Fourteen Hollywood leading ladies, from Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman to Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, Emma Stone, Jennifer Lawrence and comedy stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
From the box-office queens of the 1990s to today's Oscar winners and comedy pioneers, these actresses have shaped modern Hollywood both on screen and behind the scenes. This collection brings together fourteen of them: Meryl Streep, the most nominated actor in Oscar history; the 1990s stars Julia Roberts, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone and Cameron Diaz; the acclaimed dramatic actresses Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, Anne Hathaway and Amy Adams; the newer generation of Emma Stone and Jennifer Lawrence; and the comedy trailblazers Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
They broke records along the way. Julia Roberts was the first actress to earn $20 million for a film, Demi Moore shattered the gender pay gap with a $12.5 million deal, and Nicole Kidman became the first Australian to win the Best Actress Oscar. Tina Fey was Saturday Night Live's first female head writer, and with Amy Poehler she formed the first all-female Weekend Update team.
Their stories also include plenty of near-misses and surprises. Meryl Streep was rejected for King Kong as "too ugly" and once left her first Oscar on a bathroom floor, Jennifer Lawrence was discovered on a New York street at 14 and never took an acting lesson, and Emma Stone made the case for moving to Hollywood with a PowerPoint presentation called Project Hollywood. Cate Blanchett's screen debut was a biscuit commercial.
Many of them also lead remarkable lives off screen, as UN envoys, producers, pilots, authors and artists. Choose an actress below to read fifteen facts about her.
Every item on this page, with the one fact most people get wrong about it.
| Name | Where you'll meet it | The fact worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Meryl Streep | Kramer vs. Kramer, The Devil Wears Prada | She once left her first Oscar on a bathroom floor. |
| Cate Blanchett | Elizabeth, The Lord of the Rings | She won an Oscar for playing an Oscar winner, Katharine Hepburn. |
| Julia Roberts | Pretty Woman, Erin Brockovich | Martin Luther King Jr. paid the hospital bill for her birth. |
| Nicole Kidman | Moulin Rouge!, The Hours | She was the first Australian to win the Best Actress Oscar. |
| Emma Stone | La La Land, Poor Things | As a teenager she pitched her move to Hollywood with a PowerPoint called Project Hollywood. |
| Jennifer Lawrence | The Hunger Games, Silver Linings Playbook | She has never taken a professional acting lesson. |
| Anne Hathaway | The Princess Diaries, Les Misérables | She sang live on the barricades in Les Misérables. |
| Angelina Jolie | Lara Croft, Maleficent | Cambodia awarded her citizenship. |
| Amy Adams | Enchanted, Arrival | She beat more than 300 actresses to star in Enchanted. |
| Sharon Stone | Basic Instinct, Casino | Muhammad Ali predicted her stardom when she was a teenager. |
| Demi Moore | Ghost, The Substance | Her $12.5 million deal shattered Hollywood's gender pay gap. |
| Cameron Diaz | The Mask, Charlie's Angels | She went to high school with Snoop Dogg. |
| Amy Poehler | Parks and Recreation, Inside Out | She co-founded the Upright Citizens Brigade. |
| Tina Fey | 30 Rock, Mean Girls | She was Saturday Night Live's first female head writer. |
Most Oscar Nominations
21
Meryl Streep holds the all-time record for Academy Award nominations, with three wins. Meryl Streep
Most Valuable Smile
$30 million
Julia Roberts' famous smile was reportedly insured for $30 million. Julia Roberts
Pay Gap Breaker
$12.5 million
Demi Moore's $12.5 million deal made her the highest-paid actress in Hollywood at the time. Demi Moore
Biggest Audition Win
300+ rivals
Amy Adams beat more than 300 actresses to star in Disney's Enchanted. Amy Adams
Kramer vs. Kramer, The Devil Wears Prada
Meryl Streep turned to acting after oversleeping an interview, and a producer rejected her for King Kong as "too ugly". She holds the record of 21 Oscar nominations, mastered the violin for Music of the Heart and donated her entire salary from The Iron Lady. She still battles imposter syndrome on every set.
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Elizabeth, The Lord of the Rings
Cate Blanchett's screen debut was a biscuit commercial, and she was an extra in an Egyptian boxing film. She earned two Oscar nominations for playing Elizabeth I and used a physical trick to play Bob Dylan. She kept her elf ears from The Lord of the Rings, dipped in bronze.
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Pretty Woman, Erin Brockovich
Julia Roberts was the first actress to earn $20 million for a film, and Pretty Woman began as a dark drama called 3000. She left Kiefer Sutherland three days before their wedding and was named People's Most Beautiful Woman five times. Her smile was reportedly insured for $30 million.
