OK, since most have chimed in on the GQ's best Actors thread, here is one for the best actresses.

Seeing an interview with Uma, she was talking about Be Cool, and an upcoming movies with Meryl Streep as well as her role in the Producers ( maybe the ditzy, sexy secretary ), I thought about making this thread for the actresses.

So who are they - here are some examples. You can even explain your answer by saying, the movies, roles, genres you like the actress in. State whatever you want.

Julia Roberts
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Kate Beckinsale
Uma Thurman
Kate Winslet
Halle Berry
Angelina Jolie
Natalie Portman
Kristen Dunst
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Garner
Scarlett Johanssen
Naomi Watts
Nicole Kidman
Cate Blanchett

ETC.

This thread confuses me. What do you mean by "this generation"? I mean, Natalie and Julia are of completely two different generations...

Maybe he means under 40

Julia Roberts
Halle Berry
Kate Beckinsale
Jennifer Lopez
Scarlett Johanssen

AlL THE ABOVE ARE VERY GOOD ACTRESSES.

Dakota Fanning

She is rubbish.

Naomi Watts
Julia Roberts
Susan Sarrandon
Drew Barrymore
Kate Winslet
Halle Berry
Jamie Lee Curtis

Get Kate Beckinsale, Jennifer Garner and Jennifer Aniston off that last! They aint done enough to impress me yet.

Gah.

Anyways. Yeah.

Nicole Kidman
Cate Blanchett
Kate Winslet

Those are the best of the 'under 40' actresses. They have more than proven their diversity and talent.

I agree with you on that, I was just listing examples to get people started.

This thread is just a copy job of the GQ men's thread. As to what this generation means, see the men's tread for the confusion that raised so I am leaving it open.

Note, the my generation question is still up in the air but the poll question is a seperate question on which of those poster mentioned actresses you like best.

My favourite would have to be Julia Roberts.

Currently Influential Actresses

Great Actresses
Julia Roberts [Biggest and still sorta the best]
Michelle Pfieffer [Such amazing unspoken screen presence]
Jodie Foster [Really believable and engrossing]
Nicole Kidman [Beautiful as well as luxurious in her performances]
Julianne Moore [Stunningly great actress]
Kate Winslet [Persisted through some weak roles to show everyone life after Titanic]
Tea Leoni [So under-rated; was amazingly good in Spanglish]
Emma Thompson [Rocks]
Hillary Swank [Great actress who hasnt really broken out bigtime yet]
Sandra Oh [Needs to lead a movie - she rocks]
Meryl Streep [One of the most enjoyable to watch]
Cate Blanchett [Great in her elegant grace]
Juliette Binoche [Fucking amazing actress]
Jennifer Garner [My favourite actress, has a huge amount of untapped talent - but people just dont give her enough kudos for the array of emtotions she shows every week in "Alias" and her breakthrough in "13GO30".


Women who can act ...only sometimes but are seriously hot so it dosent matter
Catherine Zeta Jones [Sexy, but never hugely believable]
Liv Tyler [Great in LOTR and Armageddon..not much else there really]
Uma Thurman [see Cats and Dogs , Pulp Fiction and Vol1, but then see Vol2 and every other movie shes been in]
Lena Olin [Great in Alias and Chocolat, not so great in everything else]
Christina Ricci [Good all rounder but has her moments of fault]
Helen Hunt [Not diverse, but great at what she does]
Holly Hunter [Good alrounder]
Charlize Theron [hot, apparently amazing in monster, but shes only been ok to good in everything else]
Scarlet Johansson [hugely over-rated, although stunningly good in Lost in Translation]
Renee Zellwegger [Amazingly lovable as a person, not amazingly versatile as an actress]
Diane Lane [An older womans actress is Lane]
Joley Richardson [One of my faovurite actresses, but only because of her style and grace - has a long way to go]

Women who can act..kinda but may be flukes / never impressive
Natalie Portman [Over-rated by Star Wars fans who now follow her. Shes good, but not great]
Carrie Anne Moss [Yet to see something that makes me go WOW, but shes again a likable actress]
Cameron Diaz [Kind of under-rated, shes fun to watch and lights up the screen]
Meg Ryan [Fizzlin fast, but shes cute inspite of her offscreen reputation for being difficult and demanding]
Debra Messing [Under-rated, could become a staple if she drops Will and Grace]
Amanda Peet [Needs to pull out all the stops and show off]
Drew Barrymore [Over-rated, i love Drew but im aware that shes a fairly limited actress]
Jennifer Aniston [Under-rated again, Aniston has some dramatic ability in there..im sure of it]
Sandra Bullock [Poor Bullock is seen as more of a novelty actress these days - shes very charismatic imo]
Lisa Kudrow [Ok i get that shes just playing the same role over and over, but shes the best blonde ever]

Women who Probobly Cant act; but could come out and suprise
Kirsten Dunst [Again has a Zellweger stlye likability around her - but is always the weakest link]
Eva Mendes [Sexy but not the best actress]
Ashely Judd [next to the word "typecast" in the dictionary]
Sarah Michelle Gellar [Nothing has been new from her for so long.]
Rachel Weiz [Hugely over-rated; she attaches herself to projects out of her range]
Penelope Cruz [I like her alot as an actress - but i think the language barrier cant hide the lack of ability. I could very easily be wrong though.]
Kiera Knightly [Now that shes not looking hot with a scary new look - theres nothing to excite anyone]
Angelina Jolie [Same old pouty look every time. Shes really, really hot though and has been good in Tomb Raider...]
Marissa Tomei [Hmm.no]
Lindsay Lohan [Ok, shes great in The Parent Trap, ok in Freaky Friday and takes a backseat come Mean Girls...shes already demanding paycheques that dwarf many of the A-listers, and theres tonnes of hoopla around her. Why?]
Jessica Alba [Pretty bland, pretty pretty, pretty sexy, pretty steamin, but pretty bland]
Anna Faris [I dont know if shes trying to nail the kind of ditzy blonde thing, or its just her natural style - if its the former then shes one of the better actresses around, but since its more likely the latter...]
Julia Stiles [Meh]
Queen Latifah [Has alot of untapped potential but the side weve seen is so cheesy]
Halle Berry [Seems to have peaked]

Women who cant really act.
Tara Reid [Shes fun to watch and the teen comedies fit like a glove, but with AITD she killed all hopes of diversification]
Monica Belucci [she may be hot - and she probobly acts amazingly in her native, but not in American movies]
Jennifer Lopez [Lopez plays the same role every time.]
Kate Beckinsale [Since she changed her hairstyle and her breasts grew 8 sizes overnight shes got alot of attention. But theres nothing special about Beckinsale aside from her looks - and apparently shes not a very nice person either...apparently]
Hillary Duff [Like a crappier version of Lindsay Lohan theres no believability to her sweetness or anything, so faux.]
Diane Kruger [Just awful]


NOTABLE MENTION FROM OTHER LANGUAGES
Paz Vega
Maggie Cheung
Zhang Ziyi
Michelle Yeoh
Audrey Tatou

No time to read now but from scanning it - looks like a nice post with some effort to write/make it.

my vote goes to Scarlet Johansson