew up in the Castle Hill neighborhood of the Bronx in a modest home. She took singing and dancing lessons from age five.
Her parents wanted her to go to college, but Jennifer chose to pursue entertainment instead, which caused a rift. She slept on a sofa in a dance studio for a while after moving out. She got her start as a Fly Girl dancer on In Living Color (1991 to 1993). Her film career began with Mi Familia (1995), and she became a superstar with her portrayal of Tejano singer Selena in the 1997 biopic.
Best Movies:
- Selena
- Out of Sight
- The Wedding Planner
- Maid in Manhattan
- Shall We Dance?
- Hustlers
- Marry me
- Shotgun Wedding
Awards
Golden Globe nominations. SAG Award nominations. She has won numerous American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, and Billboard Music Awards throughout her music career. She received the GLAAD Vanguard Award for her support of the LGBTQ+ community. She received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2018 MTV VMAs. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Jenniferβs fragrance line has generated over $2 billion in revenue since its launch.
- She was the first person to have a number one album and a number one movie in the same week.
23. Florence Pugh
Florence Rose C.M Pugh was born on January 3, 1996, in Oxford, England. Her father, Clinton, is a restaurateur, and her mother, Deborah, is a dancer. She has three siblings, including actor and musician Toby Sebastian.
Florence was raised in a creative, supportive household. She started acting as a teenager and made her film debut at 17 in the drama The Falling. She did not go to drama school, choosing instead to learn on the job.
Her breakout came with Lady Macbeth, a low-budget British indie that earned her critical raves and launched her international career.
Best Movies:
- Lady Macbeth
- Midsommar
- Little Women
- Fighting with My Family
- Black Widow
- Donβt Worry Darling
- Oppenheimer
- Dune: Part Two (supporting role)
- A Good Person
Awards
Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Little Women (2019). BAFTA Rising Star Award. British Independent Film Award for Best Actress for Lady Macbeth. She has received multiple Critics’ Choice nominations and has won several international film festival awards. She was named one of Time’s 100 Next list.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Florenceβs cooking Instagram series became so popular during the COVID-19 lockdowns that she had millions of viewers tuning in live.
- She wrote and recorded her own music before becoming an actress.
- She fell through the floorboards during the filming of Lady Macbeth and kept filming.
24. Amanda Seyfried
Amanda Michelle Seyfried was born on December 3, 1985, in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Ann, is an occupational therapist, and her father, Jack, is a pharmacist. She has an older sister, Jennifer. Amanda started modeling at age 11 and appeared in print ads for Limited Too and other brands.
She studied opera, trained as a soprano, and attended Fordham University briefly before fully committing to acting. Her small-screen career started with the soap opera All My Children (1999 to 2001) and the teen drama Veronica Mars (2004). Her film breakout came as Karen Smith in Mean Girls (2004).
Best Movies:
- Mean Girls
- Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
- Jenniferβs Body
- Megan Fox
- Dear John
- Letters to Juliet
- Red Riding Hood
- Les Miserables
- The Dropout
Awards
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series for The Dropout (2022). SAG Award nomination. Critics’ Choice Award. Golden Globe nomination. She has been nominated for numerous other awards across her career and is increasingly recognized as one of the best actresses of her generation.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Amanda was trained as a soprano and considered pursuing a career in opera before acting took over.
- She has described her anxiety as so severe that she sometimes needs to hold something and squeeze it during interviews to stay calm.
25. Cate Blanchett
Catherine Elise Blanchett was born on May 14, 1969, in Ivanhoe, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Her father, Robert, was a retired U.S. Navy officer who worked in advertising, and her mother, June, was a property developer and teacher. Her father died of a heart attack when Cate was ten years old, a loss that profoundly affected her.
She studied economics and fine arts at the University of Melbourne, then trained at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). She began her career in Australian theatre and quickly became one of the country’s most respected stage actresses. Her international breakthrough came with Elizabeth (1998), earning her first Oscar nomination.
Best Movies:
- Elizabeth
- The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001 to 2003)
- The Aviator
- Babel
- Notes on a Scandal
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Blue Jasmine
- Carol
- Oceanβs
- Tar
Awards:
Two Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actress for The Aviator (2004) and Best Actress for Blue Jasmine (2013). Eight total Oscar nominations (including Elizabeth, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Notes on a Scandal, Carol, and TΓ‘r). Four BAFTA Awards. Three Golden Globe Awards. Three Screen Actors Guild Awards. She has also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from multiple film festivals and was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Cate Once Worked as a boxing ring girl in a Melbourne casino to earn money.
- She applied to play an elf in a Japanese commercial during her struggling actress days.
- She has said that she almost quit acting entirely before landing Elizabeth.
26. Kate Beckinsale
Kathrin Romary Beckinsale was born on July 26, 1973, in Chiswick, London, England. Her father, Richard Beckinsale, was a beloved British sitcom actor who tragically died of a heart attack at age 31 when Kate was just five years old.
