Who is America's Greatest Actress?

Where the hell is Glenn and Cate Blanchett.

R1 Cate isn't an American

Those are TV-level actors.

I appreciate the Laurie Metcalf inclusion, but I would nominate Jennifer Lawrence as perhaps the worst of the major American actresses working today.

Kerry Washington? Did InTouch sponsor this poll?

Laurie Metcalf has the most versatility on the list

R2 She’s half.

These polls are such a laugh.

Ha.

Sally Kirkland

Frances. Here she is in Hill St Blues

Kathy Bates

Sissy Spacek

Whoopi Goldberg (when she makes the effort)

R11 none of those actresses work regularly anymore but to not include Glenn is downright criminal.

Sharon Stone is without a doubt one off the must captivating and diverse performers to ever grace the silver screen. Couple her once-in-a-generation talent with her breathtaking pulchritude and unmatched sexual charisma and this poll seems both unnecessary and laughable.

The answer, of course, is Sharon Stone.

You rang

Calling men you suspect to be gay women is so 2003.

Commas are your friends, r15.

Alfre Woodard.

January Jones...just kidding.

R18 = Tuesday Weld.

I think Julianne’s highs (Short Cuts, Vanya, Safe, Boogie Nights, End Of The Affair, Magnolia, Far From Heaven, The Hours, Savage Grace, Kids Are All Right, Game Change, Still Alice, Maps To The Stars, Gloria Bell, May December) are higher than anyone else’s. An insane thirty-plus-year run.

Jessica Lange

Sharon Stone

Blake Lively.

R11- Whoppi Dogdoo was NEVER a good actress. Oprah was not even an actress and her acting was far better in The Color Purple than Whoppi.

R24 I disagree. Whoopi’s performance in Color is one of the best debut lead performances in cinematic history. Its hard to create performance with such gravitas yet so little dialogue. Whoopi did a lot of meh films in the 90s but is simply brilliant in Purple.

Fun fact number 3 went to my Alma Mater.

OP is not one of my fans.

Julianne Moore leaves me cold, I hate to say.

After Meryl, there are no longer any great actresses. They are occasionally good but no one is on her level. It may take several years and someone completely new to surprise people.

Frances McDormand has the most votes right now?

She only knows how to play rednecks cause she’s ugly and gets those roles cause she’s married to one of the Cohen Brothers.

R29 Bitch please.

Cher, send in the scripts.

Nice try, Glenn/OP.

I admire and respect Meryl Streep, R29, but I’ve never loved or emotionally connected with her work the way I have with Sissy Spacek’s, Julianne Moore’s, or Isabelle Adjani’s, for instance.

She’s obviously talented, technically skilled, and has range, but I never bought into the idea that she’s so far above all of her peers.

R34 You forgot to state G.

No offense, but the Meryl, Frances, Glenn, Jessica, Sigourney etc. cohort are over. All very talented but will possibly never be nominated again for an Oscar.

For today, maybe Viola, Tilda, Julianne, Natalie, Saoirse are the “best” but it’s completely subjective and dependent on the role and film.

[quote]Whoppi Dogdoo was NEVER a good actress.

Watch her one woman show that launched her career and you see her brilliance.

Yes, she’s done some crap work but she was excellent in The Color Purple, Ghost, Clara’s Heart, The Long Walk Home, Corinna Corinna, Boys on the Side and Sister Act. She was Viola Davis before Viola knew what an actress was.

And her Oscar acceptance speech was one of the most gracious ever. She looked out into the audience and acknowledged that she had watched all of the people in the audience.

Dixie Carter once said working with Annie Potts was as good as working with Meryl Streep.

R24 is an idiot. Don't quit your day job sweetie.

[quote]Natalie,

Portman?! LOL She makes Ali Macgraw look like Bette Davis

In random order, I would say any of the following:

Judith Light

Kathleen Turner

Sigourney Weaver

Jean Smart

Alfre Woodard

Regina King

Jessica Lange

Michelle Pfeiffer

Angela Bassett

Toni Collette

[quote]No offense, but the Meryl, Frances, Glenn, Jessica, Sigourney etc. cohort are over. All very talented but will possibly never be nominated again for an Oscar.

You’re an idiot, dear.

Michelle Pfeiffer is a terrific actress.

There's no way Chastain is a better actress than Viola. That's total bullshit.

Viola is overrated. Angela, Alfre and Whoopi have much more range.

