National Film Registry Stars

1. Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. Fred entered show business at age 5. He was successful both in vaudeville and on Broadway in partnership with his sister, Adele Astaire. After Adele retired to marry in 1932, Astaire headed to Hollywood. ...

Top Hat (1935): "Jerry Travers" - 1990 Swing Time (1936): "Lucky Garnett" - 2004 The Band Wagon (1953): "Tony Hunter" - 1995

2. Lauren Bacall

Actress | To Have and Have Not

Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in New York City. She was the daughter of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, a Romanian Jewish immigrant, and William Perske, who was born in New Jersey, to Polish Jewish parents. Her family was middle-class, with her father working as a ...

The Big Sleep (1946): "Vivian Rutledge" - 1997

3. Brigitte Bardot

Actress | Le mépris

Brigitte Bardot was born on September 28, 1934 in Paris, France. Her father had an engineering degree and worked with his father in the family business. Brigitte's mother encouraged her daughter to take up music and dance, and she proved to be very adept at it. By the time she was 15, Brigitte was ...

Film Portrait (1970)†: Self - 2003

4. John Belushi

Actor | Saturday Night Live

John Belushi was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA, on January 24, 1949, to Agnes Demetri (Samaras) and Adam Anastos Belushi, a restaurant owner. His father was an Albanian immigrant, from Qytezë, and his mother was also of Albanian descent. He grew up in Wheaton, where the family moved when he was ...

Animal House (1978): "John Blutarsky" - 2001 The Blues Brothers (1980): "Joliet Jake" - 2020

5. Ingrid Bergman

Actress | Casablanca

Ingrid Bergman was one of the greatest actresses from Hollywood's lamented Golden Era. Her natural and unpretentious beauty and her immense acting talent made her one of the most celebrated figures in the history of American cinema. Bergman is also one of the most Oscar-awarded actresses, tied with ...

Casablanca (1942): "Ilsa Lund" - 1989 Gaslight (1944): "Paula Alquist" - 2019 Notorious (1946): "Alicia Huberman" - 2006

6. Humphrey Bogart

Actor | Casablanca

Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born in New York City, New York, to Maud Humphrey, a famed magazine illustrator and suffragette, and Belmont DeForest Bogart, a moderately wealthy surgeon (who was secretly addicted to opium). Bogart was educated at Trinity School, NYC, and was sent to Phillips Academy ...

The Maltese Falcon (1941): "Samuel Spade" - 1989 Casablanca (1942): "Rick Blaine" - 1989 The Big Sleep (1946): "Philip Marlowe" - 1997 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948): "Fred C. Dobbs" - 1990 In a Lonely Place (1950): "Dixon Steele" - 2007 The African Queen (1951): "Charlie Allnutt" - 1994 Sabrina (1954): "Linus Larrabee" - 2002

7. Marlon Brando

Actor | Apocalypse Now

Marlon Brando is widely considered the greatest movie actor of all time, rivaled only by the more theatrically oriented Laurence Olivier in terms of esteem. Unlike Olivier, who preferred the stage to the screen, Brando concentrated his talents on movies after bidding the Broadway stage adieu in ...

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951): "Stanley Kowalski" - 1999 On the Waterfront (1954): "Terry Malloy" - 1989 One-Eyed Jacks (1961): "Rio" - 2018 King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)†: Self - 1999 The Godfather (1972): "Don Vito Corleone" - 1990 Superman (1978): "Jor-El" - 2017 Apocalypse Now (1979): "Colonel Walter E. Kurtz" - 2000

8. Richard Burton

Actor | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Probably best-remembered for his turbulent personal life with Elizabeth Taylor (whom he married twice), Richard Burton was nonetheless also regarded as an often brilliant British actor of the post-WWII period.

Burton was born Richard Walter Jenkins in 1925 into a Welsh (Cymraeg)-speaking family in ...

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966): "George" - 2013

9. James Cagney

Actor | Angels with Dirty Faces

One of Hollywood's preeminent male stars of all time, James Cagney was also an accomplished dancer and easily played light comedy. James Francis Cagney was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, to Carolyn (Nelson) and James Francis Cagney, Sr., who was a bartender and amateur ...

The Public Enemy (1931): "Tom Powers" - 1998 Footlight Parade (1933): "Chester Kent" - 1992 Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942): "George M. Cohan" - 1993 White Heat (1949): "Cody Jarrett" - 2003

10. Gary Cooper

Actor | High Noon

Born to Alice Cooper and Charles Cooper. Gary attended school at Dunstable school England, Helena Montana and Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa (then called Iowa College). His first stage experience was during high school and college. Afterwards, he worked as an extra for one year before getting a ...

Ben-Hur A Tale of the Christ (1925)*: Roman Guard - 1997 It (1927)*: Newspaper Reporter - 2001 Wings (1927): "Cadet White" - 1997 Morocco (1930): "Légionnaire Tom Brown" - 1992 Sergeant York (1941): "Alvin C. York" - 2008 Ball of Fire (1941): "Prof. Bertram Potts" - 2016 High Noon (1952): "Marshal Will Kane" - 1989

11. Bette Davis

Actress | All About Eve

Ruth Elizabeth Davis was born April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts, to Ruth Augusta (Favor) and Harlow Morrell Davis, a patent attorney. Her parents divorced when she was 10. She and her sister were raised by their mother. Her early interest was dance. To Bette, dancers led a glamorous life, but...

Jezebel (1938): "Julie Marsden" - 2009 Now, Voyager (1942): "Charlotte Vale" - 2007 All About Eve (1950): "Margo Channing" - 1990 What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962): "Baby Jane Hudson" - 2021

12. Doris Day

Soundtrack | Love Me or Leave Me

One of America's most loved actresses was born Doris Mary Kappelhoff on April 3, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Alma Sophia (Welz), a housewife, and William Joseph Kappelhoff, a music teacher and choir master. Her grandparents were all German immigrants. She had two brothers, Richard, who died ...

Pillow Talk (1959): "Jan Morrow" - 2009

13. Olivia de Havilland

Actress | Gone with the Wind

Olivia Mary de Havilland was born on July 1, 1916 in Tokyo, Japan to British parents, Lilian Augusta (Ruse), a former actress, and Walter Augustus de Havilland, an English professor and patent attorney. Her sister Joan, later to become famous as Joan Fontaine, was born the following year. Her ...

