Greatest Female Acting Performances (Revision Version)

[DDD]

Criteria: These female acting perfomances are based on characterization, charisma, intensity, and mainly on how well the actor portrayed the role. The genre of the role has no affect on its placement. Comedy, drama, and action, as well as both leading roles and supporting roles were all given a fair consideration.

Edited By: Pave, Lew
Last Updated: 2017-10-08

Link: https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/movi ... eperf.html

1. Meryl Streep - Sophie's Choice (1982)
2. Gloria Swanson - Sunset Boulevard (1950)
3. Katharine Hepburn - The African Queen (1951)
4. Elizabeth Taylor - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
5. Katharine Hepburn - The Lion in Winter (1968)
6. Ingrid Bergman - Gaslight (1944)
7. Kathy Bates - Misery (1990)
8. Vivien Leigh - Gone With the Wind (1939)
9. Julia Roberts - Erin Brocovich (2000)
10. Vivien Leigh - A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
11. Katharine Hepburn - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
12. Frances McDormand - Fargo (1996)
13. Norma Shearer - The Divorcee (1929)
14. Olivia De Havilland - To Each His Own (1946)
15. Diane Keaton - Annie Hall (1977)
16. Holly Hunter - The Piano (1993)
17. Sophie Loren - Two Women (1961)
18. Olivia De Havilland - The Heiress (1949)
19. Shirley MacLaine - Terms of Endearment (1983)
20. Ingrid Bergman - Casablanca (1942)
21. Hillary Swank - Boys Don't Cry (2000)
22. Grace Kelly - The Country Girl (1954)
23. Sissy Spacek - Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)
24. Katharine Hepburn - The Philadelphia Story (1940)
25. Emma Thompson - Howard's End (1992)
26. Jodie Foster - The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
27. Elizabeth Taylor - Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf (1966)
28. Charlize Theron - Monster (2003)
29. Jennifer Jones - The Song Of Bernadette (1943)
30. Joan Fontaine - Suspicion (1941)
31. Jodie Foster - The Accused (1988)
32. Jane Fonda - Coming Home (1978)
33. Katharine Hepburn - On Golden Pond (1981)
34. Audrey Hepburn - Roman Holiday (1953)
35. Faye Dunaway - Network (1976)
36. Lana Turner - The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
37. Sally Field - Places in the Heart (1984)
38. Claudette Colbert - It Happened One Night (1934)
39. Bette Davis - Jezebel (1938)
40. Audrey Hepburn - The Nun's Story (1959)
41. Anne Bancroft - The Miracle Worker (1962)
42. Meryl Streep - French Lieutenants Woman (1981)
43. Kathy Bates - Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
44. Halle Berry - Monster's Ball (2001)
45. Doris Day - Pillow Talk (1959)
46. Donna Reed - It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
47. Barbara Stanwyck - Double Indemnity (1944)
48. Sally Field - Norma Rae (1979)
49. Audrey Hepburn - Two For the Road (1967)
50. Glenn Close - Fatal Attraction (1987)
51. Joan Crawford - Sudden Fear (1952)
52. Jean Seberg - Breathless (1960)
53. Bette Davis - Dangerous (1935)
54. Joanne Woodward - The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
55. Katharine Hepburn - Morning Glory (1933)
56. Donna Reed - From Here To Eternity (1953)
57. Julie Andrews - The Sound Of Music (1965)
58. Louise Rainer - The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
59. Anna Magnini - The Rose Tattoo (1955)
60. Shirley Booth - Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)
61. Ingrid Bergman - Anastasia (1956)
62. Louise Rainer - The Good Earth (1937)
63. Kathy Bates - Dolores Claiborne (1995)
64. Bette Davis - All About Eve (1950)
65. Glenda Jackson - Women in Love (1970)
66. Liza Minnelli - Cabaret (1972)
67. Ingrid Bergman - Notorious (1946)
68. Glenda Jackson - A Touch of Class (1973)
69. Ellen Burstyn - Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
70. Bette Davis - Of Human Bondage (1934)
71. Julie Christie - Darling (1960)
72. Catherine Hepburn - Holiday (1938)
73. Nicole Kidman - The Hours (2002)
74. Ingrid Bergman - Spellbound (1945)
75. Barbara Stanwyck - Ball of Fire (1941)
76. Greer Garson - Mrs. Miniver (1942)
77. Joan Crawford - Mildred Pierce (1945)
78. Katherine Hepburn - Adam's Rib (1949)
79. Jane Fonda - Klute (1971)
80. Ava Gardner - The Night Of The Iguana (1964)
81. Faye Dunaway - Mommie Dearest (1981)
82. Susan Sarandon - Dead Man Walking (1995)
83. Susan Hayward - I Want to Live (1958)
84. Elizabeth Taylor - Buttlerfield 8 (1960)
85. Jane Wyman - Johnny Belinda (1948)
86. Bette Davis - Dark Victory (1939)
87. Ingrid Bergman - Autumn Sonata (1978)
88. Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady (2011)
89. Lauren Bacall - Key Largo (1948)
90. Judy Garland - A Star Is Born (1954)
91. Joan Fontaine - Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948)
92. Sissy Spacek - Carrie (1976)
93. Jessica Lange - Blue Sky (1994)
94. Joan Fontaine - Rebecca (1940)
95. Deborah Kerr - The King and I (1956)
96. Hilary Swank - Million Dollar Baby (2004)
97. Giulietta Masina - La Strada (1954)
98. Helen Mirren - The Queen (2006)
99. Deborah Kerr - From Here to Eternity (1953)
100. Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine (2013)

