The Best Actress of This Decade

The problem with trying to come up with the best actress of the 2000s is that the decade isn't over yet. The problem with that excuse is that there is little reason to suspect that anyone new will suddenly appear on the scene. The fact of the matter is that the best work being done by actresses so far this decade is being done by actresses who came to attention during the 1990s. There really hasn't been any actress who has appeared during the decade to take one's breath away, although Zooey Deschanel is beginning to make a serious bid for the title of best actress of the next decade, and the juvenile duo of AnnaSophia Robb and Dakota Fanning both seem to have the potential for long careers if they can avoid the trappings of early fame. (Yes, I'm looking at you Lindsay Lohan.) But other than Deschanel it's really difficult to come up with an adult actress who first appeared in films in any vital way this decade that has impressed. Of course, Barbara Stanwyck was great in the 30s and I picked her for work in the 40s, and Bette Davis didn't even make my list until the stuff she did in the 60s, so there's nothing wrong with actors needing seasoning.

I know I'll take a lot of heat for this from people who actually are convinced that movies have never been better-both of them are likely to leave flaming comments-but frankly the state of roles for female actors has never been worse. This decade has proven to be even worse than the 50s. If you don't believe me, just look at the winners of Best Actress so far this decade: Julia Roberts and Halle Berry! Cut me a break. Obviously, if movie producers had the sense to cast Lucy Lawless in big screen movies this article would be much easy to write. In my recent article on Xena, I announced to the world that there is no role I wouldn't first offer Lucy Lawless. Unfortunately, I'm not a movie producer-actually, that's really not such an unfortunate thing-which leaves us with only three bona fide contenders.