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938): "Maid Marian" - 1995 Gone with the Wind (1939): "Melanie Hamilton" - 1989 The Heiress (1949): "Catherine Sloper" - 1996

14. James Dean

Actor | East of Eden

James Byron Dean was born February 8, 1931 in Marion, Indiana, to Mildred Marie (Wilson) and Winton A. Dean, a farmer turned dental technician. His mother died when Dean was nine, and he was subsequently raised on a farm by his aunt and uncle in Fairmount, Indiana. After grade school, he moved to ...

East of Eden (1955): "Cal Trask" - 2016 Rebel Without a Cause (1955): "Jim Stark" - 1990 Giant (1956): "Jett Rink" - 2005

15. Marlene Dietrich

Soundtrack | Witness for the Prosecution

Her father was a police lieutenant and imbued in her a military attitude to life. Marlene was known in school for her "bedroom eyes" and her first affairs were at this stage in her life - a professor at the school was terminated. She entered the cabaret scene in 1920s Germany, first as a spectator ...

Morocco (1930): "Mademoiselle Amy Jolly" - 1992 Destry Rides Again (1939): "Frenchy" - 1996 Touch of Evil (1958): "Tanya" - 1993 Judgment at Nuremberg (1961): "Mrs. Bertholt" - 2013

16. Kirk Douglas

Actor | The Final Countdown

Cleft-chinned, steely-eyed and virile star of international cinema who rose from being "the ragman's son" (the name of his best-selling 1988 autobiography) to become a bona fide superstar, Kirk Douglas, also known as Issur Danielovitch Demsky, was born on December 9, 1916 in Amsterdam, New York. ...

Out of the Past (1947): "Whit" - 1991 Ace in the Hole (1951): "Chuck Tatum" - 2017 The Bad and the Beautiful (1952): "Jonathan" - 2002 Paths of Glory (1957): "Col. Dax" - 1992 Spartacus (1960): "Spartacus" - 2017

17. Henry Fonda

Actor | 12 Angry Men

This remarkable, soft-spoken American began in films as a diffident juvenile. With passing years, he matured into a star character actor who exemplified not only integrity and strength, but an ideal of the common man fighting against social injustice and oppression. He was born in Grand Island, ...

Jezebel (1938): "Preston Dillard" - 2009 Young Mr. Lincoln (1939): "Abraham Lincoln" - 2003 The Grapes of Wrath (1940): "Tom Joad" - 1989 The Lady Eve (1941): "Charles" - 1994 The Ox-Bow Incident (1942): "Gil Carter" - 1998 My Darling Clementine (1946): "Wyatt Earp" - 1991 12 Angry Men (1957): Juror 8 - 2007 How the West Was Won (1962): "Jethro Stuart" - 1997 Once Upon a Time in the West (1968): "Frank" - 2009

18. Joan Fontaine

Actress | Suspicion

Born Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland on October 22, 1917, in Tokyo, Japan, in what was known as the International Settlement, to British parents, Lilian Augusta (Ruse), a former actress, and Walter Augustus de Havilland, an English professor and patent attorney. Her paternal grandfather's family was ...

Gunga Din (1939): "Emmy" - 1999 The Women (1939): "Peggy" - 2007 Rebecca (1940): "Mrs. de Winter" - 2018 Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948): "Lisa Berndle" - 1992

19. Clark Gable

Actor | It Happened One Night

William Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio, to Adeline (Hershelman) and William Henry Gable, an oil-well driller. He was of German, Irish, and Swiss-German descent. When he was seven months old, his mother died, and his father sent him to live with his maternal aunt and uncle ...

Ben-Hur A Tale of the Christ (1925)*: Roman Guard - 1997 Red Dust (1932): "Dennis Carson" - 2006 It Happened One Night (1934): "Peter Warne" - 1993 Gone with the Wind (1939): "Rhett Butler" - 1989

20. Judy Garland

Actress | The Wizard of Oz

One of the brightest, most tragic movie stars of Hollywood's Golden Era, Judy Garland was a much-loved character whose warmth and spirit, along with her rich and exuberant voice, kept theatre-goers entertained with an array of delightful musicals.

She was born Frances Ethel Gumm on 10 June 1922 in ...

Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938): "Betsy" - 2000 The Wizard of Oz (1939): "Dorothy" - 1989 Meet Me in St. Louis (1944): "Esther Smith" - 1994 A Star Is Born (1954): "Esther Blodgett (a.k.a. Vicki Lester)" - 2000 Judgment at Nuremberg (1961): "Irene Hoffman" - 2013

21. Cary Grant

Actor | North by Northwest

Once told by an interviewer, "Everybody would like to be Cary Grant", Grant is said to have replied, "So would I."

Cary Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach on January 18, 1904 in Horfield, Bristol, England, to Elsie Maria (Kingdon) and Elias James Leach, who worked in a factory. His early years in ...

She Done Him Wrong (1933): "Captain Cummings" - 1996 The Awful Truth (1937): "Jerry Warriner" - 1996 Bringing Up Baby (1938): "David Huxley" - 1990 Gunga Din (1939): "Sergeant Archibald Cutter" - 1999 Only Angels Have Wings (1939): "Geoff Carter" - 2017 His Girl Friday (1940): "Walter Burns" - 1993 The Philadelphia Story (1940): "C. K. Dexter Haven" - 1995 Notorious (1946): "Devlin" - 2006 North by Northwest (1959): "Roger Thornhill" - 1995 Charade (1963): "Peter Joshua" - 2022

22. Alec Guinness

Actor | Star Wars

Alec Guinness was an English actor. He is known for his six collaborations with David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Prince Faisal in Lawrence...

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957): "Colonel Nicholson" - 1997 Lawrence of Arabia (1962): "Prince Faisal" - 1991 Star Wars (1977): "Obi-Wan Kenobi" - 1989 The Empire Strikes Back (1980): "Obi-Wan Kenobi" - 2010 Return of the Jedi (1983): "Obi-Wan Kenobi" - 2021

23. Rita Hayworth

Actress | Gilda

Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Carmen Cansino on October 17, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of dancers. Her father, Eduardo Cansino Reina, was a dancer as was his father before him. He emigrated from Spain in 1913. Rita's American mother, Volga Margaret (Hayworth), who was of mostly ...

