Actress Sigourney Weaver is best known for her roles in films since the 1980s, including Ghost Busters, Working Girl and Alien.
1949-
British actress and model Rachel Weisz is best known for her performances in The Mummy, Stealing Beauty and The Constant Gardener.
1970-
Actress Raquel Welch was launched as a cinematic sex symbol in One Million Years BC (1966) and continues to be regarded as one of the world's great beauties.
1940-
Rutina Wesley is an African-American actress known for her role as Tara Thornton on the HBO vampire series True Blood.
1979-
Mae West started in Vaudeville and on the stage in New York, and later moved to Hollywood to star in films known for their blunt sexuality and steamy settings.
1893-1980
Pearl White was an American silent film actress best known for her role in The Perils of Pauline, in which she did her own stunt work.
1889-1938
1948-
1973-
1947-
Esther Williams, nicknamed "America's Mermaid," was an American actress who helped popularize synchronized swimming through a string of hugely popular films in the 1940s and '50s.
1921-2013
Michelle Williams first came to stardom as a star of teen drama Dawson's Creek. She rose to critical acclaim with films such as Blue Valentine and Brokeback Mountain.
1980-
1963-
1969-
Billionaire Oprah Winfrey has hosted her own internationally popular talk show since 1986. She is also an actress, philanthropist, publisher, and producer.
1954-
Oscar winner Kate Winslet has starred in a number of acclaimed dramas and comedies. She first gained fame in the blockbuster Titanic.
1975-
Shelley Winters was a popular American actress who is perhaps most remembered for her starring role in the 1951 film A Place in the Sun, for which won an Oscar.
1920-2006
Actress Natalie Wood starred in the films Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean and in West Side Story as Maria. She drowned during a boating trip in 1981.
1938-1981
Joanne Woodward is an award-winning American actress best known for her roles in The Three Faces of Eve (1957), Rachel Rachel (1968) and Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973). Woodward is the widow of actor Paul Newman.
1930-
1916-2002
Robin Wright was born in Dallas, Texas on April 8, 1966 but grew up in San Diego, California. The daughter of a pharmaceutical executive and an independent executive sales director for Mary Kay cosmetics, Wright was a natural beauty and began modeling
1966-
Michelle Yeoh is a Chinese actress and dancer known for her roles in Hong Kong action and martial arts films and for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
1962-
Sean Young is an American actress best known for her roles in the films Blade Runner (1982) and No Way Out (1987).
1959-
Texas-born actress Renee Zellweger first gained wide-spread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire and later Bridget Jones's Diary.
1969-
Zhang Ziyi is a celebrated film actress known for starring in films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Rush Hour 2, 2046 and Memoirs of a Geisha.
1979-