Cinema's 20 most versatile actresses

From the very beginning of her career, Michelle Yeoh showed that she had the makings of a true star. Not only did she perform her own stunts in a number of Hong Kong action films, but she also made the transition to English-language cinema, and she has earned well-deserved praise for textured and emotionally evocative performances in films like Everything Everywhere All At Once (for which she earned an Oscar). She is now poised to star in the film adaptation of the musical Wicked, showing that there is truly nothing that she cannot do.

Da'Vine Joy Randolph burst into major public prominence thanks to her role as a grieving mother in the dramedy The Holdovers. This performance earned her a well-deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. However, she has been in several other films, and each time, she paints a moving portrait of her characters’ rich humanity. The true mark of her versatility, however, is her ability to move seamlessly between different mediums, and she is as comfortable on TV or the stage as she is in the movies.

Natalie Portman has created so many indelible characters that it’s hard to know which one cemented her legacy as a remarkably versatile performer. She’s played everything from princesses to First Ladies, tortured ballet dancers to journalists, always digging deep to give the most compelling performance possible. She’s even managed to make the most out of the thinly-written role of Jane Foster in the MCU. Thankfully, the Academy has given her the credit she deserves, and she’s notched one Oscar along with several other notable nominations.

Katharine Hepburn looms large in the history of Hollywood. She weathered the vicissitudes of the industry and remained a formidable screen presence from the 1930s until the 1990s when she retired from acting. Hepburn produced a truly remarkable filmography spanning all sorts of genres, including costume and historical dramas, screwball comedy, and literary adaptations. She was one of the greats, effortlessly commanding the screen with her strong and independent characters. She remains a feminist icon.

Not everyone can go from playing a murderous sapphic teen in an indie film like Heavenly Creatures to being the romantic lead in a major blockbuster like Titanic, but Kate Winslet accomplished this and more. She always manages to convey her characters’ rich and complicated humanity, even when playing a deranged despot, as in the HBO series The Regime. No matter what role she’s playing however, Winslet remains one of those actresses who has such presence that it’s impossible to look away.

Viola Davis is often hailed as one of the best actresses of her generation, and it’s easy to see why. She has the remarkable ability to imbue even her shadiest and most sinister characters — including Annalise Keating in How to Get Away with Murder — with a remarkable depth and humanity. Moreover, she has appeared in a number of genres, and few could forget her powerful presence as General Nanisca in The Woman King. Given her range, it’s no surprise she’s been critically lauded. She’s been nominated for four Academy Awards and won once, but the headline is that she's an EGOT winner.

Julianne Moore is comfortable in all sorts of material. She can perform in romantic comedies and blockbuster series (such as The Hunger Games), but she really excels in richly-told psychological dramas. She has had a particularly fruitful creative partnership with Todd Haynes, who has cast her in many of his movies (most recently, May December). Moreover, she has shown that she can do well on television, and she steals the show in the Starz miniseries Mary & George, in which she plays a scheming and ruthless noblewoman. 

There are few young actresses quite as talented and versatile as Emma Stone. This is an actress who has been in films as different as Yorgos Lanthimos’ irreverent black comedy costume drama The Favourite to the beloved musical La La Land. What’s particularly astonishing about Stone, however, is how she can make each role feel fully fleshed out and unique. After all, it’s not every performer who could so completely inhabit the role of an adult film extra in a Saturday Night Live sketch that one almost forgets that the entire thing is a joke, but somehow, Stone pulls it off without a hitch.

Doris Day was rightly known as America’s sweetheart in her heyday in Hollywood. She might be best remembered for the sex comedies in which she appeared in the 1950s (alongside Rock Hudson), but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Day was at home in almost any genre in classical Hollywood. No one who has ever seen her sing her heart out in Calamity Jane could forget such an incandescent screen presence, and she was also known to make forays into darker material, most notably in Alfred Hitchcock’s mystery thriller The Man Who Knew Too Much. 

No one who has ever seen or heard Lauren Bacall is likely to forget the classic Hollywood actress. With her sultry sex appeal and husky voice, she was a fixture in many noir films of the 1940s. However, she had a lot of range, and she also appeared in romantic comedies such as How to Marry a Millionaire and in emotionally charged melodramas like Written on the Wind. She was also one of those actresses who continued to work right up to the end, and she was as adept at voice acting as she was in everything else she did.

