Actors

1. Rose Leslie

Rose Leslie is a Scottish actress. Her leading on screen debut was at age 21 in the television film New Town (2009). She is famous for playing Ygritte in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones (2011). Leslie also appeared in the films Now Is Good (2012) and The Last Witch Hunter (2015).

Leslie was ...

2. Idris Elba

Actor | Beasts of No Nation

An only child, Idrissa Akuna Elba was born and raised in London, England. His father, Winston, is from Sierra Leone and worked at Ford Dagenham; his mother, Eve, is from Ghana and had a clerical duty. Idris attended school in Canning Town, where he first became involved in acting, before he dropped...

3. Ruth Wilson

Actress | Luther

Ruth Wilson, born on 13 January 1982, is an English actress. She is known for her performances in Suburban Shootout (2006), Jane Eyre (2006), and as "Alice Morgan" in the BBC-TV psychological crime drama, Luther (2010), since 2010. She has also appeared in Anna Karenina (2012), The Lone Ranger (...

4. Anna Friel

Actress | Land of the Lost

Anna Friel is an English actress, born in Rochdale. She has been acting since the age of 13, appearing in a number of British television programmes. She made her West End stage debut in London in 2001, and has subsequently appeared on stage in several productions, including an adaptation of ...

5. Michelle Dockery

Actress | Downton Abbey

Michelle Suzanne Dockery (born 15 December 1981) is an English actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Lady Mary Crawley in the ITV drama series Downton Abbey (2010-2015), for which she has been nominated for three consecutive Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. She made her ...

6. Jaimie Alexander

Actress | Thor

Jaimie Alexander was born in Greenville, South Carolina, but moved with her family to Grapevine, Texas, when she was four years old. She took theatre classes in grade school as a hobby but was kicked out in high school because she could not sing, and so she took up sports instead. At age 17 she ...

7. Claire Danes

Actress | My So-Called Life

New Yorker Claire Catherine Danes was born in Manhattan, the daughter of Carla (Hall), a day-care provider and artist, and Christopher Danes, a computer consultant and photographer. She has an older brother, Asa. Her paternal grandfather, Gibson Andrew Danes, was a Dean of the Yale School of Art ...

8. Vicky McClure

Actress | This Is England

Vicky McClure, born Nottingham, May 1983, is an actress best known for her work in the films of Shane Meadows. She starred as Ladine, Romeo's sister, in A Room for Romeo Brass and in Meadows' most successful film, This Is England. Similarly she went on to continue playing Lol in Meadows' critically...

9. Julianna Margulies

Actress | ER

Julianna Margulies was born on June 8, 1966 in Spring Valley (near New York City), as the youngest of three daughters of Francesca (Goldberg), a teacher and dancer in American Ballet, and Paul Margulies, an advertising writer and philosopher. She is of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage (from Romania, ...

10. Archie Panjabi

Actress | San Andreas

Archie is an Emmy Award winning British actress best known for her role as Kalinda Sharma in The Good Wife, for which she was nominated for an Emmy three times in a row and went on to to be honored with a Golden Globe Nomination. She made her film debut in the critically acclaimed East Is East ...

11. Saoirse Ronan

Actress | Hanna

Saoirse Una Ronan was born in The Bronx, New York City, New York, United States, to Irish parents, Monica Ronan (née Brennan) and Paul Ronan, an actor. When Saoirse was three, the family moved back to Dublin, Ireland. Saoirse grew up in Dublin and briefly in Co. Carlow before moving back to Dublin ...

12. Milla Jovovich

Actress | Le Cinquième Élément

Milla Jovovich is a Ukrainian-American actress, supermodel, fashion designer, singer and public figure, who was on the cover of more than a hundred magazines, and starred in such films as The Fifth Element (1997), Ultraviolet (2006), and the Resident Evil (2002) franchise.

Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich...

13. Maggie Q

Actress | Divergent

Margaret Denise Quigley was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a father of Polish and Irish descent (originally based in New York) and a Vietnamese mother. Her parents met during the Vietnam War. Maggie has two older half-siblings from her mother's previous marriage, and two older sisters. The family ...

14. Anna Paquin

Actress | The Piano

Anna Paquin is the first millennial to have received an Academy Award nomination for acting, and the first to win.

She was born on July 24, 1982 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to Mary (Brophy), an English teacher from Wellington, New Zealand, and Brian Paquin, a Canadian phys-ed teacher. Anna moved ...

