With the decade nearly over, and the fact that we can get a sense of who is committed to which projects through the end of 2009, we can safely evaluate the actresses of the 2000's. The reason I'm picking actresses instead of actors, is partially because actresses are easier to compare to each other since they get the same roles (romantic interests, daughters, sisters, mothers, feminist activists, monarchs named Elizabeth, etc.), and because actresses tend to be at the peak of their careers for shorter time periods (for example, the actresses of the 90's, Meg Ryan, Demi Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer are not really stars at all today).
The criteria:
-Being prolific, as in doing a lot of movies. If you have a number of hits and some misses along the way, you still get more exposure than someone who's been in very few movies and has won academy awards for two of them (Hillary Swank comes to mind)
-Being in good movies, of course
-Having Oscar noms/praised performances
-Having blockbuster potential, bonus points for hemming a major franchise
-Being in high demand
-Being present the whole decade. If you've only been hot since 2005 or 2006 like Amy Adams or Ellen Page, that's not really dominating the decade but rather 3 or 4 years.
The list:
1. Nicole Kidman
Kidman is one of the most prolific and visible actresses in Hollywood and if she has had any misfires, one has to credit her for taking so many chances and diving into them headfirst: She tackled romantic comedy with one of the most innovative writers in the genre with Nora Ephron, she immersed herself into the glitz and glamour of Baz Luhrmann, she teamed up with Sean Penn and Sidney Pollack to make a classic thriller, and took a chance with a controversial innovator in Lars von Trier even if she didn’t like it enough to stick around for the sequel. Some of Kidman's less-remembered roles this decade, such as that a trouble janitor who enters into May-December romance with a professor in The Human Stain or a UN translator in Sidney Pollack's thriller The Interpreter, are roles that might have been career highlights for other stars on this list.
Dossier:
Nationality: Australian
Best Role: Ada Monroe, Cold Mountain (highly subjective personal opinion on the part of the author)
Other Highlights: The Others, The Hours, The Cold Mountain, Dogville, Interpreter, Birth, Margot at the Wedding
Oscars: 1 (The Hours)
Oscar Noms this decade: 2 (Moulin Rouge, The Hours)
Golden Globe Noms: 4 (Birth, The Others, Moulin Rouge, Hours, Cold Mountain)
Blockbuster/Tent pole Credentials: Golden Compass if it spawns a sequel, Voice work in Happy Feet
Directorial Portfolio: Anthony Minghella, Baz Luhrmann, Stephen Daldry, Nora Ephron, Sidney Pollack, Lars von Trier
2. Cate Blanchett
Known primarily for playing Queen Elizabeth in the last decade, Blanchett never has exhibited much of a star persona but, like Kidman, she has been highly prolific and immersed herself in a tremendous variety of work. In the last three years alone, she appeared in seven wide release pictures, she has earned Oscar nominations for three of them. In addition, she has propelled two others to Oscar nominations for best picture. She also has a penchant for the quirky and experimental as shown for her willingness to embrace projects like Wes Anderson's Life Aquatic and Steve Soderbergh's The Good German.
Dossier:
Nationality: Australia
Best Role: Bob Dylan, I'm Not There
Oscars: 1 (Aviator)
Oscar Noms this decade: 4 (Aviator, I'm Not There, Elizabeth and the Golden Age, Notes on a Scandal)
Golden Globe Noms: 6 (Bandits, Veronica Guerin, Aviator, I’m Not There, Notes on a Scandal, Elizabeth and the Golden Age)
Blockbuster/Tentpole Credentials: Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones
Directorial Portfolio: Steve Soderbergh, Steve Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Ron Howard, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Peter Jackson, Todd Haynes, Shekhar Kapur, David Fincher, Barry Levinson
3. Meryl Streep- The preeminent actress of our era. Twelve nominations into her career, Streep is still capable of surprising audiences with new facets of herself, which is simply amazing. This decade, she's transformed into a stoic uberboss, a quaint country singer, and a sexually adventurous middle-aged writer.
