Under-Appreciated Actresses
by tbarger | created - 11 Jun 2015 | updated - 11 Jun 2015 | PublicActresses who are too bleeding under-recognized for their phenomenal acting abilities.
1. Kim Rhodes
Actress | Christmas with the Kranks
Kim Rhodes grew up in Portland, Oregon. She attended Southern Oregon State College and earned her B.F.A. in Acting and graduated summa cum laude. Kim graduated from Temple University with her Masters in Fine Arts (M.F.A.). She is certified in four kinds of stage combat: hand-to-hand, quarterstaff, ...
Better known as Carrie, or still Zack and Cody's mom, on Suite Life, Kim gave some terrific facial expressions and line deliveries. She has also appeared on Supernatural and Touched by an Angel.
2. Leven Rambin
Actress | The Hunger Games
Leven Alice Rambin is an American actress. She is known for playing look-alike half-sisters Lily Montgomery and Ava Benton on All My Children and her recurring roles in Grey's Anatomy and Gone, as well Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, One Tree Hill, Wizards of Waverly Place, and CSI: Miami....
Though you may recognize Levin from the Hunger Games series, you can also find her in Percy Jackson:Sea of Monsters as Clarisse LaRue and angel Rosie on Wizards of Waverly Place.
3. Elizabeth Lail
Actress | Five Nights at Freddy's
Elizabeth Lail stars in Blumhouse's box office hit, "Five Nights At Freddys," based on the wildly popular video game series. She can also be seen in the upcoming indie film "Gonzo Girl," directed by Patricia Arquette and starring Willem Dafoe. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and is ...
Elizabeth hit it big when she landed the role of Princess Anna of Arendale on the hit ABC show Once Upon a Time.
4. Anna Camp
Actress | Pitch Perfect
Anna Camp grew up in South Carolina and is the daughter of Dee and Thomas Camp. Anna graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2004. She then moved to New York City and has appeared in films and television shows since 2007. From 2009 to 2014, she starred in the series ...
Anna, known for her main role as head-honcho Barden Bella leader Aubrey Posen in the first Pitch Perfect film, Anna has also starred in True Blood as Sarah, as well as the recent film The Help.
5. Isla Fisher
Actress | Wedding Crashers
Isla Lang Fisher was born on February 3, 1976 in Muscat, Oman, to Scottish parents Elspeth Reid and Brian Fisher, who worked as a banker for the U.N. She spent her early childhood in Bathgate, Scotland, before moving to Perth, Australia with her family in the early 1980s. From a young age, Isla ...
Isla has an impressive resume, including Confessions of a Shopaholic, Scooby Doo, Now You See Me, and The Great Gatsby.
6. Emilie de Ravin
Actress | Remember Me
Emilie was born on December 27 and grew up in Mount Eliza, Victoria, Australia. When she was 15, she was accepted at the highly selective Australian Ballet School in Melbourne. However, after only a year, she dropped out and undertook acting courses.
Her first starring role was on the fantasy drama ...
This adorable Aussie can be found on the ABC hit show Once Upon a Time starring as Princess Belle.
7. Gwyneth Paltrow
Actress | Shakespeare in Love
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of noted producer and director Bruce Paltrow and Tony Award-winning actress Blythe Danner. Her father was from a Jewish family, while her mother is of mostly German descent. When Gwyneth was eleven, the family moved to Massachusetts, where ...
Gwyneth seems to be getting quite a bit of heat from everyone lately, everyone practically screaming at each other "don't be a Gwyneth!" Personally, I think Gwyneth is a brilliant actress. You can find her as Virginia "Pepper" Potts in the MCU, as we'll as substitute teacher Holly Holiday on Glee and in the new movie Mortdecai starring Johnny Depp.
8. Elizabeth Gillies
Actress | Dynasty
Elizabeth Gillies (born July 26, 1993) is an American actress and singer. Shortly after her Broadway debut in the musical "13", she landed the role of Jade West in the hit Nickelodeon series, Victorious (2010). She soon started appearing on other Nickelodeon shows, most notably as the voice of ...
