25 most successful actresses of the decade

March 6, 10:41 PMDC Film Industry ExaminerOrrin K.

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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

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

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: