I’ve been doing a “best female actors on the planet” list for years now but this is my first attempt at doing a female actors of a decade list. Here we go:
- Emma Stone – Emma Stone runs away with the #1 slot here with only four films from the 2010’s decade in the archives. Four isn’t a lot (unless you’re Daniel Day-Lewis), but included in those four are Birdman, La La Land and The Favourite and she’s sensational in all of them. Those are three of the best sixteen films of the decade. Stone’s standout performance, the one she’ll be remembered for, Mia in La La Land, is one of the five best performances from an actress of the decade.
- Marion Cotillard – The talented French actress was in six films that landed in the archives from the decade including powerhouse performances with the Dardenne’s (Two Days, One Night) and James Gray (The Immigrant). She played the femme fatale to great effect twice with Nolan (Inception and Dark Knight Rises) and her work in Rust and Bone shouldn’t be overlooked either. Sadly it’s been a bit of a quiet stretch as all of these six archiveable films for Cotillard were form 2010-2014.
- Amy Adams – Adams’ had seven archiveable films in the decade, was nominated for a whopping (and still probably not enough) four Academy Awards during that time. She’s easily among the best of the year in 2013’s American Hustle and 2016’s Arrival. She plays a small, but crucial, role in the second best film of the decade –The Master.
- Natalie Portman – Portman’s Knight of Cups, Jackie and Annihilation prove that her decade isn’t solely reliant on one film, but who are we kidding, she’s here because of her performance in Aronofsky’s Black Swan from 2010. It is the single strongest female performance of the decade.
- Charlize Theron – Theron’s turn as Furiosa is one of the 2-3 female performances of the decade that can seriously challenge Portman’s turn in Black Swan. It is an almost entirely silent performance—her eyes, the way she carries her height—it’s right there with Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley in Aliens for the best female performance in an action film period (and both of those would be on the short list regardless of gender). Not far down on that same list would be Theron’s work in Atomic Blonde (a film I just can’t shake either). You throw in Prometheus and a couple of very fine Jason Reitman films (Young Adult, Tully)—what a decade indeed for Theron.
- Jessica Chastain – Chastain made her archiveable debut in 2011 with a trio of films: Take Shelter, Coriolanus, and The Tree of Life. These were the first three of eight archiveable films for Chastain from 2011-2015—much like Cotillard it has been a quiet stretch since in the back-half of the decade but a run like she had in 2011-2015 can’t be sustained and it doesn’t come along often at all. She’s a tour-de-force in Zero Dark Thirty, quite brilliant in A Most Violent Year– but I think no matter what she does going forward she will be remembered for playing angelic mother in The Tree of Life.
- Tilda Swinton – Swinton is the art-house, international champion actor of auteurs working with the likes of Bong Joon-ho, Wes Anderson, Jarmusch, Lynne Ramsay, The Coen Brothers and Luca Guadanino. Swinton has two major things going for her for her resume this decade, her nine archiveable films is the most on this list, and she also has that big heavyweight performance—it’s in Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin– a haunting portrayal- one of Ramsay’s trademark post-trauma vessels.
- Scarlett Johansson – Scarlett had a strong 2000’s decade but she has two entries in the 2010’s that rival her best work in 2003’s Lost in Translation: Under the Skin and Marriage Story. They both are among the best female performances of their respective years (2013, and 2019) and although I rarely single out vocal work—her performance in Her is something extraordinary.
- Cate Blanchett – Blacnhett’s 1-2 punch of Blue Jasmine and Carol in 2013 and 2015 respectively land her on this list. I was slow to warm up to her work in the Todd Haynes film but the film, and her nuanced performance, have grown on me over the years and repeat viewings.
- Rachel Weisz – There are only four archiveable films on Weisz’s decade resume but The Deep Blue Sea, The Lobster and The Favourite are all exceptionally noteworthy and puts her name on the short list of the best female actors of 2011, 2015 and 2018.
Honorable Mention (alphabetical)
- Greta Gerwig – Before Gerwig became an impressive auteur of her own, she had a tremendous decade as an actress with six archiveable films between 2010’s Greenberg and 2016’s Twentieth Century Women. In there are two truly magnificent and potential year-best-performances– Frances Ha and Mistress America (both with Baumbach).
- Jennifer Lawrence – In 2013 after Winter’s Bone (2010), Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and American Hustle (2013) it felt like Lawrence might be destined to be #1 on this list. Years later she only had Aronofsky’s Mother! to add to her archiveable resume and ends up with only one film that lands on the top 100 of the decade (Hustle– and gun to my head she’s probably the 3rd of 4th best performance in that film).
