1.
Lillian Gish
Actress, The
Night of the Hunter
Lillian Diana Gish was born on October 14, 1893 in Springfield,
Ohio. Her father James Lee Gish was an alcoholic who caroused
around, was rarely at home and left the family to more or less
to fend for themselves. To help make ends meet, Lillian, her
sister Dorothy
Gish and their
mother Mary
Gish a.k.a...
2.
Edna Purviance
Actress, The
Kid
Edna Purviance began working as a stenographer in San Francisco. Charles
Chaplin invited
her to join him at Essanay Studio in 1915, the year of her film
debut in Chaplin's His Night Out. Over the next seven years she
appeared as his leading lady in over 20 Chaplin films made by
Essanay, Mutual, and First National...
4.
Gloria Swanson
Actress, Sunset
Blvd.
Gloria Swanson went to public schools in Chicago; Key West,
Florida; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her film debut was as an
extra in The
Fable of Elvira and Farina and the Meal Ticket. From the
following year on, she had leading roles in pictures for
Keystone, then a year with Triangle, and, in 1919, a contract
with Cecil
B. DeMille. DeMille transformed her from a typicalMack
Sennett comedienne
into a lively...
5.
Marlene Dietrich
Soundtrack, Witness
for the Prosecution
Marie Magdelene Dietrich von Losch (aka Marlene) was born in
Berlin, Germany on December 27, 1901. Her father was an army
officer who had served in the Franco-Prussian War. Because of
his constant absences from the family due to his army duties,
Marlene and the rest had to rely on themselves. When he died...
“ A German actress with significant roles in American films,
including Morocco, The
Scarlet Empress, Angel, Touch
of Evil,Witness
for the Prosecution and Judgment
at Nuremberg ” -
minalex
6.
Ginger Rogers
Actress, Top
Hat
Ginger Rogers was born Virginia Katherine McMath in
Independence, Missouri on July 16, 1911. Her mother, known as
Lelee, went to Independence to have Ginger away from her
husband. She had a baby earlier in their marriage and he allowed
the doctor to use forceps and the baby died. She was kidnapped
by her father several times until her mother took him to
court...
7.
Paulette Goddard
Actress, Modern
Times
Pauline Marion Goddard Levy was born in Whitestone Landing, New
York, on 3 June 1910. She was a beautiful child who began to
model for local department stores before she made her debut with
Florenz Ziegfeld's Follies at the age of 13. For three years she
astounded audiences with her talent. She married Edgar James
when she was 15...
8.
Sylvia Sidney
Actress, Sabotage
Sylvia Sidney was born in New York City, in the Bronx borough,
on August 8, 1910 with the birth name of Sophia Kosow. Her
father was Russian born and her mother was born in Romania. They
divorced not long after her birth. Her mother subsequently
remarried and Sylvia was adopted by her stepfather, Sigmund
Sidney...
9.
Judy Garland
Soundtrack, The
Wizard of Oz
One of the brightest, most tragic movie stars of Hollywood's
Golden Era, Judy
Garland was a
much-loved character whose warmth and spirit, along with her
rich and exuberant voice, kept theatre-goers entertained with an
array of delightful musicals. She was born Frances Ethel Gumm on
10 June 1922 in Minnesota...
10.
Vivien Leigh
Actress, Gone
with the Wind
If a film were made of the life of Vivien Leigh, it would open
in India just before World War I, where a successful British
businessman could live like a prince. In the mountains above
Calcutta, a little princess is born. Because of the outbreak of
World War I, she is six years old the first time her parents
take her to England...
“ A British actress with significant roles in American films,
including Gone
with the Wind, A
Streetcar Named Desire andShip
of Fools ” -
minalex
11.
Maureen O'Hara
Actress, Miracle
on 34th Street
In America, the early performing arts accomplishments of young
Maureen FitzSimons (who we know as Maureen O'Hara) would
definitely have put her in the child prodigy category. However,
for a child of Irish heritage surrounded by gifted parents and
family, these were very natural traits. Maureen made her
entrance into this caring haven on August 17...
12.
Claire Trevor
Actress, Stagecoach
Claire Trevor was born Claire Wemlinger in the Bensonhurst
section of Brooklyn, the only child of Fifth Avenue
merchant-tailor Noel Wemlinger, an immigrant Frenchmen from
Paris who lost his business during the Depression, and his
Belfast-born wife Betty. Trevor's interest in acting began when
she was 11 years old...
13.
Katharine Hepburn
Actress, Bringing
Up Baby
Born May 12, 1907 in Hartford, Connecticut, she was the daughter
of a doctor and a suffragette, both of whom always encouraged
her to speak her mind, develop it fully, and exercise her body
to its full potential. An athletic tomboy as a child, she was
also very close to her brother, Tom, and was devastated at age
14 to find him dead...