Kirsten Dunst is one of those rare things: a child actress who has continued to achieve fame well into her forties. From her beginnings as the vampire Claudia in Interview with the Vampire, she has gone on to star in a wide range of projects in both film and television. She can handle an indie apocalyptic drama like Melancholia, a fun romantic comedy like Wimbledon, or an iconoclastic biopic like Marie Antoinette. To prove just how versatile she is, she delivered stellar performances in TV series like Fargo, and she was one of the highlights of the second season. There’s seemingly nothing she can’t do.

Ever since she nabbed the lead role in Disney’s The Princess Diaries, Anne Hathaway has repeatedly shown how remarkably flexible she is as an actress. This is someone, after all, who managed to make the most out of a relatively small role in a film like Brokeback Mountain but went on to appear in films of almost every genre, including romantic comedies, dramas, and sci-fi. Not everyone could make a turn in the musical, but Hathaway did, and she’s repeatedly proven that there’s almost nothing she can’t do.

The remarkable thing about Charlize Theron’s most notable roles is their diversity. Of course, there’s her truly haunting performance as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster, but she’s also earned justified acclaim for her other roles, including as Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road. No matter in what genre of film she’s appearing, Theron manages to draw every eye to her, and she’s one of those actresses who manages to both disappear into a role and remain indelibly herself. It’s no wonder that she’s received a number of awards, including the coveted Oscar.

Not every actress can be a rousing success on stage and both the big and small screens, but Judi Dench has done it all. In addition to appearing in such notable productions of Shakespeare plays, she’s also been the star of her own sitcom, As Time Goes By, and Dench has appeared in a truly remarkable number of films. What’s truly remarkable about Dench is the extent to which she is capable of owning the screen, whether she’s the star or a supporting player. 

Joan Crawford was the epitome of glamor during her career in the late ‘30s and into the ‘40s. She was one of those actors who truly believed in the value of hard work, and she continued acting right up until the last years of her life. She was capable of turning in an electric performance no matter the genre, whether it was a western like Johnny Guitar or a film noir/women’s film like Mildred Pierce. Even though her last films weren’t worthy of her, she maintained a powerful screen presence until the very end.

There’s no question that Meryl Streep is one of the most well-respected actresses of her generation. She’s one of those performers who can do anything, whether it be a heavy-hitting and haunting drama like Doubt, a fun musical like Mamma Mia!, or a biopic like The Iron Lady. She’s also made forays into television in such high-profile series as Big Little Lies and Only Murders in the Building. Given her extraordinary range, it’s not surprising she is also one of the most decorated actresses in Hollywood, including three Oscars. 

Throughout her career, Glenn Close has acted in a wide range of projects. What’s particularly remarkable about her is how easily she adapts to the medium in which she appears. After all, this is a woman who has appeared in successful TV series (Damages), theater (Sunset Boulevard), and Disney films (her appearance as Cruella de Vil in the live-action 101 Dalmatians is a career highlight). Given just how versatile she is, it’s nothing short of a tragedy that she has yet to receive an Oscar (though she’s been nominated several times).

In the annals of classic Hollywood, one star shines brighter than almost any other, and that would be Bette Davis. Over her long career, Davis showed herself as a once-in-a-lifetime talent, excelling at every genre in which she appeared. She was best known for romances such as Now, Voyager, but she also made forays into other types of films, including catty dramas like All About Eve and horror thrillers like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. She also made several notable guest appearances on TV series such as Gunsmoke and Perry Mason. 

Amy Adams is one of the most remarkable actresses in today’s Hollywood. Even though it took her some time to find her legs in the industry, the Disney film Enchanted launched her right into a successful career. Since then, she has appeared in numerous high-profile productions, and she’s shown that she’s as comfortable in comedy as she is in sci-fi films such as Arrival and haunting (and downright disturbing) TV dramas like Sharp Objects. It’s thus not surprising that she has been nominated for numerous Oscars and Emmy Awards.

Some actors have that indefinable quality known as presence, and Cate Blanchett possesses it in spades. Throughout her decades in the cinema, she has appeared in everything from costume dramas like Elizabeth to haunting romances like Carol and blistering psychological dramas like Tár. She has repeatedly proven her versatility, and she is as compelling on the small screen as she is in the cinema. Her performance as Phyllis Schlafly in the miniseries Mrs. America showed her comfort in television work. She is one of today’s most decorated actresses, with two Academy Awards already under her belt.