15 More Worth Mentioning
101. Natalie Portman - Black Swan (2010)
102. Kate Winslet - The Reader (2008)
103. Emily Watson - Breaking the Waves (1996)
104. Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line (2005)
105. Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side (2009)
106. Amy Adams - American Hustle (2013)
107. Audrey Hepburn - My Fair Lady (1964)
108. Julianne Moore - Still Alice (2014)
109. Kate Winslet - Hamlet (1996)
110. Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose (2007)
111. Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
112. Brie Larson - Room (2015)
113. Judi Dench - Philomena (2013)
114. Viola Davis - The Help (2011)
115. Emma Stone - La La Land (2016)

[Tim]

For comparison's sake, female performances from the all time performances list. (Limited to US/UK movies, from 1928 on).

1. Meryl Streep - Sophie's Choice (1982)
2. Gloria Swanson - Sunset Boulevard (1950)
3. Bette Davis - All About Eve (1950)
4. Elizabeth Taylor - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
5. Vivien Leigh - Gone with the Wind (1939)
6. Katharine Hepburn - The Lion In Winter (1968)
7. Katharine Hepburn - The African Queen (1951)
8. Diane Keaton - Annie Hall (1977)
9. Shirley MacLaine - The Apartment (1960)
10. Ingrid Bergman - Gaslight (1944)
11. Barbara Stanwyck - Double Indemnity (1944)
12. Judy Garland - A Star Is Born (1954)
13. Katharine Hepburn - The Philadelphia Story (1940)
14. Shirley MacLaine - Terms of Endearment (1983)
15. Vivien Leigh - A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
16. Elizabeth Taylor - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
17. Audrey Hepburn - Roman Holiday (1953)
18. Emily Watson - Breaking the Waves (1996)
19. Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine (2013)
20. Natalie Portman - Black Swan (2010)
21. Charlize Theron - Monster (2003)
22. Ingrid Bergman - Casablanca (1942)
23. Ellen Burstyn - Alice Don't Live Here Anymore (1974)
24. Gena Rowland - A Woman Under Influence (1974)
25. Jane Fonda - Klute (1971)
26. Glenda Jackson - Women in Love (1969)
27. Frances McDormand - Fargo (1996)
28. Holly Hunter - The Piano (1993)
29. Jodie Foster - The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
30. Bette Davis - Jezebel (1938)
31. Greta Garbo - Camille (1936)
32. Bette Davis - Of Human Bondage (1934)
33. Katharine Hepburn - Morning Glory (1933)
34. Meryl Streep - The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
35. Hilary Swank - Boys Don’t Cry (1999)
36. Sissy Spacek - The Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)
37. Ellen Burstyn - Requiem for a Dream (2000)
38. Julia Roberts - Erin Brockovich (2000)
39. Kathy Bates - Misery (1990)
40. Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth (1998)
41. Jane Wyman - Johnny Belinda (1948)
42. Helen Mirren - The Queen (2006)
43. Katharine Hepburn - On Golden Pond (1981)