15. Aida Folch

Actress | El artista y la modelo

Aida Folch was born on November 24, 1986 in Reus, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. She is an actress, known for The Artist and the Model (2012), 25 Carat (2008) and Mondays in the Sun (2002).

16. Elisabeth Moss

Actress | The Invisible Man

Elisabeth Moss is an American actress. She is best known for the AMC series Mad Men (2007), Hulu series The Handmaid's Tale (2017) and the films The One I Love (2014) and The Invisible Man (2020).

Initially, Moss had aspirations of becoming a professional dancer. In her adolescence, she traveled to ...

17. Maxine Peake

Actress | The Theory of Everything

Maxine Peake is an English stage, radio, film and television actress, who made her name as Twinkle in Victoria Wood's sitcom Dinnerladies. She has since played Veronica in Channel 4's Manchester-based drama series Shameless, barrister Martha Costello in the BBC legal drama Silk and Grace Middleton ...

18. Hilary Swank

Actress | Million Dollar Baby

Hilary was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Judith Kay (Clough), a secretary, and Stephen Michael Swank, who served in the National Guard and was also a traveling salesman. Her maternal grandmother, Frances Martha Dominguez, was of Mexican descent, and her other roots include German, English, and ...

19. Emma Watson

Actress | The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born in Paris, France, to British parents, Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson, both lawyers. She moved to Oxfordshire when she was five, where she attended the Dragon School. From the age of six, Emma knew that she wanted to be an actress and, for a number of years,...

20. Helen Mirren

Actress | The Queen

Dame Helen Mirren was born in Queen Charlotte's Hospital in West London. Her mother, Kathleen Alexandrina Eva Matilda (Rogers), was from a working-class English family, and her father, Vasiliy Petrovich Mironov, was a Russian-born civil servant, from Kuryanovo, whose own father was a diplomat. ...

21. Blythe Duff

Actress | Taggart

Blythe Duff was born on November 25, 1962 in East Kilbride, Scotland, UK. She is an actress, known for Taggart (1983), Atlantic: A Scottish Story (2021) and Sarajevo (2011). She has been married to Tom Forrest since March 22, 1998.

22. Sharon Small

Actress | About a Boy

Sharon Small was born on January 1, 1967 in Drumchapel, Glasgow, Scotland, UK. She is an actress, known for About a Boy (2002), The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2001) and National Theatre Live: The Threepenny Opera (2016).

23. Uma Thurman

Actress | Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Uma Karuna Thurman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, into a highly unorthodox and internationally-minded family. She is the daughter of Nena Thurman (née Birgitte Caroline von Schlebrügge), a fashion model and socialite who now runs a mountain retreat, and of Robert Thurman (Robert Alexander ...

24. Ana de Armas

Actress | Blade Runner 2049

Ana de Armas was born in Cuba on April 30, 1988. At the age of 14 (2002) she began her studies at the National Theatre School of Havana, where she graduated after 4 years. At the age of 16 (2004) she made her first film, Virgin Rose (2006), directed by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón. A few titles came ...

25. Megan Boone

Actress | Accused

Megan Boone was born in Petoskey, Michigan, USA. She is an actress, known for Accused (2023), The Underground Railroad (2021) and The Blacklist (2013). She has been married to Dan Estabrook since 2016. They have one child.

26. Angelina Jolie

Actress | Maleficent

Angelina Jolie is an Academy Award-winning actress who rose to fame after her role in Girl, Interrupted (1999), playing the title role in the "Lara Croft" blockbuster movies, as well as Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Wanted (2008), Salt (2010) and Maleficent (2014). Off-screen, Jolie has become ...

27. Sofie Gråbøl

Actress | Forbrydelsen

Sofie Gråbøl was born on July 30, 1968 in Denmark. She is an actress, known for Forbrydelsen (2007), Flickering Lights (2000) and Nikolaj og Julie (2002). She was previously married to Jacob Thuesen.

28. Lucy Liu

Actress | Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Born to immigrants in New York City, Lucy Liu has always tried to balance an interest in her cultural heritage with a desire to move beyond a strictly Asian-American experience. Her mother, Cecilia, a biochemist, is from Beijing & her father, Tom Liu, a civil engineer, is from Shanghai. Once ...

29. Gillian Anderson

Actress | The X Files

Gillian Anderson was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Rosemary Alyce (Lane), a computer analyst, and Homer Edward Anderson III, who owned a film post-production company. Gillian started her career as a member of an amateur actor group while at high school. In 1987, her love of the theatre took her to ...

