The Best Actress 1998

by dziwnytenswiat | created - 1 week ago | updated - 1 week ago | Public

From my list: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls027054198/

1. Natascha McElhone

Actress | Solaris

Natascha McElhone was born in Walton on Thames, London. She attended several schools, Camden School for Girls being the last.

Natascha McElhone established herself as a talented leading actress when she left drama school in 1993 to play the lead in her first film, Merchant Ivory's Surviving Picasso,...

1479 points

2. 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 ...

1473 points

3. Monica Potter

Actress | The Last House on the Left

From Cleveland to Hollywood, actress, producer, entrepreneur, funny woman, tear-jerker, designer, decorator, builder, creator, fixer, cook, cleaner, host, wife, Browns fan, homemaker, (very) amateur bowler and -her favorite title- mom, Monica Potter has achieved success in several different ways......

1456 points

4. Beverly D'Angelo

Actress | National Lampoon's Vacation

Intriguing, inspiring, and never less than interesting -- key adjectives in describing the career of Beverly D'Angelo, which has well passed the four-decade mark. Perhaps deserving better movies than she generally found herself in, she nevertheless was always an object of fascination and the one to...

878 points

5. Fairuza Balk

Actress | The Craft

"Fairuza!" ("Turquoise" in Farsi), her father exclaimed as he saw her blue eyes: Fairuza Alejandra Balk had just been born on May 21, 1974 in Point Reyes, California. Her father, Solomon Ben Feldthouse, was a traveling musician originally from Idaho, and her mother, Cathryn Balk, was a belly dancer...

878 points

6. Mélanie Thierry

Actress | The Zero Theorem

Mélanie Thierry was born on July 17, 1981 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines, France. She is an actress and director, known for The Zero Theorem (2013), Da 5 Bloods (2020) and Babylon A.D. (2008).

844 points

7. Paprika Steen

Actress | Applaus

In Okay (2002), director and actress Paprika Steen shows off her multi- faceted acting talent as the loud-mouthed control freak Nete. This is her first major part for which she has already been nominated for the Best Actress Award from the European Film Academy. She has won the Danish Academy Award...

834 points

8. Trine Dyrholm

Actress | Dronningen

Trine Dyrholm was born on April 15, 1972 in Odense, Denmark. She is an actress and director, known for Queen of Hearts (2019), Love Is All You Need (2012) and In a Better World (2010).

834 points

9. Nandita Das

Director | Firaaq

Nandita Das, born in Mumbai, India, is a highly acclaimed Indian actress, director, and social activist known for her impactful performances in parallel and mainstream cinema. With a career spanning over two decades, Nandita Das has not only established herself as a versatile and talented actress ...

827 points

10. Julia Ormond

Actress | Sabrina

The dark and classically beautiful British actress and social activist Julia (Karin) Ormond was born on January 4, 1965, in Surrey, into England, the second of five children. Born of privilege as the daughter of a well-to-do laboratory technician, her parents divorced when she was young. Julia ...

823 points

11. Joan Allen

Actress | Room

Joan Allen was born on August 20, 1956 in Rochelle, Illinois, the youngest of four children. She is the daughter of homemaker Dorothea Marie (Wirth) and gas station owner James Jefferson Allen. Her mother's family was German, and her father had English, Scots-Irish, and German ancestry. She ...

790 points

12. Reese Witherspoon

Producer | Wild

Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon was born on March 22, 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Betty Witherspoon, a registered nurse & John Draper Witherspoon, a military surgeon. Reese spent the first 4 years of her life in Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany, where her father served as a lieutenant colonel in the ...

790 points

13. Cate Blanchett

Actress | Carol

Cate Blanchett was born on May 14, 1969 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, to June (Gamble), an Australian teacher and property developer, and Robert DeWitt Blanchett, Jr., an American advertising executive, originally from Texas. She has an older brother and a younger sister. When she was ten ...

789 points

14. Emily Mortimer

Actress | Mary Poppins Returns

British actress Emily Kathleen Anne Mortimer was born in Hammersmith, London, England, to writer and barrister Sir John Mortimer and his second wife, Penelope (née Gollop). She was educated at St Paul's Girls' School in West London, and it was whilst there she began acting. Mortimer moved on from ...

789 points

15. Kelly Macdonald

Actress | No Country for Old Men

Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald was born and raised in Glasgow. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she was raised by her mother, a sales executive in the garment industry. She has one brother, David. As a hobby, she acted in an amateur theatrical club, which she enjoyed a great deal. ...

789 points

16. Julianne Moore

Actress | Far from Heaven

Julianne Moore was born Julie Anne Smith in Fort Bragg, North Carolina on December 3, 1960, the daughter of Anne (Love), a social worker, and Peter Moore Smith, a paratrooper, colonel, and later military judge. Her mother moved to the U.S. in 1951, from Greenock, Scotland. Her father, from ...

