Life lessons from the women over 50 running Hollywood
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Age might be just a number, but for these actresses over 50, it’s a power move. From major awards to scene-stealing roles, women in midlife and beyond are delivering the most exciting storylines and nuanced performances in Hollywood. Here are seven women proving that the best work on screen right now isn’t coming from ingénues – it’s coming from icons.
1. Demi Moore
After making her on-screen debut in the early 1980s, Demi Moore had become the world’s highest-paid actress by 1995. Fast becoming a household name, coming-of-age film St Elmo’s Fire cemented her A-list status, before hits such as Ghost, Striptease and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle proved her versatility. After a run of independent roles, Moore burst back onto the big screen with 2024’s smart, timely and gruesome body horror The Substance, earning her a first Critics’ Choice Best Actress Award win at 62 years old for her portrayal of a fading celebrity desperate to find glory again.
Biggest hit: Ghost
We love her for: Never giving up
Life lesson: Don’t stay in your lane
2. Nicole Kidman
After a breakthrough role in Australia, starring opposite Billy Zane in thriller Dead Calm, it was 1995’s Batman Forever and dark comedy To Die For that earned Kidman global recognition, and a Golden Globe award for the latter role. She is now one of the most well-known and prolific faces on screen, racking up credits including Practical Magic, Eyes Wide Shut, The Stepford Wives, Lion and Bombshell. Kidman has also dominated the small screen with book-to-TV adaptations Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers and The Undoing. Her latest role in erotic thriller Babygirl explored power play with 29-year-old Harris Dickinson (Kidman is 58), and means we’ll never look at a glass of milk in the same way again.
Biggest hit: Moulin Rouge!
We love her for: Kidman commits to working with a female director every 18 months
Life lesson: Ask for what you want in life
3. Pamela Anderson
Fifty-eight-year-old Pamela Anderson’s return to the screen has been a lesson in how to do Hollywood on your own terms. Holding the record for the most solo Playboy covers, Anderson was once a regular on reality TV series around the world, including Dancing On Ice and Big Brother in the UK, as well as appearances in big-budget movies like Borat, Scary Movie 3 and Baywatch (2017). After 2024’s indie hit The Last Showgirl, we saw her in a new light – and land Screen Actor’s Guild and Golden Globe nominations. What’s more, Anderson is also defying Hollywood’s beauty standards by going make-up-free on red carpets, and regularly advocates for animal rights as a long-time vegetarian.
Biggest hit: Baywatch
We love her for: Her political activism
Life lesson: Beauty comes from the inside
4. Viola Davis
From a warrior in the 1800s to President of the United States, Viola Davis is no stranger to playing a strong character. It’s part of what earned her the coveted EGOT, landing Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony wins for her roles on stage and screen, as well as making her the most nominated Black actress in the history of the Academy Awards. At 58, she was honoured with her own Barbie in the brand’s Role Models range. Davis is also an outspoken champion of racial equality, producing Two Sides, a 2018 US TV series exploring police brutality towards the African-American community.
Biggest hit: How To Get Away With Murder
We love her for: Advocating for human rights, people of colour and fighting childhood poverty
Life lesson: Use your platform
5. Jennifer Coolidge
Once best known as ‘Stifler’s mom’ in American Pie, 63-year-old Jennifer Coolidge is having her moment. After legendary roles in Legally Blonde and A Cinderella Story, Coolidge continued to showcase her comedy chops in sitcom 2 Broke Girls and cement her gay icon status, before starring in horror series The Watcher and Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next music video. But it was her standout performance as Tanya McQuoid in The White Lotus that truly captivated a whole new audience – the Critics’ Choice, Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards seem to think so too.
Biggest hit: American Pie or The White Lotus, depending on when you were born
We love her for: Some of the most quotable lines in TV and film
Life lesson: It’s never too late
6. Michelle Yeoh
At 60 years old, Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian-identifying Best Actress winner at the Academy Awards, and the first ever Malaysian to land an Oscar, for the genre-defying Everything Everywhere All at Once. It marked the latest in a long line of hits for the actress, who started out in martial arts films in the 80s and 90s. In the US, Yeoh clocked up roles in Tomorrow Never Dies, Memoirs Of A Geisha and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, before the groundbreaking Crazy Rich Asians and cinematic sensation Wicked.
Biggest hit: Everything Everywhere All at Once
We love her for: Performing many of her own stunts
Life lesson: As per Yeoh’s Oscars speech, “Don’t let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime”
7. Reese Witherspoon
What, like it’s hard? Reese Witherspoon might be just shy of her 50th birthday, but she’s already a powerhouse – as a versatile actress and as the founder of Hello Sunshine, the production company behind hit after hit (Gone Girl, Big Little Lies, The Morning Show, Little Fires Everywhere and Daisy Jones & the Six, anyone?). After her breakthrough in Cruel Intentions, it was Legally Blonde’s Elle Woods who truly captured hearts around the world. With her romcom credentials firmly proven, Witherspoon went on to win an Academy Award for her portrayal of June Carter Cash in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, and later earned a second Oscar nomination for Wild.
Biggest hit: Legally Blonde
We love her for: Endlessly supporting women in film
Life lesson: Women’s stories matter
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