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Actress Jennifer Lawrence poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Red Sparrow' in London, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)By John Serba | [email protected] Oscars are nigh, and with it, one of the strongest batches of best actress nominees in recent memory: Saoirse Ronan (“Lady Bird”), Sally Hawkins (“The Shape of Water”), Margot Robbie (“I, Tonya”), Meryl Streep (“The Post”) and Frances McDormand (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”). In acknowledgment and celebration of that, here’s a ranked list of the 25 best working actresses in Hollywood – and 15 runners-up for good measure.25. Penelope CruzShe emerged as a teenager in “Jamon Jamon” and Oscar-winning Spanish dramedy “Belle Epoque,” then quickly became director Pedro Almodovar’s muse: “All About My Mother,” “Broken Embraces” and “Volver.” Ohhhhhh, “Volver” – I pause to slowly exhale, because she’s a femme-tornado here, and while the story involves ghosts casually mingling with the living, the most supernatural thing in the movie must be Cruz’s performance, which is candid, bold and seductive. She was shoehorned into American films with middling success, although turns in “Blow,” “All the Pretty Horses” and, especially, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” stand out. One of her future roles is in “Love Child,” directed by Todd Solondz, a pairing of filmmaker and actress that raises one eyebrow, and then the other eyebrow, and just might be Cruz’s return to form.24. Sally HawkinsIf not for “The Shape of Water,” Hawkins might be an outsider looking in at this list. I’m not sure who else could play a mute woman who falls in love with an amphibious man-fish, and not make it feel alienating to the audience. Such a thing requires almost superhuman warmth, empathy and humanity, to emphasize the love from within a strange thing – and we are strange things, sitting in the audience, feeling her own heartache and unspoken tragedy. She emerged previously in “Happy-Go-Lucky,” playing a flighty free spirit taking driving lessons from a tightly wound Eddie Marsan; she’s the most lovable, sympathetic dingbat I’ve ever experienced in film, an example of character immersion of significant distinction. She’s also the best lightly kooky mom ever in the “Paddington” movies, which delightfully dovetail with her effortless tonal presence.23. Helena Bonham CarterAn auspicious debut it was, as the cherubic and witty Lucy Honeychurch in “A Room with a View,” rendering the film the most lively and lovely of all buttoned-up British period pieces. From there, it was Henry James (“The Wings of the Dove”) and Shakespeare (“Hamlet”) and E.M. Forster (“Howards End”) and Chuck Palahniuk (“Fight Club”), and one of these marks a shift. Hm. Which could it be?Carter’s Marla in “Fight Club” scuzzed up a career of prim propriety, and it was delectable, ugly and gloriously warped. It ushered in the second half of her career, rife with oddities, primarily as the most interesting performances in husband Tim Burton’s films, be they good or bad: “Sweeney Todd,” “Big Fish,” “Dark Shadows,” “Alice in Wonderland,” even “Planet of the Apes,” where she was the standout among so much monkeying around. She’s also the “Harry Potter” Character Most Deserving a Spinoff Movie or Three, the tantalizingly deranged Bellatrix Lestrange. I love HBC without measure, and anticipate another eccentric performance in the upcoming “Ocean’s 8.”22. Octavia SpencerSpencer is the mistress of the weed-whacker one-liner, able to cut down whatever’s in front of her with razor precision. When her eyes widen, it’s either in wonder, or foreshadowing a withering takedown. Her most famous KO came when she delivered that pie full of you-know-what to Bryce Dallas Howard in “The Help,” and walked off with an Oscar, ending a long career of bit roles here and there. She’s exceptional in “Fruitvale Station” and “Snowpiercer,” and is brilliant as a weary, but resilient NASA computer programmer in “Hidden Figures.” Most recently, with “The Shape of Water,” she showed us that a comic-relief role doesn’t need to be thankless, and in fact can be absolutely necessary. She’s one of the funniest people in film, and makes it look so effortless.21. Rachel WeiszMost know Weisz from two “Mummy” movies, and possibly for winning an Oscar thanks to a gripping performance in “The Constant Gardener.” But she’s quietly put together an impressively diverse filmography: “About a Boy,” “Runaway Jury,” “The Fountain,” “The Brothers Bloom”; recently, she’s provided significant supporting turns in overlooked films such as “The Light Between Oceans” and “Youth,” and deftly walked the line between dramatic heartbreak and oddball comedy in “The Lobster.” Her work is terribly underrated. Is it too late to give her a Dern-ish role in the next “Star Wars”?20. Jessica ChastainOf all actresses emerging in the last decade, Chastain is one of the best at finding the sweet spot between prestige work and mainstream accessibility. Supporting work in “The Debt,” “Take Shelter” and “The Tree of Life” established her talent, preceding her Oscar-nominated role in “The Help,” in which she showed nuance when the film literally put poop in the pie. Since then, she anchored “Zero Dark Thirty” with her credibility, and wasn’t given her due for the unfairly scorned “Crimson Peak.” And her confidence and detailed character work shined in 2017’s “Molly’s Game,” supported by a rich Aaron Sorkin script.19. Sigourney WeaverShe was, is, and always will be Ripley, an all-time-great cinema icon of feminine toughness. If you are a massive, hissing, slime-drooling queen creature with a little mouth inside your bigger mouth, you will not get between Sigourney and her surrogate daughter. You will eat the cold and unforgiving void, you b----. Of course, there’s also “Ghostbusters,” “Working Girl,” “Gorillas in the Mist,” “The Ice Storm,” “Galaxy Quest” and probably a dozen other career highlights (let’s say “Avatar” is one, considering she’s currently shooting foursequels). She’s also a recent recipient of a Great Performance in a Movie Nobody Saw award, playing a tough-love grandmother who softens under the weight of her daughter’s cancer treatments in “A Monster Calls.”18. Charlize TheronShe won an Oscar playing a real-life serial killer in “Monster,” and simmered with righteous feminist fury in “Mad Max: Fury Road.” But Theron’s best performance is so terribly overlooked, all of you who skipped it – too many of you – should be incarcerated: “Young Adult.” Her characterization of a delusional woman trying to worm her way back into the life of her now-married-with-children ex-boyfriend is so exquisitely modulated, it breaks our hearts and makes us laugh at precisely the same time. And let’s not overlook the gritty “North Country,” or a kickass cold-steel action turn in “Atomic Blonde,” or her recurring role on TV’s “Arrested Development” (all together now: “Mr. F!”), which is one of the funniest things of the 21stcentury, on any screen, big or small.17. Emily BluntAs the embattled personal assistant to a viciously Streeping Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada,” Blunt was a revelation, vicious but vulnerable, the movie’s unheralded champion. Yes, I said that, and I mean it, and I’ll stand by it. She was the best thing by far in sci-fi films “The Adjustment Bureau” and “Looper,” as well as the musical “Into the Woods.” She overshadows Tom Cruise’s charisma playing a tough-as-nails superheroic alien-eradicator in “Edge of Tomorrow.” She shows a knack for light comedy in “The Five-Year Engagement.”She’s a naive FBI agent in a shadowy black-ops unit in “Sicario,” providing a wide-eyed avenue for our own confusion and frustration with what happens outside the gaze of mainstream international law enforcement. She’s also sneakily brilliant in the soapy trash of “The Girl on the Train,” where she lets loose and gets wild and intense, and renders a very dumb movie quite riveting at times. Next, Blunt will play Mary Poppins in a sequel we didn’t really ask for, until we found out Blunt is playing Mary Poppins, and now, hey, maybe we want it.16. Laura Linney“You Can Count On Me”: it’s Linney’s greatest performance among many great performances, as well as a mantra for her career. “The Truman Show” was her true breakthrough, and she’s extraordinary in “Kinsey,” “The Squid and the Whale,” “The Savages” and “Mystic River,” which showcase an actress of vibrant character. She makes less-memorable projects more so – “Nocturnal Animals,” “Hyde Park on Hudson” and, curiously, amusingly, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” in which she doesn’t deliver her lines with a straight face, and it’s the perfectly timed elbow in the ribs we need to remind us we’re watching a movie about turtles that are also teenagers that happen to be ninjas.But back to “You Can Count On Me,” in which her single mother’s viciously kempt life is upended by the arrival of her just as viciously unkempt brother played by Mark Ruffalo, who goes toe-to-toe with Kinney in nuance and commitment to character – the film proves she’s a talent to be treasured.15. Helen MirrenShe sure seems born to play the effing Queen, or color the sprawling ensemble in a fastidious period drama like “Gosford Park,” or anchor countless Shakespeare adaptations. But I love how a silly thing like “RED” gets damn serious when Helen Mirren shows up neatly coiffed in a designer dress and hauling around a machine gun the size of Florida. “The Debt,” “The Last Station,” “The Queen”; “Calendar Girls,” “Trumbo,” “Hitchcock,” and, sure, why not, “The Fate of the Furious” – she brings dramatic heft to all of it. She really is great as the effing Queen, which scored her an Oscar, and I love her as The Wife in “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover,” the sympathetic face of one of the scariest and most grotesque films I’ve ever seen. P.S. Don’t judge her because she was in “Caligula.”14. Greta GerwigFew people in movies are funnier than Gerwig, who balances elevated wit with an almost-tactile emotional realism. “Frances Ha,” “Mistress America” and “20thCentury Women” are Gerwig at her best; her work in “Greenberg” and “Maggie’s Plan” is almost as brilliant. And her distinctive affectations are all over writing/directing effort “Lady Bird,” even though she’s behind the camera. If she ever sells out to play a superhero, I’ll eat the moon on a low-fat Ritz cracker.13. Julianne MooreI first noticed her in 1993’s “Short Cuts,” and not just because she’s the focal point of an utterly fearless nude scene. It’s frankly shocking Moore didn’t win an Oscar for more than two decades after that, in 2015 for playing an academic afflicted with Alzheimer’s in “Still Alice” – she could’ve, should’ve, won several times before, for two Todd Haynes films, “Safe” and “Far From Heaven,” her greatest, most empathetic and complex performances. Or for playing a veteran porn star in “Boogie Nights,” or for Annette Bening’s foil in “The Kids are All Right,” or for enduring supporting turns in “Children of Men” or “The Hours” or “Magnolia” or “A Single Man.” Moore’s career is surely among Hollywood’s most prolific – she sure seems game for any challenge, be it silly or substantial – and even in lesser films such as “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”, “The Shipping News” or “Chloe,” she provides a credible dramatic foundation for the rest of the cast.Oh, and she’s also Maude Lebowski in “The Big Lebowski,” in which she exercises her great comedic and satirical chops. It’s not the kind of character who inspires the gifting of statuettes, but for the rest of the wide, open world outside that bubble, it’s probably her greatest performance.12. Laura DernDern wedged her way into my heart as the wonderfully loony Bonnie-type to Nicolas Cage’s Clyde-type in “Wild at Heart” – and never left. Few could so seamlessly merge from David Lynch to “Jurassic Park” like she did, a testament to her versatility. She’s just as wild in Alexander Payne’s satirical shredder “Citizen Ruth” (which you probably haven’t seen – time to correct that). A relatively quiet period in the 2000s preceded a recent flurry of strong roles in “The Fault in Our Stars,” “Certain Women,” “Wilson” and an obscurity called “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” And her recent TV work in “Twin Peaks” and “Big Little Lies” is as strong as anything she did for the big screen.11. Michelle WilliamsHit TV series “Dawson’s Creek” made her famous, but it never reflected her true interest. So Williams never looked back, challenging herself with roles in which she radiated truth and sincerity. The biggest was “Brokeback Mountain,” the first of her four Oscar nominations; the second was “Blue Valentine,” the third was “My Week with Marilyn” and the fourth, “Manchester by the Sea.” (Yes, her Marilyn Monroe is absolutely magnetic.) Her resume only gets richer from there: her work with director Kelly Reichardt yielded great authenticity in “Wendy and Lucy,” “Meek’s Cutoff” and “Certain Women.” For my money, her work in Sarah Polley’s “Take This Waltz” is her most endearing and complex. She has softened for the occasional mainstream picture, lending grace to otherwise graceless stuff such as “The Greatest Showman” and “Oz the Great and Powerful.”10. Saoirse RonanExhibit A: “Atonement”; at 13, she found the place between childhood and adolescence that’s often a cliché in movies, but made it intense and a little haunted. Exhibit B: “Brooklyn”; in a movie that’s smart, sweet, funny and quietly assertive, she’s all of these things at