My 40 Favourite Actresses

1. Drew Barrymore

Since melting audiences' hearts at the tender age of six - in Steven Spielberg's beloved sci-fi blockbuster, E.T. (1982) - Drew Barrymore has emerged as one of the most endearing and singularly talented actresses of her generation. Born in Culver City, California to actors John Drew Barrymore and ...

E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Firestarter

2. Alyssa Milano

Actress | Charmed

Alyssa Milano comes from an Italian-American family; her mother Lin Milano is a fashion designer and father Thomas Milano is a film music editor. Alyssa was born in a working-class neighborhood in Brooklyn and grew up in a modest house on Staten Island. One day her babysitter, who was an aspiring ...

Who's The Boss, Charmed, Mistresses

3. Missy Gold

Actress | Benson

Missy Gold was born on July 14, 1970 in Great Falls, Montana, USA. She is an actress, known for Benson (1979), Captains and the Kings (1976) and Trapper John, M.D. (1979). She has been married to Brian Herskowitz since 1996. They have two children.

Benson (She wasn't in acting long but she was one of my favourite growing up so she was added to the list)

4. Uma Thurman

Actress | Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Uma Karuna Thurman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, into a highly unorthodox and internationally-minded family. She is the daughter of Nena Thurman (née Birgitte Caroline von Schlebrügge), a fashion model and socialite who now runs a mountain retreat, and of Robert Thurman (Robert Alexander ...

Henry & June, Pulp Fiction

5. Jennifer Garner

Actress | Alias

Jennifer Garner, who catapulted into stardom with her lead role on the television series Alias (2001), has come a long way from her birthplace of Houston, Texas. Raised in Charleston, West Virginia by her mother Patricia Ann (née English), a retired English teacher, and her father, Billy Jack ...

Rose Hill, Alias

6. Katie Holmes

Actress | Batman Begins

Born two months premature at four pounds, Kate Noelle Holmes made her first appearance on December 18, 1978, in Toledo, Ohio. She is the daughter of Kathleen Ann (Craft), a philanthropist, and Martin Joseph Holmes, Sr., a lawyer. She is of German, Irish, and English ancestry. Her parents have said ...

Ice Strom, Dawson's Creek

7. Jennifer Connelly

Actress | A Beautiful Mind

Jennifer Connelly was born in the Catskill Mountains, New York, to Ilene (Schuman), a dealer of antiques, and Gerard Connelly, a clothing manufacturer. Her father had Irish and Norwegian ancestry, and her mother was from a Jewish immigrant family. Jennifer grew up in Brooklyn Heights, just across ...

Labyrinth, The Hot Spot, Some Girls

8. Amy Jo Johnson

Director | Tammy's Always Dying

Amy Jo Johnson is an American/Canadian actress and filmmaker. Amy grew up on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. As a child she competed as a gymnast, learning skills that would later be of great use to her in her breakthrough role as Kimberly Hart the Pink Ranger on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993). ...

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Felicity

9. Sydney Penny

Actress | Pale Rider

Widely recognized for her performances in film sensations such as "Pale Rider" opposite Clint Eastwood and "Two Women" ("La Ciociara") opposite Sophia Loren, Sydney Penny has also achieved international fame for her leading performances in both English and French in the film "Bernadette". Ms. Penny...

Thornbirds, The New Gidget

10. Megan Follows

Actress | Anne of Green Gables

Megan (pronounced Mee-gan) has two children, a daughter, Lyla, and a son, Russel. Megan comes from a showbiz family: father Ted Follows, mother Dawn Greenhalgh, and sister Samantha Follows are all actors; her other sister, Edwina Follows, is a producer and writer; and her brother Laurence Follows ...

Matt & Jenny, Anne Of Green Gables

11. Christina Ricci

Actress | Casper

Precocious, outspoken child-teen starlet of the 1990s, Christina Ricci was born on February 12, 1980 in Santa Monica, California, the youngest of four children of Sarah (Murdoch), a realtor, and Ralph Ricci, a lawyer and therapist. She is of Italian (from her paternal grandfather), Irish, and ...

Mermaids, The Addams Family, Now & Then

12. 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 ...