Only Angels Have Wings (1939): "Judy MacPherson" - 2017 Gilda (1946): "Gilda" - 2013 The Lady from Shanghai (1947): "Elsa Bannister" - 2018

24. Audrey Hepburn

Actress | Breakfast at Tiffany's

Audrey Hepburn was born as Audrey Kathleen Ruston on May 4, 1929 in Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium. Her mother, Baroness Ella Van Heemstra, was a Dutch noblewoman, while her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, was born in Úzice, Bohemia, to English and Austrian parents.

After her parents' divorce, ...

Roman Holiday (1953): "Princess Ann" - 1999 Sabrina (1954): "Sabrina Fairchild" - 2002 Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961): "Holly Golightly" - 2012 Charade (1963): "Regina Lampert" - 2022 My Fair Lady (1964): "Eliza Dolittle" - 2018

25. Katharine Hepburn

Actress | The Lion in Winter

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was born on May 12, 1907 in Hartford, Connecticut to a suffragist, Katharine Martha (Houghton), and a doctor, Thomas Norval Hepburn, who both always encouraged her to speak her mind, develop it fully, and exercise her body to its full potential. An athletic tomboy as a ...

Bringing Up Baby (1938): "Susan Vance" - 1990 The Philadelphia Story (1940): "Tracy Lord" - 1995 Woman of the Year (1942): "Tess Harding" - 1999 Adam's Rib (1949): "Amanda Bonner" - 1992 The African Queen (1951): "Rose Sayer" - 1994 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967): "Christina Drayton" - 2017

26. Charlton Heston

Actor | Ben-Hur

With features chiseled in stone, and renowned for playing a long list of historical figures, particularly in Biblical epics, the tall, well-built and ruggedly handsome Charlton Heston was one of Hollywood's top leading men of his prime and remained active in front of movie cameras for over sixty ...

The Ten Commandments (1956): "Moses" - 1999 Touch of Evil (1958): "Mike Vargas" - 1993 Ben-Hur (1959): "Judah Ben-Hur" - 2004 Planet of the Apes (1968): "George Taylor" - 2001 King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970): Narrator - 1999

27. William Holden

Actor | Stalag 17

Billy Wilder proclaimed William Holden to be "the ideal motion picture actor". For almost four decades, the handsome, affable 'Golden Holden' was among Hollywood's most durable and engaging stars. He was born William Franklin Beedle Jr., one of three sons to a high school English teacher, Mary ...

Sunset Blvd. (1950): "Joe Gillis" - 1989 Born Yesterday (1950): "Paul Verrall" - 2012 Sabrina (1954): "David Larrabee" - 2002 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957): "Shears" - 1997 The Wild Bunch (1969): "Pike" - 1999 Network (1976): "Max Schumacher" - 2000

28. Buster Keaton

Actor | The General

Joseph Frank Keaton was born on October 4, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, to Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton. Joe and Myra were Vaudevillian comedians with a popular, ever-changing variety act, giving Keaton an eclectic and interesting upbringing. In the earliest days on stage, they traveled with a medicine ...

One Week (1920): "The Groom" - 2008 Cops (1922): "The Young Man" - 1997 Sherlock Jr. (1924): "Projectionist/Sherlock, Jr." - 1991 The Navigator (1924): "Rollo Treadway" - 2018 The General (1926): "Johnnie Gray" - 1989 Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928): "William Canfield Jr." - 2016 The Cameraman (1928): "Buster" - 2005 Sunset Blvd. (1950): "Buster Keaton" - 1989

29. Gene Kelly

Soundtrack | Singin' in the Rain

Eugene Curran Kelly was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the third son of Harriet Catherine (Curran) and James Patrick Joseph Kelly, a phonograph salesman. His father was of Irish descent and his mother was of Irish and German ancestry.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was the largest and most powerful studio in...

On the Town (1949): "Gabey" - 2018 An American in Paris (1951): "Jerry Mulligan" - 1993 Singin' in the Rain (1952): "Don Lockwood" - 1989

30. Grace Kelly

Actress | Dial M for Murder

On November 12, 1929, Grace Patricia Kelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to wealthy parents. Her girlhood was uneventful for the most part, but one of the things she desired was to become an actress which she had decided on at an early age. After her high school graduation in 1947, Grace ...

High Noon (1952): "Amy Fowler Kane" - 1989 Rear Window (1954): "Lisa Carol Fremont" - 1997

31. Deborah Kerr

Actress | The King and I

Deborah Jane Trimmer was born on 30 September 1921 in Glasgow, Scotland, the daughter of Captain Arthur Kerr Trimmer. She was educated at Northumberland House, Clifton, Bristol. She first performed at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London. She subsequently performed with the Oxford ...

From Here to Eternity (1953): "Karen Holmes" - 2002

32. Alan Ladd

Actor | Shane

Alan Walbridge Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the only child of Ina Raleigh (aka Selina Rowley) and Alan Harwood Ladd, a freelance accountant. His mother was English, from County Durham. His father died when he was four. At age five, he burned his apartment playing with matches, and his ...

Citizen Kane (1941)*: Pipe-Smoking Reporter - 1989 Shane (1953): "Shane" - 1993

33. Veronica Lake

Actress | Sullivan's Travels

Veronica Lake was born as Constance Frances Marie Ockleman on November 14, 1922, in Brooklyn, New York. She was the daughter of Constance Charlotta (Trimble) and Harry Eugene Ockelman, who worked for an oil company as a ship employee. Her father was of half German and half Irish descent, and her ...

Sullivan's Travels (1941): "The Girl" - 1990

34. Burt Lancaster

Actor | From Here to Eternity

Burt Lancaster, one of five children, was born in Manhattan, to Elizabeth (Roberts) and James Henry Lancaster, a postal worker. All his grandparents were immigrants from the north of Ireland. He was a tough street kid who took an early interest in gymnastics. He joined the circus as an acrobat and ...

The Killers (1946): "Ole 'Swede' Anderson" - 2008 From Here to Eternity (1953): "Sgt. Milton Warden" - 2002 Sweet Smell of Success (1957): "J.J. Hunsecker" - 1993 Judgment at Nuremberg (1961): "Dr. Ernst Janning" - 2013 King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970): Narrator - 1999 Atlantic City (1980): "Lou Pascal" - 2003 Field of Dreams (1989): "Dr. Archibald 'Moonlight' Graham" - 2017

35. Bruce Lee

Actor | Jing wu men

Bruce Lee remains the greatest icon of martial arts cinema and a key figure of modern popular media. Had it not been for Bruce Lee and his movies in the early 1970s, it's arguable whether or not the martial arts film genre would have ever penetrated and influenced mainstream North American and ...

