The history's best actresses

by adrianbonds | created - 14 Jan 2017 | updated - 17 Feb 2018 | Public

These women are my favourites from the movies: marvelous and splendid.

1. Audrey Hepburn

Actress | Breakfast at Tiffany's

Audrey Hepburn was born as Audrey Kathleen Ruston on May 4, 1929 in Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium. Her mother, Baroness Ella Van Heemstra, was a Dutch noblewoman, while her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, was born in Úzice, Bohemia, to English and Austrian parents.

After her parents' divorce, ...

She's the best because of all her marvelous girls, tindering with their eyes of pure innocence but still carrying some sorrow in their depths. Her movies are easy to enjoy and you can't get enough of her.

2. Sickan Carlsson

Actress | Charlotte Löwensköld

Her first public performance was on radio at the age of 10, together with her friend Birgit Tengroth. She debuted in a revue held at her father's place of work when she was 15. This led to more work at the theatre, a screen test for Svensk Filmindustri and a small role in Kära släkten (...

With an irresistible smile she stuns her audience and all you want to do is laugh through your movie.

3. Sophia Loren

Actress | La ciociara

Sophia Loren was born as Sofia Scicolone at the Clinica Regina Margherita in Rome on September 20, 1934. Her father Riccardo was married to another woman and refused to marry her mother Romilda Villani, despite the fact that she was the mother of his two children (Sophia and her younger sister ...

An interest in her broadened my movie taste a lot with the whole Italian movie scene!

4. Maggie Smith

Actress | Gosford Park

One of the world's most famous and distinguished actresses, Dame Maggie Smith was born Margaret Natalie Smith in Essex. Her Scottish mother, Margaret (Hutton), worked as a secretary, and her English father, Nathaniel Smith, was a teacher at Oxford University. Smith has been married twice: to actor ...

Next to my grand mother she's the coolest old lady I know.

5. Annalisa Ericson

Actress | Greven från gränden

At the age of 5, she began ballet lessons at the Royal Opera in Stockholm and got small parts in the ballets that were performed. The parts became bigger and she wanted to try acting. She did apply to become a student at the Royal Dramatic Theatre but failed in the final test. Instead, she began at...

For all her elegant ladies!

6. Millie Bobby Brown

Actress | Enola Holmes

Millie Bobby Brown (born 19 February 2004) is an English actress and model. She rose to prominence for her role as Eleven in the Netflix science fiction drama series Stranger Things (2016), for which she earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series ...

7. Irène Jacob

Actress | La double vie de Véronique

This beautiful, dark-haired French actress made a hit with a supporting role in her first film, as the piano teacher in Louis Malle's "Au revoir, les enfants" (1987). Educated in London and Geneva, and a Paris resident since the age of 18, Jacob became a promising starlet with her Malle success and...

8. 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 ...

Troubled women of high or low.

9. Louise Edlind

Actress | Le Mans

Louise Edlind was born on July 15, 1946 in Stockholm, Sweden. She is an actress, known for Le Mans (1971), Life on Seacrow Island (1964) and Så går det till på Saltkråkan (1977). She has been married to Sten Friberg since 1966. They have two children.

First an irritating big sister, now my dream girl!

10. Eva Henning

Actress | Elvira Madigan

Eva was born in New York, USA, with a Norwegian father and a Swedish mother, Ragni. They divorced when Eva was 6 years old and Ragni remarried the actor Uno Henning.

Eva was accepted to the Royal Dramatic Theater's acting school in 1938. She had some minor roles both on the stage and in a few movies...

A sad girl to investigate.

11. Ingrid Bergman

Actress | Casablanca

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, tied with ...

One of the best looking Swedish actresses and fantastic in "Intermezzo" with Gösta Ekman.

12. Marilyn Monroe

Actress | Some Like It Hot

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, comedienne, singer, and model. Monroe is of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh descent. She became one of the world's most enduring iconic figures and is remembered both for her winsome embodiment of the Hollywood sex symbol and her tragic personal and ...

I like her hot performance with Lemmon and Curtis.

13. Julie Andrews

Actress | The Sound of Music

Julia Elizabeth Wells was born on October 1, 1935, in England. Her mother, Barbara Ward (Morris), and stepfather, both vaudeville performers, discovered her freakish but undeniably lovely four-octave singing voice and immediately got her a singing career. She performed in music halls throughout her...

The sound of her...

14. Sophie Turner

Actress | Game of Thrones

Sophie Belinda Jonas (née Turner; born February 21, 1996) is an English actress. Turner made her professional acting debut as Sansa Stark on the HBO fantasy television series Game of Thrones (2011) (2011-2019), which brought her international recognition and critical praise. For her performance, ...

15. Monica Zetterlund

Actress | Äppelkriget

Monica Zetterlund was born on September 20, 1937 in Hagfors, Värmlands län, Sweden. She was an actress and writer, known for The Apple War (1971), The New Land (1972) and The Emigrants (1971). She was married to Magnus Roger, Sture Åkerberg, Göran Pettersson and Torbjörn Zetterlund. She died on May...

Singer but also a strong woman on her way to America.

16. Natalie Portman

Actress | Black Swan

Natalie Portman is the first person born in the 1980s to have won the Academy Award for Best Actress (for Black Swan (2010)).

Natalie was born Natalie Hershlag on June 9, 1981, in Jerusalem, Israel. She is the only child of Avner Hershlag, an Israeli-born doctor, and Shelley Stevens, an ...