once, effortlessly so, and creates a lovely, lovely character. Exhibit C: “Lady Bird,” the funniest coming-of-age comedy in a long time (OK, 2016’s “The Edge of Seventeen” is just as funny), stars her as high-school senior who’s awkward and rebellious in all the least obvious ways, and her timing for comedy and capacity for pathos are astonishing. I can’t come up with arguments why she shouldn’t win/have won Oscars for all these. She’s also brilliant in “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” fiercely committed in “Hanna” and charismatic in the otherwise maligned “The Lovely Bones.” She’s 24. What have you done lately?9. Amy AdamsA dozen years since she stole our hearts in “Junebug” and landed her first Oscar nomination, Adams has added four more Academy nods: “American Hustle,” “The Master,” “The Fighter,” “Doubt.” I’ll correct the glaring inadequacies in that track record by giving her the Oscar for “The Master” – she’s terrifying as the true person of power in that story – and adding nominations for “Arrival,” one of the most glaring snubs of the last decade, and “Enchanted,” in which she’s a delightfully un-self-aware Disney princess naif. Few of her generation are so talented.8. Lupita Nyong'oHer breakthrough was unforgettable: As Patsey, the horribly abused slave in “12 Years a Slave,” she ripped our hearts out, and won probably the most deserving Oscar of the last decade. Too many overlooked her extraordinary turn in “Queen of Katwe” as an impoverished mother protecting her children on the streets of Uganda – a role that deserved an Oscar. And she recently proved her mettle in mainstream fare with a significant role in “Black Panther,” one of the most important, credible and thematically complex blockbusters in recent memory. Nyong'o has made the most of every moment she's on screen. Few have such a bright career ahead.7. Jennifer LawrenceFrankly, her most high-profile stuff is the least of Lawrence’s work, and she’s still pretty great – the “X-Men” movies criminally underuse her, and she made sure we still cared what happened to Katniss in “The Hunger Games,” even when the final two movies fell apart around her. She very much deserved becoming everyone’s favorite actress after earning an Oscar nod for “Winter’s Bone,” and winning one for “Silver Linings Playbook.” Her “science oven” bit in “American Hustle” is one of the funniest scenes of the last decade. And she recently challenged herself mightily in the love-it-or-hate-it psychological horror nightmare “Mother!” (note: I loved it, and she had a lot to do with me loving it).6. Viola DavisDavis is one of the new greats, a powerhouse channeling righteous sincerity into her roles. She toiled thanklessly for years before she stole scenes out from under Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt.” Then she was the earnest heart of “The Help.” Both earned her Oscar nods, but she wouldn’t win until “Fences” cast her as the long-suffering wife of Denzel Washington’s impossible, philandering garbage man – a performance blending exasperation and love like few others. She’s currently attached to a Harriet Tubman biography, which isn’t even in production yet; can we buy our tickets now anyway?5. Frances McDormand“Fargo":I could stop right there and move on and you’d all nod your heads in agreement. It’s the single greatest performance by any living creature in the last half-century of film, and if that seems like hyperbole, think again. My police work on this case is indelible there, Lou. Her other work with the Coen Bros. (she’s married to Joel) is smaller, supporting, and nearly as brilliant: “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” “Hail, Caesar!,” “Burn After Reading,” “Raising Arizona” and, of course, “Blood Simple.” Outside that hallowed canon are significant turns in “Mississippi Burning,” “Laurel Canyon,” “Short Cuts,” “Wonder Boys,” “Almost Famous,” “Moonrise Kingdom” and TV’s “Olive Kitteredge” (I know, it’s the small screen, but the miniseries is essentially four short films, meticulously directed by Lisa Cholodenko). And her utterly dominant performance in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” is a poignant portrait of grief and anger for our times.4. Tilda SwintonWhether it’s a mega-budget studio tentpole or an arthouse indie, Swinton makes any movie she’s in at least 32 percent weirder. That’s a fact supported by science and things. Well, in the last decade, at least. Also early in her career, before she was internationally famous, although the projects themselves were also weird.It’s during that last decade, since she won an Oscar for playing a very, very quietly sociopathic corporate suit in “Michael Clayton,” that she’s really let the strange loose: The garishly garbed and made-up head of a future-world food manufacturer – and her twin! – in “Okja.” Or grandiose grotesques in “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “Snowpiercer,” the latter showcasing her scene-stealing at its funniest, craziest and most committed.And yet, her sincerity is on its own performative plane too, as the mother of a budding young psychopath in “We Need to Talk about Kevin,” as a Bowiesque androgynous rock star vacationing with troublesome old friends in “A Bigger Splash,” and as an unfulfilled showpiece wife and mother in “I Am Love” (the latter two directed by Luca Guadagnino); these are her three most significant works. She’s even commanding as the White Witch in “The Chronicles of Narnia” and as a magickal guru in “Doctor Strange.” Next, she’ll star in Guadagnino’s “Suspiria” remake. The role ultimately doesn’t matter for Swinton – she’s unpredictable and enthralling regardless. We should look forward to her future works with great interest.3. Meryl StreepOf course we love Streep. Who doesn’t love Streep? The Academy loves Streep – she has 21 Oscar nominations, give or take several hundred, and three wins, give or take a dozen. “Kramer vs. Kramer,” “Sophie’s Choice,” “The Deer Hunter,” “Out of Africa,” “The River Wild,” “The Bridges of Madison County.” I know a list of titles isn’t a sentence, but they are when they’re Streep movies.Her best films to my eye are “Postcards from the Edge” and “Adaptation.” Her most recent nomination, “The Post,” is her best work of the past 15 years. Even her voiceover work in “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is dialed in tight for comedy. And don’t ever, ever forget: the dingo took her baby.Streep is often guilty of something I call Streeping, in which she plays big and goes over the top, frequently with crazy, finely tuned accents: “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Julie and Julia,” “Doubt,” “August: Osage County,” “Florence Foster Jenkins.” Then again, tell me she still isn’t great when she’s Streeping, which is simultaneously infuriating and entertaining and kind of