- Photo:
- Montclair Film Festival
- Wikimedia Commons
- CC BY 2.0
“Some things just take time,” Martindale said when she accepted the 2011 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her work on Justified.
This gem of an actor has always been a standout in both TV and film. It’s the subtle levels that Martindale finds in the characters she plays. She’s also an excellent ensemble player and gives other actors something to work with. Her Claudia on The Americans versus her performance in August: Osage County is an excellent idea of her wide range as a performer.- Age: 73
- Birthplace: Jacksonville, Texas, USA
- Credits: Million Dollar Baby, Justified, The Rocketeer, The Firm, The Hours
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Greg Hernandez
- Wikimedia Commons
- CC BY 2.0
With 182 credits to her name as an actor, Grant has created a huge catalog to pull from with each role. She always approaches the work from a very accessible place and audiences always remember her.
- Age: 75
- Birthplace: Gadsden, Alabama, USA
- Credits: No Country for Old Men, Donnie Darko, Little Miss Sunshine, Rain Man, Pearl Harbor
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Angela George
- Wikimedia Commons
- CC-BY-SA 3.0
Hahn has emerged from her years as a rather formidable comic and dramatic actor. She can play the quirky mom for a sketch on Kroll Show, the cutthroat political strategist on Parks and Recreation, or the thoughtful rabbi on Transparent and feel like a completely different person each time.
- Age: 51
- Birthplace: Westchester, Illinois, USA
- Credits: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Step Brothers, The Dictator, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, We're the Millers
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Chad J. McNeeley
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
The news that Oscar-winner Wiest had fallen on hard financial times due to lack of work was a serious remark on the choices out there for female actors. Even with a storied career, Wiest, like many actresses, has found the choices few and far between for women of a certain age. Considering that most writers' rooms are predominantly filled with dudes, the trend may continue unabated. In any case, it’s disturbing as Wiest is a mighty force and should be working more.
- Age: 76
- Birthplace: Kansas City, Missouri, USA
- Credits: Edward Scissorhands, I Am Sam, The Lost Boys, The Birdcage
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Keith McDuffee
- Wikimedia Commons
- CC BY 2.0
By all rights, she should be a leading actress, but in this world of vapid, one-dimensional thinking, Taylor has made opportunities for herself by making each role extraordinary. That’s very good news for audiences and Taylor fans because she’s superb.
- Age: 57
- Birthplace: Glencoe, USA, Illinois
- Credits: The X-Files, Rudy, Say Anything..., Six Feet Under, The Conjuring
- Photo:
Tonye Patano
- Photo:
Patano gets a lot of offers to play various roles and she has brought her own power to every character. She has the ability to make a mother real, a judge scary, and a badass, watchable
- Age: 63
- Birthplace: USA
- Credits: Weeds, The Hurricane, The Company Men, Little Manhattan, The Savages
- Photo:
- Gage Skidmore
- Wikimedia Commons
- CC-BY-SA 3.0
Dickens’s hard work paid off with the lead role in the Walking Dead spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead, but it took a lot of years to get there. Choosing strong material has propelled Dickens in the right direction. Look for a lot more from this actress.
- Age: 59
- Birthplace: Huntsville, Alabama, USA
- Credits: Gone Girl, The Blind Side, Hollow Man, House of Sand and Fog
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Mingle Media TV
- Wikimedia Commons
- CC-BY-SA 2.0
Hunt has always defied type, making each role inherently hers. She blew audiences away playing Billy Kwan, a Chinese-Australian male, opposite Mel Gibson in The Year of Living Dangerously and was the first actor to win an Oscar for playing a role of the opposite sex.
- Age: 79
- Birthplace: Morristown, New Jersey, USA
- Credits: NCIS: Los Angeles, Dune, Kindergarten Cop, Pocahontas
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Mingle MediaTV
- Wikimedia Commons
- CC-BY-SA 2.0
Alexander has had a long and stellar career, playing the broken Maya Pope on Scandal and the tough-as-nails LaDonna Batiste-Williams on Treme. Alexander constantly proves that she always got the right moves.
- Age: 67
- Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
- Credits: CSI: Miami, NewsRadio, The Corner
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Mingle MediaTV
- Wikimedia Commons
- CC-BY-SA 2.0
Burton’s Ellis Grey was heartbreaking on Grey’s Anatomy and her Vice President Sally Langston plays the right with honesty on Scandal. She’s also called up on her comedy chops on Veep. Burton is a go to for show runners everywhere.
- Age: 67
- Birthplace: Geneva, Switzerland
- Credits: Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, Big Trouble in Little China, 127 Hours, Unfaithful
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Greg2600
- Wikimedia Commons
- CC BY 3.0
Dickey, with her accent and style, brings an authenticity unmatched by other actors. She isn’t afraid to take a part and really go there.
- Age: 63
- Birthplace: Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
- Credits: Iron Man 3, Super 8, Winter’s Bone, Changeling, The Pledge
- Photo:
- Photo:
Devine brings a self-assured bearing to her roles. With a shift of the voice and the eyes, she can fell the most formidable actors. And she does.
- Age: 75
- Birthplace: Houston, Texas, USA
- Credits: Spell, Waiting to Exhale, Grey's Anatomy
- Photo:
- Clorox Toilet Products
- Wikimedia Commons
- CC BY 2.0
From Reno 911! to Getting On, Nash knows how to own a role. She’s got an excellent sense of comic timing and innate compassion that cannot be taught. She was definitely born with it.
- Age: 54
- Birthplace: Palmdale, California, USA
- Credits: Clean House, RENO 911!, Claws
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Paula Malcomson
- Wikimedia Commons
- CC-BY-SA 2.0
Malcomson is from Belfast but can morph into any person, with any accent, as required by the script. She has transitioned from her unforgettable role as Trixie on Deadwood to the fiery, Belfast-born Maureen Ashby on Sons of Anarchy where she finally gets to use her native accent.
- Age: 54
- Birthplace: Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
- Credits: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1, The Green Mile, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Deadwood
- Photo:
Wever is like the Mary Lynn Rajskub in a weirder universe. She’s got very subtle, unshakable comedy chops and we’re just waiting for her to show just how deep her talent can reach. Because we know it’s there.
- Age: 44
- Birthplace: Manhattan, New York, USA
- Credits: Signs, Into the Wild, Birdman, Michael Clayton, Nurse Jackie
- Photo:
- Greg2600
- Wikimedia Commons
- CC BY 2.5
Hurst is everywhere and always has been. She works in film and TV, making a few lines seem like a whole episode. She’s a force to be reckoned with and that doesn’t require a whole lot of dialogue.
- Birthplace: New York City, USA, New York
- Credits: Orange Is the New Black, Born on the Fourth of July, Stepmom, All Good Things, Smoke
- Photo:
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Women Who ActCelebrating actresses of every type, shape, size, and color, including leading ladies, femme fatales, ingénues, manic pixie dream girls, scream queens, bombshells, girls next door, alpha HBICs, virginal princesses, & sassy best friends.
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Women Who Act
Celebrating actresses of every type, shape, size, and color, including leading ladies, femme fatales, ingénues, manic pixie dream girls, scream queens, bombshells, girls next door, alpha HBICs, virginal princesses, & sassy best friends.
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