Curated playlist

Best Actress Academy Award winners

Reese WitherspoonReese Witherspoon walked into an open casting call in 1991 intending to read for a bit part. She left with the lead in The Man in the Moon, playing Dani Trant, a 14-year-old country girl in Louisiana. Thirty years later, in 2021, Forbes…
Vivien LeighWhen Vivien Leigh died in 1967, every central London theater went dark for an hour.
Katharine HepburnKatharine Hepburn bought out her own studio contract after theater owners called her box office poison.
Meryl StreepDino De Laurentiis insulted Meryl Streep in Italian, not knowing she spoke it. She answered him in Italian too.
Nicole KidmanNicole Kidman was born on the 20th of June 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and was given the Hawaiian name Hōkūlani, which means heavenly star. The inspiration for the name was a baby elephant born around the same time at the Honolulu Zoo. Since…
Kate WinsletKate Winslet pleaded for the part of Rose in James Cameron's Titanic while he still preferred Claire Danes and Gwyneth Paltrow. She told the director that she was Rose, and she could not see why he was seeing anyone else. The plea worked.…
Julia RobertsJulia Roberts was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on the 28th of October 1967. Her hospital bill was paid by Coretta King, whose children attended an acting school run by Julia's parents. The Roberts family was struggling with money at the time.…
Cate BlanchettCate Blanchett once played thirteen different characters in a single artwork. The piece was Manifesto, a multi-screen video installation by Julian Rosefeldt. Twelve artist manifestos are performed in it, and every voice belongs to her.…
Elizabeth TaylorAfter Rock Hudson said he was dying of AIDS, Elizabeth Taylor helped found a research foundation in 1985.
Joan CrawfordA 1938 ad called Joan Crawford "box office poison," but Mildred Pierce later won her an Academy Award.
Jennifer LawrenceJennifer Lawrence was 14 years old and on a family vacation in New York City when a talent scout spotted her on the street. The scout arranged for her to audition for talent agents, and that detour set the course of her life. Today she is…
Gwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Paltrow won the lead in Emma with a perfect Texas accent. The director said it sold him.
Emma ThompsonEmma Thompson is the only person to win Oscars for both acting and screenwriting.
Olivia ColmanOlivia Colman was born Sarah Caroline Colman, and she had to give up that first name before her career properly began. The actors' union Equity already had a Sarah Colman on its books, so the newcomer needed another. She took the name of a…
Bette DavisBette Davis's tombstone reads, "She did it the hard way." A director suggested the epitaph after All About Eve.
Ginger RogersGinger Rogers and Fred Astaire were only supporting players in Flying Down to Rio, a film meant for other stars.
Natalie PortmanNatalie Portman turned down a $2,000,000 prize in 2018. She skipped the Genesis Prize ceremony, and it was canceled.
Brie LarsonBrie Larson's 2005 album Finally Out of P.E. sold only 3,500 copies. She later won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Audrey HepburnAudrey Hepburn gave underground concerts to raise money for the Dutch resistance. She was a teenager in occupied Arnhem.
Julie ChristieJulie Christie turned down roles that won other actresses Oscar nominations. She also retreated to a farm in Wales.
Halle BerryHalle Berry once stood at a podium holding an Academy Award in one hand and a Razzie in the other. She had turned up in person to collect the Worst Actress prize for Catwoman, and she took the stage with a laugh. "I never in my life…
CherCher, the American singer and actress born Cheryl Sarkisian, first reached radio in 1964 with a record that programmers misjudged. The single was “Ringo, I Love You,” produced by Phil Spector and released under the name Bonnie Jo Mason.…
Maggie SmithOn the 1st of October 2024, theatres across the West End of London dimmed their lights for two minutes to honour Dame Maggie Smith. Broadway announced that its own theatres would follow with the same gesture. Few performers earn a tribute…
Jane FondaJane Fonda sat on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun during a 1972 visit to Hanoi, and a photograph of that moment outraged a large number of Americans. It earned her a nickname that has followed her for decades: Hanoi Jane. For many…
Sandra BullockSandra Bullock holds a distinction that no other actor can claim. On the night before she collected the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Blind Side, she picked up the Razzie Award for Worst Actress for a different film, All About…
Charlize TheronCharlize Theron landed in Los Angeles in 1994 on a one-way ticket her mother had bought, carrying a budget of $300. She lived in a motel and went from paycheck to paycheck. At one point she took bread from a restaurant basket to get by.…
Jessica ChastainJessica Chastain missed so many days of her final year at El Camino Fundamental High School in Sacramento that she did not qualify for graduation. Many of those days went to reading Shakespeare. She later earned an adult diploma. In 2022,…
Emma StoneEmma Stone, born Emily Jean Stone, once built a PowerPoint presentation for an audience of her parents. Its title was "Project Hollywood," and its purpose was to persuade them to let a teenager from Arizona pursue acting in California. The…
Jessie BuckleyJessie Buckley, an Irish actress and singer born on the 28th of December 1989, became the first Irish winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress. She won it in 2026 for playing Agnes Shakespeare in the period drama Hamnet. The win closed…
Liza MinnelliLiza Minnelli told reporters in 2001, "I am stable as a table." It was a bold thing to say for a performer whose body and career had both been tested in public. Minnelli is an American actress, singer, and dancer, born in 1946. She is…
Julie AndrewsJulie Andrews sang on a beer crate as a child. She needed it to reach the microphone in wartime variety shows.
Barbra StreisandBarbra Streisand once filed a lawsuit that sent a crowd of strangers to look at a single photograph. In 2003 she claimed that a website documenting coastal erosion had invaded her privacy. Among its more than 12,000 images, one happened to…
Helen MirrenDame Helen Mirren was born Ilyena Lydia Mironoff on the 26th of July 1945, at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in the Hammersmith district of London. Neither the first name nor the surname on that record would last. The woman who…
Sally FieldSally Field is an American actress whose 1984 Academy Award speech has never stopped being quoted. At the podium she said, "And I can't deny the fact that you like me...right now...you like me!" People often remember it as "You like me,…
Diane KeatonDiane Keaton was born Diane Hall, but she gave up that surname before her career took off, because another actress was already registered under it. She chose her mother's maiden name instead. The new name would be credited in films across…
Renée ZellwegerRenée Zellweger was in the bathroom when her name was called at the Golden Globes for Nurse Betty. The man reading the winner's name was Hugh Grant, who would soon become her co-star. She later protested, "I had lipstick on my teeth!" Born…
Grace KellyGrace Kelly appeared on the cover of Time on the 31st of January 1955, and the magazine already had a name for her. It called her the Girl in White Gloves. The label came from the prim, noticeable gloves she wore in public, and reporters…
Jodie FosterJodie Foster was a teenager when she acted as a French interpreter at a press conference during the Cannes Film Festival. The film was Taxi Driver, which won the Palme d'Or that year, and the journalists in the room came away impressed. By…