It's obviously ME, OP. I totally deserved an Oscar for Hustlers! By the way, I'm also the best singer and dancer that the world has ever known.

The girl who plays Lucy on Y&R.

^Bullshit.

Sandy Duncan is better than anyone on this thread. Nobody rocks a glass eye like our Sandy.

R44 That's total bullshit.

Honestly, Jamie Lee Curtis is well on her way to becoming the premier actress of her generation. For her oscar win and revelatory performance in Everything, everywhere all at once as well as her delicious comedic turn on The Bear, for which she will no doubt win the Emmy for. She is showing a range that very few current actresses can demonstrate. She is also highly intelligent and possesses a depth that is rarely seen in Hollywood.

We're just beginning to see an awesome late in life career unfold.

R50 Thank you for joining us, Jamie Lee. How's Christopher doing?

R50 = Jamie Lee Curtis, stroking her cock.

[quote]Honestly, Jamie Lee Curtis is well on her way to becoming the premier actress of her generation.

Seeing as how she’s now in her mid-60s and was a nepo baby so didn’t have to pay her dues, I say, “Well done her!” Maybe by the time she reaches her 80s, she’ll have mastered her craft.

May I present Miss Susan Dey!

Because the discussion is about the greatest actress working today, the person should be someone who's working at the height of her powers and most likely to give a great performance now, not the person who has the greatest overall career. That means that women like Streep and Close are probably out, and semi-retired legends like Spacek definitely are.

Emma Stone, Jessica Chastain and Michelle Williams probably fit that description best. If they haven't yet reached their height of their careers yet, they still seem to have that potential. Recency bias probably gives Emma Stone the advantage at the moment.

R50 is written like Sharon Stone authored it without the irony.

R55, sorry but you are redefining the question. As stated is simply the best actress working today, meaning an actress who is alive and hasn’t retired. I have difficulty choosing , specially taking Blantchett out of the equation (and Olivia Colman), but here are my ten:

Michelle Pfeiffer, Anette Bening, Sigorney Weaver, Emma Stone, Mery Streep, Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Jane Fonda, Claire Danes, Julia Loius-Dreyfus

[quote]Because the discussion is about the greatest actress working today, the person should be someone who's working at the height of her powers and most likely to give a great performance now,

We can’t look into the future and predict brilliant performances. Any great actress has to already have a body of work to be assessed as “the best.”

Alfre Woodard.

R55, I think the clarification is necessary. Claiming that someone like Sissy Spacek is the best actress working today feels true only in the most technical sense, given that she is an actress and still works, even though it's been decades since she has given a performance of note. We might as well add in Eva Marie Saint by that standard, since she hasn't technically retired (her last credit was two years ago).

You mentioned ten terrific actresses (including ones that I think are underrated, like Danes), but among your list, let's take Jane Fonda as an example. Fonda is undoubtedly an acting legend thanks to movies like Klute and They Shoot Horses, but the Fonda working now is doing 80 for Brady. Judging who the best actress is now should take into account where they are in their career right at the moment, otherwise the distinction between greatest working actress and greatest living actress is essentially nil, since among legitimate contenders for the title it takes out Joanne Woodward and virtually no one else.

Streep and Lange were recently nominated for a Tony and Emmy. Age doesn’t matter.

R60, tks for the nice answer. I hesitated to include Fonda for the reasons you mention, but she may still have a great performance in her (i fear not). So i kind of agree with you on that and thought about Dunaway ans definitely didn’t include her on purpose. All the others may certainly have one or more good roles in them and are great actresses.

Also, as you can see from my list, i am generally underwhelmed by more younger generations, i have difficulty thinking about great performances from younger actresses lately (again, am only referring to American ones, as that was the criteria).

R60 is taking a DataLounge poll far too seriously.

OP, you forgot comedic actresses. Kathryn Hahn is a contender for this title.

R63, I'm sorry. Next time I contribute, I'll just make dumb jokes about Jamie Lee Curtis having a cock instead. That's a far better contribution to this discussion.

[quote] R63], I'm sorry. Next time I contribute, I'll just make dumb jokes about Jamie Lee Curtis having a cock instead. That's a far better contribution to this discussion.

Far funnier than yours. But funny isn’t your strong suit, is it?

Celebrity stalking and obesity is your forte.

