Have you ever thought about who the most popular actresses are? Chances are you would start naming off prominent actresses that have had solid careers, but in reality the most popular actresses right now are pop princesses like Hilary Duff and Lindsey Lohan. I guess that I should define popular in this case as not what their box office draw is, but how many searches are done for them on a daily basis. Is this right? Probably not, but for the purpose of this article these are the constraints.
The top five actresses according to Yahoo’s Buzz Index are Hilary Duff, Lindsey Lohan, Pamela Anderson, Jessica Alba and Angelina Jolie. Of the five, only Angelina Jolie can act her way out of a paper bag. I wonder if these searches have a lot more to do with the fact that horny teenage boys (and horny old men for that matter) are searching these women for pictures, and not necessarily for information on their next movie. I actually have no doubt that this is at least part of it.
The next two on the list are actually some actresses with some acting chops. Halle Berry and Jennifer Lopez are numbers six and seven. Other actresses of note are Scarlett Johansson (12), Jessica Biel (13), and Jennifer Aniston (16). Even Stacy Keibler, the WWE diva, which we can hardly consider an actress is on the list.
If you take a look at average box office gross, the correlation would certainly be a lot closer between popularity and most talented actresses. Highlighting the list of top box office gross for actresses are Natalie Portman, Keira Knightley, Rachel McAdams, Cameron Diaz, and Dakota Fanning. Julia Roberts, who I know everyone expects to see, comes in at number nine on the list. She is the top grossing actress of all time. Reese Witherspoon, who I expected to be relatively high, was number sixty-seven.
Anyhow, back on topic. There really is not any way to actually measure the talent of actresses against one another because so many people have so many different opinions. Heck, that’s what is so fun about writing this article is that there are countless different situations and angles in which to evaluate this discussion. Hopefully it sparks some discussion from those who read it as well. I mean for one, you could argue that the box office averages depend a lot on the genre of movie and the type of roles actresses choose to take. An actress could turn in a phenomenal acting performance in a small independent film or they could be Drew Barrymore in Charlie’s Angels. The amount of money at the box office doesn’t necessarily mean squat with respect to acting skills.
So who am I considering to be good actresses? I think the most talented actress going right now is one of the youngest and that’s Dakota Fanning. I think she’s absolutely brilliant and she has really started to showcase her range as she’s grown older and more comfortable in the industry. Fanning failed to make the Buzz list. Is it because of lack of news surround Fanning, like there is with Angelina Jolie? I would not think so since there’s a lot of stir about her rape scene in her new movie Hounddog.
Of the 20 actresses on the buzz index list I would say that only Jolie, Berry, Lopez and Johansson are proven, solid actresses. Jessica Alba, who may end up with a reasonably long list of movies, just isn’t a very good actresses despite my intense desire to stare at her. Where are all the solid actresses? Where’s Helen Hunt? Are her and Julia Roberts that yesterday? Maybe so. Then where’s Queen Latifah? Yeah, I said it. Queen Latifah is actually a really good actress, but she will probably never be on any buzz index for top actress searches because she’s not typically what horny guys are searching online.
Carrie Fisher, Kirsten Dunst (sometimes), Kate Winslet, Renee Zellweger, Sandra Bullock, and Nicole Kidman. Those are actresses. Julia Styles and Charlize Theron, I am actually kind of surprised Charlize Theron isn’t up there on the buzz index. She’s really “gorgeous” and there are even nude pictures of her out there to be found, from roles in her movies, yet she’s virtually non existent on the buzz index and in average grossing profits, and she’s a great actress.
I guess, essentially what I am getting at with this article is that I wish there was more meritocracy associated with being a genuinely talented actress, rather than just obtaining popularity based only on looks and other scandal. We all know that the number of quote-un quote “unattractive” actresses out there are few and far between, but good actresses deserve the same credibility as good actors. They shouldn’t be reduced to cellar dwellers in the box office (or on searches for that matter) because they are not as hot as Jessica Alba. It’s a timeless discussion that is prevalent in many other mediums and one that probably effects the ways in which teenage girls grow up. I’m not sure there is a solution, but the notion of popular actresses versus good actresses hopefully sheds some light on one of the situations that contributes to this societal norm.