773 points

17. Tara Reid

Actress | American Pie

Born in Wyckoff, New Jersey, USA on November 8, 1975. She got her career start at six, when she appeared on a children's game show called Child's Play (1982). Later, she appeared in commercials for Jell-O, McDonald's, and Crayola. She attended the Professional Children's School in New York City. Her...

773 points

18. Laura Linney

Actress | The Big C

Laura Leggett Linney was born in New York City on February 5, 1964, into a theatre family. Her father was prominent playwright Romulus Linney, whose own great-grandfather was a congressman from North Carolina. Her mother, Miriam Anderson (Leggett), is a nurse. Although she did not live in her ...

770 points

19. Judi Dench

Actress | Skyfall

Dame Judi Dench was born Judith Olivia Dench in York, England, to Eleanora Olive (Jones), who was from Dublin, Ireland, and Reginald Arthur Dench, a doctor from Dorset, England. She attended Mount School in York, and studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She has performed with the ...

768 points

20. Imelda Staunton

Actress | Vera Drake

Imelda Staunton is an English actress and singer from Archway, London. Her ancestry is primarily Irish. She has worked extensively in theater, and has won 4 Laurence Olivier Awards; 3 for leading roles and one for a supporting role. Her best known role in films has been the recurring villain ...

768 points

21. Bridget Fonda

Actress | A Simple Plan

Bridget Jane Fonda was born in Los Angeles, California, to Susan Brewer and actor Peter Fonda. She is the granddaughter of Henry Fonda and niece of Jane Fonda, both famous actors. Bridget made her film debut at age five as an extra in Easy Rider (1969), but first became interested in acting after ...

757 points

22. Franka Potente

Actress | Lola rennt

Franka Potente was born on 22 July 1974 in the German city of Münster, to Hildegard, a medical assistant, and Dieter Potente, a teacher, and raised in the nearby town of Dülmen. After her graduation in 1994, she went to the Otto-Falckenberg-Schule, a drama school in Munich, but soon broke off to ...

753 points

23. Isabelle Renauld

Actress | Parfait amour!

Isabelle Renauld was born on November 24, 1966 in Saint-Malo, Ille-et-Vilaine, France. She is an actress, known for Perfect Love (1996), Eternity and a Day (1998) and Vidocq (2001).

751 points

24. Lisa Bonet

Actress | Angel Heart

Lisa Bonet was born in San Francisco, California, to Arlene Joyce (Litman), a teacher, and Allen Bonet, an opera singer. She has lived most of her life in New York and Los Angeles; in L.A., she attended Reseda High School and Celluloid Actor's Studio. Her father was African-American and her mother ...

743 points

25. Regina King

Actress | Ray

Regina King was born in Los Angeles, California, to Gloria, a special education teacher, and Thomas King, an electrician. She began her career in the television show 227 (1985), followed by a role in Boyz n the Hood (1991). She began to be recognized by a mainstream audience after her role as Cuba ...

743 points

26. Golshifteh Farahani

Actress | Paterson

Golshifteh started her acting career in theater at the age of 6 and has always kept a strong link with theater, but it was at the age of 14 that she acted in her first film The Pear Tree (1998), for which she won the prize for the Best Actress from the international section of the Fajr film ...

738 points

27. Fernanda Montenegro

Actress | Central do Brasil

Arlette Pinheiro Esteves da Silva was born on 16th October 1929 in Rio de Janeiro. She adopted the name "Fernanda" because she thought it sounded good. "Montenegro" came after her family doctor.

In late 40s she was translating and adapting famous theater plays to radio. She begun her artistic life ...

738 points

28. Branka Katic

Actress | The King's Man

Branka Katic was born on January 20, 1970 in Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia. She is an actress, known for The King's Man (2021), Public Enemies (2009) and Black Cat, White Cat (1998). She has been married to Julian Farino since August 31, 2000. They have two children.

738 points

29. Emily Watson

Actress | Gosford Park

Emily Watson was born and raised in London, the daughter of Katharine (Venables), an English teacher, and Richard Watson, an architect. After a self-described sheltered upbringing, Watson attended university for three years in Bristol, studying English literature. She applied to drama school and ...

731 points

30. Rachel Griffiths

Actress | Six Feet Under

Her mother, Anna Griffiths, is an art consultant. Her uncle is a Jesuit priest. Has two older brothers. One brother, Ben, is a ski instructor. Lived on the Gold Coast, Queensland until age five, then moved to Melbourne. Attended Star of the Sea Catholic Girls' College, did well at school and ...

731 points

31. Sharon Stone

Actress | Basic Instinct

Sharon Stone was born and raised in Meadville, a small town in Pennsylvania. Her strict father was a factory worker, and her mother was a 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 ...

729 points

32. Meryl Streep

Actress | Out of Africa

Considered by many critics to be the greatest living actress, Meryl Streep has been nominated for the Academy Award an astonishing 21 times, and has won it three times. Meryl was born Mary Louise Streep in 1949 in Summit, New Jersey, to Mary Wolf (Wilkinson), a commercial artist, and Harry William ...

728 points

33. Renée Zellweger

Actress | Chicago

Renée Kathleen Zellweger was born on April 25, 1969, in Katy, Texas, Her mother, Kjellfrid Irene (Andreassen), is a Norwegian-born former nurse and midwife, of Norwegian, Kven (Finnish), and Swedish descent. Her father, Emil Erich Zellweger, is a Swiss-born engineer. The two married in 1963. Renée ...

728 points

34. 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 ...

728 points

35. Ellen Burstyn

Actress | Requiem for a Dream

Ellen Burstyn was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Correine Marie (Hamel) and John Austin Gillooly. She is of Irish, French/French-Canadian, Pennsylvania Dutch (German), and Native American ancestry.. She worked a number of jobs before she became an actress. At 14, she was a short-order cook at a ...

728 points

36. 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 ...

728 points

37. Patricia Clarkson

Actress | The Station Agent

This remarkable, one-of-a-kind actress has, since the early 1990s, intrigued film and TV audiences with her glowing, yet careworn eccentricity and old world-styled glamour. Very much in demand these days as a character player, Patricia Clarkson nevertheless continues to avoid the temptation of ...

728 points

38. Gena Rowlands

Actress | The Notebook

Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlands is an American film, stage, and television actress, whose career in the entertainment industry has spanned over six decades. A four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner, she is known for her collaborations with her late actor-director husband John Cassavetes ...

728 points

39. Madeleine Stowe

Actress | 12 Monkeys

Madeleine Stowe was born in Los Angeles, California, to Mireya Maria (Mora Steinvorth) and Robert Alfred Stowe, a civil engineer. Her mother was a from a prominent political family in Costa Rica. Stowe grew up in Eagle Rock, a working-class neighborhood of Los Angeles. At age ten she started ...

728 points

40. 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 ...

728 points

41. 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 ...

728 points

42. Christina Ricci

Actress | Casper

Precocious, outspoken child-teen starlet of the 1990s, Christina Ricci was born on February 12, 1980 in Santa Monica, California, the youngest of four children of Sarah (Murdoch), a realtor, and Ralph Ricci, a lawyer and therapist. She is of Italian (from her paternal grandfather), Irish, and ...

728 points

43. Rosanna Arquette

Actress | Pulp Fiction

Rosanna Arquette has acted extensively in film and television, and has come to be acknowledged as an actress of rare depth and scope.

Arquette was born in New York City, New York. Her parents, Lewis Arquette, an actor, and Brenda Denaut (née Nowak), an acting teacher and therapist, had 4 other ...

728 points

44. Anjelica Huston

Actress | The Grifters

Anjelica Huston was born on July 8, 1951 to director and actor John Huston and Russian prima ballerina Enrica 'Ricki' Soma. Huston spent most of her childhood overseas, in Ireland and England, and in 1968 first dipped her toe into the world of show business, taking on the lead role of her father's ...

728 points

45. Fionnula Flanagan

Actress | The Others

Fionnula Flanagan was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. From an early age she grew up speaking both English and Irish on a daily basis. Her parents weren't native Irish speakers but wanted Fionnula and her four siblings to learn the language. Her mother used to say, "A nation without a language ...

727 points

46. Susan Lynch

Actress | Waking Ned

Susan was doing plays in Gaelic before she was offered a place at the Central School of Speech and Drama and while there she won the Kenneth Branagh Renaissance Award for Most Promising Student, Her theatre roles include El Cid and Pericles at the National and the title role of Miss Julie at the ...

727 points

47. Lynn Redgrave

Actress | Gods and Monsters

Actress of both the English and American stage and screen, Lynn Redgrave was born in Marylebone, London, England, into one of the world's most famous acting dynasties. As the daughter of Rachel Kempson and Sir Michael Redgrave, sister of Vanessa Redgrave and Corin Redgrave, and granddaughter of Roy...

725 points

48. Lolita Davidovich

Actress | Hollywood Homicide

Lolita Davidovich was born on July 15, 1961 in London, Ontario, Canada. She is an actress, known for Hollywood Homicide (2003), Blaze (1989) and Adventures in Babysitting (1987). She has been married to Ron Shelton since 1997. They have one child.