14.
Barbara Stanwyck
Actress, Double
Indemnity
Today Barbara Stanwyck is remembered primarily as the matriarch
of the family known as the Barkleys on the TV western The
Big Valley, wherein she played Victoria, and from the hit
drama The
Colbys. But she was known to millions of other fans for her
movie career, which spanned the period from 1927 until 1964...
15.
Anne Baxter
Actress, All
About Eve
Anne Baxter was born in Michigan City, Indiana, on May 7, 1923.
She was the daughter of a salesman and his wife, Catherine, who
herself was the daughter of Frank
Lloyd Wright, the world-renowned architect. Anne was a young
girl of 11 when her parents moved to New York City, which at
that time was still the hub of the entertainment industry even
though the film colony was moving west...
16.
Ingrid Bergman
Actress, Casablanca
Born in Stockholm, Sweden, on August 29, 1915 - Ingrid Bergman
was one of the greatest actresses from Hollywood's lamented
Golden Era. Her natural and unpretentious beauty and her immense
acting talent made her one of the most celebrated figures in the
history of American cinema. Bergman is also one of the most
Oscar-awarded actresses, second only to Katharine
Hepburn...
“ A Swedish actress with significant roles in American films,
including Casablanca, For
Whom the Bell Tolls, Gaslight,Spellbound and Notorious. ” -
minalex
17.
Jennifer Jones
Actress, The
Song of Bernadette
When Jennifer Jones arrived in Hollywood in 1939, she still
called herself Phylis Isley. Her face and especially her eyes
drew the attention of the producer David
O. Selznick, who did not only allow her a great career but
also fell in love with her and finally married Jennifer Jones in
1949. For her role in The
Song of Bernadette...
18.
Rita Hayworth
Actress, Gilda
Margarita Carmen Cansino was born on October 17, 1918, in
Brooklyn, New York, into a family of dancers. Her father,
Eduardo was a dancer as was his father before him. He emigrated
from Spain in 1913. Rita's mother met Eduardo in 1916 and were
married the following year. Rita, herself, studied as a dancer
in order to follow in her family's footsteps...
19.
Lauren Bacall
Actress, The
Big Sleep
Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924,
in New York City. Her parents were middle-class, with her father
working as a salesman and her mother as a secretary. They
divorced when she was five. When she was a school girl, Lauren
originally wanted to be a dancer, but later, she became
enthralled with acting...
20.
Joanne Dru
Actress, She
Wore a Yellow Ribbon
The daughter of a West Virginia druggist, Joanne Dru came to New
York in 1940. In New York she worked as a model and was cast by Al
Jolson as one of
the showgirls in his Broadway play "Hold Onto Your Hats." When
the show closed in 1941, she married popular singer Dick
Haymes and went
with him to Hollywood...
21.
Bette Davis
Actress, All
About Eve
Her parents divorced when she was young. In her first year of
high school, she gave up dance for acting. After a little time
in John Murray Anderson's acting school, she was in the
off-Broadway play "The Earth Between" (1923). Her Broadway debut
in 1929 was in "Broken Dishes". Late in 1930, on a six-month
Universal contract...
22.
Shelley Winters
Actress, Lolita
Shelley Winters was born Shirley Schrift of very humble
beginnings on August 18, 1920 (some sources list 1922) in East
St. Louis, Illinois. Her father moved the family to Brooklyn
when she was still young so that he, a tailor's cutter, could
find steadier work closer to the city's garment industry....
23.
Audrey Hepburn
Actress, Breakfast
at Tiffany's
Audrey Hepburn was born on May 4, 1929 in Brussels, Belgium. She
was a blue-blood from the beginning; her mother was a Dutch
baroness, and her father, who was of English and Austrian
descent, worked in business. After her parents divorced, Audrey
went to London with her mother where she went to a private girls
school...
“ A British actress with significant roles in American films,
including Roman
Holiday, Breakfast
at Tiffany's, The
Nun's Story, Charade, My
Fair Lady, Robin
and Marian and Always. ” -
minalex
24.
Deborah Kerr
Actress, The
King and I
Deborah Kerr was born on 30 September 1921 in Helensburgh,
Scotland, the daughter of Captain Arthur Kerr-Trimmer. She was
educated at Northumberland House, Clifton, Bristol. She first
performed at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London. She
subsequently performed with the Oxford Repertory Company
1939-40...
“ And another British actress with significant roles in
American films, including Quo
Vadis, Julius
Caesar, From
Here to Eternity,An
Affair to Remember and The
Gypsy Moths. ” -
minalex
25.