- Lupita Nyong’o – Lupita is certainly here off the strength of 2013’s 12 Years a Slave. It’s an unforgettable performance – one that lingers long after the film as you think back on it and some of the pivotal scenes (including the horrific tracking shot of her being whipped).
- Saoirse Ronan – I did not expect to hear from Ronan this decade after a powerhouse child (13 years old) performance in Joe Wright’s tragically underrated 2007 Atonement. But Ronan have us five archiveable films in the 2010’s including a strong close to the decade in 2015-2019 (when it seems like so many of these other actors on this list dropped off) in Brooklyn, Lady Bird and, I believe, her career-peak performance to date– in Little Women
- Michelle Williams – A strong seven performances from the decade here for Williams who started the decade off with an all-timer of a 2010 which includes Blue Valentine (her single best performance of the decade), Shutter Island (a few pivotal scenes) and Meek’s Cutoff. I may be a Kelly Reichardt study away (Meek’s, Certain Women) from putting Williams in the top 10 here. Williams is also outstanding in the key scene with Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea.
Lawrence makes the Top 100 all time but doesn’t make the cut for the decade’s Top 10. That’s plain wrong. 7th at worst. She isn’t the least of the four in American Hustle, perhaps the best on a per minute ratio. She aces that thing. Let’s look at this way, she is a Top performer in 4 years out of 10. That’s brilliant.
Blanchett makes way for Williams as well. You are underrating Manchester by the Sea, otherwise this would not have been up for debate. She easily gets in for me. That scene with Affleck near the end. As good as acting gets.
@AP- fair points- thanks for the comment and opinion here and I don’t disagree with the per/minute ratio comment with Lawrence in American Hustle. I think what’s hurt is over the past two years (i did my top 100 female actor list of all-time in 2018) the Russell films have slipped a little and that hurts Lawrence’s case. I don’t think you could put Lawrence in the top 5 here but if you had her somewhere 6-10 you wouldn’t get a big argument from me even if I went with other choices here.
I don’t like Lawrence. Love Robbie in The Wolf, I, Tonya & Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
My favourite of your list is Amy Adams but yeah Stone is the perfect number 1. What about her performance in the good Woody Allen : Magic in the Moonlight ?
@KidCharlemagne — I thought about Robbie as well– she’s close. Yeah Stone worked with Woody twice this decade I believe- Magic in the Moonlight and Irrational Man– I saw them both in theater and thought both were good, but not great.
Michelle Williams should be in the Top Five and Amy Adams should be Number One, Amy in Arrival > Emma in La La Land because even though Emma was excellent in La La Land Amy was on a completely different level entirely in Arrival and should have received a Oscar Nomination. Also Isabelle Huppert(a top five performance of the decade) Should have won instead of Emma.
@Randy– Thanks for the comment here. I love Michelle Williams so i don’t have a big problem if you have her in your top 5. I didn’t because I had two Williams films in the top 100 of the decade and one is really a pretty small scene in Shutter Island. To get it the top 5 on my list you had to do better than that or give me Black Swan as your best performance. Huppert is really good in Elle (not top 5 of the decade good) . But the film isn’t within shouting distance of La La Land.
I Guess well gave to agree to disagree again today cause Isabelle is easily top 5 and also Emma Stones performance is not top 5 for female actresses this decade barely even top 10.
@Randy– yes- this seems similar to the Harrison Ford in Witness is stronger than Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark argument you made earlier. Historically, I do not find that the best performances of the decade come from like the 12th best movie of the year (Witness, Elle). I guess somewhere–someone out there is still trying to argue that Art Carney in Harry and Tonto is better than Al Pacino in the Godfather Part II– but that’s not me.
Speaking of Art Carney can you explain to Me how the hell did he beat Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, and I forget who else for Best Actor that year? And can you also Explain how Gene Hackman didn’t even get nominated when his performance was just as good as anyone in that race?
@Randy– haha I know. I’m exaggerating with the Carney/Hubbert comparison of course— but yeah— the 5th actor up best actor in 1974 was Albert Finney in The Murder on the Orient Express. Not as strong as Pacino, Nicholson and Hoffman (or Hackman– you’re absolutely right here that he’s just as good) but still stronger than Carney. Carney winning is a joke. What I’ve read/heard is that he was so beloved from all his years on television’s The Honeymooners that it was the sentimental choice. Ridiculous.