Dossier:
Nationality-American
Best Role: Susan Orlean, Adaptation
Oscar Nominations: 3 (Adaptation, The Devil Wears Prada, Doubt)
Golden Globe Noms: 5 (Adaptation, The Hours, Devil Wears Prada, Manchurian Candidate, Doubt)
Blockbuster Credentials: Adventures of Lemony Snicket
Directorial Portfolio: Johnathan Demme, Rob Altman, Tom Daldry, Spike Jonze, Robert Redford
4. Kate Winslet- Winslet was in the biggest blockbuster of all time, and has done an excellent job in the 2000's of making audiences forget the name Rose Bukater and remember the name Kate Winslet instead. She's earned three more Oscar nominations to become the youngest actress to earn five Oscar nominations, and finally goaded the Academy into giving her an Oscar through sheer perseverance with her role of Hannah Schmidt in The Reader. If that wasn't enough she also swept the Golden Globes acting categories with a win as April Wheeler in Revolutionary Road in addition to The Reader.
Dossier:
Nationality-GBR
Best Role: Hanna Schmitz, The Reader
Oscars: 1 (The Reader)
Oscar Noms: 4 (Iris, Little Children, Eternal Sunshine, The Reader)
Blockbuster/Tentpole Credentials: Winslet isn't exclusively high-brow, but she doesn't have any big blockbusters to her name this decade.
Directors-Michel Gondry, Sam Mendes, Todd Field, Marc Forster
5. Rene Zellweger
Ideal in romantic comedies or as a dramatic love interest, Zellweger has also expanded to roles of independent women with roles in Miss Potter, Cold Mountain and Bridget Jones. She scored three successive Oscar nominations with Bridget Jones, Chicago, and Cold Mountain, and with her performances in Cinderella Man and Miss Potter, was a a threat to be present in the Oscar race pretty much every year she had a major film.
Dossier:
Nationality-American
Best Role: Roxie Hart, Chicago
Oscars: 1 (Cold Mountain)
Oscar Noms: 3 (Bridget Jones Diary, Chicago, Cold Mountain)
Golden Globe Noms: 6 (Nurse Betty, Bridget Jones Diary, Chicago, Cold Mtn, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Miss Potter)
Blockbuster/Tentpole Credentials: Bee Movie, Bridget Jones spurned a sequel
Directorial Portfolio: Rob Marshall, Anthony Minghella, Ron Howard, Neil LaBute, George Clooney
6. Reese Witherspoon
Her output is more limited than some of the girls on the list but she has been America's sweetheart since breaking out in Legally Blonde and following up with favorable romantic comedy Sweet Home in Alabama. She also is in high demand judging by the 15 million dollar paycheck she's been commanding. Most importantly, she took her sweetheart charm and turned it into a nuanced performance in one of the best performances of the decade in Walk the Line.
Best Role: June Carter Cash, Walk the Line
Nationality-American
Oscars: 1
Oscar Noms: 1 (Walk the Line)
Golden Globe Noms: 1 (Walk the Line)
Blockbuster/Tentpole Credentials: Legally Blonde spawned a sequel
Directorial Portfolio: James Mangold, Mira Nair
7. Judi Dench
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Proving that old age and an unwillingness to wear your hair in a feminine manner are not barriers, Dench continues to corner the market on juicy veteran roles and has managed to score four Oscar nominations this decade. While none of her Oscar-nominated roles were popular films at the box office, she gets exposure through playing M in the James Bond series. She also appeared in the critically acclaimed Pride and Prejudice.
Dossier:
Nationality: England
Best Role: Barbara Covet, Notes on a Scandal
Oscars: 0
Oscar Noms: 4 (Iris, Notes on a Scandal, Chocolat, Mrs. Henderson Presents)
Golden Globe Noms: 3 (Iris, Notes on a Scandal, Mrs Henderson Presents)
Blockbuster/Tentpole Credentials: James Bond, the unsuccessful Chronicles of Riddick
Directorial Portfolio: Stephen Frears, Martin Campbell, Lasse Hollstrom, Joe Wright, Rob Marshall
8. Scarlett Johannson
It is hard to even fathom how only five years after breaking out in Lost in Translation, Scarlett Johannson has amassed a lifetime of great performances to date. She's been in The Prestige, The Other Boleyn Girls, Match Point, Girl with a Pearl Earring, a Love Song for Bobby Long, and has even had time left over for a hearty romantic comedy like In Good Company or a sci-fi thriller like The Island. Even before breaking out in Lost in Translation, she managed to steal scenes in films like Man who Wasn't There and Ghost World. Due to category confusion (was she supporting or lead for Lost in Translation?), that career-affirming Oscar nomination eludes her but she's got plenty of time to accumulate more accolades. She also has a BAFTA (British version of the Oscars) to her name for Lost in Translation.