Grace Kelly
Actress, Rear
Window
In the summer of 1954, Grace Kelly and Cary
Grant were on the
French Riviera working on an Alfred
Hitchcock movie, To
Catch a Thief. It was probably the scene after she speeds
along the Moyen Corniche to quickly get to the "picnic grounds",
and away from a tailing police car, that she had time to look at
the Mediterranean and the countryside along the coast...
26.
Ava Gardner
Actress, The
Killers
Ava Lavina Gardner was born on December 24, 1922 in Grabtown,
North Carolina, to Mary Elizabeth (née Baker) and Jonas Bailey
Gardner. Born on a tobacco farm, where she got her lifelong love
of earthy language and going barefoot, Ava grew up in the rural
South. At age 18, her picture in the window of her brother-in-
law's New York photo studio brought her to the attention of
MGM...
27.
Elizabeth Taylor
Actress, Giant
Elizabeth Taylor is considered one of the last, if not the last
major star, to have come out of the old Hollywood studio system.
And not just any studio, the top of the heap: MGM. Her early
movies, as a child in the early 1940s, starred such Hollywood
luminaries as Orson
Welles and Spencer
Tracy...
28.
Patricia Neal
Actress, Breakfast
at Tiffany's
Patricia Neal, the Oscar- and Tony Award-winning actress, was
born Patricia Louise Neal in Packard, Kentucky. Her father
managed a coal mine and her mother was the daughter of the town
doctor. She grew up in Knoxville, where she attended high
school. She was first bit by the acting bug at the age of 10...
29.
Janet Leigh
Actress, Psycho
Janet Leigh was born Jeanette Helen Morrison on July 6, 1927 in
Merced, California. She was the only child of a couple who often
moved from town to town. Living in apartments, Jeanette was a
bright child who skipped several grades and finished high school
when she was 15. A lonely child, she would spend much of her
time at movie theaters...
30.
Leslie Caron
Actress, Gigi
French ballet dancer Leslie Caron was discovered by the
legendary MGM star Gene
Kelly during his
search for a co-star in one of the finest musicals ever filmed,
the Oscar-winning An
American in Paris, which was inspired by and based on the
music of George
Gershwin. Leslie's gamine looks and pixie-like appeal would
be ideal for Cinderella-type rags-to-riches stories...
“ A French-American actress ” -
minalex
31.
Marilyn Monroe
Soundtrack, Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes
Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926 in
Los Angeles, California. Her mother was a film-cutter at RKO
Studios who, widowed and mentally ill, abandoned her to sequence
of foster homes. She was almost smothered to death at two,
nearly raped at six. At nine, the LA Orphans' Home paid her a
nickel a month for kitchen work while taking back a penny every
Sunday for church...
32.
Lee Remick
Actress, The
Omen
She was educated at Barnard College, studied dance and worked on
stage and TV before making her film debut as a sexy Southern
majorette in Elia
Kazan's A
Face in the Crowd. Her next role was also southern: Eula
Varner in The
Long, Hot Summer. She emerged as a real star in the role of
an apparent rape victim in Anatomy
of a Murder...
33.
Jean Simmons
Actress, Spartacus
Demure British beauty Jean Simmons was born January 31, 1929 in
Crouch End, London. As a 14-year-old dance student, she was
plucked from her school to play Margaret
Lockwood's precocious sister in Give
Us the Moon, and she went on to make a name for herself in
such major British productions as Caesar
and Cleopatra...
“ A British actress with significant roles in American films,
including Angel
Face, The
Robe, The
Big Country andSpartacus. ” -
minalex
34.
Natalie Wood
Actress, West
Side Story
Natalie Wood was born on July 20, 1938, in San Francisco,
California, as Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko. Her parents were
Russian émigrés who spoke barely comprehensible English, but
they changed the family name to Gurdin after becoming US
citizens. When she was just four years old, Natalie appeared in
her first film...
35.
Piper Laurie
Actress, Carrie
Piper Laurie was born Rosetta Jacobs in Detroit, Michigan, on
January 22, 1932, the daughter of a Polish immigrant and his
Russian-American wife. Her father was a furniture dealer who
moved his family to Los Angeles, California, when she was
6-years-old. Rosetta was a pretty red-haired little girl, but
very shy...
36.
Vera Miles
Actress, Psycho
Born in Boise City, Oklahoma, Vera Miles attended school in
Pratt, Kansas and Wichita, Kansas. The patrician beauty of Miss
Miles won her the title of "Miss Kansas" in 1948, leading soon
to small roles in Hollywood films and television series. Fame
came to the forthright, spirited Miles when she attracted the
attention of two master directors...
37.