The Professional, Beautiful Girls

13. Neve Campbell

Actress | Scream

Neve Campbell was born and raised in Guelph, Ontario, to Marnie (Neve), a Dutch-born psychologist and yoga instructor (from Amsterdam), and Gerry Campbell, a Scottish-born teacher (from Glasgow). Campbell first came to our TV screens in the hit Drama series Party of Five (1994). Described as TV's ...

Party Of Five, The Craft, Scream saga

14. 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, ...

Kids Incorporated, Sister Act 2

15. Sarah Polley

Actress | My Life Without Me

Sarah Polley is an actress and director renowned in her native Canada for her political activism. Blessed with an extremely expressive face that enables directors to minimize dialog due to her uncanny ability to suggest a character's thoughts, Polley has become a favorite of critics for her ...

Ramona, Avonlea

16. Kristin Kreuk

Actress | EuroTrip

Kristin Kreuk was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to Deanna Che, who is of Chinese ancestry, and Peter Kreuk, who is of Dutch descent. Her parents are landscape architects. She attended and graduated from Eric Hamber Secondary School. Although she did some stage work in school, she ...

Edgemont, Smallville

17. Kirsten Dunst

Actress | Spider-Man

Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, who also holds German citizenship. She was born on April 30, 1982 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, to parents Inez (née Rupprecht), who owned an art gallery, and Klaus Dunst, a medical services executive. She has a younger brother named Christian Dunst, ...

Interview With A Vampire, Jumanji

18. Heather O'Rourke

Actress | Poltergeist

Heather Michele O'Rourke was born on December 27, 1975 in Santee, San Diego, California, to Kathleen, a seamstress, and Michael O'Rourke, a construction worker. She had German, Danish, English, and Irish ancestry.

Heather entered American cinematic pop-culture before first grade. She was sitting ...

V: The Final Battle, TJ Hooker, Guns of Paradise (Granted she didn't live long, but she would have been if she was still around today)

19. Jenny Beck

Actress | Troll

Jenny Beck was born on August 3, 1974 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Troll (1986), V: The Final Battle (1984) and V (1984).

V: The Final Battle, TJ Hooker, Guns of Paradise

20. Leelee Sobieski

Actress | Never Been Kissed

Liliane Rudabet Gloria Elsveta Sobieski was born June 10, 1983 in New York City, New York. She is the daughter of Elizabeth Sobieski (née Salomon), a writer, and Jean Sobieski, a painter who has also acted. She has a younger brother, Robert. Her father, born in France, is of Polish and Swiss ...

Never Been Kissed, Eyes Wide Shut

21. Rachael Leigh Cook

Actress | She's All That

Minneapolis native Rachael Leigh Cook began her career as a model at the tender age of 10, gracing Milk-Bone boxes and Target ads nationwide in the USA. She also appeared in a now-famous (in the USA) anti-drug TV spot in which, armed with a frying pan, she bashed her way through a kitchen to show ...

The Baby-sitters Club, Tom & Huck

22. Phoebe Cates

Actress | Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Phoebe Belle Cates was born on July 16, 1963 in New York City, New York, and raised there. She is the daughter of Lily and Joseph Cates, who was a Broadway producer and television pioneer. Her uncle was director/producer Gilbert Cates. Phoebe is of Russian Jewish, and one quarter Chinese, descent. ...

Paradise, Fast Times At Ridgemont High

23. Amanda Peterson

Actress | Can't Buy Me Love

Amanda Peterson was born on July 8, in Greeley, Colorado. With a natural beauty, powerful charm and a strong personality this talented and truly gifted actress began her career in film industry at age 9, with the feature film Annie (1982), directed by Academy Award-winner John Huston. To ...

Explorers, Can't Buy Me Love

24. Heather Graham

Actress | Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

Heather Joan Graham was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Joan (Bransfield), a schoolteacher and children's book author, and James Graham, an FBI agent. She and her sister, actress Aimee Graham, were raised by their strictly Catholic parents. They relocated often, as a result of their father's ...

License To Drive, Twin Peaks, Twins

25. Milla Jovovich

Actress | Le Cinquième Élément

Milla Jovovich is a Ukrainian-American actress, supermodel, fashion designer, singer and public figure, who was on the cover of more than a hundred magazines, and starred in such films as The Fifth Element (1997), Ultraviolet (2006), and the Resident Evil (2002) franchise.

Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich...