Her mother, Judy Loe, is also an actress. Kate studied French and Russian literature at New College, Oxford, though she did not complete her degree because acting opportunities started pouring in.
She appeared in several British period films before landing in Hollywood with Pearl Harbor (2001) and becoming an action star through the Underworld franchise (2003 to 2016).
Best Movies:
- Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
- Cold Comfort Farm
- Pearl Harbor
- The Underworld franchise ((2003, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2016))
- The Aviator
- Love & Friendship
- Jolt
Awards:
Kate has received Critics’ Choice nominations and has won multiple action and genre-specific awards for the Underworld franchise. Her performance in Love & Friendship was widely considered one of the best comedic performances of 2016 and earned her several critics’ circle awards. She was named British Actress of the Year by the London Critics Circle.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Kate turned down the role of Selene in the original Underworld multiple times before finally accepting.
- She has an IQ that has been reported to be exceptionally high and she studied Russian literature at Oxford.
- She once accidentally dyed her hair orange right before a film shoot and had to wear a wig.
27. Selena Gomez
Selena Marie Gomez was born on July 22, 1992, in Grand Prairie, Texas. She was named after Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla. Her mother, Mandy Teefey, was only 16 when Selena was born, and her father, Ricardo Gomez, is of Mexican descent. Her parents divorced when she was five, and she was raised primarily by her mother.
Money was tight growing up, and Selena has talked about her mother sometimes having to skip meals. She got into acting through an audition for Barney & Friends at age 7, where she appeared alongside Demi Lovato. Disney Channel cast her as the lead in Wizards of Waverly Place (2007 to 2012), which made her a household name.
Best Movies:
- Wizards of Waverly Place (2007 to 2012)
- Spring Breakers
- The Fundamentals of Caring
- Only Murders in the Building
- Emilia Perez
- My Mind & Me
Awards
Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award for Emilia PΓ©rez (2024, shared). SAG Award nominations for Only Murders in the Building. Emmy nominations. Grammy nominations for her music. She has won American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, and People’s Choice Awards. She was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Selena was named after Selena Quintanilla, and she says the name has been a source of both pride and pressure.
- Her kidney transplant scar is something she now shows openly and has said she considers it beautiful.
- She nearly quit her music career multiple times because of her health.
- She once revealed that she learned she was bipolar during a mental health check at a treatment facility.
28. Penelope Cruz
Penelope Cruz Sanchez was born on April 28, 1974, in Alcobendas, a suburb of Madrid, Spain. Her mother, Encarna, ran a hair salon, and her father, Eduardo, worked as a car mechanic and later a retailer. Penelope studied classical ballet at Spain’s National Conservatory for nine years and also studied theatre at Cristina Rota’s school in Madrid.
She landed her first acting role at 15 in a music video, followed by her film debut in JamΓ³n jamΓ³n (1992) at 17. She became a major star in Spain through films by Pedro Almodovar before crossing over to Hollywood in the late 1990s.
Best Movies:
- Jamon Jamon (1992)
- Open Your Eyes
- All About My Mother
- Vanilla Sky
- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
- Nine
- Volver
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
- Pain and Glory
- Parallel Mothers
Awards
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008). Three total Oscar nominations. Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award for Volver (shared, 2006). Goya Awards (Spain’s top film honor). European Film Awards. She has received virtually every major international acting award and is considered one of the finest actresses in the world.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Penelope trained as a classical ballet dancer for nine years and was good enough to potentially pursue it professionally.
- She volunteered for a week in Calcutta, India, with one of Mother Teresaβs missions before she was famous.
- She is one of very few actresses to be nominated for Oscars in films in both English and Spanish.
29. Mila Kunis
Milena Markovna Kunis was born on August 14, 1983, in Chernivtsi, Ukraine (then the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union). Her mother, Elvira, is a physics teacher, and her father, Mark, is a mechanical engineer. The family immigrated to the United States in 1991 with just $250 to their name, settling in Los Angeles.
Mila did not speak English when she arrived and has described her first years in American schools as isolating and confusing. Her father enrolled her in acting classes after school to help her learn English and make friends. She was cast on That ’70s Show at age 14 in 1998.
She famously told the casting directors she would be 18 but did not say when, since she was only 14 at the time.
Best Movies:
- That β70s Show (1998 to 2006)
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall
- The Book of Eli
- Black Swan
- Friends with Benefits
- Ted
- Oz the Great and Powerful
- Jupiter Ascending
- Bad Moms
Awards
Mila has won the Marcello Mastroianni Award at the Venice Film Festival for Black Swan. She has received multiple People’s Choice Awards and Teen Choice Awards. She was named Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year. While she has not received major Oscar or Golden Globe nominations, her critical reputation, especially for Black Swan and Luckiest Girl Alive, continues to grow.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Mila arrived in the United States speaking no English at age seven.
- She learned the language primarily from watching television and attending acting classes.