Enter the Dragon (1973): "Lee" - 2004

36. Vivien Leigh

Actress | A Streetcar Named Desire

If a film were made of the life of Vivien Leigh, it would open in India just before World War I, where a successful British businessman could live like a prince. In the mountains above Calcutta, a little princess is born. Because of the outbreak of World War I, she is six years old the first time ...

Gone with the Wind (1939): "Scarlett O'Hara" - 1989 A Streetcar Named Desire (1951): "Blanche DuBois" - 1999

37. Peter Lorre

Actor | M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder

Peter Lorre was born László Löwenstein in Rózsahegy in the Slovak area of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the son of Hungarian Jewish parents. He learned both Hungarian and German languages from birth, and was educated in elementary and secondary schools in the Austria-Hungary capitol Vienna, but did ...

The Maltese Falcon (1941): "Joel Cairo" - 1989 Casablanca (1942): "Ugarte" - 1989

38. Groucho Marx

Actor | A Night at the Opera

The bushy-browed, cigar-smoking wise-cracker with the painted-on moustache and stooped walk was the leader of The Marx Brothers. With one-liners that were often double entendres, Groucho never cursed in any of his performances and said he never wanted to be known as a dirty comic. With a great love...

Duck Soup (1933): "Rufus T. Firefly" - 1990 A Night at the Opera (1935): "Otis B. Driftwood" - 1993 Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)*: "George Schmidlap" - 2000

39. James Mason

Actor | Lolita

James Mason was born in Huddersfield and had a film career spanning over 50 years during which he appeared in over 100 films in England and America but never won an Oscar. Whatever role he played, from the wounded Belfast gunman in Odd Man Out to Rommel in The Desert Fox, his creamy velvet voice ...

The Tell-Tale Heart (1953): Narrator - 2001 A Star Is Born (1954): "Norman Maine" - 2000 North by Northwest (1959): "Phillip Vandamm" - 1995

40. Robert Mitchum

Actor | Out of the Past

Robert Mitchum was an underrated American leading man of enormous ability, who sublimated his talents beneath an air of disinterest. He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Ann Harriet (Gunderson), a Norwegian immigrant, and James Thomas Mitchum, a shipyard/railroad worker. His father died in a ...

Story of G.I. Joe (1945): "Lt. Walker" - 2009 Out of the Past (1947): "Jeff" - 1991 The Night of the Hunter (1955): "Harry Powell" - 1992

41. Marilyn Monroe

Actress | Some Like It Hot

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, comedienne, singer, and model. Monroe is of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh descent. She became one of the world's most enduring iconic figures and is remembered both for her winsome embodiment of the Hollywood sex symbol and her tragic personal and ...

The Asphalt Jungle (1950): "Angela Phinlay" - 2008 All About Eve (1950): "Miss Casswell" - 1990 Some Like It Hot (1959): "Sugar Cane Kowalczyk" - 1989

42. Paul Newman

Actor | The Hustler

Screen legend, superstar, and the man with the most famous blue eyes in movie history, Paul Leonard Newman was born on January 26, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, the second son of Arthur Sigmund Newman (died 1950) and Theresa Fetsko (died 1982). His elder brother was Arthur S. Newman Jr., named for ...

The Hustler (1961): "Eddie Felson" - 1997 Hud (1963): "Hud Bannon" - 2018 Cool Hand Luke (1967): "Luke" - 2005 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969): "Butch Cassidy" - 2003 King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970): Narrator - 1999 The Sting (1973): "Henry Gondorff" - 2005

43. David Niven

Actor | Murder by Death

His mother was the French Lady Comynyplatt Henrietta de Gacher, his father was the British Lieutenant William Graham Niven, who died in the war when David was six years old. Niven was considered a difficult child to educate and had to change schools often until he finally went to Sandhurst Military...

Dodsworth (1936): "Captain Lockert" - 1990 The Prisoner of Zenda (1937): "Fritz von Tarlenheim" - 1991 Wuthering Heights (1939): "Edgar" - 2007 The Pink Panther (1963): "Sir Charles Lytton" - 2010

44. Maureen O'Hara

Actress | The Quiet Man

In America, the early performing arts accomplishments of young Maureen FitzSimons (who we know as Maureen O'Hara) would definitely have put her in the child prodigy category. However, for a child of Irish heritage surrounded by gifted parents and family, these were very natural traits. Maureen made...

Dance, Girl, Dance (1940): "Judy O'Brien" - 2007 How Green Was My Valley (1941): "Angharad" - 1990 Miracle on 34th Street (1947): "Doris Walker" - 2005 The Quiet Man (1952): "Mary Kate Danaher" - 2013

45. Laurence Olivier

Actor | Sleuth

Laurence Olivier could speak William Shakespeare's lines as naturally as if he were "actually thinking them", said English playwright Charles Bennett, who met Olivier in 1927. Laurence Kerr Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, England, to Agnes Louise (Crookenden) and Gerard Kerr Olivier, a High ...

Wuthering Heights (1939): "Heathcliff" - 2007 Rebecca (1940): "Maxim de Winter" - 2018 Spartacus (1960): "Crassus" - 2017

46. Gregory Peck

Actor | To Kill a Mockingbird

Eldred Gregory Peck was born on April 5, 1916 in La Jolla, California, to Bernice Mae (Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, a chemist and druggist in San Diego. He had Irish (from his paternal grandmother), English, and some German, ancestry. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child...

Gentleman's Agreement (1947): "Philip Schuyler Green" - 2017 Twelve O'Clock High (1949): "Gen. Frank Savage" - 1998 Roman Holiday (1953): "Joe Bradley" - 1999 How the West Was Won (1962): "Cleve Van Valen" - 1997 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962): "Atticus Finch" - 1995

47. Tyrone Power

Actor | Witness for the Prosecution

Tyrone Power was one of the great romantic swashbuckling stars of the mid-twentieth century, and the third Tyrone Power of four in a famed acting dynasty reaching back to the eighteenth century. His great-grandfather was the first Tyrone Power (1795-1841), a famed Irish comedian. His father, known ...

The Mark of Zorro (1940): "Diego" - 2009

48. Elvis Presley

Soundtrack | Girls! Girls! Girls!

Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935 in East Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Presley (née Gladys Love Smith) and Vernon Presley (Vernon Elvis Presley). He had a twin brother who was stillborn. In 1948, Elvis and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee where he attended Humes High School. ...