Jane Fonda
Actress, Coming
Home
Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda was born on December 21, 1937 in New
York City to legendary screen star Henry
Fonda and
socialite Frances Ford Seymour. It was the second marriage for
both her parents; Henry was divorced from actress Margaret
Sullavan and
Frances was the widow of a wealthy industrialist, George Tuttle
Brokaw...
38.
Angie Dickinson
Actress, Rio
Bravo
Angie Dickinson was born in Kulm, North Dakota, the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Brown. Mr. Brown was the publisher of The
Kulm Messenger. The family left North Dakota in 1942 when Angie
was 11 years old, moving to Burbank, California. In December
1946, when she was a senior at Bellamarine Jefferson High School
in Burbank...
39.
Anne Bancroft
Actress, The
Graduate
Anne Bancroft was born on September 17, 1931 in the Bronx, New
York, the daughter of Michael Italiano (1906-2001) and Mildred
DiNapoli (1908-2010). She made her cinema debut inDon't
Bother to Knock in
1952 and over the next five years appeared in a lot of
undistinguished movies as a supporting actress (like...
40.
Shirley MacLaine
Actress, The
Apartment
Shirley MacLaine was born Shirley MacLean Beaty to Virginia
native Ira Owens Beaty, an American, and Kathlyn Corinne
MacLean, from Nova Scotia, Canada. Her brother, Warren
Beatty, was born on March 30, 1937. Shirley was the tallest
in her ballet classes at the Washington School of Ballet. Just
after she graduated from Washington-Lee High School...
“ The
Trouble with Harry, Artists
and Models, Some
Came Running, The
Apartment, Sweet
Charity, Two
Mules for Sister Sara, Being
There, Terms
of Endearment, Steel
Magnolias,Postcards
from the Edge and Guarding
Tess. ” -
minalex
41.
Geraldine Page
Actress, The
Rescuers
Considered by many to be one of the greatest American actresses
of all time, Geraldine Page was a master craftswoman who seemed
to bring out the most inner detail of the character she was
playing. Her dedication to her craft has earned her the respect
of many of today's great actors including Meryl Streep and
Michelle Pfeiffer...
42.
Liza Minnelli
Soundtrack, Cabaret
Liza Minnelli was born on March 12, 1946, the daughter of Judy
Garland and movie
director Vincente
Minnelli. She was practically raised at MGM studios while
her parents worked long hours there and she made her film debut
at fourteen months of age in the movie In
the Good Old Summertime. Her parents divorced in 1951 and...
43.
Ellen Burstyn
Actress, Requiem
for a Dream
Born in Detroit, Ellen Burstyn worked a number of jobs before
she became an actress. At 14, she was a short-order cook at a
lunch counter. After graduating from Detroit's Cass Technical
High School, she went to Texas to model and then to New York as
a showgirl on The
Jackie Gleason Show. From there, it was to Montreal as a
nightclub dancer and then Broadway with her debut in "Fair Game
(1957)"...
44.
Sissy Spacek
Actress, Carrie
As a kid, Sissy Spacek climbed trees, rode horses, swam, and
played in the woods. She was born Mary Elizabeth Spacek on
December 25, 1949, in Quitman, Texas. Sissy attended Quitman
High School and was homecoming queen. After graduating, she
embarked on an acting career, gaining interest in the profession
through her cousin...
45.
Barbra Streisand
Soundtrack, A
Star Is Born
Barbra Streisand was born on April 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, New
York. She is an actress, director, producer and writer. Among
her many films are Hello,
Dolly!, A
Star Is Born, Yentl and The
Mirror Has Two Faces. As a child she attended the Beis Yakov
Jewish School in Brooklyn. She is good friends with
singer/songwriter Neil
Diamond...
46.
Faye Dunaway
Actress, Chinatown
Faye Dunaway was born on a farm in Bascom, Florida in 1941, the
daughter of an army officer and a housewife. After high school
she majored in education at the University of Florida, but
switched to theatre arts and transferred to Boston University,
earning her degree in 1962. She joined the American National
Theatre and Academy in 1961 and did four plays on Broadway over
the next three years...
48.
Lauren Hutton
Actress, American
Gigolo
Following her success as a top fashion model for the Ford
Modeling Agency and Revlon cosmetics, Hutton was selected to
play the only major female character in Paper
Lion. After a semi-successful starring role in American
Gigolo, Hutton's modeling career took a slide in the 1980s,
and she was relegated to B-movie roles...
49.
Brooke Adams
Actress, The
Dead Zone
Brooke Adams was born on February 8, 1949 in New York City to
Robert K. and Rosalind Adams. She was educated at the
prestigious High School for the Performing Arts and the School
of the American Ballet. Starting her career on the stage while
still a juvenile, her film career took off when she became an
adult with a well-received performance...