725 points

49. Najwa Nimri

Actress | Abre los ojos

Najwa Nimri Urrutikoetxea is a Spanish actress and singer of Navarrese and Jordanian descent.

Nimri's mother is Navarrese and her father is Jordanian; his name is Karam Nimri. She has a brother named Karim Nimri, a half-brother named Andre Nimri and two half-sisters named Sara and Nadia Nimri. Najwa...

723 points

50. Ana Moreira

Actress | Transe

Ana Moreira is an award-winning actress. Known for her work in the films Tabu by Miguel Gomes or Sombra by Bruno Gascon and also in the films of Salomé Lamas, Gabriel Abrantes, Teresa Villaverde, Eugène Green and João Botelho, marking an international presence in several film festivals such as ...

718 points

51. Anne Heche

Actress | Six Days Seven Nights

Anne Celeste Heche was an American actress, director, and screenwriter. She came to recognition portraying Vicky Hudson and Marley Love in the soap opera Another World (1964), which won her a Daytime Emmy Award and two Soap Opera Digest Awards. She came to mainstream prominence in the late 1990s ...

717 points

52. Michelle Reis

Actress | Do lok tin si

Michelle Reis was born on June 20, 1970 in Macao [now Macao SAR, China]. She is an actress, known for Fallen Angels (1995), Wicked City (1992) and The Legend (1993). She has been married to Julian Hui since November 23, 2008. They have one child.

714 points

53. Carina Lau

Actress | Di Renjie zhi Tongtian diguo

Carina Lau moved to Hong Kong with her family at the age of 14 and at the the time could not speak the local Cantonese and was often teased by other people the "Mainland Girl". She would eventually gave her best effort to learn the language and then was re-accepted at the TVB actors training ...

714 points

54. Gong Li

Actress | Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia

Born in Shenyang, grew up in Jinan, the daughter of an economics professor. Loved music from childhood, and dreamed of a singing career. After failing to gain entrance to China's top music school in 1985, applied for and was admitted to the Central Drama Academy in Beijing, from which she graduated...

713 points

55. Gretchen Mol

Actress | The Thirteenth Floor

Gretchen Mol was born November 8, 1972, in Deep River, Connecticut, the daughter of a school principal, James Mol, and his artist wife, Janet. Deep River is a small community located on the Chester Bowles Highway (Rt. 9), nine miles northwest of Old Saybrook (home of the legendary Katharine Hepburn...

710 points

56. Megan Dodds

Actress | Ever After

Megan Dodds graduated from the famous Juilliard School, where she tackled a wide range of classic plays including "The Seagull," "Misalliance," "Macbeth" and "All's Well That Ends Well." She made her Broadway debut in "School for Scandal" at the Lyceum Theatre, directed by Gerald Freedman. A small ...

708 points

57. Deborah Kara Unger

Actress | The Game

Deborah Kara Unger was the first Canadian accepted into the prestigious Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art. She made her feature film debut in Blood Oath (1990), followed by roles in Christopher Crowe's Whispers in the Dark (1992), Till There Was You (1991), and Highlander: The Final ...

708 points

58. Anne Bancroft

Actress | The Graduate

Anne Bancroft was born on September 17, 1931 in The Bronx, NY, the middle daughter of Michael Italiano (1905-2001), a dress pattern maker, and Mildred DiNapoli (1907-2010), a telephone operator. She made her cinema debut in Don't Bother to Knock (1952) in 1952, and over the next five years appeared...

705 points

59. Kim Dickens

Actress | Gone Girl

Kimberly Jan Dickens is an American actress. Her film debut was in the 1995 comedy film Palookaville. Dickens played lead roles in the films Truth or Consequences, N.M. (1997), Zero Effect (1998) and Mercury Rising (1998). Her other films include Great Expectations (1998), Hollow Man (2000), House ...

705 points

60. Catherine McCormack

Actress | Braveheart

Catherine McCormack was born on April 3, 1972 in Epsom, Surrey, England, UK. She is an actress and director, known for Braveheart (1995), Spy Game (2001) and A Sound of Thunder (2005).

703 points

61. Naomi Watts

Actress | Mulholland Dr.

Naomi Ellen Watts was born on September 28, 1968 in Shoreham, England to Myfanwy Edwards "Miv" (Roberts), an antiques dealer and costume/set designer, and Peter Watts (Peter Anthony Watts), Pink Floyd's road manager. Her maternal grandfather was Welsh. Her father died when she was seven and she ...

703 points

62. Jacqueline Bisset

Actress | Bullitt

Jacqueline Bisset has been an international film star since the late '60s. She received her first roles mainly because of her stunning beauty, but over time she has become a fine actress respected by fans and critics alike. Bisset has worked with directors John Huston, François Truffaut, George ...

703 points



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