30. Ivana Milicevic

Actress | Just Like Heaven

Ivana Milicevic (pronounced Ee-vah-nah Mee-lee-cheh-veech) was born on April 26, 1974, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (part of Yugoslavia at the time), into a Croat family. She is the daughter of Tonka and Damir Milicevic, and has a younger brother, Tomo. The family emigrated to the United ...

31. Susannah Harker

Actress | House of Cards

Susannah Harker was born on April 26, 1965 in London, England, UK. She is an actress and director, known for House of Cards (1990), Everything I Ever Wanted to Tell My Daughter About Men (2021) and A Dry White Season (1989). She was previously married to Iain Glen.

32. Sandra Bullock

Producer | The Proposal

Sandra Annette Bullock was born in Arlington, a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. Her mother, Helga Bullock (née Helga Mathilde Meyer), was a German opera singer. Her father, John W. Bullock, was an American voice teacher, who was born in Alabama, of German descent. Sandra grew up on the road ...

33. Jennifer Lopez

Producer | Hustlers

Jennifer Lynn Lopez was born on July 24, 1969 in The Bronx, New York City, New York to teacher Lupe López and computer specialist David López. The two Puerto Ricans were brought to the continental United States during their childhoods and eventually met while living in New York City. Their ...

34. Winona Ryder

Actress | Little Women

Winona Ryder was born Winona Laura Horowitz in Olmsted County, Minnesota, and was named after a nearby town, Winona, Minnesota. She is the daughter of Cynthia (Istas), an author and video producer, and Michael Horowitz, a publisher and bookseller. Her father's family is Ukrainian Jewish and ...

35. Nicole Kidman

Actress | Moulin Rouge!

Elegant Nicole Kidman, known as one of Hollywood's top Australian imports, was actually born in Honolulu, Hawaii, while her Australian parents were there on educational visas.

Kidman is the daughter of Janelle Ann (Glenny), a nursing instructor, and Antony David Kidman, a biochemist and clinical ...

36. Rosamund Pike

Actress | Gone Girl

Born in 1979 in London, England, actress Rosamund Mary Elizabeth Pike is the only child of a classical violinist mother, Caroline (Friend), and an opera singer father, Julian Pike. Due to her parents' work, she spent her early childhood traveling around Europe. Pike attended Badminton School in ...

37. Frances McDormand

Actress | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Frances Louise McDormand was born on June 23, 1957, in Gibson City, Illinois. She was adopted by Canadian-born parents Noreen Eloise (Nickleson), a nurse from Ontario, and Rev. Vernon Weir McDormand, a Disciples of Christ minister from Nova Scotia, who raised her in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. She ...

38. Jessica Lange

Actress | Tootsie

Jessica Lange was born in 1949, 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, until producer Dino De Laurentiis...

39. Christine Baranski

Actress | Mamma Mia!

Christine Baranski is an American actress from Buffalo, New York. She has had a relatively lengthy career in both film and television. She has been nominated for 15 Emmy Awards, winning once. One of her most popular roles was that of neuroscientist Dr. Beverly Hofstadter in the sitcom " The Big ...

40. Julia Roberts

Actress | Pretty Woman

Julia Fiona Roberts never dreamed she would become the most popular actress in America. She was born in Smyrna, Georgia, to Betty Lou (Bredemus) and Walter Grady Roberts, one-time actors and playwrights, and is of English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, German, and Swedish descent. As a child, due to her ...

41. Keira Knightley

Actress | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Keira Christina Knightley was born March 26, 1985 in the South West Greater London suburb of Richmond. She is the daughter of actor Will Knightley and actress turned playwright Sharman Macdonald. An older brother, Caleb Knightley, was born in 1979. Her father is English, while her Scottish-born ...

42. Andrea Lowe

Actress | Sherwood

Andrea Lowe was born in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, England, UK. Andrea is an actor, known for Sherwood (2022), Without Sin (2022) and DCI Banks (2010).

43. Noomi Rapace

Actress | Män som hatar kvinnor

Swedish actress Noomi Rapace was born in Hudiksvall, Gävleborgs län, Sweden to Swedish actress Nina Norén and Spanish Flamenco singer Rogelio de Badajoz (Rogelio Durán). Her parents did not stay together, and when she was five she moved to Iceland with her mother and stepfather, where she lived for...

44. Meg Ryan

Actress | When Harry Met Sally...

Blonde-haired, blue-eyed with an effervescent personality, Meg Ryan was born Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra in Fairfield, Connecticut, to Susan (Duggan), an English teacher and one-time actress, and Harry Hyra, a math teacher. She is of Ruthenian, Polish, Irish, and German ancestry ("Hyra" is a ...