50.
Sigourney Weaver
Actress, Aliens
Sigourney Weaver was born Susan Alexandra Weaver in Leroy
Hospital in New York City. Her father, TV producer Sylvester
L. Weaver Jr., originally wanted to name her Flavia, because
of his passion for Roman history (he had already named her elder
brother Trajan). Her mother, Elizabeth
Inglis, was a British actress who had sacrificed her career
for a family...
51.
Diane Keaton
Actress, The
Godfather: Part II
Diane Keaton was a California native who studied Drama at Santa
Ana College before dropping out to study at the Neighborhood
Playhouse in New York. After appearing in summer stock for
several months, she got her first major stage role in the
Broadway rock musical "Hair". As understudy to the lead, she
gained attention by not removing any of her clothing...
52.
Shelley Duvall
Actress, The
Shining
Shelley Alexis Duvall was born in Houston, Texas. Her mother and
father were Bobbie and Robert Duvall. According to an interview
of Shelley by MonoFilms VideoGuide, as a young child, Shelley's
mother Bobbie humorously gave Shelley the nickname "Manic Mouse"
because she would often run around her house and tip over
furniture...
53.
Theresa Russell
Actress, Spider-Man
3
Theresa Russell, named one of the "100 sexiest stars in film
history" (Empire Magazine), was born in San Diego, California.
She was discovered by a photographer at the age of 12, and made
her film debut in Elia
Kazan's The
Last Tycoon, oppositeRobert
De Niro, Jack
Nicholson and Robert
Mitchum...
54.
Meryl Streep
Actress, The
Devil Wears Prada
Considered by many movie reviewers to be the greatest living
film actress, Meryl
Streep has been
nominated for the Academy Award an astonishing 17 times, and has
won it three times. Born Mary Louise Streep in 1949 in Summit,
New Jersey, Meryl's early performing ambitions leaned toward the
opera....
55.
Jessica Lange
Actress, Big
Fish
On April 20, 1949, Jessica Lange was born in Cloquet, Minnesota,
USA, where her father worked as a traveling salesman. She
obtained a scholarship to study art at the University of
Minnesota, but instead went to Paris to study drama. She moved
to New York, working as a model for many years, until producer Dino
De Laurentiis cast
her as the female lead in King
Kong...
56.
Mia Farrow
Actress, Rosemary's
Baby
Mia Farrow is the daughter of the director John
Farrow and the
actress and Tarzan-girl Maureen
O'Sullivan. She debuted at the movies in 1959 in very small
roles. She was noticed for the first time in the film Rosemary's
Baby by Roman
Polanski. She showed her talent also on TV and at the
theatre, but...
57.
Linda Hamilton
Actress, Terminator
2: Judgment Day
Linda Carroll Hamilton was born on September 26, 1956 in
Salisbury, Maryland, USA. Following Wicomico High School, she
studied for two years at Washington College in Chestertown,
Maryland, before moving on to acting studies in New York. In New
York, she attended acting workshops given by Lee
Strasberg...
58.
Diane Lane
Actress, Man
of Steel
Diane Lane was born on January 22, 1965, in New York. Her
parents are acting coach Burt Lane and nightclub
singer/centerfold Colleen Farrington. Diane was acting from a
very young age and made her stage debut at the age of six. Her
work in such acclaimed theater productions as "The Cherry
Orchard" and "Medea" led to her being called to Hollywood...
59.
Melanie Griffith
Actress, Working
Girl
Melanie Griffith was born on August 9, 1957, in New York City to
model Tippi
Hedren and
advertising executive Peter
Griffith. Her parents' marriage ended in 1961 and Tippi came
to Los Angeles to get a new start. Tippi caught the eye of the
great directorAlfred
Hitchcock, who gave her starring roles in The
Birds andMarnie...
60.
Kathleen Turner
Actress, The
Virgin Suicides
Kathleen Turner was born June 19, 1954 in Springfield, Missouri
to Patsy and Allen Richard Turner. She graduated from American
School in London in 1972. After the death of her father, the
Turner family moved back to the United States where Kathleen
later enrolled at Missouri State University for two years...
61.
Christine Lahti
Actress, Running
on Empty
Christine Lahti was born April 4, 1950 in Birmingham, Michigan
to Elizabeth Margaret and Paul Theodore Lahti. She studied fine
arts at Florida State University and received a bachelors degree
in drama from the University of Michigan. In New York, Christine
worked as a waitress and did commercials before she found her
breakthrough role in ...And
Justice for All. with Al
Pacino...
62.
