Favorite Actresses

by jeffreyngeyer | created - 09 Feb 2016 | updated - 15 Sep 2021 | Public

1. Anne Hathaway

Actress | Les Misérables

Anne Jacqueline Hathaway was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Kate McCauley Hathaway, an actress, and Gerald T. Hathaway, a lawyer, both originally from Philadelphia. She is of mostly Irish descent, along with English, German, and French. Her first major role came in the short-lived television series ...

1. Alice Eve

Actress | Before We Go

Alice Sophia Eve was born in London, England. Her father is Trevor Eve and her mother is Sharon Maughan, both fellow actors. She is the eldest of three children. Eve has English, Irish and Welsh ancestry. Her family moved to Los Angeles, California when she was young as her father tried to crack ...

2. Amanda Seyfried

Actress | Les Misérables

Amanda Seyfried was born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to Ann (Sander), an occupational therapist, and Jack Seyfried, a pharmacist. She is of German, and some English and Scottish, ancestry. She began modeling when she was eleven, and acted in high school productions as well as taking ...

3. Amy Adams

Actress | Arrival

Amy Lou Adams was born in Vicenza, Veneto, Italy, to American parents, Kathryn (Hicken) and Richard Kent Adams, a U.S. serviceman who was stationed at Caserma Ederle in Italy at the time. She was raised in a Mormon family of seven children in Castle Rock, Colorado, and has English, as well as ...

4. Jessica Chastain

Actress | Zero Dark Thirty

Jessica Michelle Chastain was born in Sacramento, California, and was raised in a middle-class household in a Northern California suburb. Her mother, Jerri Chastain, is a vegan chef whose family is originally from Kansas, and her stepfather is a fireman. She discovered dance at the age of nine and ...

6. Melissa Rauch

Actress | The Big Bang Theory

Melissa Ivy Rauch was born in Marlboro, New Jersey. She attended Marymount Manhattan College in New York City, where she received a BFA degree. While going to school, Melissa performed stand-up comedy around Manhattan, and soon made a name for herself on the NYC comedy scene. Her one-woman show, "...

6. Jennifer Love Hewitt

Actress | I Know What You Did Last Summer

Jennifer Love Hewitt was born in Waco, Texas, to Patricia Mae (Shipp), a speech-language pathologist, and Herbert Daniel Hewitt, a medical technician. She has English, Italian, French, Scottish, and German ancestry. She got her first name from her older brother Todd Daniel Hewitt (b. November 8, ...

7. JoAnna Garcia Swisher

Actress | Not Another Teen Movie

JoAnna Garcia Swisher was born in Tampa, Florida. She began performing at the age of ten, when she auditioned for a local theater production and landed the lead. She continued to act in high school where she was discovered by Nickelodeon and commuted from Florida to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to ...

9. Alison Brie

Actress | GLOW

Alison Brie was born in Hollywood, California, to Joanne (Brenner), who worked at a non-profit child care agency, and Charles Terry Schermerhorn, a musician and entertainment reporter. Her mother is Jewish and her father has Scottish, Dutch, English, German, and Norwegian ancestry. Brie grew up in ...

9. Alexandra Daddario

Actress | Baywatch

Alexandra Anna Daddario was born on March 16, 1986 in New York City, New York, to Christina, a lawyer, and Richard Daddario, a prosecutor. Her brother is actor Matthew Daddario, her sister is actor Catharine Daddario, and her grandfather was congressman Emilio Daddario (Emilio Q. Daddario), of ...

10. Betty Gilpin

Actress | The Hunt

Elizabeth Folan Gilpin is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Debbie "Liberty Belle" Eagan in the Netflix comedy series GLOW (2017-2019), for which she was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She also starred as Dr. ...

12. Isla Fisher

Actress | Wedding Crashers

Isla Lang Fisher was born on February 3, 1976 in Muscat, Oman, to Scottish parents Elspeth Reid and Brian Fisher, who worked as a banker for the U.N. She spent her early childhood in Bathgate, Scotland, before moving to Perth, Australia with her family in the early 1980s. From a young age, Isla ...

12. Gillian Jacobs

Actress | Community

Gillian Jacobs was born on October 19, 1982 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US. Her father, William F. Jacobs Jr., was an investment banker and her mother, Martina Magenau Jacobs, was an alumni relations officer at Carnegie Mellon University.

Gillian is an alumnus of Mt. Lebanon High School, ...