- She lied about her age to get cast on That 70s Show at 14.
- She was legally blind in one eye due to chronic iritis and had surgery to correct it.
30. Rachel McAdams
Rachel Anne McAdams was born on November 17, 1978, in London, Ontario, Canada. Her mother, Sandra, is a nurse, and her father, Lance, is a truck driver. She has two siblings: sister Kayleen and brother Daniel (the latter is a personal trainer).
Rachel started acting in local theatre productions at age 12 through a summer drama camp. She studied theatre at York University in Toronto, graduating with a BFA in 2001.
She worked in Canadian television before landing her dual breakout in 2004 with Mean Girls and The Notebook, both of which became cultural phenomena.
Best Movies:
- Mean Girls
- The Notebook
- Wedding Crashers
- The Time Travelerβs Wife
- A Game of Shadows
- The Vow
- Doctor Strange
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Awards
Rachel has received Critics’ Choice Award nominations, SAG nominations (both individual and as part of the Spotlight ensemble), and Independent Spirit Award nominations. Spotlight won the Best Picture Oscar, and while Rachel did not receive an individual nomination, her performance was widely praised. She also won the Genie Award (Canada’s top film honor) for her work in Canadian cinema.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Rachel and Ryan Gosling did not get along at all during the filming of The Notebook. He actually asked the director to replace her.
- She worked at McDonaldβs for three years as a teenager.
- She did not move toLos Angeles to pursue acting and has spent most of her life in Canada.
31. Keira Knightley
Keira Christina Knightley was born on March 26, 1985, in Teddington, London, England. Her mother, Sharman Macdonald, is a playwright, and her father, Will Knightley, is a stage and television actor. Keira was literally raised in the theatre.
She asked for an agent at age three, and her parents made a deal with her: if she worked hard in school, they would let her pursue acting. She got her first role at age six. Her breakthrough came when she was cast as a handmaiden (and decoy for the queen) in Star Wars: Episode I at age 12.
But it was Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) that turned her into a global star practically overnight. She was 17.
Best Movies:
- Bend it Like Beckham
- Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy (2003, 2006, 2007)
- Love Actually
- Pride & Prejudice
- The Duchess
- Anna Karenina
- The Imitation Game
Awards
Two Academy Award nominations: Best Actress for Pride & Prejudice and Best Supporting Actress for The Imitation Game. BAFTA nominations. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2018 for her contributions to drama and charity. She has won the Empire Award and several Critics’ Circle Awards.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Keira has dyslexia, which she was diagnosed with at age six.
- Her parents made a deal that she could pursue acting if she worked hard to overcome it.
- She was so young during the filming of Star Wars: Episode I that she and Natalie Portman looked so alike that even their own mothers had trouble telling them apart in full costume.
32. Kristen Stewart
Kristen Jaymes Stewart was born on April 9, 1990, in Los Angeles, California. Her father, John, is a stage manager and television producer, and her mother, Jules, is a script supervisor and director. She grew up surrounded by the film industry.
She was spotted by a talent agent at a school Christmas play when she was eight years old. Her first notable role was in Panic Room (2002) opposite Jodie Foster, where she was only 12. She became a global phenomenon when she was cast as Bella Swan in the Twilight saga (2008 to 2012), one of the biggest franchises in film history.
Best Movies:
- Panic Room
- The Twilight saga
- Adventureland
- Into the Wild
- StillAlice
- Clouds of Sils Maria
- Crimes of the Future
Awards
Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for Spencer (2021). CΓ©sar Award for Best Supporting Actress for Clouds of Sils Maria, making her the first American actress to win a CΓ©sar. BAFTA nominations. She has won numerous critics’ circle awards and Independent Spirit Award nominations for her indie work.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Kristen is the first American actress to win a Cesar Award.
- She has said that the fame from Twilight gave her severe anxiety, and she considered quitting acting entirely.
- She andRobert Pattinsonβs real-life relationship and subsequent breakup were one of the most publicized celebrity stories of the early 2010s.
33. Dakota Johnson
Dakota Mayi Johnson was born on October 4, 1989, in Austin, Texas. She is Hollywood royalty. Her mother is actress Melanie Griffith, her father is actor Don Johnson, and her maternal grandmother is legendary actress Tippi Hedren (star of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds).
Despite this pedigree, Dakota has carved out her own identity. She appeared in The Social Network (2010) in a small role before landing the lead role as Anastasia Steele in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy (2015, 2017, 2018). The franchise was divisive critically but massively successful commercially.
Best Movies:
- The Fifty Shades trilogy (2015, 2017, 2018)
- A Bigger Splash
- Suspiria
- Bad Times at the EI Royale
- The Peanut Butter Falcon
- Persuasion
- Madame Web
- Daddio
Awards
Dakota’s awards recognition has grown with her indie work. She has received Independent Spirit Award nominations and several critics’ circle nods. The Lost Daughter and Cha Cha Real Smooth both earned strong critical reception and festival awards.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Dakota’s grandmother, Tippi Hedren, still keeps big cats at her animal sanctuary.