bewildering in its multifaceted display of talent. There is no one like Streep, and there will never be another one like Streep.2. Kate WinsletFour of Winslet’s first five roles are as follows: “Sense and Sensibility” (Austen), “Jude” (Hardy), “Hamlet” (Shakespeare) and “Heavenly Creatures,” in which she plays an obsessive, murderous teen. Then came “Titanic,” in which she found a way to make us fall in love with her despite being required to recite James Cameron’s cornball dialogue. Her subsequent work in the few years after the boat sank was offbeat, must-see stuff despite their ambition sometimes outsizing the final product: “Hideous Kinky,” “Holy Smoke,” “Quills,” “Iris.”Then she made “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” her greatest performance and role, funny and heartbreaking, idiosyncratic and so, so humane. She anchors the tragedy in “Finding Neverland,” hones incisive satire in “Little Children,” is luminescent in glossy comedy “The Holiday.” She goes deep and dark in “The Reader” (which earned her an Oscar, on her sixth nomination), and finds a different shade of deep and dark in “Revolutionary Road.” Todd Haynes’ TV miniseries “Mildred Pierce” is five-and-a-half remarkable hours of Emmy, SAG and Golden Globe-winning Winslet work. She loses herself in character in “Steve Jobs” and brandishes a mean needle in “The Dressmaker.”All of this speaks for itself, doesn’t it?1. Cate BlanchettHow many tours-de-force can a person have? One can’t imagine any other actress commanding the screen in “Carol,” “Blue Jasmine,” “Elizabeth” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” like Blanchett. She gave new shades of nastiness and complexity to the evil stepmother in 2015’s “Cinderella.” She’s ruthless as the villain in underrated action movie “Hanna.” She’s the most riveting of all iterations of Bob Dylan in “I’m Not There.” She does much, much more than an impression of Katherine Hepburn in “The Aviator.” She brings an eerie, ethereal presence to the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” films as the elf queen Galadriel. She’s extraordinary as the foil to Judi Dench in “Notes on a Scandal.” I even enjoyed her turn as a nasty Nazi in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and as a scenery-chewing villain in “Thor: Raganarok” – silly movies made better by her presence. I could go on. It’s hard to argue that she isn’t the best in the business.The next 15:Annette BeningYou no doubt didn’t see “20thCentury Women.” Hardly anyone did. Go watch it, and tell me Bening doesn’t make it look easy. While you’re at it, revisit “The Kids are All Right.” And “The Grifters.” And recognize how she takes a relatively thankless role in “Open Range” and makes it deeper, richer. Don’t forget, her vicious self is still the best thing about “American Beauty,” which otherwise hasn’t aged well.Mary J. BligeThe superstar soul singer has a limited acting resume – a Tyler Perry movie, a small part in “Rock of Ages,” a handful of TV bit parts – but blossomed mightily in “Mudbound,” earning an Oscar nomination. More Mary in movies, please.Sandra BullockBullock is a warm, agreeable screen presence even in a career full of formulaic films (“A Time to Kill,” “The Proposal,” etc.). Recently, she tackled her most challenging role in “Gravity,” and was never funnier than in “The Heat” – two projects that boosted her credibility. Anchoring the upcoming “Ocean’s 8” seems like a perfect fit.Judi DenchIf you want some command presence, Dench is your go-to star. Her Oscar was earned with only eight minutes of screen time as Queen Elizabeth in “Shakespeare in Love,” which speaks significantly of her ability to make the most of only a few lines. I prefer her rich, complex work in “Philomena,” which is a rare leading role for Dench – she’s likely the greatest character actress, memorable in so many supporting parts in so many movies, it’s impossible to list them all, from “A Room With a View” to the recent remake of “Murder on the Orient Express,” with many stops along the way as M in the James Bond franchise.Salma HayekHer passion project, playing artist Frida Kahlo in “Frida,” is a tremendous work. Early roles in “Desperado” and “From Dusk Till Dawn” are terrific, and has shown a recent knack for stealing scenes in comedies (“The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” and she was uproariously funny on TV’s “30 Rock”).Taraji P. HensonShe’s not an above-the-title superstar, although she should be – her grace and quiet charisma guaranteed “Hidden Figures” was a creative success, and she’s unforgettable in “Hustle and Flow.” She earned an Oscar nod for strong supporting work in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” It seems as if Henson hasn’t earned the acclaim she deserves.Scarlett JohanssonJohansson is such a movie star in the classical sense, it’s easy to forget how great an actress she was, so early in her career: “Lost in Translation,” “Girl with the Pearl Earring,” “Ghost World,” “The Man Who Wasn’t There.” “Match Point” and “Vicky Christina Barcelona” only boosted her credibility. Of course, now she’s the superhero Black Widow, which overshadows everything, including her greatest work: as a terrifying, man-eating alien in “Under the Skin,” and as the voice – just the voice! – of an artificially intelligent computer in “Her.”Brie LarsonShe won a well-deserved Oscar for some grueling, intense work in “Room,” but the microbudget indie “Short Term 12” is so alive, so real, thanks to her performance. Other highlights? She’s funny in “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and buoyant in “21 Jump Street” and hopefully will bring significant femme cred to the Marvel Cinematic Universe when she headlines “Captain Marvel.”Carey MulliganShe knocked us out as a nightclub songstress in “Shame,” was viciously funny in “Inside Llewyn Davis,” was a vital, warm presence in “Drive” and carried great dramatic weight in “Never Let Me Go” and “Mudbound.” But “An Education” is her triumph, her turn as a teen dating an older gentleman in 1960s London landing her an Oscar nomination – which should have been an Oscar win.Natalie Portman“Black Swan” – hold on – yes – I just checked – it’s still terrifying. It’s destined to be her creative high point, eclipsing her extraordinary work in “Closer” and “V for Vendetta,” and as a youngster in “Beautiful Girls” and “Leon: The Professional.” Her projects have been uneven the past several years, although her take on Jackie Kennedy in “Jackie” and some gritty work in “Annihilation” show an upward trend.Margot RobbieShe was a wrecking ball in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which is as audacious a breakthrough as any star has ever enjoyed. She turned cracked corn into popcorn as Jane in “The Legend of Tarzan,” was far stronger than her material in “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot," and was formidable in "Suicide Squad" despite every other aspect of the movie being a fright. And of course, she’s an Oscar nominee now, taking a vivid, trashy turn in “I, Tonya,” and anyone who can make Tonya Harding sympathetic is a person of significant talent.Emma StoneStone is a bright, bright talent, never looking back after being effervescent in a small role in “Superbad.” Playing Billie Jean King in “Battle of the Sexes” might be her heftiest role yet, she anchored “The Help” and, of course, won an easy Oscar for “La La Land.” But “Easy A” is her best, a true lost gem.Marisa TomeiTomei might not be on this list if I hadn’t recently re-watched “My Cousin Vinny,” which made her the least-respected Oscar winner ever. Truth: she’s wonderful in the movie, so effortlessly funny and vibrant, doing everything we don’t expect her to do. She’s also great in “The Wrestler” – her grittiest, richest role – “Slums of Beverly Hills,” “Cyrus,” “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” and “The Lincoln Lawyer.” She has a surprisingly strong body of work.Naomi Watts“Mulholland Drive” was an unforgettable breakthrough for Watts, who would later gain mainstream fame for the horror hit “The Ring.” But film aficionados recognize how she never backs down from a difficult role: “21 Grams,” “King Kong,” “Eastern Promises,” “The Impossible.”Reese WitherspoonFew movie stars enjoy roles perfectly suited to their skill sets, but Witherspoon has at least three: June Carter Cash in “Walk the Line,” Elle Woods in “Legally Blonde” and her funniest and most finely tuned character to date, Tracy Flick in “Election.” The unforgettable, indefatigable Tracy Flick. The utmost Tracy Flick. You get the picture. Also, I’d be doing her a disservice by not mentioning “Wild” or “Mud” or “Pleasantville,” which exhibit the range she so rarely gets recognized for.Honorable mention: Daisy RidleyA strong argument can be made that Ridley is the pivot point for the most astronomically important, pop-culturally relevant franchise in the current cinema: “Murder on the Orient Express.” Joking! But seriously, the new “Star Wars” trilogy hinges on us investing ourselves in the story of Rey, the badass scavenger who becomes a badass Jedi, a character Ridley endows with the conviction and sincerity – and occasional on-point comedic timing – crucial to the movies’ success. So far, so good for her career. Her only other significant part so far was an underwritten supporting turn in “Orient,” so we’ll see if she has the right stuff when she tackles Shakespeare later this year in “Ophelia” – she has the titular role!

Dear you,You should know by now from your success books that saying never and having negativity does not get you anywhere.However, just the fact that you want to aspire for greater things makes you different. You're not normal in this aspect. So, forget your insecurities, you're already different in a good way. If you haven't noticed, many teenagers are more interested in getting laid than accomplishing things, never mind being a good child for their parents. Hell, that's why I have decided to write out this long-ass post for you. Because you're something even though you don't think you are. You actually want it.So, now, here, I will give you concrete things you could do. You wanted an a-z guide. But, again, the final decision is for yourself. The only thing that you can control is yourself. This goes many ways. One way is that even if other people don't believe in you, you still can.JENNIFER'S MAKESHIFT GUIDE TO DOING SHIT FOR YOURSELF:I recommend you do the numbered points in order. Read it all, but do it in order. Shit builds on each other.I've tried to make it so it won't cost you anything, money wise. Time, though, is a different.1. Get a job first. Success comes in different forms. You can't jump from nothing to sudden, grandiose accomplishments that solves all of your life's problems. Do something small first. Getting a job, as Anthony mentioned, is a great experience. You can earn some cash to start building a financial base on which you can do bigger things with. You'll also be able to gain tons of experience of just learning to make yourself useful.I would recommend becoming a waiter or cashier or something along the service lines. You'll have to learn to deal with people and that is the most important thing you could learn. If you're going to be doing something successful, you'll definitely need to have this skill as success is rarely achieved on your own. Treat the job as a learning experience. It's a self-improvement method that will be earning you cash in the meantime.If you're troubled by the thought of getting a job, I'm disappointed in you. Your case is worse than I thought. You can do it. You can fucking do it. Getting a job as a teenager does not require any amazing skill that only the 'best' people have. No. Have you seen the people in high school who have jobs? Ofttimes I wonder what the manager was thinking when they were hiring these people. If you're still troubled, try volunteering first at a soup kitchen. Talk to people, learn to listen, soak up their advice. You'll see new views of the world. Then, get the fucking job. Now, you're on to a good start.2. Anthony talked about patterns. This is really important. Having structure in your life can make a difference. The job will help give structure, but you need to make it yourself, too. It's not as hard as it seems.There was one quote somewhere on Quora that mentioned how instilling a small change in your life can create room for greater changes. After all, I have now come to conclude what you want most is change. This is what they do for diets. They first ask that you change a small aspect of your life to get you acquainted with the feeling of change.Habits are made in 3 weeks. Do something small for three weeks and you'll have a new thing in your life and you'll feel strange not doing it.Try any of these daily things for a 3 week test-run:~Don't immediately do something entertaining after you get back from school. (This is assuming you're not in some club activity.) Finish all your homework first (this raises your grades in school, if you aren't on this already). This can increase your productivity level and teaches self-control (personal experience: I used to go home and play video games. I know. But, if you change it for one day, soon it turns into a week and the weeks add up to a habit.~Write your thoughts for the day before you go to sleep or after you wake up. This will improve your communication and writing skills (it's something that can be learned). This will help you in the future. John Quincy Adams did this. He was an extremely disciplined person who woke up at 4 in the morning to write a long journal entry of the day before. Of course, you don't need to be this crazy. Figure out what works for you. Self-awareness is really important, too.Plus, on your mentioning about writing, you don't need to be good to write. You may not be able to make a living off of it, but so far, that's not the point.