Jailhouse Rock (1957): "Vince Everett" - 2004

49. Anthony Quinn

Actor | Alexis Zorbas

Anthony Quinn was born Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (some sources indicate Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca) on April 21, 1915, in Chihuahua, Mexico, to Manuela (Oaxaca) and Francisco Quinn, who became an assistant cameraman at a Los Angeles (CA) film studio. His paternal grandfather was Irish, ...

Daughter of Shanghai (1937): "Harry Morgan" - 2006 Road to Morocco (1942): "Mullay Kasim" - 1996 The Ox-Bow Incident (1942): "Juan Martínez" - 1998 Lawrence of Arabia (1962): "Auda Abu Tayi" - 1991 King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970): Narrator - 1999

50. Edward G. Robinson

Actor | Double Indemnity

Emanuel Goldenberg arrived in the United States from Romania at age ten, and his family moved into New York's Lower East Side. He took up acting while attending City College, abandoning plans to become a rabbi or lawyer. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts awarded him a scholarship, and he began ...

Little Caesar (1931): "Caesar Enrico Bandello" - 2000 Double Indemnity (1944): "Barton Keyes" - 1992 The Ten Commandments (1956): "Dathan" - 1999

51. Randolph Scott

Actor | Roberta

Handsome American leading man who developed into one of Hollywood's greatest and most popular Western stars. Born to George and Lucy Crane Scott during a visit to Virginia, Scott was raised in Charlotte, North Carolina in a wealthy family. After service with the U.S. Army in France in World War I, ...

The Tall T (1957): "Pat Brennan" - 2000 Ride the High Country (1962): "Gil Westrum" - 1992

52. Frank Sinatra

Actor | From Here to Eternity

Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants Natalina Della (Garaventa), from Northern Italy, and Saverio Antonino Martino Sinatra, a Sicilian boxer, fireman, and bar owner. Growing up on the gritty streets of Hoboken made Sinatra determined to work hard to get ahead. ...

The House I Live In (1945): "Frank Sinatra" - 2007 On the Town (1949): "Chip" - 2018 From Here to Eternity (1953): "Angelo Maggio" - 2002 The Man with the Golden Arm (1955): "Frankie Machine" - 2020 The Manchurian Candidate (1962): "Major Bennett Marco" - 1994 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)†: Singing Sword (voice) - 2016

53. James Stewart

Actor | Vertigo

James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Ruth (Johnson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store. He was of Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and some English descent. Stewart was educated at a local prep school, Mercersburg Academy, where he ...

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939): "Jefferson Smith" - 1989 Destry Rides Again (1939): "Thomas Jefferson 'Tom' Destry Jr." - 1996 The Shop Around the Corner (1940): "Alfred Kralik" - 1999 The Philadelphia Story (1940): "Macaulay Connor" - 1995 It's a Wonderful Life (1946): "George Bailey" - 1990 Winchester '73 (1950): "Lin McAdam" - 2015 The Naked Spur (1953): "Howard Kemp" - 1997 Rear Window (1954): "L.B. 'Jeff' Jefferies" - 1997 Vertigo (1958): "John 'Scottie' Ferguson" - 1989 Anatomy of a Murder (1959): "Paul Biegler" - 2012 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962): "Ransom Stoddard" - 2007 How the West Was Won (1962): "Linus Rawlings" - 1997

54. Elizabeth Taylor

Actress | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was considered one of the last, if not the last, major star to have come out of the old Hollywood studio system. She was known internationally for her beauty, especially for her violet eyes, with which she captured audiences early in her youth and kept the world hooked ...

Lassie Come Home (1943): "Priscilla" - 1993 National Velvet (1944): "Velvet Brown" - 2003 A Place in the Sun (1951): "Angela Vickers" - 1991 Giant (1956): "Leslie Benedict" - 2005 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966): "Martha" - 2013

55. Shirley Temple

Actress | The Little Colonel

Shirley Temple was easily the most popular and famous child star of all time. She got her start in the movies at the age of three and soon progressed to super stardom. Shirley could do it all: act, sing and dance and all at the age of five! Fans loved her as she was bright, bouncy and cheerful in ...

Little Miss Marker (1934): "Marthy 'Marky' Jane" - 1998

56. Gene Tierney

Actress | Laura

With prominent cheekbones, luminous skin and the most crystalline green eyes of her day, Gene Tierney's striking good looks helped propel her to stardom. Her best known role is the enigmatic murder victim in Laura (1944). She was also Oscar-nominated for Leave Her to Heaven (1945). Her acting ...

Laura (1944): "Laura Hunt" - 1999 Leave Her to Heaven (1945): "Ellen Berent Harland" - 2018

57. Spencer Tracy

Actor | Judgment at Nuremberg

Spencer Tracy was the second son born on April 5, 1900, to truck salesman John Edward and Caroline Brown Tracy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While attending Marquette Academy, he and classmate Pat O'Brien quit school to enlist in the Navy at the start of World War I. Tracy was still at Norfolk Navy Yard...

The Power and the Glory (1933): "Tom Garner" - 2014 Fury (1936): "Joe Wilson" - 1995 Woman of the Year (1942): "Sam Craig" - 1999 Adam's Rib (1949): "Adam Bonner" - 1992 Bad Day at Black Rock (1955): "John J. Macreedy" - 2018 Judgment at Nuremberg (1961): "Chief Judge Dan Haywood" - 2013 How the West Was Won (1962): Narrator - 1997 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967): "Matt Drayton" - 2017

58. François Truffaut

Writer | La nuit américaine

French director François Truffaut began to assiduously go to the movies at age seven. He was also a great reader but not a good pupil. He left school at 14 and started working. In 1947, aged 15, he founded a film club and met André Bazin, a French critic, who became his protector. Bazin helped the ...

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977): "Claude Lacombe" - 2007

59. John Wayne

Actor | True Grit

John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in Iowa, to Mary Alberta (Brown) and Clyde Leonard Morrison, a pharmacist. He was of English, Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and Irish ancestry.

Clyde developed a lung condition that required him to move his family from Iowa to the warmer climate of southern ...