- Dakota once had her iconic gap tooth fixed, then had it re-created because she missed it.
- She suffers from ADHD and has said it genuinely affects how she memorizes scripts.
- She was not her parents’ first choice for an acting career; they actually tried to discourage her.
- She has said her most embarrassing moment was the infamous Ellen interview about the birthday party, but she handled it with perfect comedic timing.
34. Sandra Bullock
Sandra Annette Bullock was born on July 26, 1964, in Arlington, Virginia. Her mother, Helga, was a German opera singer and voice teacher, and her father, John, was an Army employee and part-time voice coach.
Sandra grew up partly in Nuremberg, Germany, where she frequently appeared on stage in her mother’s opera productions. She speaks fluent German. She attended East Carolina University, then moved to New York City to pursue acting. She spent years in small roles and Off-Broadway before her breakout in Speed (1994) opposite Keanu Reeves, which made her an overnight sensation at age 30.
Best Movies:
- Speed (1994)
- While You Were Sleeping
- A Time to Kill
- Miss Congeniality
- Gravity
- The Heat
- Bullet Train
- The Unforgivable
Awards
Academy Award for Best Actress for The Blind Side (2009). An additional Oscar nomination for Gravity. Golden Globe Award. SAG Award. She also famously won the Razzie for Worst Actress for All About Steve in the same weekend as her Oscar win and showed up to accept the Razzie in person, handing out DVD copies of the film.
Facts You Did Not Know
- Sandra is a dual German-American citizen and speaks fluent German. She accepted her Razzie Award for Worst Actress and her Oscar for Best Actress on the same weekend, showing up to both ceremonies.
- She donated $1 million to relief efforts five separate times for different disasters. The Speed script was originally written with a male lead, and the studio did not want to cast Sandra because she was “not a traditional action star.”
- She drives herself everywhere and does not use a chauffeur. She has said that Austin, Texas, keeps her grounded because nobody there cares that she is famous.
35. Anne Hathaway
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway was born on November 12, 1982, in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother, Kate, is a former actress who appeared in a touring production of Les MisΓ©rables (which inspired young Anne). Her father, Gerald, is a lawyer.
She grew up in Millburn, New Jersey, and attended Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania, then studied English and women’s studies at Vassar College and trained at the Barrow Group Theatre Company in New York.
She got her big break at 18 as Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries (2001), which immediately made her a teen icon. She was the first teenager to be nominated for all four of the major teen awards in the same year.
Best Movies:
- The Princess Diaries (2001) and its sequel (2004)
- Brokeback Mountain
- The Devil Wears Prada
- Rachel Getting Married
- The Dark Knight Rises
- The Intern
- The Witchers
- The Idea of You
Awards
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Les MisΓ©rables (2012). An additional Oscar nomination for Best Actress for Rachel Getting Married. Golden Globe Award. BAFTA Award. Screen Actors Guild Award. She has received multiple critics’ circle awards and was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Facts You Did Not Know
- Anne’s mother played Fantine in a touring production of Les MisΓ©rables, and Anne won the Oscar for the same role years later.
- She was a strict vegan for years but went back to eating meat after feeling like her health suffered.
- She once said that the “Hathahaters” era taught her more about herself than any acting role ever did.
- She studied at the Barrow Group Theatre and did extensive Off-Broadway work before her Hollywood career.
36. Lily Collins
Lily Jane Collins was born on March 18, 1989, in Guildford, Surrey, England. Her father is legendary musician Phil Collins, and her mother, Jill Tavelman, is an American from Los Angeles who ran an antique business. Lily’s parents divorced when she was five, and she moved to LA with her mother.
She began writing for magazines as a teenager and worked as a journalist for Nickelodeon and Teen Vogue before transitioning to acting. She studied journalism at the University of Southern California. Her acting debut came with The Blind Side (2009) in a small role alongside Sandra Bullock, and she gradually built a career mixing indie work with mainstream projects.
Best Movies:
- The BlingSide
- Mirror Mirror
- The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
- Rules Donβt Apply
- To the Bone
- Okja
Awards
Lily has received Golden Globe nominations for Emily in Paris. She won the Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the Emily in Paris cast nomination. She has been recognized at the BAFTA Britannia Awards as a British talent in Hollywood. She has won multiple People’s Choice Awards for Emily in Paris.
Facts You Did Not Know
- Lily once worked as a BBC journalist covering the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton when she was 22.
- Her father, Phil Collins, wrote the song “You’ll Be in My Heart” for the Tarzan soundtrack while thinking about her. She has said that she and her father had a complicated relationship for many years but have since reconnected.
- She wrote her book about eating disorders specifically because she wanted a young woman going through the same thing to feel less alone.
