My favorite actresses of the 21st century
by JuguAbraham | created - 31 Mar 2022 | updated - 05 Feb 2023 | PublicRanked alongside their signature films (all made after 2000)
1. 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 ...
Signature film: Tar
2. 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 ...
Signature films: France (France) and The Story of My Wife (Hungary)
3. Tilda Swinton
Actress | We Need to Talk About Kevin
The iconoclastic gifts of the highly striking and ferociously talented actress Tilda Swinton have been appreciated by art house crowds and international audiences alike. After her stunning Oscar-winning turn as a high-powered corporate attorney in the George Clooney starring and critically-lauded ...
Signature film: Memoria (Colombia/Thailand)
4. 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...
Signature film: Certified Copy (dir. Kiarostami)
5. Yuliya Vysotskaya
Actress | Ray
Julia Vysotskaya was born in Novcherkassk on August 16, 1973. She studied in the drama department of the Belorussian Academy of Arts (graduating in 1995) and then at the London Academy of Music and Fine Arts (graduating in 1998). She has worked in the Belorussian National Academic Yanka Kupala ...
A.k.a. Mrs Andrei Konchalovsky. Signature film: Paradise (Russia)
6. Charlotte Rampling
Actress | 45 Years
Tessa Charlotte Rampling was born 5 February 1946 in Sturmer, England, to Isabel Anne (Gurteen), a painter, and Godfrey Lionel Rampling, an Olympic gold medalist, army officer, and colonel, who became a NATO commander. She was educated at Jeanne d'Arc Académie pour Jeunes Filles in Versailles, ...
Signature film: Hannah
7. 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 ...
Signature film: Dogville
8. Mahtab Keramati
Actress | Bist
Mahtab Keramati was born on October 17, 1970 in Tehran, Iran. She is an actress and producer, known for Twenty (2009), Ice Age (2015) and Inadvertent (2014). She was previously married to Babak Riahipour.
Signature films: Shirin (Iran, dir. Kiarostami) and Ghosts (Iran, dir. Mehrjui)
9. Emma Suárez
Actress | Julieta
Made her first film when she was 15 and from then on shared her time between studying dramatic art and performing in plays, films and TV productions. However it was not until the 1990s that she began to make her worthiest appearances in films directed by Julio Medem (Vacas, La Ardilla Roja and ...
Signature film: Julieta (Spain, dir. Almodovar)
10. Catherine Deneuve
Actress | 8 femmes
Catherine Fabienne Deneuve was born October 22, 1943 in Paris, France, to actor parents Renée Simonot and Maurice Dorléac. She made her movie debut in 1957, when she was barely a teenager and continued with small parts in minor films, until Roger Vadim gave her a meatier role in Vice and Virtue (...
Signature film: The Truth (France/Japan)
11. Alicia Vikander
Actress | Ex Machina
Alicia Vikander is a Swedish actress, dancer and producer. She was born and raised in Gothenburg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden, to Maria Fahl, an actress of stage and screen, and Svante Vikander, a psychiatrist. Through her mother, she is one quarter Finnish, and had a maternal great aunt who moved...
Signature film: Ex Machina
12. Nina Hoss
Actress | Phoenix
Nina Hoss was born on July 7, 1975 in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. She is an actress, known for Phoenix (2014), Tár (2022) and A Most Wanted Man (2014). She has been married to Alex Silva since 2015.
Signature film: Yella (Germany)
13. Paula Beer
Actress | Undine
Paula Beer was born on February 23, 1995 in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. She is an actress, known for Undine (2020), Frantz (2016) and The Dark Valley (2014).
Signature film: Undine (Germany)
14. Isabelle Huppert
Actress | Elle
Isabelle Huppert was born March 16, 1953, in Paris, France, but spent her childhood in Ville d'Avray. Encouraged by her mother Annick Huppert (who was a teacher of English), she followed the Conservatory of Versailles and won an acting prize for her work in Alfred de Musset's "Un caprice". She then...
Signature film: Elle (France)
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