Dossier:
Nationality-USA
Best Role: Charlotte, Lost in Translation
Oscar Noms: 0
Golden Globe Noms: 4 (Lost in Translation, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Love Song for Bobby Long, Match Point)
Blockbuster/Tentpole Credentials-None
Directorial Portfolio-Paul & Chris Weicz, Woody Allen, Sofia Coppola, Christopher Nolan, Brian de Palma, Joel & Ethan Coen, Frank Miller, Phillip Noyce
9. Julia Roberts
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The biggest starlett in Hollywood last decade has slowed down a little bit this decade. She's considered herself semi-retired and usually enters into projects because of her friendships with Brad Pitt, Steve Soderbergh, Mike Nichols or George Clooney, which doesn't make her particularly bankable as a star any more. At the same time, she's still Julia Roberts and generates a lot of buzz whenever she does decide to do a film, such as Charlie Wilson's War this past December.
Dossier:
Best Role: Erin Brockovitch, Erin Brockovitch
Nationality-USA
Oscars: 1 (Erin Brockovitch)
Oscar Noms: 1
Golden Globe Noms: 2 (Erin Brockovitch, Charlie Wilson’s War)
Blockbuster/Tentpole Credentials: Ocean's 11 series
Directors: Stephen Soderbergh, George Clooney, Mike Nicholls, Gore Verbinski,
10. Julianne Moore
Moore is usually attracted to only the classiest material, and sometimes these films, like Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio and Freedomland, are films that the general movie going public is rarely even aware of. In some case, however, like Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men and the Oscar-nominated The Hours, magic has struck and her profile has been upped significantly as a result. Breaks into more lightweight material such as Laws of Attraction or Next have also helped as well.
Dossier:
Nationality-American
Best Role: Far From Heaven
Oscars: 0
Oscar Noms: 2 (Far From Heaven, The Hours)
Golden Globe Noms: 1 (Far From Heaven)
Blockbuster/Tentpole Credentials: Hannibal, Next
Directors-Todd Haynes, Ridley Scott, Stephen Daldry, Alfonso Cuaron
11. Naomi Watts-
With her ability to slip into and out of accents and an on/off switch with which she can bring out intensity, Watts is simply too talented to be anything but an A-list actor for long. Her performance in Mullholland Drive was one of the most notorious Oscar snubs of the decade. Two years later, she earned a well-deserved nomination in 21 Grams and a couple years later, she turned a role that nearly derailed Jessica Lange's career in a third-time remake into Oscar bait, in King Kong. She often adds a lot to films in supporting roles like Eastern Promises or I Heart Huckabees and more often than notn goes unnoticed.
Best Role: Mullholland Drive
Nationality: Australia
Oscars: 0
Oscar Noms: 1 (21 Grams)
Golden Globe Noms: 0
Blockbuster/Tentpole Credentials: King Kong
Directorial Portfolio-Ron Howard, David Lynch, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, David Cronenberg, Peter Jackson, Gore Verbinski, Woody Allen, James Ivory
12. Charlize Theron
The Charlize Theron story is a dream come true for every B and C-lister out there with hopes of turning into an A-lister overnight. With Monster (2003), she landed that one juicy role and turned it into the performance of a lifetime. The Academy treats the best actress race like a coronation of Tinseltown's homecoming queen and more than in any other race, there is a hesitancy to give it to someone who hasn't paid her dues, but Theron was too good to deny. She later proved that she wasn't a one-hit wonder by scoring another Oscar nod in North Country and has picked up parts in Paul Haggis' In the Valley of Elah and the ambitious-if-not-misguided blockbuster Hancock in the last two years.