~Abstain from something that you know is bad for you. Might as well quit now as part of your personalized self-improvement guide, be it video games, excessive fatty foods intake (this may vary, though, with financial circumstances, but if you can, give yourself a weekly quota), excessive television watching (give yourself a time quota or stop altogether).~Something else you always wanted to do? Learn to come up with ideas for yourself! (I expand on this later.)3. I always recommend athletics for guys needing advice. Always. You also said you aren't good at sports. That's the funny thing. You don't need to be good. Sports is about practice, putting in the time day in day out, using all your effort to achieve something for yourself. You said yourself that you're not 'fat'. Good. You have something to work with. I'd say you start out with bodybuilding. No equipment required most of the time. Find an exercise for yourself, what suits your needs. Google away. You'll be able to find one that requires no dumbbells, treadmills, etc. (Though, you could and should invest in a medicine ball using money made from your job when you have started making progress in bodybuilding.) Then, create a workout schedule and stick to it, like you learned through step 2. (Stretch and warm-up before an intense activity, too.)If you ever get bored of your routine, this is a link to a site that is basically a random abs workout generator. Random Abs | Today You could also use it to give you ideas of what you could do as a workout.Now, to extol the greatness of sports... (haha.) You'll build mental strength and physical strength. Mental strength is probably the more important one here. You'll learn to challenge yourself, push yourself to do that last push-up, and learn to embrace pain. I can't explain it. You'll know when it happens. You can train yourself mentally by not giving up, and by not cheating yourself. Be stubborn. If you said you would finish 80 squats, don't quit at 75 when your thighs start hurting. But, don't be stupidly stubborn. Your healthy is just as important. You can't workout if you pulled a muscle, really. Find a balance. Finally, just the sheer accomplishment of seeing abs or whatnot will give you a really needed shot of self-confidence. Learn to start setting goals: stronger-looking calves in a month, abs in three months, etc.As for physical strength, this might come in handy, I suppose. More importantly, you'll be healthier, in better shape. You'll feel better too. Physical activity has been shown to decrease chances of depression because of some released chemical that I wish I could remember. Plus, you'll learn to take care of yourself and your body. Your health outlasts any success. Take care of you before you take care of greater things.You'll also look better. You'll come off as more confident. It should also improve your posture, which is something people ignore. Appearances are important.4. You're doing well. Set more goals and accomplish them. It's just like your working out and your habit-changing. If you ever have self-doubt, look back to those accomplishments. You're okay.These goals, they can be anything. Just the fact that you're achieving things will do wonders for your self-confidence and sense of self-worth. It's what success tastes like. You might be wondering what goals to have. If this is not an issue anymore, great, you won. I have nothing to teach you. If this isn't you yet, learn to have ideas. It really can be learned. Since you have said you don't know what to work hard on, work hard on yourself (self-improvement) until you can find this money-making endeavor.Ideas come from seeing opportunities comes from putting two and two together comes from finding the first two through research or just pure coincidence. Research on the internet is one part. The first part. You sound like you do it well. But, possibly for the wrong thing. Instead of searching for others' successes, search for things that interest you. So, what you like is another. The second part. It is so true that you can do things better if you like them. So, who the hell are you? What do you like?For examples sake, I will assume you like the internet itself. It's interesting. There's a shitload of information, you can talk to people around the world, there's ton of opportunities; it's great.But what about it? Okay, you want to do something with it. Maybe you want to carve your own space into this internet world and make some money in the meantime. You have skills and/or (note the or) willingness to do something about it.So, okay. You discovered your love of poetry. You realise there's no website about sharing people's poetry. No place to evaluate people's poetry and share your favorites. No way to communicate with other poetry lovers. Damn, this sucks. (This is an example. My computer is currently too laggy with all this stuff I'm typing for me to risk searching up the validity of this.)Great. You like the Internet and poetry and there's a need for a website. This is a calling. You recognize it. You take it.What makes money is yet another aspect. The last one, for your case. People involved = money. There's many many ways to do this. Apple made their products beautiful and cool. People wanted it. Google made its search engine highly useful. People used it. Money is the easiest to tie in. Get the people first. You can add advertisements to websites, invite sponsors when you host events, have commercials when you make videos, have a 'gold' level membership when you have a membership-type venture (see: reddit, credit card companies). This is simplistic and basic in terms of money-making ideas, but if you have something good, it will make money. This is why all those Squidoo lens on 'how to make money by blogging' and 'how to make money on twitter' exists, in my opinion. Some people just happen to skip over the first step and go straight to the money-making part. Which works too, if you do it right.As for exact steps, you'll know what to do once you get there. It's like a revelation in that it will come to you come time, come when you're about to do it.You can read on the computer for forever. Don't. You want the steps for every single point of the path. You can't get it because you can't predict it. The path takes many turns no one can predict. Loosen up and just take a dive. When it's time, when you need the next step, you might end up finding it for yourself.Eventually, you'll find that 'one goal'. I really think you will.Get out there, go get some real experience. Take action. Just take the first itsy-bitsy step of