10 Most Powerful Actresses in the World

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (born; August 15, 1990) is an American actress. Her first major role was as a lead cast member on the TBS sitcom The Bill Engvall Show (2007–09). She subsequently appeared in the independent films The Burning Plain (2008) and Winter’s Bone (2010), for which she received her first Academy Award for Best Actress nomination; at the time, she was the second youngest person to receive a nomination in the category.
“The Hunger Games” is the most successful young adult franchise since “Twilight” and her recent turn as Mystique in “X-Men: Days of Future Past” helped make the movie the highest-grossing of the franchise. Combine that box office prowess with three Oscar nominations and one win and you have the most powerful actresses in Hollywood.

Image credits: caughtoffside.com

 

#2 Sandra Annette Bullock

Sandra Annette Bullock (born July 26, 1964) is an American actress and producer. She rose to fame in the 1990s with roles in films such as Demolition Man (1993), Speed (1994), The Net (1995), While You Were Sleeping (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), and Hope Floats (1998). In the new millennium, Bullock starred in Miss Congeniality (2000), Two Weeks Notice (2002), The Lake House (2006), and the critically acclaimed Crash (2004) and Gravity (2013).
She is listed in the 2012 edition of Guinness World Records as the highest-paid actress, with $56 million. In 2013, she starred in The Heat, financially the most successful comedy of the year at the domestic box office, and the science fiction thriller Gravity. As one of the highest grossing films of the year, Gravity is Bullock’s most successful film critically and commercially. For her role in it, Bullock was nominated a second time for the Academy Award for Best Actress, along with the BFCA, Golden Globe and SAG awards and also received her first BAFTA nomination.

Image credits: imgur.com

 

 

#3 Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie, (born; June 4, 1975), is an American actress and filmmaker. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood’s highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009, 2011, and 2013. Jolie promotes humanitarian causes, and is noted for her work with refugees as a Special Envoy and former Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She has been cited as the world’s “most beautiful” woman by various media outlets, a title for which she has received substantial publicity. While earning one of the biggest paychecks in Hollywood, Jolie still finds time to advocate for human rights. Most recently she’s turned her activist attention to encouraging governments to investigating and prosecuting war rape.

Image credits: aufeminin.com

 

 

#4 Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson (born; November 22, 1984) is an American actress, model, and singer. She made her film debut in North (1994). In 1996, she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in Manny & Lo, garnering further acclaim and prominence with roles in The Horse Whisperer (1998) and Ghost World (2001). She shifted to adult roles with her performances in Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) and Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation (2003), for which she won a BAFTA award for Best Actress in a Leading Role; both films earned her Golden Globe Award nominations as well.
Johansson is considered one of Hollywood’s modern sex symbols, and has frequently appeared in published lists of the sexiest women in the world, most notably when she was named the “Sexiest Woman Alive” by Esquire magazine in both 2006 and 2013 (the only woman to be chosen for the title twice), and the “Sexiest Celebrity” by Playboy magazine in 2007.

Image credits: netdna-cdn.com

 

 

#5 Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress, filmmaker, and businesswoman. She gained worldwide recognition for portraying Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends (1994–2004), a role which earned her an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2012, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Additionally, Men’s Health magazine voted Aniston the “Sexiest Woman of All Time”.

Image credits: thenationsbeat.com

 

#6 Amy Adams

Amy Lou Adams (born August 20, 1974) is an Italian-born American actress. She began her career on stage performing in dinner theatre and made her screen debut with the 1999 black comedy film Drop Dead Gorgeous. After moving to Los Angeles and appearing in a series of television guest appearances and roles in B movies, she was cast in the role of Brenda Strong in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can (2002). Her breakthrough role came with the 2005 independent film Junebug, for which she received critical acclaim and her first of five Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. Adams subsequently starred in Disney’s 2007 musical film Enchanted, a critical and commercial success, and received a Golden Globe Award nomination for her lead performance. She received her second Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations and first BAFTA Award nomination for her supporting role in the 2008 film Doubt.
Adams received two more Golden Globe, BAFTA and Academy Award nominations for her supporting roles in the 2010 sports drama The Fighter and the 2012 psychological drama The Master. She achieved further success in 2013 for portraying Lois Lane in the Superman movie Man of Steel, a supporting role in the Spike Jonze-directed comedy-drama Her, and a con artist in David O. Russell’s crime film American Hustle; the last of these won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy along with a fourth BAFTA nomination, and a fifth Oscar nomination, her first in the Best Actress category.

Image credits: imgur.com

 

#7 Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (born; September 27, 1972) is an American actress, singer, and food writer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Seven (1995) and Emma (1996) (in which she played the title role).
The films Sliding Doors (1998) and A Perfect Murder (1998), Paltrow garnered worldwide recognition through her performance in Shakespeare in Love (1998), for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress, a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, for Outstanding Lead Actress and as a member of the Outstanding Cast. She also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011 for her role as Holly Holliday on the Fox hit TV show Glee in the episode “The Substitute”. In April 2013, she was named “Most Beautiful Woman” by People magazine.
Paltrow married Chris Martin, the lead vocalist of Coldplay, in 2003. She and Martin have two children, Apple and Moses. They announced their separation in March 2014. She is also the face of American fashion brand Coach, owner of the lifestyle company Goop.com and author of two cookbooks: My Father’s Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness, and its All Good.

Image credits: imgur.com

 

#8 Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep (born; June 22, 1949) is an American actress of theater, film and television. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest film actresses of all time.
Hollywood can be cruel to actresses as they get older but the town’s been good to Meryl Streep. Her latest film, “August: Osage County” did modest business at the box office but it landed Streep her 18th Academy Award nomination continuing her run as the most-nominated actress of all time.

Image credits: wordpress.com

 

 

#9 Cameron Diaz

Never underestimate Cameron Diaz. Her recent movie “The Other Woman” looked like it was going to be a real stinker. Critics savaged it and Sony barely marketed it. But women came in droves. The film, which was made for $40 million, earned $190 million at the global box office. Diaz has pulled this trick before. Her 2011 film “Bad Teacher” didn’t seem to have much promise but the $20 million film earned an amazing $216 globally reaping huge profits for Diaz and a TV spin-off (which was quickly canceled this year).

Image credits: wikimedia.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

#10 Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman (born; June 9, 1981) is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 action film Léon: The Professional, but mainstream success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (released in 1999, 2002 and 2005). In 1999, she enrolled at Harvard University to study psychology while still working as an actress. She completed her bachelor’s degree in 2003.
In 2001, Portman opened in New York City’s Public Theater production of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. In 2005, Portman won a Golden Globe Award and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama “closer”. She played leading roles in the historical dramas Goya’s Ghosts (2006) and The Other Boleyn Girl (2008). Portman directed a segment of the collective film New York, I Love You. Portman is also known for her portrayal as Jane Foster, the love interest of Marvel superhero Thor, in the film adaptation Thor (2011), and its sequel, Thor: The Dark World (2013).

Image credits: blogspot.com

 

Credit: webnir