Best Film: Aileen, Monster
Nationality: South Africa
Oscars: 1
Oscar Noms: 2 (Monster, North Country)
Golden Globe Noms: 1 (Monster)
Tentpole/Blockbuster Credentials: An unsuccessful attempt with Aeon Flux, coming up Hancock
Directors: Robert Redford, Nikki Cairo, Woody Allen, Paul Haggis, John Frankenheimmer
13. Helen Mirren- The first woman over the age of 40 to win a best actress Oscar since Susan Sorandon, Helen Mirren had a big career hit with her role in The Queen and won a second golden globe for playing Queen Elizabeth I in the same year. In addition, she had a nod for Godsford Park and a role in Calender Girls. The actress was most visible on screen in the 1970's and 80's with roles in The Long Goodbye, a Midsummer Night's Dream, Calligula, Excalibur, and Mosquito Coast. With the exception of her Oscar-nominated role for The Madness of King Goerge, the actress was more visible onstage and in the British miniseries Prime Suspect.
Best Role: Queen Elizabeth II, The Queen
Nationality: GBR
Oscars: 1
Oscar Noms: 2 (The Queen, Godsford Park)
Golden Globe Noms: 3 (The Queen, Godsford Park, Calender Girls)
Tentpole/Blockbuster Credentials: National Treasure 2
Directorial Portfolio: Stephen Frears, Rob Altman, Taylor Hackford, Sean Penn
14. Keira Knightley
When she was cast in Pirates of the Carribean, little-known Keira Knightley might have been destined to be the female love interest in a swashbuckling epic, but as she held her own against Orlando Bloom and Jonny Depp, she gradually became the center of the story herself (and for that matter, the only remotely interesting character onscreen in the disastrous third installment of the trilogy). Rather than ride the kind of fame that one gets from being in a billion dollar trilogy into a string of roles in romantic comedies, Knightly went for more high brow material, scoring a nod for Pride and Prejudice and starring in an Oscar-nominated film with Atonement.
Best Role: Elizabeth Bennett, Pride and Prejudice
Nationality: England
Oscars: 0
Oscar Noms: 1 (Pride and Prejudice)
Golden Globe Noms: 2 (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice)
Tentpole/Blockbuster Credentials: Pirates of the Caribbean
Directorial Portfolio: Joe Wright, Gore Verbinski
15. Jennifer Connelly- Like Watts, Connelly is so talented that it was only a matter of time before she became an A-list actress, won an Oscar or both. She got an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind but it could have just as well been for A House of Sand and Fog, she regularly appears in highly respected films such as Requiem for a Dream, Little Children, and Blood Diamond and even her unremarkable genre films like Open Water and Ang Lee's Hulk are capable of drawing attention solely because her name is on the marquis.
Best Role: Kathy, House of Sand and Fog
Nationality: USA
Oscars: 1 (A Beautiful Mind)
Oscar Noms: 1
Golden Globe Noms: 1
Blockbuster/Tentpole Credentials: A failed attempt at The Hulk, a commercially successful but critically panned Day the Earth Stood Still
Directors: Ron Howard, Ed Zwick, Todd Fields, Ang Lee, Darren Aronofsky, Terry George
For the 10 runners-up, check the slideshow below:
Comments
You forgot mention the amazing work Moore did in Boogie Nights and Magnolia with PT Anderson
Meryl Streep was recently nominated for Doubt, but the list fails to mention that. This should change her positioning, no?
Kidman's best role was in Cold Mountain, one of the most unintentionally hilarious films ever made and a huge strike against the careers of all(including Renee Zellweger's ridiculous Oscar-winning turn)involved? I'd be going with Birth, a far more daring choice in a fascinating film.
Keira Knightley and Natalie Portman but no Diane Lane, Parker Posey or Catherine Keener? Hmmm...
Do you even know who Meryl Streep is? Oscars - zero? I dont think so. Try her page on IMDB or wikipedia. Maybe do some research before you write your next article.
Meryl has WON 2 oscars, a best supporting oscar for Kramer vs Kramer in 1980 and a Best Actress Oscar for Sophie's choice in 1982 and you missed a few of her nominated other perfomances, do some research pal!!!!