37. Emma Watson
Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born on April 15, 1990, in Paris, France, to British parents. Her mother, Jacqueline, and her father, Chris, are both lawyers. Her parents divorced when she was five, and she moved to Oxfordshire, England, with her mother.
She attended the Dragon School in Oxford and was discovered during an open casting call for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone at age nine. She beat out thousands of girls for the role of Hermione Granger and spent the next decade growing up on one of the biggest film sets in history.
After Harry Potter concluded in 2011, she studied English literature at Brown University, graduating in 2014.
Best Movies:
- The Harry Potter franchise (2001 to 2011)
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower
- The Bling Ring
- Noah
- Regression
- Colonia
- Beauty and the Beast
Awards
BAFTA Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year. She has received multiple Teen Choice Awards, People’s Choice Awards, and MTV Movie Awards for the Harry Potter franchise. She was awarded the British Artist of the Year at the BAFTAs in 2014. She has received honorary degrees and humanitarian recognition from multiple universities and organizations.
Facts You Did Not Know
- Emma almost was not Hermione. The casting directors saw her as “too pretty” for the role, but J.K. Rowling insisted she was perfect. She earned $60 million from the Harry Potter franchise by the time she was 20.
- She was so nervous during her first audition that she recited her lines incredibly fast, but the directors found it charming. She had to wear false teeth for the first Harry Potter film because Hermione was described as having large front teeth, but this was dropped after one film.
- She turned down the role of Cinderella in Kenneth Branagh’s live-action film. She has said the role she is most proud of is her activist work, not any film role.
38. Eva Mendes
Eva de la Caridad MΓ©ndez was born on March 5, 1974, in Miami, Florida. She is of Cuban descent. Her parents, Eva and Juan Carlos, divorced when she was young, and she was raised primarily by her mother. She grew up in the Glendale neighborhood of Los Angeles.
She studied marketing at California State University, Northridge, but dropped out to pursue acting after being encouraged by a casting director who noticed her.
She landed her first significant role in Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998), a low-budget horror sequel. Her breakthrough came with Training Day (2001) opposite Denzel Washington.
Best Movies:
- Training Day
- 2 Fast 2 Furious
- Stuck on You
- Hitch
- Ghost Rider
- We Own the Night
- The Women
- The Other Guys
Awards
Eva has received Independent Spirit Award nominations and has won the ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. She has been recognized at the NCLR ALMA Awards for her contributions to Latino representation in Hollywood.
Facts You Did Not Know
- Eva and Ryan Gosling have never walked a red carpet together as a couple.
- She studied marketing before acting and has applied those skills to her fashion line.
- She once said that she would never have predicted stepping away from acting at the height of her career but that it felt completely right once she had children.
39. Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman was born on June 20, 1967, in Honolulu, Hawaii, but grew up in Sydney, Australia. Her father, Antony, was a biochemist and psychologist, and her mother, Janelle, was a nursing instructor. Nicole has dual Australian-American citizenship.
She showed a talent for performing early, studying at the Phillip Street Theatre and the Australian Theatre for Young People in Sydney. She made her film debut at 16 in the Australian film BMX Bandits (1983). Her international breakthrough came with the thriller Dead Calm (1989), and her Hollywood career ignited when she starred alongside Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder (1990).
Best Movies:
- Dead Calm
- Days of Thunder
- To Die For
- Batman Forever
- Eyes Wide Shut
- Moulin Rouge!
- The Others
- Destroyer
- Big Little Lies
Awards
Academy Award for Best Actress for The Hours (2002). Five total Oscar nominations. Six Golden Globe Awards. Emmy Awards for Big Little Lies. SAG Awards. BAFTA nominations. She received an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Film Institute. She was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2006, the country’s highest civilian honor.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Nicole is 5’11” and has said she was self-conscious about her height as a teenager.
- She wore prosthetic nose appliances to play Virginia Woolf in The Hours. She has said that her marriage to Tom Cruise provided a kind of “protection” from harassment in Hollywood because men were afraid to harass her when she was married to one of the biggest stars in the world.
40. Hailee Steinfeld
Hailee Steinfeld was born on December 11, 1996, in Tarzana, Los Angeles, California. Her father, Peter, is a personal fitness trainer, and her mother, Cheri, is an interior designer. She has a Filipino grandmother on her mother’s side. She was homeschooled from age nine to accommodate her acting career.
She burst onto the scene at 14 with a stunning performance in the Coen Brothers’ True Grit (2010), earning the youngest Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Academy Awards in decades. She was so impressive in the role that the Coens have said they almost could not believe she was that young.
Best Movies:
- True Grit
- Enderβs Game
- Begin Again
- 3 Days to Kill
- The Edge of Seventeen
- Bumblebee
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Awards
Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for True Grit at age 14. She has received Critics’ Choice Award nominations, Annie Award nominations (for voice work in Spider-Verse), and has won multiple Teen Choice Awards and People’s Choice Awards. She has been nominated for Grammy Awards for her music career.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Hailee was only 13 when she auditioned for True Grit and beat out 15,000 other girls for the role.
