The best actresses
by deni9625 | created - 15 Jul 2011 | updated - 18 Dec 2011 | Public1. Nina Dobrev
Actress | The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Nina Dobrev is a Bulgarian-born Canadian actress. Her best-known television roles are Mia Jones in Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001) and Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce on The Vampire Diaries (2009). Her film work includes The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), Let's Be Cops (2014), The ...
2. Leighton Meester
Actress | The Roommate
Leighton Marissa Meester was born in Fort Worth, Texas, to Constance Lynn (Haas) and Douglas Jay Meester. Although born in Texas, Meester spent her early years in Marco Island, Florida with her grandparents. There, she became involved with the local playhouse and made her stage debut in a ...
3. Kristen Bell
Actress | Frozen
Kristen Anne Bell (born 1980) is an American actress and singer. She was born and raised in Huntington Woods, Michigan, and is the daughter of Lorelei (Frygier), a nurse, and Tom Bell, a television news director. Her ancestry is Polish (mother) and German, English, Irish, and Scottish (father). ...
4. Olivia Wilde
Actress | Tron: Legacy
Actress and activist Olivia Wilde is a modern day renaissance woman, starring in many acclaimed film productions, while simultaneously giving back to the community.
She was born on March 10, 1984 in New York City. Her parents are Leslie Cockburn (née Leslie Corkill Redlich) and Andrew Cockburn. Her ...
5. Blake Lively
Actress | Gossip Girl
Blake Ellender Lively was born Blake Ellender Brown on August 25, 1987 in Los Angeles, California to Elaine Lively & Ernie Lively. Her brother is actor Eric Lively, and her half-siblings are actors Lori Lively, Robyn Lively and Jason Lively. She followed her parents' and siblings' steps. Her first ...
6. Keira Knightley
Actress | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Keira Christina Knightley was born March 26, 1985 in the South West Greater London suburb of Richmond. She is the daughter of actor Will Knightley and actress turned playwright Sharman Macdonald. An older brother, Caleb Knightley, was born in 1979. Her father is English, while her Scottish-born ...
7. Penélope Cruz
Actress | Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Known outside her native country as the "Spanish enchantress," Penélope Cruz Sánchez was born in Madrid to Eduardo Cruz, a retailer, and Encarna Sánchez, a hairdresser. As a toddler, she was already a compulsive performer, re-enacting TV commercials for her family's amusement, but she decided to ...
8. Candice King
Actress | Juno
Candice Rene King (née Accola) (born May 13, 1987) is an American actress, singer and songwriter, known for portraying the role of Caroline Forbes on The CW's The Vampire Diaries.
Candice King was born in Houston, Texas, the daughter of Carolyn (Clark), who was an environmental engineer before ...
9. Jennifer Aniston
Actress | Friends
Jennifer Aniston was born in Sherman Oaks, California, to actors John Aniston and Nancy Dow. Her father was Greek, and her mother was of English, Irish, Scottish, and Italian descent. Jennifer spent a year of her childhood living in Greece with her family. Her family then relocated to New York City...
10. Anne Hathaway
Actress | Les Misérables
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Kate McCauley Hathaway, an actress, and Gerald T. Hathaway, a lawyer, both originally from Philadelphia. She is of mostly Irish descent, along with English, German, and French. Her first major role came in the short-lived television series ...
11. Cameron Diaz
Actress | Vanilla Sky
Cameron Diaz, an American actress, was born in 1972 in San Diego, the daughter of a Cuban-American father and a German mother. Self described as "adventurous, independent and a tough kid," Cameron left home at 16 and for the next 5 years lived in such varied locales as Japan, Australia, Mexico, ...
12. Lucy Hale
Actress | Truth or Dare
Lucy Hale has captured the attention of millions through her dynamic on-screen performances in some of the most buzzed about projects in film and television. Hale recently starred as the lead, DC Lake Edmunds, in the new series, Ragdoll, which is streaming on AMC and Alibi. Last year, she finished ...
13. Troian Bellisario
Actress | Pretty Little Liars
Troian Bellisario, daughter of producers Donald P. Bellisario and Deborah Pratt, made her film debut at the age of 3 in Last Rites (1988). She made several TV and movie appearances in her teens (most of the TV appearances were in shows produced by her father) before attending the University of ...
14. Ashley Benson
Actress | Spring Breakers
Ashley Victoria Benson was born on December 18, 1989 in Anaheim Hills, California, to Shannon (Harte) and Jeff Benson. She has Irish, English, and German ancestry. She has been dancing competitively since she was 2 with hip hop, jazz, ballet, tap and lyrical. She has been singing since she was ...