Guys and gals, I do believe his Oscar nominations are listed specifically in regard to this decade. Still some wrong perhaps but that's explains the core of it.
Great spelling guy. What's an actreese?
Are you talking about how many Oscars/nominations/performances THIS decade? because Kate the Great has had six in her lifetime and you mention that yourself. This article looks like it was written at two in the morning.
Anyway, as much as Nicole Kidman's greatest role was Grace in Dogville, no hating on Cold Mountain, y'all.
Sad, you only have one woman of color, Halle Berry, goes to show the sad state of entertainment when women of color are marginalized and made invisible, even in this medium.
I stopped reading once I saw Nicole Kidman. Your first 2 examples are "Bewitched" and "The Golden Compass" (which you somehow consider a blockbuster? It flopped.)
what the hell is this list has this guy ever seen a movie before?
yeah you obviously have a thing for kidman because she is easily the least successful box office success, A lister you have up there, yet you put her in the number one spot... that makes NO sense at all...
scarjo never worked with the coens. there were plenty more flaws i found but i forget them. do some research first.
**correction to my previous statment, i forgot about the man who wasnt there. either way there were other misses.
I completely agree with your list - it would actually be identical with mine!!
With the exception of Reese Witherspoon and Scartlett Johansson...
Either way, Nicole Kidman is definitely the best actress of the decade, in my opinion, with Cate and Meryl tight behind.
Ahhh, cannot wait to see new Kidman films next year!
Tilda Swinton is out of this list!
I just can't believe it!!
From "blockbusters" like Constantine or The Chronicles of Narnia, to the Cohen's Burn After Reading and Gilroy's Michael Clayton, this English femme has everything to be in this list!! Shame you Examiner
i just have one thing to say - kiera knightly is a good actress as long as the script is good and there isnt to many special effects going on around her. She was great in pride and prejudice as well as atonement but fades in comparison to the rest of the cast in pirates of the caribbean. She is by far not the most interesting character there. Jack sparrow is the heart and soul of the movies, without him they are just another pirates franchise movie- Plus two and three sucked, two had one good chapter. One on the other hand was a great movie
you're a fool if you left off angelina jolie
@Bryan:
They obviously only considered nominations and Oscars of the 2000's (i.e. no Oscar nomination and no blockbuster cred for Kate in Titanic, no Oscar nom for Blanchett in Elizabeth or no Golden Globe nom for Reese in Election) so your argument that they didn't do research about Meryl doesn't work.
Still, I have to say that Reese was nominated for Election in 2000 (OK, the movie is from 1999, so I don't know if that counts)but regardless of that, her Golden Globe nom for Legally Blonde (2001) was an omission for sure.
Great list btw, although Natalie would be a bit higher on my list :)
Missing Uma Thurman and Tilda Swinton.
Overall good list.
Hey, I wrote the article and I picked Kidman because I was looking at the whole decade. Obviously, she's a little less hot right now because Australia wasn't a particularly big hit but when she was racking in nomination after nomination for Moulin Rouge, Hours, Dogville, and Birth, she's established a combination of star power and output. When I wrote the article, Winslet hadn't yet won the Oscar and I have to admit she's rapidly climbing. Cold Mountain propelled Jude Law to six starring roles the following year and I don't think Rene has had a loss of work over the years. The movie has its detractors including Michael but so does every film and while it didn't get an Oscar nomination, it had other accolades going for it. Golden Compass was a failure because it wasn't a good movie, but it performed well for a tent pole pictures released in the first weekened of. Golden Compass came in #1 and earned $25 million dollars opening weekend which is better than Last Samurai, Die Another Day, Four Christmases and Apocolypto which were all released in that the same weekend. Of course, the film was a dud and it dropped 68% the next weekend, but star power is about attracting people into the theaters. Actresses like Cate Blanchett, Julia Roberts, Scarlett Johannson and Julianne Moore are highly prolific and come up with a dud here or there and I didn't fault them for that in my system.
In hindsight, I regret declaring Kidman's best role Ada Monroe.
