Famous Theater Actresses a to z

Actress Jane Alexander won Emmy Awards for her roles in Playing for Time and Warm Springs. In 1992, she became chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Actress Joan Allen is a founding member of Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company. She has also made several critically acclaimed film appearances.

Julie Andrews is an Oscar and Tony Award-winning actress and singer famous for her roles in The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins.

Tichina Arnold is best known for portraying Pam James, opposite Martin Lawrence, on the sitcom Martin and Rochelle on the show Everybody Hates Chris.

Lauren Bacall is an Academy Award-nominated actress known for roles in films like The Big Sleep, How to Marry a Millionaire, The Fan and The Mirror Has Two Faces.

Anne Bancroft was an Oscar Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress famous for her roles in The Miracle Worker and The Graduate. She was married to comedian and film director Mel Brooks.

Stage and screen actress Tallulah Bankhead starred in the plays They Knew What They Wanted and The Little Foxes. She was also in Hitchcock’s Lifeboat.

Award-winning actress Kathy Bates starred as a deranged fan opposite James Caan in Misery, and as a comically emancipated housewife in Fried Green Tomatoes.

Perhaps the most famous actress of all time, Sarah Bernhardt is regarded as one of the finest actors of the 19th century, appearing on the stage and in some of the earliest films ever produced.

French actress Juliette Binoche is widely regarded as one of film's most respected actresses for the intelligence she has brought to her complex roles.

Claire Bloom English is a dramatic actress noted for her moving portrayals of Shakespearean heroines. She also played on stage, television, and in films.

Tony, Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Shirley Booth was in both the play and film versions of Come Back, Little Sheba, and the television show Hazel.

Rhythm and blues singer Ruth Brown signed with Atlantic Records at a young age and recorded a number of hit songs throughout the 1950s.

Actress, singer, television personality and arts advocate Kitty Carlisle is best known for her long run as a panelist on the television show To Tell The Truth.

Helena Bonham Carter is a British actress known for her roles in historical dramas, as well as quirkier movies including Fight Club and Dark Shadows. She is married to director Tim Burton.

Carol Channing starred as Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on Broadway in 1949. She received a Tony lifetime achievement award in 1995.

Stockard Channing is an award-winning American actress best known for her roles in Grease (1978), Six Degrees of Separation (1993) and The West Wing (2002).

Actress Glenn Close is best known for her many Oscar-nominated roles, like the psychotic mistress in the 1987 movie Fatal Attraction.

Joan Crawford was an Oscar-winning actress, dancer and executive. She was known for films like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Mildred Pierce.

Viola Davis has earned raves for such films as Doubt and The Help, and for such Broadway plays as King Hedley II and Fences.

Madame de Pompadour became the mistress of French King Louis XV in the mid-1700s. She greatly influenced French culture during this time, including decorative arts, architecture and statecraft.

Shannen Doherty is best known for her roles as Heather Duke in the film Heathers and on TV as Brenda in Beverly Hills, 90210 and as Prue in Charmed.

Actress and musician Haylie Duff is Hillary Duff’s older sister. Haylie earned national fame as Summer Wheatley in the 2004 cult classic Napoleon Dynamite.

Faye Dunaway is a revered Oscar-winning actress known for her work in films like Bonnie and Clyde, The Thomas Crown Affair, Chinatown and Network.

Irene Dunne was an Academy Award-nominated actress and singer known for her roles in Showboat, Anna and the King of Siam and Love Affair.

Samantha Eggar is a British film and television actress. She recently performed as Hera in the Disney film Hercules.

Actress Kathryn Erbe starred on the HBO prison drama Oz, and was also cast on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, a spin-off of the popular crime drama Law & Order.

Alice Faye was a Broadway actress and chorus girl who played the mother of Shirley Temple in several films.

Tina Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer best known for her roles on Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock.

Evelyn "Billie" Frechette fell in love and lived with bank robber John Dillinger. She was arrested and served two years in prison for harboring a criminal.

American Actress Jennifer Garner earned notice for her role on the hit show Felicity, and was subsequently cast as the star of the ABC television drama Alias.

Actress Ana Gasteyer joined Saturday Night Live in 1996 and became famous for her impersonations of Barbra Streisand, Hillary Clinton and Martha Stewart.

Estelle Getty played Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls, and was one of television’s most popular comedic actresses of the 1980s.

Kathie Lee Gifford won over TV audiences with her on-screen chemistry with co-anchor Regis Philbin on The Morning Show. She now co-anchors the Today show.