Michelle Pfeiffer
Actress, Scarface
Michelle Pfeiffer was
born in Santa Ana, California to Dick and Donna Pfeiffer. She
has an older brother and two younger sisters - Dedee
Pfeiffer, and Lori
Pfeiffer, who both dabbled in acting and modeling but
decided against making it their lives' work. She graduated from
Fountain Valley High School in 1976...
63.
Glenn Close
Actress, Mars
Attacks!
Six time Academy Award nominee Glenn Close was born and was
raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. She was often seen on Broadway
until 1982 when she was cast in her award winning role as Jenny
Fields in The
World According to Garp alongsideRobin
Williams. For this role, a breakthrough in film for Close,
she later went on to receive an Academy Award Nomination for
Best Supporting Actress...
64.
Jamie Lee Curtis
Actress, True
Lies
Jamie Lee Curtis was born on November 22, 1958 in Los Angeles,
California, the daughter of legendary actors Janet
Leigh andTony
Curtis. She got her big break at acting in 1978 when she won
the role of Laurie Strode in Halloween.
After that, she became famous for roles in movies like Trading
Places...
65.
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Actress, The
Machinist
Born in Los Angeles, Jennifer Jason Leigh - the daughter of
actor Vic
Morrow - worked
in her first film at the age of nine, in a nonspeaking role for
the film Death of a Stranger (The
Spy Who Never Was). At 14 she attended summer acting
workshops given by Lee
Strasberg and
landed a role in the Disney TV movieThe
Young Runaways...
66.
Kim Basinger
Actress, 8
Mile
Kim Basinger was born December 8, 1953, in Athens, Georgia, the
third of five children. Both her parents had been in
entertainment, her dad had played big-band jazz, and her mother
had performed water ballet in several Esther
Williamsmovies. Kim was introspective, from her father's
side. As a schoolgirl...
67.
Meg Ryan
Actress, Sleepless
in Seattle
Blond-haired, blue-eyed with an effervescent personality, Meg
Ryan graduated from Bethel high school, Bethel in June 1979.
Moving to New York, she attended New York University where she
majored in journalism. To earn extra money while working on her
degree, Meg went into acting using her new name Meg Ryan...
68.
Andie MacDowell
Actress, Groundhog
Day
Born April 21, 1958 in Gaffney, South Carolina to Pauline and
Marion St. Pierre MacDowell. Enrolled at Winthrop College
located in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Initially discovered by a
rep from Wilhelmina Models while on a trip to Los Angeles. Later
signed on with Elite Model Management in New York City in
1978...
69.
Jodie Foster
Actress, The
Silence of the Lambs
Alicia Christian Foster was born in Los Angeles on November 19,
1962. Her parents divorced three years before she was born, and
she was conceived when her mother, Brandy, was visiting her
father, Lucius, for child support. Alicia's siblings nicknamed
her "Jodie," a name she has used in her profession...
70.
Debra Winger
Actress, Terms
of Endearment
Mary Debra Winger was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1955 to a
Jewish family. Her maternal grandparents called her Mary, while
her parents called her Debra. (Her father named her Debra after
his favorite actress, Debra
Paget). The family moved to California when Debra was five.
She fell in love with acting in high school but kept it a secret
from her family...
71.
Sharon Stone
Actress, Casino
Sharon Stone was born and raised in Meadville, a small town in
Pennsylvania. Her strict father was a factory worker and her
mother was an accountant and homemaker. She was the second of
four children. At the age of 15, she studied in Saegertown High
School, Pennsylvania and, at that same age, entered Edinboro
State University of Pennsylvania...
72.
Susan Sarandon
Actress, Thelma
& Louise
It was after the 1968 Democratic convention and there was a
casting call for a film with several roles for the kind of young
people who had disrupted the convention. Two recent graduates of
Catholic University in Washington DC, went to the audition in
New York for Joe. Chris
Sarandon, who had studied to be an actor, was passed over.
His wife Susan got a major role...
73.
Winona Ryder
Actress, Edward
Scissorhands
Winona Ryder was
born Winona Laura Horowitz and named after the town in which she
was born, Winona, Minnesota. She grew up in a ranch commune in
Northern California which had no electricity. She is the
goddaughter of Timothy
Leary. Her parents were friends of Beat poet Allen
Ginsberg and once
edited a book called "Shaman Woman Mainline Lady"...
74.
Holly Hunter
Actress, The
Incredibles
Holly Hunter was born in Conyers, Georgia, the youngest of seven
children whose father was a part-time sporting goods company
representative and part-time farmer with a 250 acre farm. Her
parents encouraged in her talent at an early age, and her first
acting part was as Helen
Keller in a
fifth-grade play...
75.