13. Kat Dennings

Actress | Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Kat Dennings was born Katherine Victoria Litwack in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, to Ellen (Schatz), a speech therapist and poet, and Gerald Litwack, a molecular pharmacologist. She is the youngest of five children. Her family is of Russian Jewish descent. Kat was predominantly ...

14. 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 ...

16. Lacey Chabert

Actress | Mean Girls

Lacey Nicole Chabert was born in Purvis, Mississippi, to Julie (Johnson) and Tony Chabert, a representative for an oil company. She is of Cajun (French), Italian, English, and Scottish ancestry. Chabert started in drama and music performances in and around her hometown in Mississippi from an early ...

16. Hayley Atwell

Actress | Captain America: The First Avenger

Born in London, England, Hayley Elizabeth Atwell has dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and the United States. An only child, Hayley was named after actress Hayley Mills. Her parents, Alison (Cain) and Grant Atwell, both motivational speakers, met at a London workshop of Dale Carnegie's ...

17. Alyssa Milano

Actress | Charmed

Alyssa Milano comes from an Italian-American family; her mother Lin Milano is a fashion designer and father Thomas Milano is a film music editor. Alyssa was born in a working-class neighborhood in Brooklyn and grew up in a modest house on Staten Island. One day her babysitter, who was an aspiring ...

18. Penélope Cruz

Actress | Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Known outside her native country as the "Spanish enchantress," Penélope Cruz Sánchez was born in Madrid to Eduardo Cruz, a retailer, and Encarna Sánchez, a hairdresser. As a toddler, she was already a compulsive performer, re-enacting TV commercials for her family's amusement, but she decided to ...

20. Kelly Stables

Actress | Superstore

Kelly Michelle Stables was born in St. Louis, Missouri where she performed at The Muny Opera. She graduated cum laude from The University of Missouri, Columbia with a BA in Communications and Theater. Upon moving to Los Angeles she quickly got involved in theater arts, acting and choreographing in ...

21. Alicia Silverstone

Actress | Clueless

Alicia Silverstone was born on October 4, 1976 in San Francisco, California, the youngest of three children. She is the daughter of Didi (Radford), a former flight attendant, and Monty Silverstone, a real estate investor. Her English-born father is from a Jewish family, while her Scottish-born ...

23. Christina Hendricks

Actress | Ginger & Rosa

Christina Rene Hendricks was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and grew up in Twin Falls, Idaho. Her father, Robert, originally from England, worked for the U.S. Forest Service, while her mother, Jackie Sue (Raymond), was a psychologist. At the age of 13 her father transferred to the Forest Service ...

23. Minka Kelly

Actress | The Roommate

Minka Kelly was born in Los Angeles, California and she is the only child of former Aerosmith guitarist, Rick Dufay, and Maureen Kelly, an exotic dancer and single mother, who often moved with her daughter to different communities before settling in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by the time Minka was in...

24. Olivia Taylor Dudley

Actress | The Magicians

Olivia Taylor Dudley was born and raised on the Central Coast of California. She moved to Los Angeles at the age of 17 and has been acting ever since. Olivia is known for her roles in projects such as The Vatican Tapes (2015), Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015), and the SyFy series The...

24. Elisha Cuthbert

Actress | The Girl Next Door

Elisha Ann Cuthbert (born November 30, 1982) is a Canadian actress and model. She became internationally known for playing Kim Bauer in the series 24 (2001); Danielle in the teen comedy film The Girl Next Door (2004) and Carly Jones in the horror remake House of Wax (2005). She was voted the ...

26. Sugar Lyn Beard

Actress | Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

Sugar Lyn Beard was born on August 27, 1981 in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. She is an actress and producer, known for Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016), Sausage Party (2016) and The Package (2018).

28. Melissa Joan Hart

Actress | Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Melissa grew up in Sayville, New York. Her acting career started at the age of four, when she did a commercial for a bathtub toy called Splashy. Her mother, Paula Hart, has been her agent from the beginning. Melissa is the oldest of eight children, some from her mother's second marriage. Six ...

28. Kirsten Dunst

Actress | Spider-Man

Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, who also holds German citizenship. She was born on April 30, 1982 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, to parents Inez (née Rupprecht), who owned an art gallery, and Klaus Dunst, a medical services executive. She has a younger brother named Christian Dunst, ...

29. Sarah Michelle Gellar

Actress | Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Emmy Award-winning Sarah Michelle Gellar was born on April 14, 1977 in New York City, the daughter of Rosellen (Greenfield), who taught at a nursery school, and Arthur Gellar, who worked in the garment industry. She is of Russian Jewish and Hungarian Jewish descent.

