The 1980s were the decade known for the rise of conservatism, free market economics, and advances in science and technology that led to socioeconomic changes. As new advances in technology made it easier for media to become more marketable and understandable, ‘high concept’ films quickly began to rise in popularity. During the 1980s, studio-driven films returned, and the teen movie genre was at its prime. Popular films of the time included The Breakfast Club, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, St. Elmo’s Fire, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Weird Science, and more. The film format utilized in the 1980s is now the most popular modern Hollywood blockbuster and the impact of film and television during the era has continued on throughout decades.
The 1980s presented many incredible performances by actresses who made an impact in cinema and are still as beloved and prominent in the present day. The best actresses of the 1980s have received widespread recognition and awards for their work on the big screen, portraying some of the most iconic roles in classic movies. From gracing us with their performances, to standing the test of time and becoming cinema icons, here are the best actresses of the 1980s, ranked.
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10 Kathleen Turner
20th Century Studios
Kathleen Turner garnered popularity during the 1980s with roles in Body Heat, The Man with Two Brains, Crimes of Passion, Romancing the Stone, Prizzi’s Honor, and more. She received Golden Globe Awards, and nominations for an Academy Award, Grammy Award, and Tony Awards. On her acting career spanning decades, Turner said, “I’ve been acting professionally for 41 years, I think my ability to maintain a career for that long has a little something to do with quality, don’t you think? … I’m a tree now where the trunk is strong enough, and the roots are deep enough, that I can branch out in any direction: teaching, acting, my cabaret endeavor. And I’m getting stronger all the time. So let’s find out what I can do.”
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9 Sally Field
Universal Pictures
Sally Field achieved success during the 1980s and rose in popularity by earning her first Oscar award for Norma Rae and again for her performance in Places in the Heart. She is best known for Smokey and the Bandit II, Absence of Malice, Kiss Me Goodbye, Murphy’s Romance, Steel Magnolias, and more. On her acting career, Field said, “The business can really kick the poop out of you. And it will diminish you and your talent if you don’t let yourself feel the good things. Because believe me, you really feel the bad things, and you take them to heart, and you own them, and they fester. So then I knew you have to also allow yourself to feel the glory of a good thing.”
8 Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver rose in popularity during the 1980s with roles in The Year of Living Dangerously, Ghostbusters, Aliens, Gorillas in the Mist, Working Girl, Ghostbusters II, and more. She has received widespread recognition and awards, including a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award. On her acting career, Weaver said, “The business loves to pigeonhole actors, especially actresses. You’re the sexy one. You’re the pretty one. You’re, in my case, the strong one… It helped me that I was never seduced by the part. I was always seduced by the script and—secondary but still important—the director and their vision. And funny, I think that ended up throwing me into different [kinds of] parts, because I wasn’t looking for the role ever, ever.”
7 Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis made her feature film debut playing Laurie Strode in the film Halloween by John Carpenter, which led to her starring in horror films throughout the 1980s including The Fog, Prom Night, Terror Train, Roadgames, Halloween II, and more. On her rise to stardom, Curtis said, “I wasn’t originally going to be an actress. I was going to be a police officer. I thought I would be a cop or a social worker. I thought I’d be a really good cop… Chuck Binder said that they were casting a low-budget horror film in Hollywood on Cahuenga in a shi**y little two-room office… John and Deborah somehow saw something, and they cast me as Laurie Strode. And my life has never, ever ceased to amaze me since that moment.”
6 Glenn Close
Columbia Pictures
Glenn Close garnered popularity during the 1980s appearing in Barnum, The Real Thing, The World According to Garp, The Big Chill, The Natural, Fatal Attraction, and Dangerous Liaisons, among others. Her work has received widespread recognition and earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress. On acting throughout the decades, Close said, “I think my passion is exactly the same! I think I am still voraciously curious about exploring different characters. I think I have gotten a much deeper knowledge of what it is to be a craftsperson as an actor. It’s harder for me to leave home these days. I now live in a place where my entire family is, which is phenomenal at this point in my life…”
5 Jodie Foster
Syfy RHI Entertainment Muse Entertainment
Jodie Foster gained popularity for her performances in Foxes, Carny, O’Hara’s Wife, Svengali, The Hotel New Hampshire, The Blood of Others, Mesmerized, The Accused, Siesta, Five Corners, and more. She has also won Academy Awards, British Academy Film Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. On being an actor, Foster said, “The reason I wanted to be an actor was so I could tell stories and I could be part of making movies, and it just happened to be the skill that I had. I wasn’t born to be an actor or dancing on my grandma’s table. That’s not my personality, so I think I come at it from a different perspective than a lot of people do. If I was on a desert island, I don’t think I would act.
4 Jessica Lange
Jessica Lange rose to stardom during the 1970s and then became one of the most popular actresses of the 1980s. Throughout the 1980s, she starred in ten major motion pictures, including Tootsie, Frances Country, Sweet Dreams, Music Box and more, which earned her nominations for Academy Awards and Golden Globes. She also performed in the theater production of Angel on My Shoulder and on TV, starring in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Lange said, “For me, acting was always a way to explore emotions—to dip into the well and really try to reach rock bottom down there. That was the most exciting part of it. I hadn’t found anything that really allowed me to do that until I came upon acting. And I came upon acting just by chance, more than anything.”
3 Molly Ringwald
Molly Ringwald began her career as a child actress on the television sitcoms Diff’rent Strokes in 1979 and The Facts of Life in 1980. She then made her mark during the 1980s with starring roles in teen films directed by John Hughes; including Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful, Oil and Vinegar, and more. On her 1980s teen flicks, Ringwald said, “I recognize that those films are so meaningful for generations of people. I feel very protective of them, but at the same time I also have complicated feelings toward them.… But I would say overall that I feel very loving and nostalgic towards the films I made with John. They occupy an important part of my life”
2 Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer’s acting career has spanned over four decades, and she became one of Hollywood’s most popular actresses during the 1980s. During the decade, Pfeiffer starred in Grease 2, Scarface, Sweet Liberty, The Witches of Eastwick, Married to the Mob, Tequila Sunrise, Dangerous Liaisons, The Fabulous Baker Boys, and more. She has received a Golden Globe Award, British Academy Film Award, nominations for Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Pfeiffer said, “I’ve never lost my love for acting. I feel really at home on the movie set. I’m a more balanced person honestly when I’m working… I’m more open now, my frame of mind, because I really want to work now, because I can.”
1 Meryl Streep
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Meryl Streep has been an actress for over five decades and garnered popularity during the 1980s and has continued to win awards and receive critical praise for her work. She is best known for starring in films during the decade including The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Still of the Night, Sophie’s Choice, Silkwood, and more. On her journey working as an actress, Streep said, “I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would be successful… I never thought it was going to happen for me… I know a lot of my success has to do with luck. I’ve also poured a lot of hard work into it, so I feel in some way that I can justify myself. But I’m just happy that things have happened this way.”
