These baby boomer actresses are some very OK boomers.
Of course this isn’t a complete list. Just 12 of our favorite baby boomer actresses.
Here we go.
Sally Field
We like her, we really like her. Sally Field, a two-time Best Actress Oscar winner for Norma Rae and Places in the Heart, became one of the first Baby Boomer icons with her run on Gidget, starting in 1965.
The Flying Nun secured her status, and from there she went on to a wildly successful film career.
Roles in films from Sybil to Smokey and the Bandit to Mrs. Doubtfire to Forrest Gump proved her exceptional range and likability — heck, lovability — and she still scored laughs in the recent 80 for Brady, which jokingly noted that she was a little younger than her octogenarian co-stars, all of whom were born pre-Baby Boom.
Jodie Foster
One of our all-time favorite actors — and a two-time Best Actress Oscar winner for The Accused and Silence of the Lambs — Jodie Foster gets back into the crime-solving business in the new season of True Detective.
Since breaking into show business with a Coppertone ad at age three, Foster quickly established herself as a powerhouse with astonishing range, starring in Freaky Friday and Taxi Driver in 1976, when she was barely a teenager.
After conquering acting, she established herself as a director with films including Little Man Tate and Money Monster. And she recently won an Emmy for True Detective.
Jamie Lee Curtis
The latest winner of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar is the definition of a boss. From the Halloween franchise to Freaky Friday to Everything Everywhere All At Once, this woman is unstoppable. It was the role of Laurie Strode inHalloweenthat launched her to stardom in 1978, but she’s gone on to have a long career full of titles everywhere from rom-com to drama to mystery and everything in between.
Some of her best-known titles are Trading Places, A Fish Called Wanda, Perfect, True Lies, Blue Steel, You Again, and Knives Out. And she also acted up a storm on The Bear.
She’s vowed never to return to Halloween, which is fine — she has a lot on her plate.
Angela Bassett
Angela Bassett’s incredible career has included from playing Tina Turner inWhat’s Love Got to Do With It in 1993 to playing Queen Ramonda in Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Other show-stopping roles she’s played include Coretta Scott King inBetsy & Coretta,Rosa Parks inThe Rosa Parks Story, and the role of Marie Laveau in American Horror Story: Coven.
And we love her on 9-1-1.
Michelle Pfeiffer
A three-time Oscar nominee, Michelle Pfeiffer brings a mix of aplomb and sensitivity to every role she plays, from Grease 2 to Batman Returns — and she’s still widely regarded as one of the best versions of Catwoman.
She showed off her comic chops in Married to the Mob (above), and demonstrated her cool command of the screen in Scarface, the Fabulous Baker Boys, and the acclaimed recent film French Exit. And she was the best part of the recent Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
She’s been a TV standout lately on both Margo’s Got Money Problems and The Madison.
Meryl Streep
Perhaps not just the greatest of the boomer actresses but the greatest actress, period.
Meryl Streep turned heads in a production ofMiss Julie at Vassar College, and the rest is history. Streep has been nominated for an Oscar an astonishing 21 times, and has won thrice, once for Best Supporting Actress in Kramer v. Kramer, and twice for Best Leading Actress in Sophie’s ChoiceandThe Iron Lady.
Her recent hits include The Devil Wears Prada 2. She was also terrific in Netflix’s Don’t Look Up, as you can see if you… well… do look up.
Jane Curtin
One of the most solid of the original Saturday Night Live cast, Jane Curtin was a steady hand and solidly funny presence in the show’s turbulent early years. She’s gone on to win back-to-back Emmysfor Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series on Kate & Allie,then went on to further success on 3rd Rock from the Sun.
She’s also had an acclaimed Broadway career with Love Letters, Noises Off and a 2002 revival of Our Town with Paul Newman.
In 2024, she starred opposite Ben Kingsley in Jules, the story of an elderly man who finds an alien in his backyard. Not such a stretch for this beloved Coneheads veteran.
Alfre Woodard
Alfre Woodard started in theater, breaking through Off-Broadway before making her film debut in 1978’s Remember My Name. Then she earned an Oscar nomination for 1983’s Cross Creek, then appeared in films from Grand Canyon to Crooklyn to How to Make an American Quilt to Primal Fear to Star Trek: First Contact.
But we thought she was most phenomenal in 2019’s wrenching Clemency (above), in which she played a prison warden wrestling with her feelings about the death penalty as she prepares to put a man (Aldis Hodge) to death.
And she’s very busy lately, appearing in projects including Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and The Book of Clarence. She’ll next star in Netflix’s The Boroughs.
Jenny Agutter
TheCall the Midwifewas a child actor in the 1960s, starring in productions includingEast of SudanandThe Railway Children.
She started the 1970s with a role in the acclaimedWalkaboutbefore starring in the cult favoriteLogan’s Run.
Her enviable career also includes parts inThe Eagle Has Landed,Equus,An American Werewolf in London (above), and — in the Marvel Universe —The AvengersandCaptain America: Civil War.
Call the Midwife, in which she plays Sister Julienne, has been a staple of British television since 2012, and has many fans on the other side of the pond as well.
Glenn Close
Nominated for eight Academy Awards, she finally received an honorary one this year. It’s a well-deserved accolade for an actress whose unforgettable films include The Big Chill, The Natural, Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons,Reversal of Fortune, and many, many more.
She won two consecutivePrimetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Seriesfor her scenery-chewing role ofPatty HewesonDamages.
And she most recently shined in the Knives Out sequel andWake Up Dead Man.
Frances McDormand
The winner of including fourAcademy Awards and twoPrimetime Emmy Awards is quickly runnnig out of accolades she hasn’t received.
She has frequently collaborated with her husband, Joel Coen, since meeting him when the Coen brothers made Blood Simple in 1984. Their impressive films together include Raising Arizona,Miller’s Crossing,Barton Fink,Fargo, and more.
She won the first of her Best Actress Oscars forFargo, then went on two win again for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouriand Nomadland. She also won a Best Picture Oscar for producing Nomadland. Wow.
Susan Sarandon
An icon since the 1970s for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Susan Sarandon always rules the screen, from her roles in Bull Durham to Thelma and Louise to the new Blue Beetle, where she gets to chew up scenery as a tech CEO villain.
Known for many seductive roles, she played against type and won her Best Actress Oscar for playing a nun in Dead Man Walking (above).
Like many boomer actresses, she is also well known for her political activism and humanitarian work.
Tilda Swinton
Initially best known for roles in experimental films, Swinton transitioned seamlessly to mainstream fare without leaving any of her artistry or daring idiosyncrasies behind.
She’s compulsively watchable, whether playing a string-pulling attorney in Michael Clayton or The Ancient One in Doctor Strange (above).
Her frequent collaborations with Wes Anderson are also welcome as well.
If you like this list, you might also enjoy trying to identify these 1980s movies from a single image.
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Main image: Jenny Agutter in Logan’s Run.
Editor’s Note: Corrects to ADD video.