Return To The Blue Lagoon, The Fifth Element

26. Reese Witherspoon

Producer | Wild

Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon was born on March 22, 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Betty Witherspoon, a registered nurse & John Draper Witherspoon, a military surgeon. Reese spent the first 4 years of her life in Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany, where her father served as a lieutenant colonel in the ...

Fear, Pleasantville

27. Anna Paquin

Actress | The Piano

Anna Paquin is the first millennial to have received an Academy Award nomination for acting, and the first to win.

She was born on July 24, 1982 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to Mary (Brophy), an English teacher from Wellington, New Zealand, and Brian Paquin, a Canadian phys-ed teacher. Anna moved ...

The Piano, She's All That

28. Soleil Moon Frye

Actress | Punky Brewster

Soleil Moon Frye began acting at the age of two, after seeing her father, veteran actor Virgil Frye, and brother, Meeno Peluce, on TV. Her father got her an agent, Herb Tannen & Associates in Hollywood, and her career soon took off. Her mother, Sondra Peluce, became her manager. At age eight, she ...

Punky Brewster

29. Nicole Eggert

Actress | Charles in Charge

Nicole Eggert was born on January 13, 1972 in Glendale, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Charles in Charge (1984), Blown Away (1992) and Baywatch (1989).

TJ Hooker, Who's the Boss, Charles In Charge, Baywatch

30. Mia Kirshner

Actress | Not Another Teen Movie

Mia Kirshner was born in Toronto, Ontario, to Etti, a teacher, and Sheldon Kirshner, a journalist. Her father is of Polish Jewish descent and her mother is a Bulgarian Jewish immigrant. Mia had a middle class upbringing and graduated from McGill University with a degree in English Literature. She ...

Dracula: The Series, Exotica

31. Gillian Anderson

Actress | The X Files

Gillian Anderson was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Rosemary Alyce (Lane), a computer analyst, and Homer Edward Anderson III, who owned a film post-production company. Gillian started her career as a member of an amateur actor group while at high school. In 1987, her love of the theatre took her to ...

X-Files

32. 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 ...

Flipper, Dark Angel

33. Piper Perabo

Actress | Coyote Ugly

Piper Perabo is a Golden Globe nominated film, stage and TV actor. Born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in New Jersey, she graduated summa cum Laude from Ohio University. In 2000 she was cast in a breakout role in Coyote Ugly. Since then she has been seen in such films as Christopher Nolan's "The ...

Coyote Ugly, Lost and Delirious

34. Liv Tyler

Actress | Armageddon

Liv Tyler is an actress of international renown and has been a familiar face on our screens for over two decades and counting. She began modelling at the age of fourteen before pursuing a career in acting. After making her film debut in Bruce Beresford's Silent Fall, she was cast by fledgling ...

Heavy, Empire Records, Stealing Beauty

35. Shiri Appleby

Actress | The Thirteenth Floor

Shiri jumped in front of the lens as a youngster appearing in Norman Lear Sunday Dinner and Lawrence Kasden's I Love You To Death. At 19 she had her breakout performance on the series Roswell, playing the leading role of Liz Parker. She went on to appear in ER, Six Degrees, as well as Mike Nichols'...

Roswell

36. Camilla Belle

Actress | Practical Magic

Belle was born as Camilla Belle Routh in Los Angeles, California, to Deborah, a fashion designer, and Jack Wesley Routh, who composed country music and owns a construction company. Her mother is Brazilian and her father, who is from Kingman, Kansas, has English, German, and French ancestry. Camilla...

Poison Ivy 2, Jurassic Park 2

37. Danielle Brisebois

Actress | Begin Again

Danielle Brisebois was born on June 28, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and composer, known for Begin Again (2013), All in the Family (1971) and Archie Bunker's Place (1979). She has been married to Nick Lashley since August 2, 2008. They have two children.

All In The Family, Archie Bunker's Place, Knots Landing

38. 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, ...

The Faculty, The Fast And The Furious

39. Staci Keanan

Actress | Step by Step

Staci Keanan was born Anastasia Sagorsky on June 6, 1975 in Devon, Pennsylvania. She began her career at age four with fashion-show assignments and magazine work. At age eight, she moved to New York City with her mother and sister and balanced a modeling career with a budding theater career, in ...

My Two Dads, Step By Step

40. Ami Dolenz