As for actresses that got left off:
Parker Posey is where my #23 pick Maggie Gyllenhall is without something like Dark Knight to her filmography. She's not well-known enough to mainstream audiences yet, and while she starred in Superman Returns, the movie wsan't seen by enough people (despite earning $200 million dollars). Besides, her biggest most widely seen films (Superman Returns, You've Got Mail) are also her least remarkable roles. She never even attempted to steal the show from Kevin Spacey or Tom Hanks the way she does in Chris Guest's mockumentaries.
Catherine Keener is a supporting actress through and through and was a barely known commodity until 2005 when she had supporting roles in so many high-profile films (Capote, Interpreter, and 40-Year Old Virgin) that awards-giving bodies like the National Board of Review were forced to notice her. The other reason I omitted Catherine Keener is I'm looking at actresses who have been present for the whole time, and her filmography before 2005 consists of some of the most forgettable films of all-time: Death to Smoochy, S1m0ne and Full Frontal.
To the person who argued for Tilda Swinton, I like her tremendously but she's only really been notable for Michael Clayton and her role in Burn After Reading which was a carbon copy of Michael Clayton. I'm going for the whole decade, and Swinton hasn't really been well-known until Chronicles of Narnia, which I must point out was not a star vehicle so much as it was a book adaptation. She broke out and made a name for herself in that film, she's been relatively new. I haven't seen Alexander but I know off the top of my head that the leads in that film are Angelina Jolie and Colin Farrell. This is a biopic centered around a male character. Is she the second female lead in that film? How distinguished and memorable of a role could that possibly be. I'm willing to bet that people are only looking at Stinson's filmography and if they are noting her good work in Alexander, it's only in retrospect.
Uma Thurman was notable for the Kill Bill series and was in Prime earning raves for the former. Now that I look her up on imdb, she's apparently been pretty prolific but I personally haven't even heard of many of the films she's been in such as Vatel, Golden Bowl, Tape, Chelsea Walls, and The Accidental Husband. Did anyone else miss the newspaper and movie advertisements for these films? To the degree that this stuff is subjective, whoever suggested must come from a part of the world where her films got a lot more press. The Accidental Husband has a UK release date listed on imdb. From what I know, I personally see very little that merits mention of Thurman beyond the Kill Bill series.
Diane Lane could make the tail end on someone else's list, I might concede. I would argue that she hurt herself by not following up her Oscar-nominated role in Unfaithful with a hit (same problem Halle Berry had which moved her down on the list).
list is ok i guess.. profile wise you have to put kidman high.. but the fact that you actually think she's any good worries me.
same goes for scarjo and keira.. yet you exclude angelina (the best of the actresses who are over-rated because of their beauty - she actually has some talent) and have judi dench? Iris and notes on a scandal i'll give ya, but they were in the first half of the decade and even they werent that big.. she's just coasting on past success.. certainly not top 15 material.. and im a brit!!
jennifer connelly???
......
Jennifer connelly?
.... i dont get that at all. Natalie Portman should be there instead of her.
Congrats for keeping A. Jolie off, she couldn't act her way out of a paper bag.
Should have kept Julia Roberts off for the same reason
You missed Judi Dench's Oscar that she won playing Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love
who wrote this? you got a ton of information wrong
Natalie Portman and Anjelina Jolie are on the list at 16 and 25 respectively
Thank you for reading everyone!
ughh I hate to make a correction for such a lame movie..but the title is Sweet Home Alabama...not Sweet Home in Alabama. I love Nicole Kidman but she has far more hits than misses in the last few years. The last hit she had was Happy Feet and I can imagine that most of the people that saw that didn't do so because Nicole Kidman was in it.
"Golden Compass if it spawns a sequel" Seriously? Do you pay attention to box office numbers at all? According to imdb.com, the movie earned about $100 million less than it cost to make. I think that Nicole Kidman is a very good actress, however based on your criteria and lack of research into what constitutes a box office hit, this list is bunk.
I won't bother commenting about the fact that you've listed some of these actress' "best" movies as, in actuality, some of their worst.
What I will comment on is the fact that you need to find a new editor; you've spelled several of these fine ladies' names wrong!
"movie fan says:
scarjo never worked with the coens. there were plenty more flaws i found but i forget them. do some research first."
Uh, she did actually, in The Man Who Wasn't There.
