Hi all, I wanted to ask your opinion on this as it's been troubling me for a while now and I figured you guys would be interesting people to ask...

I was reading through the profile thread and it struck me how many people had favourite actors (Pacino, Cagney, Brando, De Niro, etc) and how few people had a favourite actress. I'm the same, I can think of a few credible actresses (among them IMHO Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster, Hilary Swank) but given the choice I'd pick the male method actors every time.

- Is anyone here blown away by a certain actress's performance/charisma/integrity? (Not her beauty or iconic status as an image)
- If so, who's the actress?
- And if not, why is it that all the cinema greats seem to be male - is it a talent thing? A charisma thing? Or is it that we don't write mind-blowing roles for women?

Hope I've posted this in the right place and I really wanna hear your ideas on this

PS anyone who posts Sofia Coppola is officially joker of the year

It's the tougher question than most people would think. Hell, I put Angelina Jolie as my favorite, for lack of anyone else I could think of at the time. But now, really thinking about it, I'd have to go with Meryl Streep, or maybe Kate Winslett. Streep is, IMO, the female equivilent of Marlon Brando. Marlon Brando is arguably the greatest actor of all time, but Meryl Streep is right up there with him. Just watch The Deer Hunter (again, if you've seen it already), and you'll see what I mean. Good question!

It only get worse in the Director's department.
Sure, anyone can name 10 male directors.

But honestly, can you write the names of 10 female directors right now without checking with google?
even 5?

i can name one, Sofia Coppala who is a average director.

Katherine Bates is the only female actress who really stands out for me.Oh and Judi Dench

Although I have seen movies of only Kate Blanchett and Jodie Foster from your list, and also feel that they are great actresses, I cannot think of them ahead of pacino or de-niro. The reason is that pacino, de-niro and brando have acted in a majority of their movies as the main protoganists(sp?). And by no standard is their performance top class in all the movies. But they manage to make a mark through a few exceptional performances. Most movies have actresses in supporting roles or atleast not the central character. Basically I am saying that the ratio of great performances to the total number of great roles offered might be the same for men and women. But in the case of women, the number of great roles offered will be a small fraction of those offered to men.

Nicole Kidman. She might reach to the level of Brando in future.

I really like Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs.

Regarding a different movie, not that it was particularly great, but, the other day the movie 'Maid in New York' was on TV. I was surprised that Jennifer Lopez, someone who I was totally UNimpressed with for her singing and in interviews ... is not too bad an actor (not great ... just not as bad as I'd have thought).

You know what Tony D? I agree with you. I am not a big fan of her singing (although I don't hate it). However, I've seen only a couple of her movies, and I do think she "can" act. I think the last one I saw with her was "Enough" (which by the way is partially filmed in Michigan in the UP) . I didn't think she was bad at all actually.

To answer the question, I can't think of any one actress today that "blows me away". It's much easier to think of male actors.


TIS

Agreed.
I havent seen many movies starring Streep but what I have seen was brilliant, no doubt.
Other great female actresses today are Angelina Jolie, Hilary Swank, Natalie Portman (I think she has a great future) and Michelle Pfeiffer. Halle Barry is a good actress but not more...

I guess I posted it somewhere already today?
Helen Hunt. Impersonation of high intellect.

My favorite young actress is Scarlett Johansson. She has a really bright future. She's only 20!

I haven't seen "Enough" ... the idea of J-Lo in the UP is pretty funny though :-)

As far as her performance in Maid in New York, playing across from Ralph Fiennes was a big plus (one of my favorite actors!)

Hmmmm. I would have to say Julianne Moore. She was excellent in Magnolia and The Hours.

Its true, though, I could think of 100 fantastic actors right now. But, there are just so few actresses that have stood out to me. I mean, it seems all of the succesful ones today are only successful because they are beautiful. Its kind of sad, if you ask me...

To name more, though, Teusday Weld, Lorraine Bracco, Jenifer Connolly, Glenn Close, and Sharon Stone. Notice how none of these actresses are fairly new...

Oh yeah Jennifer Connelly and Renee Zellweger are great actresses too.

I think Julia Roberts is a good actress.

Kate Winslet is really good. Especially in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Have to say I agree with most of you, it's far easier finding a good male actor than actress. But that doesn't mean they don't exist.

Paprika Steen, a Danish actress (Feseten, The Idiots, Open Hearts) is an amazing (and little-known to-the-West) actress.

For contemporary actresses, I always say Edie Falco, but that may be cheating, since she's only known for one (ongoing) role, in [i]The Sopranos[i].

Other than that, Meryl Streep is fantastic, Bette Midler, Kathy Bates, Diane Keaton, Emily Watson, Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts.

Mick

Ok, but it's gonna be a REMOTE future.... My pick is Meryl Streep. A close second is Jodie Foster. I think they don't write many great female roles, unfortunately. Actually they don't write many great role at all....

Have you seen The Human Stain, Cold Mountain, Birthday Girl and Eyes Wide Shut? Very different roles IMO that she has pulled off amazingly. She is very versatile and a great actress.

All of them, but "Cold mountain". Seriously, I think she is a good actress, but she's too algid to make me sympathetic with her characters. Only my two cents, of course!

It's hard to pick American actresses, because Hollywood is so pretentious and obsessed by looks. As soon as an actress hits a certain age, she's ruined. There are exceptions of course.

Try European cinema.

Mick