the best actresses
 

there has been a worst actresses thread howabout one where we appreciate the good ones.

My favorites:
1. Helena Bonham Carter (has a new movie with guy pierce soon!)
2. Zhang Ziyi
3. Penelope Cruz
4. Marcia Gay Harden
5. Gwineth Paltrow
6. Carrie Fisher
8. Carrie ann moss
9. Sigorny Weaver
10. Jodie Foster

Best Actresses (alive & working)
my five favorite film performances listed below each name

1. Jessica Lange
Frances, Men Don't Leave, Blue Sky, Tootsie, Cape Fear
2. Sigorney Weaver
Death & the Maiden, A Map of the World, Gorillas in the Mist, The Year of Living Dangerously, Working Girl
3. Julie Christie
Far From the Madding Crowd, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Don't Look Now, Billy Liar, Heat & Dust
4. Jacqueline Bisset
Day for Night, Under the Volcano, Cul-de-Sac, Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?, Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills
5. Ellen Burstyn
Requiem for a Dream, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, The King of Marvin Gardens, Twice in a Lifetime, Resurrection
6. Julianne Moore
Safe, Vanya on 42nd Street, Boogie Nights, The Big Lebowski, Short Cuts
7. Frances McDormand
Fargo, Mississippi Burning, Almost Famous, Blood Simple, Short Cuts
8. Gena Rowlands
A Woman Under the Influence, Husbands, Love Streams, Minnie & Moscowitz, Another Woman
9. Meryl Streep
Silkwood, Sophie's Choice, Ironweed, Falling in Love, The Bridges of Madison County
10. Nicole Kidman
To Die For, Eyes Wide Shut, Dead Calm, The Others, Flirting


*and if you want to poke through THIS thread from a few months ago, some of us identified what we thought were the best acting performances of the 1990s.

Of the modern day actresses I think Frances McDormand and Julianne Moore do the most interesting work. Even though it would take a lot of courage to forgive Miss Moore for "Evolution".

I'm always at a loss when it comes to picking best actresses at Awards time. Very few good films are released with a female in the lead role. Julia Roberts is probably the only leading lady existing today. Demi is gone. Who else is there?

I'll admit I've rarely been blown away by a pretty female's performance. Oh God I'm a Chauvinistic pig. But I haven't. I either am completely preoccupied by their looks (JLH) or wondering who they had to sleep with to get into the industry (Denise Richards and Shannon Elizabeth).

Julianne Moore is considered attractive by some, but she doesn't float my boat so I'm able to see her performance which is most often good (Magnolia) to great (Big Lebowski). Frances McDormand, Jodie Foster, Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver, Gwyneth Paltrow should all be added to this list.

The only actress who ever completely blew me away was Melora Walters in Magnolia. I haven't been able to get her performance out of my head. Walters is very, very attractive but I completely forgot about her appearance and was able to see her character for what it was, a dishevelled, suicidal human being.

Melora Walters...the one who was out on a date with that John (is it C.?) Reilly? If so, then yeah, I was blown away by both of them. That was such an emotional sequence for some reason. I felt so sorry for them...I wanted to drag them to my house and have them sit down and eat with my family, and give them a nice, wholesome, happy place to live. :) That's a really weird feeling, I know...I feel that way when a character in a movie that I feel genuinely sorry for is miserable, or in some spiral of hardship/addiction/whatever.

I think Kidman, McDormand, and Carrie Anne-Moss are indeed three of the best around. I really get the impression Moss can be whatever she wants to...be it tough, delicate, or a subtle mix of the two. Kidman sold me on "The Others." She deserves some kind of Oscar recognition for that, IMO. McDorman is just so much fun for some reason. Like many, "Fargo" introduced me to her.

* Susan Sarandon
* Reese Witherspoon
* Cameron Diaz
* Frances McDormand
* Gwenth Paltrow
*Anette Benning
*Jennifer Connelly
* Carrie Ann Moss
* Juliette Binoche
* Julianne Moore
* Nichole Kidman
* Helena Bonham Carter ( I've liked her since she was doing all those period movies in the beginning of her career)