setting up a web domain account. It's enough and it's hooking. Know the first step, do it, keep going, and you'll be gold. If you care enough and you want it enough, I believe that you'll get it.Develop a skill if you need to achieve this goal. Everything can be learned up to a point. After that point (it's a high point, though, so I wouldn't worry about it), it's down to talent and luck. However, you don't know if you have this talent if you don't even try. With that, you. Can. Learn. Fucking. Anything. You. Set. Your. Mind. To. Be it the said dancing, singing, acting, drawing, programming. No one started off brilliant. Your top dancers and singers in the country had to work their ass off to get their. You can and you will have to, too.Research off of the internet of how to start it and just take action. If it's something you need to learn like programming, for this poetry social-style website, get the fuck off of Quora and start researching, find the programming language fit for you and the site you had in mind, join the forums (I have heard they love helping noobies like you), ask questions, start learning the codes, read about the basics and just start 'doing'.Also, unless you're writing one too, don't spend your time reading the my-process/beginning-in-coding-in-Ruby. No. That's side-tracking your work. Be completely absorbed in the goals. The goal is learning Ruby, not reading about someone else learning Ruby. Maybe (I say this hesitantly) it will be of help when you're stuck, but mostly, search proactively for your answers. This takes discipline, but I think with time, it will be okay. Put in work, day in day out as you did with your workouts and you will get it.Hm, I might have gotten side-tracked, but practice making ideas so that you can have a goal you would want to work towards. You rarely get ideas by scrolling through newsfeeds. I get most of my ideas when I'm doing something else that doesn't require actual brain power. I wrote more on when I get ideas in some other post. You can read that if you'd like-- it 's on my profile. I am too laggy to link it.If you ever read about something that strikes you as interesting, roll it around in your mind and attach legs to it and just play with it. Go through your mental database and see what else you know that you could add on to it or apply. For instance, I was watching the documentary 'Exit Through the Gift Shop'. (Banksy's, a well-known street artist, film on the commercialization of street art. I say you watch the film if you're not afraid of getting nauseous. But do look into Banksy, if you haven't already. He's a household name and I have tons of respect for the guy.) And I liked the idea of street art and honestly really considered going outside and spray painting trees and shit. Well, I didn't, but I kept on thinking about it, adding legs to it, and thinking more practically and instead thought about how you could use spray painting for advertisements of grassroots cultural organizations and underground artists (musicians) and asking for fees since street art culture is relatively along the same wavelength and similar in terms of beliefs of those cultures. Too much influence from Shepard Fairey (something also interesting to look up for you: Shepard Fairey).But, anyways, that's probably illegal too. And I'd probably be in bigger trouble for charging such illegal defilement of public places.This turned out to be quite an awful example. But I hope you know what I mean about adding legs to a base influence. So I took the information from the 'outside' world: the street art movement. I started adding ideas to it, I considered street art's commercialization and its growing popularity, and poked around for other stuff that was on my mind. I have a friend who is breaking out into the music scene and I had been thinking of helping, but didn't know how. So I took two and two and put it together. Street art and underground artists. Then, I tied in the money part. Theoretically, it wouldn't be much of a cost. If I could charge $35 for each logo posted, and spray paint costs $10 for a whole bottle and each logo uses up a third of the bottle, and you can paint two logos in an hour and maybe later on you can hire people to help you paint logos while you sit at home reading Quora and even later on maybe you can add a website (to continue the 'culture' theme/better marketing/build your own customer base) and finally your website will be big enough so that you don't need to go around spray painting, but rather, selling street art-style shirts for these underground artists and your own brand, then lots of profit. Basic hustling.For all clarification, I will not be going around spray painting underground artists logos. I'm not much of an artist, anyway. Please don't spray paint logos, either. I'd say it's not worth the risk. Your time in jail could be spent building that poetry website.But, that is a really wordy crash course in brainstorming money making ideas. You could also Google "how to make money", but that's cliche. (Sarcasm. I use it too, I do admit.)5. Now, though this seems contradictory, learn to get rejected after all your self-confidence you have gathered. I'm not talking about girls. Honestly, forget girls. Later on, if you feel that you feel you have learned enough from your previous job, I'd say you find a job as a door-to-door salesperson. Having the door shut in your face, should now teach you something rather than what it used to do, discourage you (assumption)? It should tell you that you won't fucking win the first time around. Even these teenage prodigies who are already self-made millionaires did not suddenly wake up with money on their front porch. You are just unable to see the work they have put in so far. You will be able to see it once you have put in this work.Having a door slammed in your face enough times also wears away the crude edges of the ego. You learn to appreciate people who do respond and it teaches you to respect their time and serve the customers. You learn to shrug off defeat, as well. It gives you a sense of positive thinking-- instead of focusing on the countless number of rejections, you learn that the ones that count and are remembered are the ones that you have succeeded with. He said no? Oh well. I have more doors to get to.This preps you for 'the real world', or so they say. However, if you've already gotten a good dose of rejection through step 4. You're great, forget this step then.Below are other things that shouldn't be done in order. In fact, get started on them now.