15. Kat Graham
Actress | How It Ends
Kat Graham is an actress, singer, dancer and producer. Working across a variety of genres in film, television and music, she is one of most accomplished and versatile young talents working today.
Graham was recently seen in the 70s period crime thriller "The Poison Rose" opposite Morgan Freeman and ...
16. Sasha Pieterse
Actress | Pretty Little Liars
Sasha Pieterse was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She immigrated over to the United States with her professional dancer parents in 2000. She started acting at the age of four in modeling and commercials and moved to theatrical work starring as "Buffy" in her first TV show, Family Affair (2002)...
17. Tammin Sursok
Actress | Pretty Little Liars
Tammin Sursok was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. Tammin is an actor and producer, known for Pretty Little Liars (2010), Rules of Engagement (2007) and Crossing Over (2009). Tammin has been married to Sean McEwen since August 24, 2011. They have two children.
18. Torrey DeVitto
Actress | The Rite
Actress, advocate, philanthropist, and producer Torrey Joël DeVitto is best known for her incredible six season run on the NBC drama, "Chicago Med" playing Natalie Manning, the 'girl next door' and a doctor in the ER Pediatrics division. Outside of her acting work, Torrey's mission is to grant ...
19. Eleanor Tomlinson
Actress | Jack the Giant Slayer
Eleanor May Tomlinson was born on the 19th of May 1992 on London, Greater London, England. She moved to Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, as a small child, and attended Beverley High School as a teenager.
She is an English actress who was best known for her TV roles as Isabelle in Jack ...
20. Minka Kelly
Actress | The Roommate
Minka Kelly was born in Los Angeles, California and she is the only child of former Aerosmith guitarist, Rick Dufay, and Maureen Kelly, an exotic dancer and single mother, who often moved with her daughter to different communities before settling in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by the time Minka was in...
21. Ashley Greene
Actress | Twilight
Ashley Michele Greene was born in Jacksonville, Florida to parents Michele (Tatum), an insurance broker, and Joseph Lacy Greene, US Marine who runs a concrete business. A self-confessed tomboy and "daredevil", Ashley loved to try to keep up with her older brother Joe, taking on activities such as ...
22. Emma Stone
Actress | La La Land
Emily Jean "Emma" Stone was born on November 6, 1988 in Scottsdale, Arizona to Krista Jean Stone (née Yeager), a homemaker & Jeffrey Charles "Jeff" Stone, a contracting company founder and CEO. She is of Swedish, German & British Isles descent. Stone began acting as a child as a member of the ...
23. Amanda Bynes
Actress | Hairspray
Amanda Laura Bynes was born on April 3, 1986, in Thousand Oaks, California, the youngest of three children of Lynn (Organ), a dental assistant, and Richard Bynes, a dentist. Her father is of Lithuanian, Irish, and Polish descent, and her mother is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family from Toronto. ...
24. Megan Fox
Actress | Transformers
Megan Denise Fox was born on May 16, 1986 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and raised in Rockwood, Tennessee to Gloria Darlene Tonachio (née Cisson), a real estate manager and Franklin Thomas Fox, a parole officer. She began her drama and dance training at age 5 and at age 10, she moved to Port St. Lucie, ...
25. Rachel McAdams
Actress | The Notebook
Rachel Anne McAdams was born on November 17, 1978 in London, Ontario, Canada, to Sandra Kay (Gale), a nurse, and Lance Frederick McAdams, a truck driver and furniture mover. She is of English, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish descent. Rachel became involved with acting as a teenager and by the age of 13 ...
26. Mila Kunis
Actress | Black Swan
Milena Markovna "Mila" Kunis is a Ukrainian-American actress born to a Jewish family in Chernivtsi, Ukraine.
Her mother, Elvira, is a physics teacher, her father, Mark Kunis, is a mechanical engineer, and she has an older brother named Michael. Her family moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1991. ...
27. Katie Cassidy
Actress | A Nightmare on Elm Street
Katie Cassidy was born Katherine Evelyn Anita Cassidy on November 25, 1986, in Los Angeles, California. Her father, David Cassidy, was a pop star in the 1970s. Her famous relatives include uncles Shaun Cassidy, Patrick Cassidy and Ryan Cassidy, the sons by her grandfather Jack Cassidy's marriage to ...