The Big Trail (1930): "Breck Coleman" - 2006 Baby Face (1933): "Jimmy McCoy Jr." - 2005 Stagecoach (1939): "Ringo Kid" - 1995 Red River (1948): "Thomas Dunson" - 1990 The Quiet Man (1952): "Sean Thornton" - 2013 The Searchers (1956): "Ethan Edwards" - 1989 Rio Bravo (1959): "Sheriff John T. Chance" - 2014 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962): "Tom Doniphon" - 2007 How the West Was Won (1962): "Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman" - 1997

60. Orson Welles

Actor | Citizen Kane

His father, Richard Head Welles, was a well-to-do inventor, his mother, Beatrice (Ives) Welles, a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died in 1924 (when he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. He was ...

Citizen Kane (1941): "Charles Foster Kane" - 1989 The Magnificent Ambersons (1942): Narrator - 1991 The Lady from Shanghai (1947): "Michael O'Hara" - 2018 Touch of Evil (1958): "Police Captain Hank Quinlan" - 1993 The Muppet Movie (1979): "Lew Lord" - 2009

61. Natalie Wood

Actress | Rebel Without a Cause

Natalie Wood was an American actress of Russian and Ukrainian descent. She started her career as a child actress and eventually transitioned into teenage roles, young adult roles, and middle-aged roles. She drowned off Catalina Island on November 29, 1981 at age 43.

Wood was born July 20, 1938 in ...

Miracle on 34th Street (1947): "Susan Walker" - 2005 Rebel Without a Cause (1955): "Judy" - 1990 The Searchers (1956): "Debbie Edwards" - 1989 West Side Story (1961): "Maria" - 1997

62. Brad Pitt

Actor | Fight Club

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt was born on December 18, 1963 in Shawnee, Oklahoma and raised in Springfield, Missouri to Jane Etta Pitt (née Hillhouse), a school counselor & William Alvin "Bill" Pitt, a truck company manager. At Kickapoo High School, Pitt was involved in sports, debating, student ...

Thelma & Louise (1991): "J.D." - 2016 12 Years a Slave (2013): "Samuel Bass" - 2023

63. Woody Allen

Writer | Annie Hall

Woody Allen was born on November 30, 1935, as Allen Konigsberg, in The Bronx, NY, the son of Martin Konigsberg and Nettie Konigsberg. He has one younger sister, Letty Aronson. As a young boy, he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet, two hobbies that he continues today.

Allen ...

Annie Hall (1977): "Alvy Singer" - 1992 Manhattan (1979): "Isaac" - 2001

64. Rowan Atkinson

Actor | Johnny English

Rowan Sebastian Atkinson was born on 6 January, 1955, in Consett, Co. Durham, UK, to Ella May (Bainbridge) and Eric Atkinson. His father owned a farm, where Rowan grew up with his two older brothers, Rupert and Rodney. He attended Newcastle University and Oxford University where he earned degrees ...

The Lion King (1994): "Zazu" (voice) - 2016

65. Dan Aykroyd

Writer | Ghostbusters

Daniel Edward Aykroyd was born on July 1, 1952 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, to Lorraine Hélène (Gougeon), a secretary from a French-Canadian family, and Samuel Cuthbert Peter Hugh Aykroyd, a civil engineer who advised prime minister Pierre Trudeau. Aykroyd attended Carleton University in 1969, where...

The Blues Brothers (1980): "Elwood" - 2020 Ghostbusters (1984): "Dr. Raymond Stantz" - 2015

66. Kevin Bacon

Actor | Footloose

Kevin Norwood Bacon was born on July 8, 1958 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Ruth Hilda (Holmes), an elementary school teacher, and Edmund Norwood Bacon, a prominent architect who was on the cover of Time Magazine in November 1964.

Kevin's early training as an actor came from The Manning Street. ...

Animal House (1978): "Chip Diller" - 2001 Apollo 13 (1995): "Jack Swigert" - 2023

67. Drew Barrymore

Producer | Charlie's Angels

Since melting audiences' hearts at the tender age of six - in Steven Spielberg's beloved sci-fi blockbuster, E.T. (1982) - Drew Barrymore has emerged as one of the most endearing and singularly talented actresses of her generation. Born in Culver City, California to actors John Drew Barrymore and ...

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982): "Gertie" - 1994

68. Kim Basinger

Actress | L.A. Confidential

Kim Basinger was born December 8, 1953, in Athens, Georgia, the third of five children. Both her parents had been in entertainment, her dad had played big-band jazz, and her mother had performed water ballet in several Esther Williams movies. Kim was introspective, from her father's side. As a ...

L.A. Confidential (1997): "Lynn Bracken" - 2015

69. Matthew Broderick

Actor | The Producers

A slight comic actor chiefly known for his boyish charm, Matthew Broderick was born on March 21, 1962 in New York City, to Patricia Broderick (née Biow), a playwright and painter, and James Broderick, an actor. His father had Irish and English ancestry, and his mother was from a Jewish family (from...

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986): "Ferris Bueller" - 2014 The Lion King (1994): "Simba" (voice) - 2016

70. Steve Buscemi

Actor | Fargo

Steve Buscemi was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Dorothy (Wilson), a restaurant hostess, and John Buscemi, a sanitation worker. He is of Italian (father) and English, Dutch, and Irish (mother) descent. He became interested in acting during his last year of high school. After graduating, he moved to...

Pulp Fiction (1994): "Buddy Holly" - 2013 Fargo (1996): "Carl Showalter" - 2006 The Big Lebowski (1998): "Donny" - 2014

71. Phoebe Cates

Actress | Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Phoebe Belle Cates was born on July 16, 1963 in New York City, New York, and raised there. She is the daughter of Lily and Joseph Cates, who was a Broadway producer and television pioneer. Her uncle was director/producer Gilbert Cates. Phoebe is of Russian Jewish, and one quarter Chinese, descent. ...

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982): "Linda Barrett" - 2005

72. Charles Chaplin

Writer | The Great Dictator

Considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, Charlie Chaplin lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular character, the Little Tramp; the man with the ...

Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914): "Tramp" - 2020 The Immigrant (1917): "Immigrant" - 1998 The Kid (1921): "A Tramp" - 2011 The Gold Rush (1925): "The Lone Prospector" - 1992 Show People (1928)*: "Charles Chaplin" - 2003 City Lights (1931): "A Tramp" - 1991 Modern Times (1936): "A Factory Worker" - 1989 The Great Dictator (1940): "Adenoid Hynkel", "A Jewish Barber" - 1997

73. Kevin Costner

Actor | The Postman

Kevin Michael Costner was born on January 18, 1955 in Lynwood, California, the third child of Bill Costner, a ditch digger and ultimately an electric line servicer for Southern California Edison, and Sharon Costner (née Tedrick), a welfare worker. His older brother, Dan, was born in 1950. A middle ...