Dorothy Gish, younger sister of actress Lillian Gish, was a film actress in the first half of the 20th century.

For close to a decade, actress Karen Grassle was known to TV audiences as pioneer mother, Caroline Ingalls, on the hit show, Little House on the Prairie.

Grace Gummer is an American actress best known as the daughter of Academy Award-winner Meryl Streep.

Actress Audrey Hepburn, star of Breakfast at Tiffany's, remains one of Hollywood's greatest style icons and one of the world's most successful actresses.

Katharine Hepburn was an actress known as a spirited performer with a touch of eccentricity in films such as The African Queen and On Golden Pond.

Hedda Hopper, a woman with amazing hats, was an American gossip columnists during the first half of the 1900s. She was also an actress and radio personality.

Janet Hubert is a stage, TV and film actress known for her role as Vivian Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Holly Hunter is an American actress best known for her Oscar acclaimed roles in Broadcast News (1987), The Firm (1993) and The Piano (1993).

Actress Ashley Judd starred in films Kiss the Girls and Double Jeopardy. She is also the daughter and sister of country music duo The Judds.

Actress Jane Kaczmarek is best known for playing the strict, yet unpredictable, Lois Wilkerson on the popular television sitcom Malcolm in the Middle.

Film, TV and theater actress Jane Krakowski is known for having played Elaine on Ally McBeal and Jenna on 30 Rock. She also starred in the London production of Guys and Dolls.

Jessica Lange is an award-winning American actress best known for her roles in King Kong, Tootsie and Grey Gardens.

Michael Learned is an Emmy Award-winning American actress best known for her role on the long-running television drama The Waltons.

British-American actress Jane Leeves played Daphne on the Emmy Award-winning NBC sitcom Frasier, and began playing Joy on TV Land's Hot in Cleveland in 2010.

Actress Judith Light has successfully tackled daytime dramas, prime time sitcoms and the New York stage. She played Angela Bower on the sitcom Who’s the Boss? and a witty alcoholic in the Broadway production Other Desert Cities.

Emmy-award winning television and film actress Shelley Long played Diane Chambers on the TV sitcom Cheers and was Carol Brady in The Brady Bunch: The Movie.

Jane Lynch is a Golden Globe and Emmy-Award winning film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Coach Sue Sylvester on the TV series Glee.

Shirley MacLaine is one of Hollywood's legendary leading ladies, known for a vast span of films that include The Apartment, Sweet Charity and Terms of Endearment.

Academy-award winning Italian stage and film actress Anna Magnani was in the movie Open City, and inspired playwright Tennessee Williams to pen The Rose Tattoo.

Jayne Mansfield was an American actress best known for her bombshell curves and roles in films during the 1950s and '60s.

Mary Martin was a Tony Award-winning actress and singer famous for her roles in stage productions of Peter Pan, South Pacific and The Sound of Music.

Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin, who pursued a professional acting career despite being legally deaf, is an inspirational role model to many.

Janet McTeer is an English television, stage and film actress best known for her Golden Globe-winning performance in Tumbleweeds.

Jayne Meadows is an American actress best known for her television work on I’ve Got a Secret (1952-'59). She is the wife of comedian Steve Allen.

S. Epatha Merkerson is an Emmy-Award-winning actress who’s starred on the TV series Law & Order for 17 years.

Ethel Merman is best known as a gutsy, powerful musical comedy performer and remembered for her brassy style and powerful mezzo-soprano voice.

As a child star, film and television actress Hayley Mills won an Oscar for her title role in the Disney movie Pollyanna, and went on to star in The Parent Trap.

Jeanne Moreau is a French actress, best known for her performances in French New Wave films of the 1950s and 60s.

Patricia Neil was an American film and stage actress who is best known for her performances in The Day The Earth Stood Still and Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Film, stage and TV actress Julie Newmar played Catwoman in the 1960’s TV series Batman. She was also in the musical film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

Cynthia Nixon is an Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress best known for her role as Miranda Hobbes on the television and film series Sex and the City.

Singer, actress, and television personality, Marie Osmond was half of the brother-and-sister duo Donny and Marie, with her brother Donny Osmond.

Gwyneth Paltrow is an American actress best known for her lead roles in Seven (1995), Emma (1996) and Great Expectations (1998). In 1998 she won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Shakespeare in Love.

Sarah Jessica Parker is an award-winning TV and film actress whose starring role in the series Sex and the City catapulted her to stardom.