45. Gwyneth Paltrow

Actress | Shakespeare in Love

Gwyneth Kate Paltrow was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of noted producer and director Bruce Paltrow and Tony Award-winning actress Blythe Danner. Her father was from a Jewish family, while her mother is of mostly German descent. When Gwyneth was eleven, the family moved to Massachusetts, where ...

46. Daryl Hannah

Actress | Wall Street

Daryl Christine Hannah was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She is the daughter of Susan Jeanne (Metzger), a schoolteacher and later a producer, and Donald Christian Hannah, who owned a tugboat/barge company. Her stepfather was music journalist/promoter Jerrold Wexler. Her siblings are Page ...

47. Sally Field

Actress | Forrest Gump

Sally Margaret Field was born November 6, 1946 in Pasadena, California, to actress Margaret Field (née Morlan) and salesman Richard Dryden Field. Her parents divorced in 1950 and her mother then married stuntman Jock Mahoney, and they had a daughter, Princess O'Mahoney. She also has a brother, ...

48. Teri Hatcher

Actress | Tomorrow Never Dies

Teri Hatcher is an American actress, writer, presenter, and former NFL cheerleader. She is known for her television roles, portraying Lois Lane on the ABC series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993-1997), and as Susan Mayer on the television series Desperate Housewives (2004-2012), ...

49. Rose Byrne

Actress | Spy

Rose Byrne was born in Balmain, Sydney, Australia. She is the daughter of Jane, a primary school administrator, and Robin Byrne, a semi-retired statistician and market researcher.

She landed her first role in a movie, Dallas Doll (1994), when she was 15 years old.

Since then, Rose has appeared in a ...

50. Glenn Close

Actress | Fatal Attraction

Eight time Academy Award-nominated actress Glenn Close was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. She is the daughter of Elizabeth Mary H. "Bettine" (Moore) and William Taliaferro Close (William Close), a prominent doctor. Both of her parents were from upper-class families.

Glenn was a noted ...

51. Mireille Enos

Actress | World War Z

Mireille Enos was born in Houston, Texas, to Monique, a teacher, and Jon Goree Enos. Her Texas-born American father, and French mother, met while her father was serving on a Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She is the fourth of five children and grew up in Houston, Texas...

52. Brit Marling

Writer | Another Earth

Brit Heyworth Marling was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Heidi (Johnson) and John Marling, both of whom work in real estate. She graduated from Georgetown University, with a bachelor's in economics, and was offered a job with Goldman Sachs, which she turned down in favour of a career as an artist.

...

53. Halle Berry

Actress | Catwoman

Halle Maria Berry was born Maria Halle Berry on August 14, 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Oakwood, Ohio to Judith Ann Berry (née Hawkins), a psychiatric nurse & Jerome Jesse Berry, a hospital attendant. Her father was African-American and her mother is of mostly English and German descent. ...

54. Olga Kurylenko

Actress | Oblivion

Olga Kurylenko is a Ukrainian-French actress and model, went from sharing a cramped flat with her aunt, uncle, grandparents and cousin to starring as a Bond girl opposite Daniel Craig.

She was born Olga Konstantinovna Kurylenko on November 14, 1979, in Berdyansk, Ukraine, Soviet Union. Her mother, ...

55. Genevieve O'Reilly

Actress | The Dry

Genevieve O'Reilly (born 6 January 1977) is an Irish actress known for her work in the Star Wars franchise as Mon Mothma, having portrayed the character in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One, as well as her voice role as Moira in Overwatch.

In television, O'Reilly's first appearance was in...

56. Clémence Poésy

Actress | In Bruges

Clémence Poésy was born Clémence Guichard in Paris in 1982. She took her mother's maiden name, Poésy, as her stage name. She attended an alternative school for most of her education, but spent her last year at L'École alsacienne.

She trained at the "Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique",...

57. Suranne Jones

Actress | Doctor Foster

Suranne Jones was born on August 27, 1978 in Greater Manchester, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Doctor Foster: A Woman Scorned (2015), Scott & Bailey (2011) and Coronation Street (1960). She has been married to Laurence Akers since August 4, 2015. They have one child.

58. Rooney Mara

Actress | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Actress and philanthropist Rooney Mara was born on April 17, 1985 in Bedford, New York. She made her screen debut in the slasher film Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005), went on to have a supporting role in the independent coming-of-age drama Tanner Hall (2009), and has since starred in the horror ...