44. Claudette Colbert - It Happened One Night (1934)
45. Greta Garbo - Anna Christie (1930)
46. Norma Shearer - The Divorcee (1930)
47. Louise Fletcher - One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
48. Audrey Hepburn - Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
49. Olivia De Havilland - The Heiress (1949)
50. Barbra Streisand - Funny Girl (1968)
51. Meryl Streep - Silkwood (1983)
52. Cate Blanchett - Tár (2022)
53. Anjelica Huston - The Grifters (1990)
54. Joanne Woodward - The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
55. Susan Hayward - I Want To Live! (1958)
56. Joan Fontaine - Suspicion (1941)
57. Simone Signoret - Room at the Top (1959)
58. Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady (2011)
59. Anne Bancroft - The Miracle Worker (1962)
60. Emma Thompson - Howards End (1992)
61. Anne Bancroft - The Graduate (1966)
62. Brie Larson - Room (2015)
63. Jane Fonda - Coming Home (1978)
64. Cate Blanchett - Carol (2015)
65. Barbara Stanwyck - The Lady Eve (1941)
66. Shirley Booth - Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)
67. Katharine Hepburn - Adam's Rib (1949)
68. Joan Crawford - Mildred Pierce (1945)
69. Maggie Smith - The Prime Miss Jean Brodie (1969)
70. Julie Christie - Darling (1965)
71. Bette Davis - What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
72. Sally Field - Norma Rae (1979)
73. Hilary Swank - Million Dollar Baby (2004)
74. Greta Garbo - Ninotchka (1939)
75. Frances McDormand - Nomadland (2020)
76. Sally Field - Places in the Heart (1984)
77. Jennifer Jones - The Song Of Bernadette (1943)
78. Faye Dunaway - Network (1976)
79. Jodie Foster - The Accused (1988)
80. Katharine Hepburn - Long Day's Journey into Night (1962)
81. Anna Magnani - The Rose Tattoo (1955)
82. Sissy Spacek - Carrie (1976)
83. Naomi Watts - Mulholland Dr. (2001)
84. Glenn Close - Fatal Attraction (1987)
85. Bette Davis - Dangerous (1935)
86. Kate Winslet - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
87. Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
88. Kate Winslet - The Reader (2008)
89. Julie Andrews - The Sound of Music (1965)
90. Audrey Hepburn - My Fair Lady (1964)
91. Geraldine Page - The Trip to Bountiful (1985)
92. Susan Sarandon - Dead Man Walking (1995)
93. Joan Crawford - Sudden Fear (1952)
94. Jane Fonda - They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
95. Olivia Colman - The Favourite (2018)
96. Julie Christie - Away from Her (2006)
97. Kristen Stewart - Spencer (2021)
98. Katharine Hepburn - Holiday (1938)
99. Jessica Lange - Blue Sky (1994)
100. Michelle Yeoh - Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

[ManPerson]

Didn't we agree to move up Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter?

[Dubrow555]

Yes, I remember that as well.

[Tim]

Ok, switched The Lion In Winter with The Philadelphia Story.