Eating in a local restaurant, ...

29. April Bowlby

Actress | The Slammin' Salmon

April Michelle Bowlby was born on 30 July 1980 in Vallejo, California, USA. She and her family moved to Manteca, California, when she was a small child. She studied ballet, French, and marine biology at Moorpark College, before deciding to pursue an acting career. She studied drama with Ivana ...

30. Jennifer Aniston

Actress | Friends

Jennifer Aniston was born in Sherman Oaks, California, to actors John Aniston and Nancy Dow. Her father was Greek, and her mother was of English, Irish, Scottish, and Italian descent. Jennifer spent a year of her childhood living in Greece with her family. Her family then relocated to New York City...

32. Elisabeth Shue

Actress | Leaving Las Vegas

Elisabeth Shue was born in Wilmington, Delaware, to Anne Brewster (Wells), who worked for the Chemical Banking Corporation, and James William Shue, a lawyer and real estate developer. She is of German and English ancestry, including descent from Mayflower passengers. Shue's parents divorced while ...

34. Kelly Brook

Actress | Piranha 3D

From the age of 13,she attended the Italia Conte stage school where she studied dance, drama, and singing for three years. At 16, she began her modeling career gracing the covers of numerous magazines including GQ, FHM, Maxim, Sky, Cosmopolitan, Hello, Tatler, The Face, and Company, becoming one of...

35. Heather Graham

Actress | Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

Heather Joan Graham was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Joan (Bransfield), a schoolteacher and children's book author, and James Graham, an FBI agent. She and her sister, actress Aimee Graham, were raised by their strictly Catholic parents. They relocated often, as a result of their father's ...

36. Rachel Weisz

Actress | The Constant Gardener

Rachel Hannah Weisz was born on 7 March, 1970, in London, U.K., to Edith Ruth (Teich), a psychoanalyst, and George Weisz, an inventor. Her parents both came to England around 1938. Her father is a Hungarian Jewish immigrant, and her mother, from Vienna, was of Italian and Austrian Jewish heritage. ...

37. Marley Shelton

Actress | Planet Terror

Marley Eve Shelton was born in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in Eagle Rock, CA. She is the daughter of Carol (Stromme), a teacher and singer, and Christopher Shelton, who worked as a director and producer. She has three sisters: Koren Shelton, Erin Shelton and Samantha Shelton. Both of her ...

38. Rachel McAdams

Actress | The Notebook

Rachel Anne McAdams was born on November 17, 1978 in London, Ontario, Canada, to Sandra Kay (Gale), a nurse, and Lance Frederick McAdams, a truck driver and furniture mover. She is of English, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish descent. Rachel became involved with acting as a teenager and by the age of 13 ...

39. Bryce Dallas Howard

Actress | Jurassic World Dominion

Bryce Dallas Howard was born on March 2, 1981, in Los Angeles, California. She was conceived in Dallas, Texas (the reason for her middle name). Her father, Ron Howard, is a former actor turned Oscar-winning director. Her mother is actress and writer Cheryl Howard (née Alley). Her famous relatives ...

40. Amy Davidson

Actress | Killing It

A veteran TV actress, Amy Davidson has seamlessly navigated the worlds of both comedy and drama with her undeniable talent and vivacious personality. Born in Phoenix, Arizona, she studied dance as a child, but soon discovered her true passion was acting. Amy moved to Los Angeles, where she ...

41. Wendi McLendon-Covey

Actress | Bridesmaids

Actor, comedian and producer Wendi McLendon-Covey has been captivating audiences throughout her career.



Wendi recently concluded her impressive 10-season run starring on ABC's "The Goldbergs," a milestone marked by two Critic's Choice nominations. Notably, at the time of its conclusion, "The ...

42. Thora Birch

Actress | Ghost World

For some people, oatmeal starts the day off right - for Thora Birch, it launched a healthy career in front of the camera. It's hard to believe that the actress, who slunk into stardom with her turn as the disillusioned daughter in American Beauty (1999), is even related to the apple-cheeked blonde ...

43. Jennifer Lyons

Actress | As We See It

Jennifer Lyons was born in Pasadena, California to a family of entertainers. Her mother is an inspiring and creative school principal who has brought arts programs to under-served communities, her father was a flamenco guitarist, and her grandparents were a singing and dancing Vaudeville team. ...