Liz has portrayed mean girl Jade West on the hit Nickelodeon comedy VicTORIous for its entirety and I hope to see her in some upcoming projects.
9. Robin Wright
Actress | Forrest Gump
Robin Gayle Wright was born in Dallas, Texas, to Gayle (Gaston), a national director at Mary Kay, and Freddie Wright, a pharmaceutical executive. She grew up in San Diego, California. She started her professional career as a model in 1980 at age 14, and worked both in Paris and Japan. After ...
Other than her current role in House of Cards, Robin has portrayed Princess Buttercup in the 1987 film The Princess Bride, Pippa in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, as well as the queen in Beowulf.
10. Kate McKinnon
Actress | Ghostbusters
Kathryn McKinnon Berthold (born January 6, 1984), known professionally as Kate McKinnon, is an American actress and comedienne, who is best known as a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live and The Big Gay Sketch Show, and for playing the role of Dr. Jillian Holtzmann in the 2016 Ghostbusters ...
Kate has been a regular cast member of Saturday Night Live for quite some time now and is set to star in the all new female Ghostbusters coming soon to cinemas.
11. Cecily Strong
Actress | Saturday Night Live
Cecily Strong was born on February 8, 1984 in Springfield, Illinois, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Saturday Night Live (1975), Schmigadoon! (2021) and Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016).
Cecily is also a current regular cast member of Saturday Night Live. I hope to see her in some productions soon.
12. Aidy Bryant
Actress | Saturday Night Live
Aidy Bryant was born on May 7, 1987 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Saturday Night Live (1975), Shrill (2019) and Human Resources (2022). She has been married to Conner O'Malley since April 28, 2018.
Aidy is a current regular cast member on Saturday Night Live.
13. Nasim Pedrad
Actress | Despicable Me 2
Nasim Pedrad (born November 18, 1981) is an American actress and comedian best known for her five seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live (1975) from 2009 to 2014. She has since gone on to co-star in sitcoms such as Mulaney (2014), Scream Queens (2015), People of Earth (2016), and New Girl ...
Nasim is an ex-SNL regular cast member.
14. Maya Rudolph
Actress | Bridesmaids
Maya Rudolph was born on July 27, 1972 in Gainesville, Florida, to Richard Rudolph, a music producer, and soul singer Minnie Riperton. Her mother was African-American and her father is Ashkenazi Jewish (from a family from Lithuania, Russia, Germany, and Hungary). In 1973, Maya, her parents, and her...
An SNL alumni, Maya has now starred in Up All Night starring Christina Applegate and Will Arnett and in the film Bridesmaids as Lilly.
15. Ellie Kemper
Actress | Bridesmaids
Ellie Kemper, born Elizabeth Claire Kemper on May 2, 1980, is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She is best-known for her role as "Erin Hannon" in the NBC series The Office (2005), as well as her supporting roles in the films Bridesmaids (2011) and 21 Jump Street (2012)). She plays the ...
Aside from being in the hit movie Bridesmaids, Ellie is also currently starring in the Netflix original series The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
16. Wendi McLendon-Covey
Actress | Bridesmaids
Actor, comedian and producer Wendi McLendon-Covey has been captivating audiences throughout her career.
Recently wrapping her 10-season run on "The Goldbergs" on ABC (for which she earned two Critic's Choice nominations), Wendi is jumping straight into another series. "St. Denis Medical" is a new ...
Wendi played distraught, foul-mouthed mother of three teenage boys in Bridesmaids, but can also be found in the ABC comedy The Goldberg's, a show written by Adam Goldberg about his life, as Betty Goldberg.