Madeleine Stowe
Actress, The
Last of the Mohicans
Madeleine Stowe grew up in Eagle Rock, a working-class
neighborhood of Los Angeles. At age ten she started practicing
for a career as a concert pianist and trained every day for
hours. However, when her instructor died in 1976 she more or
less quit playing. She went to University of Southern California
and studied cinema and journalism before taking up acting at
Beverly Hills' Solaris Theater...
76.
Frances McDormand
Actress, Almost
Famous
Frances Louise McDormand was born on June 23, 1957 in Chicago,
Illinois. She was adopted by Canadian minister Vernan McDormand
and his wife Noreen, who raised her in the suburbs of
Pittsburgh. She earned her B.A. in Theater from Bethany College
in 1979 and her MFA from Yale in 1982. Her career after
graduation began onstage...
77.
Kate Winslet
Actress, Titanic
Ask Kate Winslet what she liked about any of her characters, and
the word "ballsy" is bound to pop up at least once. The British
actress has made a point of eschewing straightforward
pretty-girl parts in favor of more devilish damsels; as a
result, she's built an eclectic resume; that runs the gamut from
Shakespearean tragedy to modern-day mysticism and erotica...
“ A British actress with significant roles in American films,
including Titanic, Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind andLittle
Children. ” -
minalex
78.
Gwyneth Paltrow
Actress, Se7en
The daughter of noted producer Bruce
Paltrow and Tony
award-winning actress Blythe
Danner, Gwyneth Paltrow was born in 1972 in Los Angeles.
When Gwyneth was 11, the family moved to Massachusetts where her
father began working in summer stock productions in the
Berkshires. It was here that she received her early acting
training under the tutelage of her parents...
79.
Hilary Swank
Actress, Million
Dollar Baby
Hilary Swank is the third youngest woman in history to win two
Academy Awards for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading
Role". In addition to the Oscar for her performance as "Brandon
Teena" in Boys
Don't Cry, Hilary won the Golden Globe Award for "Best
Actress in a Drama" and "Best Actress" prizes from The New York
Film Critics...
80.
Laura Linney
Actress, The
Truman Show
Laura Linney was born in New York City on February 5, 1964, into
a theatre family. Her father is the prominent playwrightRomulus
Linney. Although she did not live in her father's house (her
parents having divorced when she was an infant), Linney's world
revolved, in part, around his profession from the earliest
age...
81.
Cameron Diaz
Actress, There's
Something About Mary
Cameron Diaz was born in 1972 in San Diego. Her mother, Billie
(Early), has English, Scots-Irish, and German ancestry, and her
father, Emilio
Diaz, was from a Cuban family (of Spanish origin).
Self-described as "adventurous, independent and a tough kid,"
Cameron left home at 16 and for the next 5 years lived in such
varied locales as Japan...
82.
Annette Bening
Actress, American
Beauty
Annette Bening was born on May 29, 1958 in Topeka, Kansas, the
youngest of four children. Her family moved to California when
she was young, and she grew up there. She graduated from San
Francisco State University and began her acting career with the
American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, eventually...
83.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Actress, Scarface
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, as
the daughter of Italian immigrants and began her career in
school plays as a teenager. She attended the University of
Illinois and got bitten by the acting bug, starring in "Guys and
Dolls". Leaving for New York, she took part in "West Side Story"
in 1981...
84.
Reese Witherspoon
Actress, Walk
the Line
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon was born on March 22, 1976 at
Southern Baptist Hospital (now Memorial Medical Center) in New
Orleans, Louisiana. She was the second child born to Dr. John
Witherspoon and Betty Reese. Her father was a military surgeon
specializing in the ear, nose and throat. Her mother was a
Registered Nurse who later became a Ph.D in pediatric nursing...
85.
Jennifer Connelly
Actress, Requiem
for a Dream
Jennifer Connelly was born in the Catskill Mountains, New York,
to Ilene, 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 the Brooklyn Bridge from
Manhattan...
86.
Halle Berry
Actress, X-Men:
The Last Stand
Halle Berry was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to an African-American
father, Jerome Berry, a former hospital attendant, and a
European-American mother, Judith (Hawkins) Berry, a retired
psychiatric nurse. Halle has an older sister named Heidi
Berry. Halle first came into the spotlight at seventeen
years when she won the Miss Teen All-American Pageant...
87.
Julianne Moore
Actress, Magnolia
The daughter of a military judge and a Scottish social worker,
Julianne Moore was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina on
December 3, 1960. She spent the early years of her life in over
two dozen locations around the world with her parents before she
finally found her place at Boston University, where...
88.