You are so easy to spot, Troll of Trolls. The lonely and loveless always are. 😘

Oh, you're not just a complete asshole, R66, you're absolutely insane. You're one of those posters here who thinks that everyone else is some troll that you've concocted in your own mind, when the only actual troll here is you. You're part of this reason that this site is dying a slow death, because rational, sane people are sick of this type of idiocy.

I was engaged in a completely polite discussion with R55 about the actual topic at hand, and you decided to shit on it with your worthless posting. That's the very definition of trollish behavior, but you're too much of a lunatic to actually realize it.

Back on Topic: I don't know why Jennifer Lawrence is constantly ridiculed on this site. I think she's the best of her generation who has a very eclectic and interesting body of work. This dismissive and condescending tone is extremely tiresome.

R68, it’s completely subjective, but I just don’t think she’s very skilled. I liked her in Winter’s Bone, but in hindsight believe that performance was more the result of a strong director knowing how to utilize an actress with clear limitations. Her accent work is poor, her line readings are uneven, and she doesn’t have a great speaking voice.

On a personality-level, I find her arrogant and crass and don’t like her ignorance of film history (such as referring to herself as the world’s first female action star and dismissing silent film as “fucking boring).” The relatable girl persona her PR team crafted for her is BS — based on stories I’ve heard of how she treats people she perceives as beneath her, she’s an elitist masquerading as a populist.

How about Tyler Perry?

What a lousy list: even by DL standards. But look at the response.

Jodie Foster

It's obviously Tori Spelling

R69, the question is who is America's greatest actress not who is your least favorite personality based on your biased assumptions of someone you neither know nor like.

You're entitled to your opinion on her acting skills, of course, but your inclusion of petty hearsay diminishes any actual critique you have shared.

[quote] Back on Topic: I don't know why Jennifer Lawrence is constantly ridiculed on this site

We've all seen her snatch. We haven't seen Meryl's snatch yet.

I'm assuming r40 is teabag. Toni Collette is Australian.

I agree with R20. Julianne Moore. Seriously.

Would agree that most of the actresses mentioned (in seriousness) are deserving.

I think Alison Janney is somewhat under-appreciated (despite the Oscar) though she is also in some ways a Roz Russell or Eve Arden of her generation....always playing within a certain defined range, but always brilliantly.

Carrie Coon. She'll act circles around anyone.

As someone who's seen The Gilded Age, thanks for the laugh r78.

Brendad

Christine Baranski

Carrie Coon is the best current actress out there.

R68. I kind of agree. Both Lawrence and Michelle Williams have more deft in the right roles of the younger actresses. Emma Stone is a decent actress and marvelous in a daring performance like Poor Things but she was dreadful in LaLa Land and The Help. She's also only maturing now as an actress onscreen. I found her early work cool more than insightful. I see more thought and motivation now though.

Fuck you, you fucking fuck.

No contest...Jessica Lange

R76 you stay coming for me bitch. I ain’t even make that post.

Jessica Lange is so hammy. Worse than Meryl.

Jennifer Lawrence sucks. She only got those opportunities because of Harvey. As soon as he went to jail her career went down the shitter.

She was too young and green to play most of her roles and didn’t deserve them. I’m sure Harvey forced directors to put her in those movies.

R88 I will never EVER understand her casting in Silver Linings Playbook. Other than that I think she is a pretty competent mainstream actress.

[quote]Michelle Williams have more deft in the right roles of the younger actresses.

Mediocre actress and about as sexual as a bag of russet potatoes.

I can tell you who it's not. Rhymes with Hilary Skank...

Masc Swank was the rare case that found the two tragic butch androgynous roles she was perfect for. She can play nothing as an ordinary woman

That second Oscar was the worst thing that could happen to Swank. She’s not a bad actress, but no actor with such a limited range should have two acting Oscars.

Deborah Walley

R93 = Sharon Stone, buying Odor Eaters for her estranged son.

R88, Harvey came into the picture after the completion of SLP. He distributed the film, nothing more nothing less. How would Harvey force David O. Russell to cast her in his films when he had already cast her in SLP?

And please do elaborate on how he was responsible for her career when, as a teenager she had already won the Marcello Mastroianni Award at the Venice Film Festival back in 2008 for The Burning Plain. And please tell me how he was responsible for her AA nom for Winter's Bone. Then please do give details on how she was cast in X-Men and Hunger Games long before she auditioned for Silver Linings Playbook.

As for early directors, I think Lori Petty, Jodie Foster and Debra Granik would all like to think they had something to do with her ascent. Yes, i'm sure she fucked Debra, a straight woman, for her role in Winter's Bone. And I'm sure Lori and Jodie are well known in the industry for taking advantage of young women (you ignorant asshole.)