~Write shit down. This is a general umbrella tip, but it helps a ton to keep you on track. Anyone can write. Record your to-do list for the day (things that require taking action). Record a list of things you ate to get the best diet. Record the hours you put in to working out (I use a count-down method. As in, I plan on getting in 400 hours of working out in 5 months). Record your accomplishments, your good traits, the things you're good at (like Anthony said), your goals, your dreams, your purpose for life, your bucketlist, your personal conclusions and philosophies. Everyone has their own opinion. Being different is acknowledging that you have your own views.Then, tape that shit right where you can see it.~I'm sorry to break this to you, but appearances sometimes do matter. I'm not saying you need to go all-out, but make yourself tidy, neat, presentable. It helps immeasurably as people judge you based on your appearance. A true and sad fact of life.Working out will help so much. Keep to it.Make sure your hair is clean and orderly. Trim it, comb it if you have to. This doesn't make you shallow or 'girly'.Your nails. Keep them cut so you don't need to worry about getting dirt under them.Wash your face, brush your teeth before you sleep and after you wake up! If you're not gifted with naturally clear skin, buy some acne face wash with the money from the job. Clear complexions really make someone more, hm, can't find the term for it, put-together, beautiful, presentable. This is why girls wear makeup.Learn to shave your face well. I'd help you out on this if I were a guy.Invest in deodorant. You don't have to be the guy with the obnoxious-smelling cologne, but the alternative isn't that great either, really. I believe there's deodorant (get one with anti-perspirant if sweating is a problem) out there that doesn't smell like much.Posture. Observe others. Correct yourself.As for clothing, this is biased, but the shoes and pants really do make an outfit. More practically, how you wear them is just as important. I've seen people who wore non-super fancy brand clothing with such confidence that they might have been just as, if not more, attractive than people with such brand-name clothing.~Eat healthy! It'll help you in the future when you're successful. It'll add years to your life.~Use Bing rewards. You'll be searching a lot. Might as well get an Amazon gift card or that tasty looking $15 Red Envelope gift card (same amount of Bing points required, so, hey, maybe get something off of that to sell for a slightly reduced price to friends who need a gift for their mothers, or give the item to these lovely parents you speak of).~Follow Quora's self-improvement topic if you don't already! There is so much you can learn. More than I can help you with. There's always something you can improve and this is where you can find out where you are lacking and how you can fix it. But, as with all things, put practice before reading.~In the meantime, soak up as much information as you can. Learn, learn, learn.Work hard in school, it really does make a difference. Getting A's most of the time is just doing the homework and caring enough to understand the material. If you can understand the material and review it some before tests, you can most definitely get A's. Grades will help your resume. Maybe you consider it stupid. It might be, but it's a form of evaluation. It's how people predict your potential and you will need this.Making grades is not as hard as it seems. It just requires work. In studying for a test, you should review the materials until they are committed to memory (vocabulary, science with facts instead of math and calculations, etc.) or until you understand the concept completely, through and through and are able to apply it to any problem (math, physics, etc.) Read the textbook, do practice problems, don't give up-- learn it using different methods (online videos, have someone explain it to you, read lessons online, etc) until you get it. Those people you see getting good grades are usually not naturals. They have put in work and you can do the same.Read and watch other things besides success stories sometimes. Pick up biographies, philosophical books, documentaries, periodicals, Atlas Shrugged (an anonymous mentioned), a novel, a classic. Go through Quora's recommended book lists and read those. For a teenager, for now, if you're reading classics, you're quite different. For periodicals, don't worry too much about being informed about every aspect of the news, but rather stick to business, science and culture. That's how you make news. By taking what you read from those things and applying it to your own life to make something out of it (I'm referring to entrepreneurship here). Culture will keep you updated with your times, which is essential to marketing. Science will keep you with new trends (usually). Business will show you what other people are doing and success and failures of existing 'successes'.But, the purpose of this reading should be for ideas. Formulate your own opinions on the book and take something from it. Maybe it inspired you to make money through something. I don't know. What you take out of it is your own. You will learn of yourself in the process and discover your own interests.~Work with me. Message me sometime through Quora. I'll help you out if you have questions (step 4 was terribly difficult to explain; I got carried away too) or if you need advice or ideas of what to do. I'm often times really busy with things I do and events going on and things I'm already committed to, so when I have ideas of what I could do to make money or if I find opportunities while randomly reading around online, I am usually unable to make time for it, which is saddening. I'll gladly give these ideas and opportunities to you, if you're interested, of course.You also mentioned how your friends wouldn't be of much help in regards to your dreams of success. Find people outside of your circle that could help push you to be a better person. Talk to them, get to know their views of life. If they're really impressive, even small associations with them can help you.I'm, ironically, in the same situation. The people around me aren't exactly the best people to help me be a better person. Honestly, I'm more of a listener-supporter figure to them. I would be honored to talk about success and such things with such an ambitious, albeit insecure (you really shouldn't have anything to be insecure about), person as you.I still have to figure out how Quora really works, but I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.In conclusion,You'll need to work hard. Luck is made out of hard work.You want it enough so fucking get it, go fucking own the world for yourself.Best of luck,Jennifer.Credentials (sorry for the vagueness):two-time All-State in my sport, nominated for All-Americantop 5% of my classcurrently working on a large fundraiser event as a sponsorship coordinatorraised $2k through an event I organized at age 15interesting-ness is all relativeactive in school extra-curricularswon business plan competitionsa tumblog, which is in its baby stage