Field of Dreams (1989): "Ray Kinsella" - 2017 Dances with Wolves (1990): "Lieutenant Dunbar" - 2007

74. Russell Crowe

Actor | Les Misérables

Russell Ira Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand, to Jocelyn Yvonne (Wemyss) and John Alexander Crowe, both of whom catered movie sets. His maternal grandfather, Stanley Wemyss, was a cinematographer. Crowe's recent ancestry includes Welsh (where his paternal grandfather was born, in Wrexham),...

L.A. Confidential (1997): "Bud White" - 2015

75. Tom Cruise

Actor | Top Gun

In 1976, if you had told fourteen-year-old Franciscan seminary student Thomas Cruise Mapother IV that one day in the not too distant future he would be Tom Cruise, one of the top 100 movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned and told you that his ambition was to join the priesthood. ...

Top Gun (1986): "Maverick" - 2015

76. Jamie Lee Curtis

Actress | Halloween

Jamie Lee Curtis was born on November 22, 1958 in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of legendary actors Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis. She got her big break at acting in 1978 when she won the role of Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978). After that, she became famous for roles in movies like Trading...

Halloween (1978): "Laurie Strode" - 2006

77. Geena Davis

Actress | Thelma & Louise

As a child, Geena dreamed of being an actress. While in high school, she felt left out and had low self-esteem because, at 6 feet, she was the tallest girl in school. After high school graduation, Geena entered New England College in New Hampshire and then transferred the next year to Boston ...

Tootsie (1982): "April" - 1998 Thelma & Louise (1991): "Thelma" - 2016 A League of Their Own (1992): "Dottie Hinson" - 2012

78. Robert De Niro

Actor | Cape Fear

One of the greatest actors of all time, Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia (Admiral) and Robert De Niro Sr. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and his other ancestry is Irish, English, Dutch, German, and French. He was trained ...

Mean Streets (1973): "Johnny Boy" - 1997 The Godfather Part II (1974): "Vito Corleone" - 1993 Taxi Driver (1976): "Travis Bickle" - 1994 The Deer Hunter (1978): "Michael" - 1996 Raging Bull (1980): "Jake La Motta" - 1990 Goodfellas (1990): "James Conway" - 2000

79. Johnny Depp

Actor | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II was born on June 9, 1963 in Owensboro, Kentucky, to Betty Sue Palmer (née Wells), a waitress, and John Christopher Depp, a civil engineer. He was raised in Florida. He dropped out of school when he was 15, and fronted a series of music-garage bands, including one ...

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984): "Glen Lantz" - 2021 Platoon (1986): "Lerner" - 2019

80. Leonardo DiCaprio

Actor | Inception

Few actors in the world have had a career quite as diverse as Leonardo DiCaprio's. DiCaprio has gone from relatively humble beginnings, as a supporting cast member of the sitcom Growing Pains (1985) and low budget horror movies, such as Critters 3 (1991), to a major teenage heartthrob in the 1990s,...

Titanic (1997): "Jack Dawson" - 2017

81. Cameron Diaz

Actress | Vanilla Sky

Cameron Diaz, an American actress, was born in 1972 in San Diego, the daughter of a Cuban-American father and a German mother. Self described as "adventurous, independent and a tough kid," Cameron left home at 16 and for the next 5 years lived in such varied locales as Japan, Australia, Mexico, ...

Shrek (2001): "Princess Fiona" (voice) - 2020

82. Clint Eastwood

Actor | Million Dollar Baby

Clint Eastwood was born May 31, 1930 in San Francisco, to Clinton Eastwood Sr., a bond salesman and later manufacturing executive for Georgia-Pacific Corporation, and Ruth Wood (née Margret Ruth Runner), a housewife turned IBM clerk. He grew up in nearby Piedmont. At school Clint took interest in ...

Dirty Harry (1971): "Harry Callahan" - 2012 The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976): "Josey Wales" - 1996 Unforgiven (1992): "Bill Munny" - 2004

83. Cary Elwes

Actor | Saw

Cary Elwes was born in Westminster, London, England, the third son of interior designer/shipping heiress Tessa Georgina Kennedy and the late portrait painter Bede Evelyn Dominick Elwes. He is the brother of producer/agent Cassian Elwes and artist Damian Elwes. He was raised in London and attended ...

The Princess Bride (1987): "Westley" - 2016

84. Ralph Fiennes

Actor | The Constant Gardener

Actor Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes was born on December 22, 1962 in Suffolk, England, to Jennifer Anne Mary Alleyne (Lash), a novelist, and Mark Fiennes, a photographer. He is the eldest of six children. Four of his siblings are also in the arts: Martha Fiennes, a director; Magnus ...

Schindler's List (1993): "Amon Goeth" - 2004 The Hurt Locker (2008): Contractor Team Leader - 2020

85. Harrison Ford

Actor | Raiders of the Lost Ark

Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois, to Dorothy (Nidelman), a radio actress, and Christopher Ford (born John William Ford), an actor turned advertising executive. His father was of Irish and German ancestry, while his maternal grandparents were Jewish emigrants from Minsk, ...

American Graffiti (1973): "Bob Falfa" - 1995 The Conversation (1974): "Martin Stett" - 1995 Star Wars (1977): "Han Solo" - 1989 Apocalypse Now (1979): "Colonel Lucas" - 2000 The Empire Strikes Back (1980): "Han Solo" - 2010 Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): "Indiana Jones" - 1999 Blade Runner (1982): "Rick Deckard" - 1993 Return of the Jedi (1983): "Han Solo" - 2021

86. Jodie Foster

Actress | The Silence of the Lambs

Jodie Foster started her career at the age of two. For four years she made commercials and finally gave her debut as an actress in the TV series Mayberry R.F.D. (1968). In 1975 Jodie was offered the role of prostitute Iris Steensma in the movie Taxi Driver (1976). This role, for which she received ...

Taxi Driver (1976): "Iris" - 1994 The Silence of the Lambs (1991): "Clarice Starling" - 2011

87. Michael J. Fox

Actor | Back to the Future

Michael J. Fox was born Michael Andrew Fox on June 9, 1961 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to Phyllis Fox (née Piper), a payroll clerk, and William Fox. His parents moved their 10-year-old son, his three sisters, Kelli Fox, Karen, and Jacki, and his brother Steven, to Vancouver, British Columbia, ...