- She does many of her own stunts, including in Hawkeye and Bumblebee. Her music has charted on the Billboard Hot 100, including the hit “Love Myself.”
- Her great-uncle was a professional boxer. She was homeschooled through middle and high school and got her diploma while filming movies.
41. Amber Heard
Amber Laura Heard was born on April 22, 1986, in Austin, Texas. Her mother, Paige, was an internet researcher, and her father, David, ran a small construction company. She grew up in a conservative Texas household and was a competitive equestrian as a child. She dropped out of high school at 17 and moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting.
She started with small roles in television shows like The O.C. and Criminal Minds and low-budget horror films. Her film career grew slowly with roles in Never Back Down (2008), Pineapple Express (2008), and The Rum Diary (2011), where she met Johnny Depp.
Best Movies:
- Pineapple Express
- The Rum Diary
- Drive Angry
- The Danish Girl
- Aquaman
- Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Awards
Amber has received limited awards and recognition. She has been nominated for the Young Hollywood Awards and has won some genre-specific awards. Her work in The Danish Girl received positive critical notice. Her career has been primarily commercial rather than awards-driven.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Amber grew up in a rural Texas town where her father raised horses. She was a competitive equestrian and won several regional competitions as a child.
- She came out as bisexual at the GLAAD Media Awards in 2010, when public figures in Hollywood rarely did so.
- Facial mapping technology has confirmed that her facial proportions are among the closest to mathematical “perfection” ever recorded in the entertainment industry.
- She speaks Spanish and has immersed herself in Spanish culture since her relocation.
42. Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Priyanka Chopra Jonas was born on July 18, 1982, in Jamshedpur, Bihar, India (now in Jharkhand). Her parents, Ashok and Madhu Chopra, were both physicians in the Indian Army. She spent her childhood moving across India due to her parents’ military postings.
At 17, she entered the Miss India pageant and won, then went on to be crowned Miss World 2000 at age 18, becoming only the fifth Indian woman to hold the title. She transitioned into Bollywood immediately afterward and became one of the highest-paid and most popular actresses in Indian cinema before crossing over to Hollywood in the mid-2010s.
Best Movies:
- Mujhse Shaadi Karogi
- Krrish trilogy (2006, 2013)
- Barfi!
- Mary Kom
- Bajirao Mastani
- Dil Dhadakne Do
- The White Tiger
- Citadel
- Heads of State
Awards
National Film Award for Best Actress for Fashion (2008), the highest film honor in India. Five Filmfare Awards (India’s equivalent of the Oscars). People’s Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series for Quantico. She received the Padma Shri from the Indian government in 2016, one of the country’s highest civilian honors. She has won multiple International Indian Film Academy Awards.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Priyanka was studying to become an engineer before winning Miss India and Miss World changed her life path entirely.
- She trained intensively in boxing for six months to play boxing champion Mary Kom in the biopic.
- She was the first South Asian actress to headline a primetime American network drama.
43. Lupita Nyong’o
Lupita Amondi Nyong’o was born on March 1, 1983, in Mexico City, Mexico, to Kenyan parents. Her father, Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o, is a politician who served as a senator and governor in Kenya. Her family returned to Kenya when she was a toddler, and she grew up in Nairobi.
She attended Hampshire College in Massachusetts, then earned an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, one of the most prestigious acting programs in the world. Her screen debut was extraordinary: she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her very first film, 12 Years a Slave (2013), playing Patsey.
Best Movies:
- 12 Years a Slave
- Non-Stop
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- Queen of Katwe
- Black Panther
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Awards
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for 12 Years a Slave (2013). SAG Award. Critics’ Choice Award. She has received NAACP Image Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, and BET Awards. She was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People and has received a Glamour Award for Woman of the Year.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Lupita was born in Mexico because her father was a visiting professor there at the time. She speaks four languages fluently.
- Her children’s book Sulwe was inspired by her own childhood struggles with colorism in Kenya, where she was made to feel “too dark.”
- She studied at Yale School of Drama alongside other future stars, including her classmate, director Austin Butler’s collaborators.
- Her Oscar win for her first screen role is one of the most remarkable achievements in Academy Award history. She said her mother gave her permission to dream by telling her she was “beautiful” every single day.
44. Olivia Wilde
Olivia Jane Cockburn was born on March 10, 1984, in New York City. She adopted the stage name “Wilde” as a tribute to the writer Oscar Wilde. Her mother, Leslie, is a journalist and documentary filmmaker, and her father, Andrew, is a journalist. Both parents worked for Harper’s Magazine at different times.
She grew up in Washington, D.C., and Georgetown, attending the prestigious Georgetown Day School. She was also educated in Andover, Massachusetts, and spent time at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, Ireland, where she obtained Irish citizenship through her grandparents. She landed her breakout role as Thirteen on House M.D. (2007 to 2012).