28. Megan Park
Actress | The F Word
Megan Marie Park is a Canadian actress and singer. She is known for her work in the ABC Family television series The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008), and romantic comedy film What If (2013) and Charlie Bartlett (2007). Her first major roles came with a guest spot on the Lifetime series ...
29. Eva Longoria
Actress | Desperate Housewives
Eva Jacqueline Longoria was born on March 15, 1975 in Corpus Christi, Texas to Ella Eva Longoria (née Mireles), a special education teacher & Enrique Longoria Jr., a rancher. The youngest of four sisters who grew up in a Mexican-American family on a ranch near Corpus Christi, Longoria attended ...
30. Angelina Jolie
Actress | Maleficent
Angelina Jolie is an Academy Award-winning actress who rose to fame after her role in Girl, Interrupted (1999), playing the title role in the "Lara Croft" blockbuster movies, as well as Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Wanted (2008), Salt (2010) and Maleficent (2014). Off-screen, Jolie has become ...
31. Taylor Swift
Soundtrack | Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour
Taylor Alison Swift is a multi-Grammy award-winning American singer/songwriter who, in 2010 at the age of 20, became the youngest artist in history to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 2011 Swift was named Billboard's Woman of the Year. She also has been named the American Music Awards...
32. Jennifer Love Hewitt
Actress | I Know What You Did Last Summer
Jennifer Love Hewitt was born in Waco, Texas, to Patricia Mae (Shipp), a speech-language pathologist, and Herbert Daniel Hewitt, a medical technician. She has English, Italian, French, Scottish, and German ancestry. She got her first name from her older brother Todd Daniel Hewitt (b. November 8, ...
33. Michelle Trachtenberg
Actress | Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Trachtenberg grew up in Brooklyn and started her acting career young; she began appearing in commercials at the age of 3.
She continued to act and dance through her school years, making regular television appearances from the age of 10. She landed a recurring role in the kids' TV show The Adventures...
34. Natalie Portman
Actress | Black Swan
Natalie Portman is the first person born in the 1980s to have won the Academy Award for Best Actress (for Black Swan (2010)).
Natalie was born Natalie Hershlag on June 9, 1981, in Jerusalem, Israel. She is the only child of Avner Hershlag, an Israeli-born doctor, and Shelley Stevens, an ...
35. Amber Heard
Actress | Aquaman
Amber Laura Heard was born in Austin, Texas, to Patricia Paige Heard (née Parsons), an internet researcher, and David C. Heard (David Clinton Heard), a contractor. She has English, Irish, Scottish, German, and Welsh ancestry.
Heard appeared in the Academy Award-nominated film, North Country (2005), ...
36. Scarlett Johansson
Actress | Lost in Translation
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson was born on November 22, 1984 in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Her mother, Melanie Sloan is from a Jewish family from the Bronx and her father, Karsten Johansson is a Danish-born architect from Copenhagen. She has a sister, Vanessa Johansson, who is also an actress, ...
37. Jordana Brewster
Actress | Fast & Furious 7
Raven-haired beauty Jordana Brewster was born on April 26, 1980 in Panama City, Panama. Her mother, Maria João Leal de Sousa, is a Brazilian-born model who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1978. Her father, Alden Brewster, is an American-born investment banker, who has English, ...
38. Nicole Kidman
Actress | Moulin Rouge!
Elegant Nicole Kidman, known as one of Hollywood's top Australian imports, was actually born in Honolulu, Hawaii, while her Australian parents were there on educational visas.
Kidman is the daughter of Janelle Ann (Glenny), a nursing instructor, and Antony David Kidman, a biochemist and clinical ...
39. Alexandra Chando
Actress | The Lying Game
Alexandra Chando was born on July 28, 1986 in Pennsylvania, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for The Lying Game (2011), Dead People (2015) and As the World Turns (1956).
40. Jessica Alba
Actress | Fantastic Four
Jessica Marie Alba was born on April 28, 1981, in Pomona, CA, to Catherine (Jensen) and Mark David Alba, who served in the US Air Force. Her father is of Mexican descent (including Spanish and Indigenous Mexican roots), and her mother has Danish, Welsh, English, and French ancestry. Her family ...
41. Mandy Moore
Actress | A Walk to Remember
Amanda Leigh Moore was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, on April 10, 1984, to Stacy (Friedman), a former news reporter, and Don Moore, an airline pilot. During her childhood, her family moved to Orlando, Florida, where she was raised. She has Russian Jewish (from her maternal grandfather), English, ...