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Moulin Rouge!, The Hours
Born in Hawaii, Nicole Kidman has dual citizenship and a Hawaiian name. She injured her ribs filming Moulin Rouge!, trained intensively on the piano for Cold Mountain and is allergic to bees and horses. Her Chanel No. 5 advert broke records.
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La La Land, Poor Things
Emma Stone's given name is Emily, and she once worked in a bakery for dogs. She dyed her hair red for Superbad and recorded some La La Land vocals live. She won her second Best Actress Oscar at 35, for Poor Things, which she also produced.
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The Hunger Games, Silver Linings Playbook
A talent scout spotted Jennifer Lawrence on a New York street at 14. She learned to skin a squirrel for Winter's Bone and trained in archery with an Olympian for The Hunger Games, a role she almost turned down. Her Oscar sits on her parents' piano in Kentucky.
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The Princess Diaries, Les Misérables
Anne Hathaway shares her name with Shakespeare's wife, prefers to be called Annie and once wanted to be a nun. A clumsy audition won her The Princess Diaries, and she won an Emmy for The Simpsons. She is a UN Goodwill Ambassador.
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Lara Croft, Maleficent
Angelina Jolie made her acting debut alongside her father, Jon Voight, and once considered becoming a funeral director. She won an Oscar for a supporting role, flies her own aircraft and has worked with the United Nations for over two decades. She also produced a Tony-winning Broadway musical.
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Enchanted, Arrival
Born on a US military base in Italy, Amy Adams worked at Hooters and started as a dinner-theatre dancer. She almost quit acting at 30 before Junebug made her name. She has six Oscar nominations without a win.
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Basic Instinct, Casino
Sharon Stone started college at 15 and worked at McDonald's before modelling. She paid Leonardo DiCaprio's salary on The Quick and the Dead out of her own pocket and survived a near-fatal brain haemorrhage in 2001. She once auctioned a kiss for $50,000 for charity.
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Ghost, The Substance
Born Demetria Guynes in Roswell, Demi Moore overcame childhood strabismus and got her break on General Hospital. She kept the clay pots from Ghost and made history with her 1991 Vanity Fair pregnancy cover. She owns a doll collection kept in its own house.
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The Mask, Charlie's Angels
Cameron Diaz needed twelve callbacks for her debut in The Mask and has broken her nose four times doing extreme sports. She was not the first voice of Princess Fiona and learned pickpocketing from a magician. She returned to acting after eight years away.
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Parks and Recreation, Inside Out
Amy Poehler started out in America's oldest collegiate improv group and formed the first all-female Weekend Update team with Tina Fey. Leslie Knope was tailored to her real personality, and Pixar shaped Joy in Inside Out around her. She founded Smart Girls to support young women.
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30 Rock, Mean Girls
Born Elizabeth Stamatina Fey, she trained at Chicago's Second City and made her TV debut in a local bank commercial. Her Sarah Palin parodies changed the political conversation, and Mean Girls was inspired by a non-fiction book. She is the youngest winner of the Mark Twain Prize.
Read the full article →8 questions, every answer is somewhere above.
1. What did Meryl Streep accidentally do with her first Oscar?
2. Who paid the hospital bill for Julia Roberts' birth?
3. What was Pretty Woman's original title?
4. What was Cate Blanchett's screen debut?
5. What did Jennifer Lawrence learn to do for Winter's Bone?
6. Where did Emma Stone once work?
7. Which country awarded Angelina Jolie citizenship?
8. Which character did Demi Moore voice in a Disney film?
Meryl Streep, with a record 21 Academy Award nominations and three wins. At the other end, Amy Adams has six nominations without a win.
Julia Roberts was the first actress to break the $20 million pay barrier. Earlier, Demi Moore had already narrowed the gender pay gap with a $12.5 million deal.
Angelina Jolie served the United Nations for more than two decades, Anne Hathaway is a UN Goodwill Ambassador, Nicole Kidman advocates for UN Women, and Sharon Stone has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for AIDS research.
Anne Hathaway sang live on the barricades in Les Misérables, some of Emma Stone's vocals in La La Land were recorded live, and Meryl Streep is a classically trained opera singer. Amy Adams has also performed her own vocals live at the Academy Awards.
They became the first all-female Weekend Update duo on Saturday Night Live, shared a joint Emmy win, and co-hosted the Golden Globes to wide acclaim. Fey was also SNL's first female head writer.
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