Fantastic space princess.

17. Sif Ruud

Actress | Smultronstället

Sif Ruud was born in an well-off family, but when her stepfather had spent all of her mother's money, conditions for the family became more modest. A friend of her mother's was told about young Sif's interest in acting and gave her acting lessons. In 1934 she began her studies at the Royal Dramatic...

What is an old Swedish movie without her?

18. Birgitta Andersson

Actress | Jönssonligans största kupp

Birgitta Andersson was born on April 20, 1933 in Mariestad, Västra Götalands län, Sweden. She is an actress and writer, known for The Jonsson Gang's Greatest Robbery (1995), Madicken (1979) and The Return of the Jonsson League (1986).

Her accent is great!

19. Kate Winslet

Actress | Titanic

Ask Kate Winslet what she likes 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...

For Titanic!

20. Gaby Stenberg

Actress | Rederiet

Gaby Stenberg was born on January 9, 1923 in Tokyo, Japan. She was an actress, known for Rederiet (1992), Löjtnantshjärtan (1942) and Hendes store aften (1954). She was married to Fredrik Koch. She died on September 20, 2011 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden.

She was so elegant!

21. Liv Tyler

Actress | Armageddon

Liv Tyler is an actress of international renown and has been a familiar face on our screens for over two decades and counting. She began modelling at the age of fourteen before pursuing a career in acting. After making her film debut in Bruce Beresford's Silent Fall, she was cast by fledgling ...

Does a movie need a woman? No, but if The Lord of the Rings should have one, it should be her!

22. Julia Cæsar

Actress | Bröderna Östermans huskors

Her career began with small parts at the theatre, and she considered her debut to have been made in 1905. Just like Edvard Persson she worked at the Apollo Theatre in Helsinki, Finland, during World War I. When she returned to Sweden she worked in Stockholm's popular park theatres, such as ...

and she could sing!

23. Juliette Binoche

Actress | The English Patient

Juliette Binoche was born in Paris, France, to Monique Yvette Stalens, a director, teacher, and actress, and Jean-Marie Binoche, a sculptor, director, and actor. Her mother was born in Czestochowa, Poland, of French, Walloon Belgian, and Polish descent, while her father is French. Juliette was only...

24. 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,...

25. Maria Lindberg

Actress | One Down, Two to Go

Maria Lindberg was born on August 10, 1955 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. She is an actress, known for One Down, Two to go (1982), Håll alla dörrar öppna (1973) and Kråkguldet (1969).

Great child actor in Kullamannen and Kråkguldet.

26. Ariadna Gil

Actress | El laberinto del fauno

Born in January, 1969, she's the daughter of August Gil Matamala, a prestigious lawyer. Grew up studying singing, dancing and the violin. She even appeared occasionally singing with her two brothers in their banda named "Matamala". At 17, she appeared on the cover of an avant-garde Catalonian ...

27. Lena Headey

Actress | 300

Lena Headey is a Bermudian-British actress. Headey is best known for her role as "Cersei Lannister" in Game of Thrones (2011) (2011-2019) and The Brothers Grimm (2005), Possession (2002), and The Remains of the Day (1993). Headey stars as "Queen Gorgo", a heroic Spartan woman in the period film, 300...

28. Grace Kelly

Actress | Dial M for Murder

On November 12, 1929, Grace Patricia Kelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to wealthy parents. Her girlhood was uneventful for the most part, but one of the things she desired was to become an actress which she had decided on at an early age. After her high school graduation in 1947, Grace ...

29. Caitríona Balfe

Actress | Belfast

Caitriona Balfe was born in Dublin, Ireland, and grew up in the village of Tydavnet, in County Monaghan. She started modeling at the age of 19 after she was scouted by an agent while she was collecting money for charity at a local mall. She has both walked the runway and been featured in ...

30. Shirley MacLaine

Actress | Terms of Endearment

Shirley MacLaine was born Shirley MacLean Beaty in Richmond, Virginia. Her mother, Kathlyn Corinne (MacLean), was a drama teacher from Nova Scotia, Canada, and her father, Ira Owens Beaty, a professor of psychology and real estate agent, was from Virginia. Her brother, Warren Beatty, was born on ...

31. Phyllis Logan

Actress | Secrets & Lies

Phyllis Logan was born on January 11, 1956 in Paisley, Scotland, UK. She is an actress, known for Secrets & Lies (1996), Another Time, Another Place (1983) and Downton Abbey (2010). She has been married to Kevin McNally since August 15, 2011. They have one child.

32. Katrin Sass

Actress | Good Bye Lenin!

Katrin Sass was born on October 23, 1956 in Schwerin, German Democratic Republic. She is an actress, known for Good Bye Lenin! (2003), The Weissensee Saga (2010) and Bürgschaft für ein Jahr (1981). She was previously married to Siegfried Kühn.

Charismatic in Weissensee!

33. Rose Leslie

Actress | Honeymoon

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 ...

34. 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 ...

35. Penelope Wilton

Actress | The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Penelope Wilton was born on June 3, 1946 in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Match Point (2005). She was previously married to Ian Holm and Daniel Massey.

36. Anna-Lena Brundin

Actress | En man som heter Ove

Anna-Lena Brundin was born on April 12, 1959 in Lund, Skåne län, Sweden. She is an actress and writer, known for A Man Called Ove (2015), Mysteriet på Greveholm (1996) and Mysteriet på Greveholm - Grevens återkomst (2012). She was previously married to Olof Brundin.



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