44. Mary-Louise Parker

Actress | Weeds

Southern-bred Mary-Louise Parker was born on August 2, 1964 in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, the youngest of four children of Judge John Morgan Parker, and the former Caroline Louise Morell. She is of mostly Swedish, English, and Scottish descent. Her father's occupation took the family both around...

45. Jessica Barth

Actress | Ted

Jessica Barth was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Jessica is an actor and producer, known for Ted (2012), Next (2007) and Ted 2 (2015). Jessica has been married to Danny Cusumano since 2012. They have three children. Jessica was previously married to Brett Dicksa.

46. Léa Seydoux

Actress | La vie d'Adèle

French actress Léa Seydoux was born in 1985 in Paris, France, to Valérie Schlumberger, a philanthropist, and Henri Seydoux, a businessman. Her grandfather, Jérôme Seydoux, is chairman of Pathé, and her father is a great-grandson of businessman and inventor Marcel Schlumberger (her mother also ...

47. Sara Rue

Actress | Pearl Harbor

Sara Rue was born in New York City, New York. She is an actress and producer, known for Popular (1999), Less Than Perfect (2002), The Ring (2002), The Big Bang Theory (2007), Rules of Engagement (2007), Malibu Country (2012), and Pearl Harbor (2001). She stars in the upcoming TV Land comedy, ...

48. Elisabeth Harnois

Actress | Keith

Elisabeth was born in Detroit in 1979 and grew up in Los Angeles. An actress since the age of 3, she co-starred at the age of 5 in two movies (One Magic Christmas (1985) and Where Are the Children? (1985)). She did numerous TV commercials until being chosen by Disney Productions to star as Alice in...

48. Kelly Kruger

Actress | The Young and the Restless

Kelly Kruger was born on November 12, 1982 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She is an actress and producer, known for The Young and the Restless (1973), Entourage (2004) and Blue Mountain State (2010). She has been married to Darin Brooks since March 21, 2016. They have one child.

49. Diane Guerrero

Actress | Orange Is the New Black

Diane Guerrero (born July 21, 1986) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Maritza Ramos on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black and Lina on Jane the Virgin. Among her other roles was a recurring role on Are We There Yet? Guerrero grew up in Boston and remained there after...

51. Sofía Vergara

Actress | Hot Pursuit

Sofía Margarita Vergara Vergara was born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia. Her mother, Margarita Vergara Dávila de Vergara, is a housewife. Her father, Julio Enrique Vergara Robayo, provides cattle to the meat industry. She has five siblings. She was educated at a private bilingual Spanish/...

52. Leslie Mann

Actress | Knocked Up

Leslie Jean Mann was born in San Francisco, California. She was raised in Newport Beach, California by her mother, Janet Ann Ayres. At the age of seventeen, she launched her career, appearing in various TV commercials.

Her screen break came when she was cast as Nurse Mary in the short-lived Birdland...

53. Jodie Sweetin

Actress | Full House

Jodie Sweetin was born on January 19, 1982 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Full House (1987), Fuller House (2016) and Just Swipe (2021). She has been married to Mescal Wasilewski since July 30, 2022. She was previously married to Morty Coyle, Cody Herpin ...

54. Tiffani Thiessen

Actress | Alexa & Katie

Tiffani Amber Thiessen was born on January 23, 1974 in Long Beach, California to Robyn Ernest, a homemaker & Frank Thiessen, a park designer. She grew up in Long Beach with her parents and her brothers, professional cyclist Todd (born August 1, 1968) and Schyler (born May 10, 1977). When Tiffani ...

55. Keri Lynn Pratt

Actress | A Single Man

Keri Lynn Pratt was born on September 23, 1978 in Concord, New Hampshire, USA. She is an actress, known for A Single Man (2009), America's Sweethearts (2001) and Drive Me Crazy (1999). She has been married to John Barneson since October 2011.

56. Danielle Harris

Actress | Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead

Danielle Harris is an American actress and film director from Plainview, New York. She is regarded as a scream queen for her many roles in horror films. Her better known roles include protagonist Jamie Lloyd in "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" (1988) and "Halloween 5: The Revenge of ...

57. Rachael Leigh Cook

Actress | She's All That

Minneapolis native Rachael Leigh Cook began her career as a model at the tender age of 10, gracing Milk-Bone boxes and Target ads nationwide in the USA. She also appeared in a now-famous (in the USA) anti-drug TV spot in which, armed with a frying pan, she bashed her way through a kitchen to show ...