Best Movies:
- House M.D (2007 to 2012)
- Tron: Legacy
- In Time
- Drinking Buddies
- Rush
- Booksmart
- Donβt Worry Darling
Awards
Olivia received the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature for Booksmart. She has won multiple audience and critics’ awards for her directorial work. She received the Breakthrough Director Award from the Palm Springs Film Festival. She has been nominated for numerous awards for House M.D., including SAG Award nominations as part of the ensemble.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Olivia chose the stage name “Wilde” as a tribute to Oscar Wilde because she wanted a name that reflected her love of literature.
- She holds Irish citizenship and lived in Ireland as a teenager. She was a vegan before it became trendy in Hollywood and has been outspoken about animal rights for over a decade.
- She once revealed that she cut her own bangs right before a major red carpet event and immediately regretted it.
- She was involved in the Obama 2008 and 2012 campaigns actively, including making promotional videos.
45. Kerry Washington
Kerry Marisa Washington was born on January 31, 1977, in the Bronx, New York City. Her mother, Valerie, is an educator and former professor, and her father, Earl, is a real estate broker. She grew up in a middle-class family and attended the prestigious Spence School in Manhattan on scholarship.
She studied anthropology and sociology at George Washington University, graduating in 1998. She also studied at the Michael Howard Studios acting conservatory. She worked her way through independent films and small television roles before landing her career-defining role as Olivia Pope in Scandal (2012 to 2018).
Best Movies:
- Our Song
- Save the Last Dance
- Ray
- The Last King of Scotland
- Django Unchained
- Scandal
- Confirmation
Awards
Emmy nominations for Scandal and Confirmation. SAG Award nominations. NAACP Image Award wins. She received a Tony nomination for American Son on Broadway. She has won BET Awards, Teen Choice Awards, and was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in 2014. She received the Vanguard Award at the GLAAD Media Awards.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Kerry’s casting as Olivia Pope in Scandal was partly inspired by real-life crisis manager Judy Smith, who served as a producer on the show.
- She discovered through DNA testing that the man who raised her was not her biological father, which she wrote about in her memoir.
- She was so private about her family that she hid her first pregnancy for several months from the public.
- She was the first Black woman to be on the cover of Adweek as one of the most powerful people in advertising and brand culture.
- She almost did not take the Scandal role because she was worried about the commitment of a network television schedule.
46. Zoe Saldana
Zoe Yadira Saldana-Perego was born on June 19, 1978, in Passaic, New Jersey. Her father, Aridio, was Dominican, and her mother, Asalia, is Puerto Rican. After her father died in a car accident when she was nine, her mother moved the family to the Dominican Republic, where Zoe spent much of her childhood.
She trained in ballet and modern dance at the ECOS Espacio de Danza Academy in the Dominican Republic. She returned to the United States as a teenager and began acting with the Faces theater group in New York. She landed her first major film role in Center Stage (2000), a dance drama.
Best Movies:
- Center Stage
- Drumline
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- The Terminal
- Star Trek
- Star Trek Into Darkness
- Star Trek Beyond
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Avengers: Endgame
- Avatar: The Way of Water
Awards
Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award for Emilia PΓ©rez (2024, shared). Saturn Awards for Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy. NAACP Image Award nominations. Alma Award wins for Latino representation. She has received multiple People’s Choice Awards and Teen Choice Awards. Her work in Emilia PΓ©rez has generated significant awards season buzz.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Zoe holds the record for appearing in the most films that have grossed over $2 billion at the worldwide box office (three films).
- She spent months in the Dominican Republic training as a ballet dancer before returning to the US.
- Her husband took her last name when they married, becoming Marco Perego-Saldana.
- She has been painted blue (as Neytiri in Avatar) and green (as Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy) and has joked that at this point she has played more non-human characters than human ones.
- She almost quit acting before landing Avatar because she was frustrated with the limited types of roles being offered to her.
47. Chloe Grace Moretz
Chloe Grace Moretz was born on February 10, 1997, in Atlanta, Georgia. Her mother, Teri, is a nurse, and her father, McCoy, is a plastic surgeon. She has four older brothers, and her brother Trevor has served as her acting coach since she was young.
The family moved to Los Angeles when Chloe was six so she could pursue acting. She got her first role in The Amityville Horror (2005) at age seven. She became a household name at 13 when she played Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass (2010), a role that was controversial because of the extreme violence involving a child character, but also earned her widespread critical acclaim.
Best Movies:
- The Amityville Horror
- Let Me In
- Hugo
- Carrie
- If I stay
- The 5th Wave
- The Peripheral
Awards
Chloe has received Critics’ Choice nominations, Saturn Award nominations, and has won multiple Young Artist Awards. She won the Young British Artist of the Year award despite being American, reflecting her popularity in the UK. She has won multiple Teen Choice Awards and People’s Choice Awards.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Chloe was only 11 when she was cast as Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass, and the character’s extreme violence and profanity sparked national debates about violence in the media.