As for her career post 2018 - that was when she fired her long-time agency (CAA) because they were turning down roles without her knowledge. She then created her production company and began producing her own films. I believe she is currently on location in Calgary filming Die, My Love with Robert Pattinson, Nick Nolte and Sissy Spacek. But please do tell me how Harvey is responsible for her success.

Because she had sex with Harvey in hopes he would promote her for the Oscar, which she won. Mission accomplished.

No R97. she was going to win that AA, Harvey or no Harvey. She was the new IT girl who wowed them with Winter's Bone, showed her BO appeal with The Hunger Games and stole every scene she shared with Bradley, the film's lead.

She was the first actress to come along since Julia, who had a wide-ranging appeal. The industry was going to bestow its highest honor on her that year, no fucking necessary.

People like R96 are really naive. They only thing you can do is laugh at them.

R99, ad hominem attacks while providing zero facts. Par for the course.

R100 What have you provided? Nothing but hysterical posts and a long winded defense of a woman who is wealthy enough to buy you and sell you. She doesn't need your proclamations. Trust me.

R101, that poster provided a comprehensive analysis of Jennifer Lawrence's career leading up to her Oscar win. You might not agree with the conclusion, but you can't honestly argue that it lacked substance, and there was nothing hysterical about it.

There's just no discussing Jennifer Lawrence here. She makes posters too angry because of some really fucked up reasons.

R102 'A comprehensive analysis' of Jennifer's career? 🤣

R101, you have no idea of my net worth. As for Jennifer, my defense comes after years of reading the same old regurgitated hearsay by posters who have zero knowledge of her career.

People like you are lazy, envious, bitter, chronic depressives who take delight in bringing down those who have found success in their chosen profession. How's that for hysterical? (and also spot-on)

Thank you, R102.

[quote] People like you are lazy, envious, bitter, chronic depressives who take delight in bringing down those who have found success in their chosen profession.

R104 Very rich from someone who has a Datalounge account!🤣 You're lack of self awareness just discredited everything else you've posted. What a dipshit you are! You're a fangirl dear. Why don't you go create a fansite for her?

^Your lack of self awareness. Oh dear! Sorry about that.

R105, R106, you contradict yourself at every turn while showing yet another one of your insecurities by correcting YOUR grammatical error . Oh, dear indeed.

Please don't bother replying. Let's just agree to disagree.

Have a lovely day, or at least try.

R107 Displays insecurities with a rambling long drawn-out dissertation. Oh, I'm sorry a 'comprehensive analysis' in defense of an overrated obnoxious actress who is unaware of your existence, but everyone else is insecure. Sure. You can't tell people what to do on here, cunt. No one has to agree with every word you say.

Let it go, R108. You're just embarrassing yourself at this point.

R109, and yet, you're still compelled to respond. I don't have let shit go until you do. Once again, you can't dictate my posts. I'm not embarrassed at all, cunt.

OP, wrong Amy at number one. Amy Ryan should be on the list.

Irene Ryan!!

I wonder how the actresses feel like they're doing. Gone are the days where Meryl or others could dominate for years. Now it's all fractured media and no one knows who's doing well or not.

Accomplished.

Harvey Weinstein said he fucked Jennifer Lawrence.

R115 She did come up really fast. Too bad if that rumor isn't true and she's been accused unfairly.

Pia Zadora. Her star shone briefly but very brightly.

I don't know whether she fucked or not but Lawrence is a good actor and was appealing when she hit. She appeals to both men and women and is just the type of "chick" straight boys love. Smart, hot, bitchy with no fucks to give. She had nice tits and a lot of attention. She earned her success.

Even if Jennifer Lawrence did use the casting couch, that only takes you so far. There are only a few things that Sharon Stone has ever said that are actually true (and thank god, because she is one of the great living bullshit artists), but she was right when she said "you can only fuck your way to the middle."

There are legitimate criticisms of Lawrence (iffy accents, taking roles for which she's far too young), but if you're critiquing her performance in Silver Linings Playbook by saying she fucked Harvey, you're not actually making a point.

Clearly, the America’s Greatest Actress title can only go to a woman who could delivery this line of dialogue without a trace of remorse, pride, or comedic timing…..

I can smell your nappy pussy.

Life intimidating art I suppose for dear Glenn