Back to the Future (1985): "Marty McFly" - 2007

88. Morgan Freeman

Actor | Driving Miss Daisy

With an authoritative voice and calm demeanor, this ever popular American actor has grown into one of the most respected figures in modern US cinema. Morgan was born on June 1, 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee, to Mayme Edna (Revere), a teacher, and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, a barber. The young Freeman...

The Pawnbroker (1964)*: Man on street - 2008 Unforgiven (1992): "Ned Logan" - 2004 The Shawshank Redemption (1994): "Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding" - 2015 The Dark Knight (2008): "Lucius Fox" - 2020

89. Richard Gere

Actor | Chicago

Humanitarian and actor Richard Gere was born on August 31, 1949, in Philadelphia, the second of five children of Doris Anna (Tiffany), a homemaker, and Homer George Gere, an insurance salesman, both Mayflower descendants. Richard started early as a musician, playing a number of instruments in high ...

Days of Heaven (1978): "Bill" - 2007

90. Whoopi Goldberg

Actress | Ghost

Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson in the Chelsea section of Manhattan on November 13, 1955. Her mother, Emma (Harris), was a teacher and a nurse, and her father, Robert James Johnson, Jr., was a clergyman. Whoopi's recent ancestors were from Georgia, Florida, and Virginia. She worked in...

The Lion King (1994): "Shenzi" (voice) - 2016

91. Jeff Goldblum

Actor | Jurassic Park

Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum was born October 22, 1952 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of four children of Shirley (Temeles), a radio broadcaster who also ran an appliances firm, and Harold L. Goldblum, a doctor. His father was of Russian Jewish descent and his mother was of Austrian Jewish ancestry.

...

Nashville (1975): Tricycle Man - 1992 Annie Hall (1977): Lacey Party Guest - 1992 The Right Stuff (1983): Recruiter - 2013 Jurassic Park (1993): "Ian Malcolm" - 2018

92. Linda Hamilton

Actress | Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Born in Salisbury, Maryland, USA, following high school Linda studied for two years at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, before moving on to acting studies in New York. In New York she attended acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg. Her first parts were small parts in TV series, with ...

The Terminator (1984): "Sarah Connor" - 2008 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991): "Sarah Connor" - 2023

93. Tom Hanks

Producer | Cast Away

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in Concord, California, to Janet Marylyn (Frager), a hospital worker, and Amos Mefford Hanks, an itinerant cook. His mother's family, originally surnamed "Fraga", was entirely Portuguese, while his father was of mostly English ancestry. Tom grew up in what he has ...

A League of Their Own (1992): "Jimmy Dugan" - 2012 Forrest Gump (1994): "Forrest Gump" - 2011 Apollo 13 (1995): "Jim Lovell" - 2023 Toy Story (1995): "Woody" (voice) - 2005 Saving Private Ryan (1998): "Captain Miller" - 2014

94. Dustin Hoffman

Actor | Tootsie

Dustin Lee Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California, to Lillian (Gold) and Harry Hoffman, who was a furniture salesman and prop supervisor for Columbia Pictures. He was raised in a Jewish family (from Ukraine, Russia-Poland, and Romania). Hoffman graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955, ...

The Graduate (1967): "Ben Braddock" - 1996 Midnight Cowboy (1969): "Ratso" - 1994 Little Big Man (1970): "Jack Crabb" - 2014 All the President's Men (1976): "Carl Bernstein" - 2010 Tootsie (1982): "Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels" - 1998

95. Anthony Hopkins

Actor | The Silence of the Lambs

Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937, in Margam, Wales, to Muriel Anne (Yeats) and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker. His parents were both of half Welsh and half English descent. Influenced by Richard Burton, he decided to study at College of Music and Drama and graduated in 1957. In 1965, ...

The Silence of the Lambs (1991): "Dr. Hannibal Lecter" - 2011

96. Ron Howard

Producer | Arrested Development

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard is one of this generation's most popular directors. From the critically acclaimed dramas A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Apollo 13 (1995) to the hit comedies Parenthood (1989) and Splash (1983), he has created some of Hollywood's most memorable films.

Howard ...

The Music Man (1962): "Winthrop Paroo" - 2005 American Graffiti (1973): "Steve" - 1995

97. Samuel L. Jackson

Actor | Pulp Fiction

Samuel L. Jackson is an American producer and highly prolific actor, having appeared in over 100 films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000), Formula 51 (2001), Black Snake Moan (2006), Snakes on a Plane (2006), and the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999-2005), ...

Do the Right Thing (1989): "Mister Señor Love Daddy" - 1999 Goodfellas (1990): "Stacks Edwards" - 2000 Jurassic Park (1993): "John Arnold" - 2018 Pulp Fiction (1994): "Jules Winnfield" - 2013 Eve's Bayou (1997): "Louis Batiste" - 2018 Iron Man (2008)*: "Nick Fury" - 2022

98. Tommy Lee Jones

Actor | The Fugitive

Tommy Lee Jones was born in San Saba, Texas, the son of Lucille Marie (Scott), a police officer and beauty shop owner, and Clyde C. Jones, who worked on oil fields. Tommy himself worked in underwater construction and on an oil rig. He attended St. Mark's School of Texas, a prestigious prep school ...

Coal Miner's Daughter (1980): "Doolittle Lynn" - 2019

99. Harvey Keitel

Actor | Reservoir Dogs

American actor and producer Harvey Keitel was born on May 13, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York City, to Miriam (Klein) and Harry Keitel. An Oscar and Golden Globe Award nominee, he has appeared in films such as Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973) and Taxi Driver (1976), Ridley Scott's The Duellists (...

Mean Streets (1973): "Charlie" - 1997 Taxi Driver (1976): "Sport" - 1994 Thelma & Louise (1991): "Hal" - 2016 Pulp Fiction (1994): "The Wolf" - 2013

100. Val Kilmer

Actor | The Doors

Val Kilmer was born in Los Angeles, California, to Gladys Swanette (Ekstadt) and Eugene Dorris Kilmer, who was a real estate developer and aerospace equipment distributor. His mother, born in Indiana, was from a Swedish family, and his father was from Texas. Val studied at Hollywood's ...

Top Gun (1986): "Iceman" - 2015