- Her brother Trevor has been her acting coach since she was seven years old and has attended every single set with her.
- She turned down several major franchise roles to focus on smaller, character-driven work.
48. Kiernan Shipka
Kiernan Brennan Shipka was born on November 10, 1999, in Chicago, Illinois. Her father, John, is a real estate developer, and her mother, Erin, is a homemaker. The family moved to Los Angeles when Kiernan was young. She started acting at a very young age, landing commercials before she was two years old.
At just seven, she was cast as Sally Draper on the critically acclaimed AMC series Mad Men (2007 to 2015), which ran for seven seasons and allowed her to literally grow up on one of the most respected television shows ever made.
She was praised by critics and co-stars alike for delivering some of the show’s most emotionally affecting scenes despite being a child.
Best Movies:
- Mad Men(2007 to 2015)
- Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
- The Silence
- Let It Snow
- Totally Killer
- Longlegs
Awards:
Kiernan was nominated for the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series twice for Mad Men. She won the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Series for Mad Men. She received Saturn Award nominations for Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. She has received multiple Critics’ Choice Super Award nominations.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Kiernan landed her first commercial before she could walk. She was so naturally talented on the set of Mad Men that creator Matthew Weiner expanded her role significantly after seeing what she could do.
- She taught herself American Sign Language when she was a teenager. She has said she wants to direct eventually and has been studying filmmaking.
- She and Mad Men co-star Jon Hamm have stayed close, and he has publicly called her one of the most natural actors he has ever worked with.
49. Dove Cameron
Chloe Celeste Hosterman was born on January 15, 1996, in Bainbridge Island, Washington. She adopted the name “Dove” as a nickname her father gave her. Her father, Philip, died by suicide when she was 15, an event that profoundly shaped her life. She has spoken about her father’s death and its impact on her mental health throughout her career.
She began acting in community theatre as a child and moved to Los Angeles as a teenager. She got her big break with the Disney Channel dual role on Liv and Maddie (2013 to 2017), where she played twin sisters, and then starred as Mal in the Descendants franchise (2015, 2017, 2019).
Best Movies:
- Liv and Maddie
- Cloud 9
- Dumplinβ
- Vengeance
Awards
Grammy Award for Best New Artist (2023). She has won multiple Teen Choice Awards, People’s Choice Awards, and Daytime Emmy nominations for Liv and Maddie. She has won Radio Disney Music Awards and has been nominated for multiple MTV Awards.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Dove’s real name is Chloe Celeste Hosterman. Her father gave her the nickname “Dove” because she was so gentle and peaceful as a baby. She changed her name officially after his death as a tribute to him.
- She played twin characters on Liv and Maddie, which required her to film scenes acting opposite herself.
- She won the Grammy for Best New Artist with her debut single “Boyfriend,” which was written about her experience coming out as bisexual.
- She has said that losing her father was the most defining moment of her life and that she channels that grief into her art.
50. Sadie Sink
Sadie Elizabeth Sink was born on April 16, 2002, in Brenham, Texas. She is one of five children. She was a competitive dancer and actress from a very young age and made her Broadway debut at age 11 in the production of Annie.
She was so good that she understudied the lead role multiple times. She also appeared in the Broadway production of The Audience alongside Helen Mirren. Her television career took off when she was cast as Max Mayfield in Stranger Things Season 2 (2017), a role that became absolutely central to the show’s later seasons.
Best Movies:
- Stranger Things
- The Whale
- Dear Zoe
- Eli
Awards
Sadie received a SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for Stranger Things. She has won the MTV Movie & TV Awards. She has received Saturn Award nominations and has been honored at various youth-oriented award shows. Her Stranger Things Season 4 performance was widely considered award-worthy, with many critics noting it should have received individual Emmy recognition.
Facts You Did Not Know:
- Sadie made her Broadway debut at age 11 in Annie and performed in the show over 100 times.
- The “Running Up That Hill” scene in Stranger Things Season 4 was so emotionally intense that the cast and crew were in tears during filming.
- Kate Bush personally approved the use of her song after seeing the script. Sadie has been a vegan since she was 12 and once converted several of her Stranger Things co-stars to try plant-based meals on set.
- She was chosen by Taylor Swift personally for the All Too Well short film, and Taylor has said Sadie was the only person she considered for the role. She reads approximately one book per week and keeps a reading journal.
Final Thoughts
Building a list like this is always going to spark debate, and honestly, that is kind of the point. Beauty is not something you can measure with a ruler or define in a dictionary. If these 50 women prove anything, it is that the most captivating people in Hollywood are not the ones who fit neatly into one box.
What connects every single woman on this list is not just their appearance. It is the talent, the work ethic, the willingness to use their platforms for something bigger than themselves, and the refusal to be boring. They run foundations, raise families, produce films, fight for representation, and still manage to look incredible while doing it.
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