Nicole Kidman over Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep? If the writer had included career shrewdness in his criteria, she might not even be on the list.
@Sueff
thats the problem with this list, yes they are about this decade but it shouldnt mean whatever accomplishments that happend prior reguardless of the year or decade shouldnt be left off especially for someone like Meryl Streep. so my argument stands and this article blows!
I can't believe Sigourney Weaver is not on this list. She still gets great roles and works a lot.
I don't like it, because Keira is the 14 spot, she should be in the top ten and maybe top 5. She is a much more important star than Johanssen. Scarlet Johansen, Naomi Wats and Jennifer Conelly are out of place. Their sites should be supl by Kinghtley, Aniston and Weisz
I would agree, Nicole Kidman would be my No.1 I'd also agree that hindsight is 20/20 and Ada Munroe is not her best role. That honor goes for her portrayal of Anna in "Birth". Two words to describe that performance: simply stunning.
Cate Blanchett is the first. She is the best actress of her generation. And her movies are better than Nicole's movies. Cate have more awards too, and is versatile.
Cate, the Great.
Absolutely right!!!I agree with this list.I love Nicole Kidman,and i think she is the best actress in her generation,She has won the oscar awards in 2003,and she is very popular in the world in the decade!!!!She is a real superstar.And this year nic's fan all expecting her profermance in 'nine' and Rabbit Hole.MUST be wonderful!!!!
I admire her!!!She is NO?1!!!!
Agreed on the list. They are the most versatile actresses in the world.
For a fact-based discussion: The Golden Compass made US$372 million worldwide (budget is 180m). C'mon, be fair.
hilary swank??? two oscars!!!!!
What a bad list are you Blind . No way should Nicole Kidman be number 1. Thats a joke. Wake up.
What? Natalie Portman over Jennifer Connelly? Natalie Portman is the worst actress on this entire list. Incredibly overrated. Jennifer Connelly, I believe should be even higher but a very good list in general.
funny how all of those actressess are freaking WHITE!
i respect the list and your picks but i don't agree with it.
In my opinion half of these actresses don't captivate me like the classics(bette,joan,etc.Some of them are good but scarlet,julia and renee all i see is them walking the red carpet.
In my opinion all of them have thier own acting ability weather we are agree or not.The truth is all of actresses all vye for th same thing an oscar.Once they get that they don't have the drive or the ambition to act thier best anymore.It's all about who commands high salary as in the case of resse,renee,anglina,julia,etc
It's you're opinion but nicole,julia,renee,reese HELL NO.all of them are good in thier own terrible way.I pray to god that actual captivating actresses come around soon who dont have to show body parts or act sluty to makeup for thier lack of talent.
I definitely agree with the top 4, but I'm not sure about the rest. I would put quite a few of the actresses on there, but not as low or high as they are. Like Helen Mirren and Naomi Watts are ranked too low for me. I don't think it should just be about Oscar wins/nominations either since Watts only had one nomination, but gave one of the decade's best performances with "Lost Highway" which should count more imo than an Oscar. Also, Scar Jo probably shouldn't be on here since she started with great momentum this decade, but had miss after miss it seemed after that. Even when she was in a good movie like "Vicky/Cristina Barcelona", imo, she was still the worst thing about it. That reminds me no Penelope Cruz. She definitely should be on here. I'd also take CZ-J and Halle Berry out because one iconic role probably shouldn't get her included over the likes of a Michelle Williams, Amy Adams, or Samantha Morton.
Also forgot to add that I don't think a lot of these actresses on the list actually dominated the whole decade, which is why I would be okay with an Amy Adams being on the list over CZ-J since she started out strong, but her career really fizzled out since her Oscar win. At least Adams is still going strong now, minus "Leap Year", and being hot from the midpoint of the decade is still better than CZ-J's run from "Traffic" to "Chicago".
Also while I agree that being demand should be a critieria, I'm not sure if one should get credit for helming a successful franchises since that leads to bad movies like "Bewitched".
i think that meryl streep is the greatest actress of ours or any time and in this generation her precedors are definitely kidman, blanchett and winslet. judi dench is an acting god.
it is all about turns in your career and how you handle them.
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