42. Sandra Bullock
Producer | The Proposal
Sandra Annette Bullock was born in Arlington, a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. Her mother, Helga Bullock (née Helga Mathilde Meyer), was a German opera singer. Her father, John W. Bullock, was an American voice teacher, who was born in Alabama, of German descent. Sandra grew up on the road ...
43. Courteney Cox
Actress | Friends
Courteney Cox was born on June 15th, 1964 in Birmingham, Alabama, into an affluent Southern family. She is the daughter of Courteney (Bass) and Richard Lewis Cox (1930-2001), a businessman. She was the baby of the family with two older sisters (Virginia and Dottie) and an older brother, Richard, Jr...
44. Kate Bosworth
Actress | Superman Returns
Kate Bosworth was born in Los Angeles, California, to Patricia (Potter), a homemaker, and Harold Bosworth, who was an executive for Talbots. Unlike the characters Bosworth has portrayed in television and in film, which are known as "townies", Kate spent most of her childhood in different cities and...
45. Leslie Mann
Actress | Knocked Up
Leslie Jean Mann was born in San Francisco, California. She was raised in Newport Beach, California by her mother, Janet Ann Ayres. At the age of seventeen, she launched her career, appearing in various TV commercials.
Her screen break came when she was cast as Nurse Mary in the short-lived Birdland...
46. Monica Bellucci
Actress | Malèna
Monica Anna Maria Bellucci was born on September 30, 1964 in the Italian village of Città di Castello, Umbria, the only child of Brunella Briganti and Pasquale Bellucci. She originally pursued a career in the legal profession. While attending the University of Perugia, she modeled on the side to ...
47. Amanda Seyfried
Actress | Les Misérables
Amanda Seyfried was born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to Ann (Sander), an occupational therapist, and Jack Seyfried, a pharmacist. She is of German, and some English and Scottish, ancestry. She began modeling when she was eleven, and acted in high school productions as well as taking ...
48. Jessica Biel
Actress | The Illusionist
Jessica Biel, has become one of Hollywood's most sought-out actresses. She was born in Ely, Minnesota, to Kimberly (Conroe) and Jonathan Edward Biel, who is a business consultant and GM worker. Biel was raised in Boulder, Colorado. She is of Hungarian Jewish, Danish, English, and German descent.
As ...
49. Arielle Kebbel
Actress | John Tucker Must Die
Arielle Kebbel is quickly emerging as one of Hollywood's most sought after talents. With her combination of raw talent and natural charm, Arielle is poised to become one of the most dynamic and versatile actresses of her generation. Kebbel plays the lead role of "Amelia" in the NBC series "Lincoln"...
50. Krysten Ritter
Actress | Jessica Jones
Krysten Ritter stars as Jessica Jones in the Peabody, Hugo, and Emmy Award-winning Netflix original series, Marvel's Jessica Jones (2015). Her performance, which earned her a prestigious Critics Choice nomination, a Saturn nomination, a Webby Award and a Glamour Best International TV Actress Award,...
51. Laura Ramsey
Actress | The Ruins
Laura Jill Ramsey was born in Brandon, Wisconsin. After arriving in LA at the age of 19 and a stint of gypsy living, Laura was "discovered" while waiting tables and was sent out the next day on her first audition. She booked the job and her career has been dotted by strong and consistent work, ever...
52. Hayden Panettiere
Actress | Heroes
Hayden Lesley Panettiere was born on August 21, 1989 in Palisades, New York, to actress Lesley Vogel and fire department captain Skip Panettiere. Her younger brother was actor Jansen Panettiere (1994-2023). Her parents are both of half Italian descent, along with German and English. Her mother got ...
53. Christina Milian
Actress | Be Cool
Christina Milian was born Christine Flores on September 26, 1981 in Jersey City, New Jersey & raised in Waldorf, Maryland. At the age of 19, Milian signed a contract with Def Jam. In 2001, Milian released her self-titled debut album, which featured the singles "AM to PM" and "When You Look at Me"; ...
54. Alyson Hannigan
Actress | Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Alyson Hannigan was born in Washington, D.C. to Emilie (Posner), a real estate agent, and Al Hannigan, a truck driver. She began her acting career in Atlanta at the young age of 4 in commercials sponsoring such companies as McDonald's, Six Flags, and Oreos. She is a seasoned television actress, ...
55. Julia Roberts
Actress | Pretty Woman
Julia Fiona Roberts never dreamed she would become the most popular actress in America. She was born in Smyrna, Georgia, to Betty Lou (Bredemus) and Walter Grady Roberts, one-time actors and playwrights, and is of English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, German, and Swedish descent. As a child, due to her ...
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