17. Bonnie Hunt
Actress | Jumanji
Bonnie Lynn Hunt is an American actress and comedienne who is known for her work in Rain Man, Beethoven, Jumanji, Jerry Maguire, The Green Mile and Cheaper by the Dozen. She voiced in the Disney films A Bug's Life, Zootopia, Monsters, Inc, Toy Story 3 and Cars. She was married to John Murphy but ...
Bonnie had her own self-titled talk show for a while. She also starred as the mom in Cheaper by the Dozen, co-starring Steve Martin, and its sequel.
18. Patricia Heaton
Actress | Everybody Loves Raymond
While studying acting in New York with drama teacher William Esper, Heaton made her Broadway debut in the gospel musical "Don't Get God Started." She and her fellow students then formed Stage Three, an acting company that produced plays Off-Broadway. They took one production, "The Johnstown ...
After her run as Deborah on Everybody Loves Raymond, Patricia landed the lead roll of Frankie Heck in the ABC comedy The Middle.
19. 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 ...
20. Elizabeth Banks
Actress | The Hunger Games
Elizabeth Banks was born Elizabeth Mitchell in Pittsfield, a small city in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts near the New York border, on February 10, 1974. She is the daughter of Anne Marie (Wallace), who worked in a bank, and Mark Phineas Mitchell, a factory worker. Elizabeth describes ...
21. Julie Bowen
Actress | Happy Gilmore
Julie Bowen was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the middle daughter of Suzanne and John Luetkemeyer Jr., a real estate developer. Her early education was at Calvert School in Baltimore, and Garrison Forest School, Maryland. She moved on to St. George's School, Rhode Island and then attended ...
22. 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 ...
23. Naya Rivera
Actress | Glee
Naya Rivera was an Afro-Latina American actress, model and singer known for playing Santana Lopez from Glee and Hillary Winston from The Royal Family. She also was in The Master of Disguise, Baywatch, CSI: Miami, American Dad, Batman: The Long Halloween Parts 1 and 2, Even Stevens and The Bernie ...
24. Lea Michele
Actress | Glee
Lea Michele Sarfati was born in the Bronx, New York to Edith Thomasina (Porcelli), a nurse, and Mark David Sarfati, a delicatessen owner-turned-real estate agent. Her mother is of Italian descent (from Rome and Naples), and her father is of Sephardi Jewish ancestry (from Turkey and Greece). Lea was...
25. Felicia Day
Self | The Official The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Podcast
Felicia Day was born on June 28, 1979 in Huntsville, Alabama, USA as Kathryn Felicia Day. She is an actress and producer, known for her work on TV and the web video world. She has appeared in mainstream television shows and films, including Supernatural (2005) and a two-season arc on the SyFy ...
26. Stana Katic
Actress | Castle
Stana Katic recently starred in the TV series, Absentia, streaming on Amazon. It's a thriller-drama produced by Sony Pictures Television. Upon debut it was one of Amazon's top-ten most popular programs.
Stana's feature film work includes, CBGB, Big Sur, The Spirit, Feast of Love, The Double and Bond...
27. Karen Gillan
Actress | Selfie
Karen Sheila Gillan was born and raised in Inverness, Scotland, as the only child of Marie Paterson and husband John Gillan, who is a singer and recording artist. She developed a love for acting very early on, attending several youth theatre groups and taking part in a wide range of productions at ...
28. Catherine Tate
Actress | The Catherine Tate Show
Catherine Tate is an English actress and comedian, primarily known for the role of Donna Noble in the "Doctor Who" franchise.
Tate was born as "Catherine Ford" during 1969, in Bloomsbury. Bloomsbury is a district of the London Borough of Camden, known as the home of several of London's museums, ...
29. Carol Kane
Actress | The Princess Bride
American stage, screen and television actress, and comedian Carol Kane (b. Carolyn Laurie Kane, June 18, 1952, in Cleveland, Ohio), was born to Elaine Joy (née Fetterman), a jazz singer and pianist, and Michael Myron Kane, an architect. Her family is Jewish (from Russia, Poland, and Austria). Due ...
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