58. Madeline Zima

Actress | Californication

Madeline Zima was born in New Haven, Connecticut, to parents Dennis and Marie, and is the sister of actresses Vanessa Zima and Yvonne Zima. "Zima", a Polish surname, is her mother's maiden name; Madeline's maternal grandfather was of Polish descent, while her other ancestry is Italian, German, and ...

59. Charlotte Riley

Actress | In the Heart of the Sea

Charlotte Riley is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Catherine Earnshaw in ITV's adaptation of Wuthering Heights (2009).

Riley was born in Grindon, County Durham. In 2004, she won the Sunday Times' Playwriting Award for "Shaking Cecilia", which she co-wrote with Tiffany Wood.

She ...

60. Emmanuelle Chriqui

Actress | Wrong Turn

Emmanuelle Chriqui was born in Montreal, Quebec, to Moroccan Jewish immigrants, Liliane (Benisty) and Albert Chriqui. Her family moved to Toronto when she was two years old. At the age of 10, Chriqui appeared in a McDonald's commercial. She moved to Vancouver, guest-starring in series such as Are ...

61. Emily Kinney

Actress | The Walking Dead

Emily Kinney is an American actress. She is best-known for her role as "Beth Greene" in the AMC television series, The Walking Dead (2010). Kinney was born in Wayne, Nebraska. She graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 2006. Kinney has had reoccurring roles and guest appearances on ...

62. Marla Sokoloff

Actress | The Practice

Born and raised in San Francisco, Marla Sokoloff moved to Los Angeles in 1994 and enrolled in the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts, where she studied theater and music. She won numerous awards and accolades for her singing, performing the national anthem at such high profile events as the...

63. Jena Malone

Actress | The Neon Demon

Jena Malone was born in Reno, Nevada, raised in Sparks, Nevada; two cities that have merged together over time, to Deborah Malone and Edward Berge. Her grandfather owned a casino, Karl's Silver Club, in Reno. She was raised by her mother and her mother's partner. Beginning as a child actress, and ...

64. Lucy Punch

Actress | Into the Woods

Lucy Punch grew up in London and was a member of the National Youth Theatre in her late teens before going to University College London to read History. While she was there she auditioned for TV roles and eventually dropped out to concentrate on acting.

She learned a lot, she says, from working on ...

65. Shannon Woodward

Actress | Westworld

Shannon Woodward is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Sabrina Collins on the FOX sitcom Raising Hope (2010-2014), Elsie Hughes on the HBO science-fiction thriller series Westworld (2016-2018), and the voice and motion capture of Dina in the video game The Last of Us Part II, ...

66. Nikki Griffin

Actress | The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

Jeanne Nicole Griffin was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and moved to Frankfurt, Germany when she was two with her parents, Jeanne and Eugene Griffin. After six years abroad, the family moved back to the US, to Virginia for a year, before settling in Wilmington, NC. Her father worked for the Army ...

66. Aviva Baumann

Actress | Superbad

Aviva Baumann was born on July 10, 1984 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. She is an actress, known for Superbad (2007), Spring Break '83 and Cold Case (2003). She has been married to Ken Baumann since June 16, 2012.

68. Sarah Jones

Actress | For All Mankind

Sarah Jones is an American actress, best known for her starring roles as NASA astronaut Tracy Stevens in the Apple TV+ original science fiction space drama series For All Mankind and as Detective Rebecca Madsen in the Fox TV drama series Alcatraz. Jones was born in Winter Springs, Florida, and ...

69. Chelan Simmons

Actress | Tucker and Dale vs Evil

Chelan Lauren Simmons was born in Vancouver, Canada. One of three children (one older brother and an older sister), she has been a natural performer since the age of 2. Her first movie role was as the title creature's first victim, Laurie Ann Winterbarger, in Stephen King's It (1990). Her most ...

70. Katharine Isabelle

Actress | Ginger Snaps

Katharine Isabelle was born Katharine Isobel Murray in Vancouver, British Columbia to Graeme Murray, an art director and production designer who has won two Emmy Awards for his special effects work on the television series The X-Files (1993) and Gail Murray, an amateur Vancouver writer and producer...

71. Jessica Simpson

Actress | The Dukes of Hazzard

A talented artist with universal appeal, Jessica Simpson is an international star and media darling who has taken the music, fashion and entertainment industries by storm. Jessica burst on to the scene with her unmistakable voice and has since released 8 hit-producing albums. She has starred on the...



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