Renée Zellweger
Actress, Bridget
Jones's Diary
Renée Kathleen Zellweger was born on April 25, 1969, in Katy,
Texas, USA to parents Emil Erich Zellweger, a Swiss-born
engineer who married Renée's mother Kjellfrid Irene Andreassen,
a Norwegian-born former nurse and midwife in 1963. Renée also
has a brother named Drew Zellweger, a marketing executive born
on February 15...
89.
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Actress, The
Dark Knight
Maggie Gyllenhaal made her debut in her father 'Stephen
Gyllenhaal''s film Waterland and
emerged as a full-blown star inSecretary.
Her sweet looks and conduct result in a subtle on-screen style
that emerges from the character she plays, whether the part is
large or small. A graduate of Columbia University...
90.
Scarlett Johansson
Actress, Lost
in Translation
Scarlett Johansson received "it girl" status and global
attention after her widely praised performance in the critical
darling Lost
in Translation, however, she had been impressing audiences
since she was barely out of diapers. She was born in New York
City to Melanie
Sloan and Karsten
Johansson. Her early roles include North and
the acclaimed drama film The
Horse Whisperer...
91.
Charlize Theron
Actress, Prometheus
Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, a city in the greater
Johannesburg-area, South Africa on August 7th, 1975, to Gerda
Theron and
Charles Theron (she was named after him). She has French, Dutch,
and German ancestry. Charlize began her modeling career in 1991
aged 16 when she won a local modeling contest...
92.
Natalie Portman
Actress, V
for Vendetta
Natalie Portman was born Natalie Hershlag on June 9, 1981 in
Jerusalem, Israel to a Jewish family. She is the only child of a
doctor father (from Israel) and an artist mother (from
Cincinnati, Ohio), who also acts as Natalie's agent. She left
Israel for Washington, D.C., when she was still very young...
93.
Christina Ricci
Actress, Sleepy
Hollow
Precocious, outspoken child-teen starlet of the 1990s, Christina
Ricci was born in 1980 in Santa Monica, California, the youngest
of four children of a lawyer father and realtor mother. She made
her screen debut at the age of 9 in Mermaids,
in which she worked with Cher.
Her breakthrough adult role was in The
Ice Storm...
94.
Claire Danes
Actress, Temple
Grandin
New Yorker Claire Danes is the daughter of Carla, a day-care
provider and artist and Christopher, a computer consultant and
photographer. She has an older brother named Asa. She was
educated at Dalton School, New York, The New York City Lab
School for Collaborative Studies, The Professional Performing
Arts School and Lycée Français de Los Angeles...
95.
Uma Thurman
Actress, Pulp
Fiction
Uma Karuna Thurman, daughter of Robert
Thurman and Nena
Thurman, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 29,
1970. Uma grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts, where her father
worked at Amherst College. She left boarding school at just 15,
already determined to become an actress. She moved to New York
to follow her dream...
96.
Julia Roberts
Actress, Notting
Hill
Julia Fiona Roberts, born in Smyrna, Georgia, never dreamed she
would become the most popular actress in America. As a child,
due to her love of animals, Julia originally wanted to be a
veterinarian, but later studied journalism. When her brother, Eric
Roberts, achieved some success in Hollywood...
97.
Bryce Dallas Howard
Actress, The
Help
Bryce Dallas Howard was born on March 2, 1981, in Los Angeles,
California. She was conceived in Dallas, Texas (the reason for
her middle name). Her father, named Ron
Howard, is a former actor turned Oscar-winning director. Her
mother is actress and writer Cheryl
Howard (nee
Alley). Her famous relatives include her uncle...
98.
Laura Dern
Actress, Jurassic
Park
Laura Dern was born on February 10, 1967 into a moviemaking
family - her father is Bruce
Dern and her
mother is Diane
Ladd. Dern was exposed to movie sets and the movie industry
from infancy, and obtained several bit parts as a child. Her
parents divorced when Dern was two and Dern lost contact with
her father for several years as a result...
99.
Cate Blanchett
Actress, The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Cate Blanchett was born on May 14, 1969 in Australia to an
American father and an Australian mother. She has an older
brother and an younger sister. When she was ten years old, her
40-year old father died of a sudden heart attack. Her mother
never remarried, and her grandmother moved in to help her
mother...
“ An American-Australian actress ” -
minalex
100.
Jessica Chastain
Actress, Zero
Dark Thirty
Jessica Chastain was raised in a middle-class family in a
northern California suburb. She discovered dance at the age of
nine. By the age of 13, she was in a dance troupe. She took her
mother's maiden name and began performing in Shakespearean
productions all over the Bay area. An actor in a production of
"Romeo & Juliet" encouraged her to audition for Juilliard as a
drama major...
