Their Finest Act

We’re glad to see that 2018 was an amazing year for leading women over 50 making record- breaking movies and award- winning TV. And there’s still more to come for 2019. Here is our pick of the bunch

Sandra Bullock (54)

Arguably one of the biggest successes for a female lead this year, Sandra Bullock’s Bird Box got nearly 26 million viewers in the rst week in the US alone. This was record breaking for a Net ix lm, making it its most successful ever and second only to Stranger Things season 2 overall.

Patricia Arquette (50)

Patricia just picked up her second Golden Globe, for Best Actress for Escape at Dannemore. A few years on from her groundbreaking 2015 Oscar acceptance speech in which she called for equal pay, she says playing Tilly, a married prison worker who has an a air with two convicts, allowed her to represent women who don’t t the typical Hollywood body type as sexual and attractive.

Gillan Anderson (50)

Anderson’s latest project Sex Education is a British comedy drama which has just premiered on Net ix to positive reviews from critics and audiences alike. Gillian plays a sex therapist in the show and is the mother of the main character. Last year Anderson also featured in American documentary lm This Changes Everything which examined sexism in the Hollywood lm industry.

Téa Leoni (52)

American political TV drama Madam Secretary is now ve seasons in and the consensus is that Leoni’s strong performance in the lead role, as former CIA analyst turned Secretary of State, is the series’ most valuable asset in terms of keeping the audience coming back year after year.

Julia Roberts (51)

Roberts received a nomination for a Best Actress in a Drama Series at this year’s Golden Globes for her starring role in Homecoming, the critically acclaimed series from Amazon Prime, based on the podcast of the same name. We’re hoping for a second season but Roberts’ involvement has yet to be con rmed.

Robin Wright (52)

After the shock departure of her House of Cards co-star Kevin Spacey, there was little doubt that Robin Wright easily carries the sixth and nal season on her own. Not only did she win a Golden Globe for Best Actress in 2013 but she is also a producer on the show. Wright is one of the highest paid actresses in the US, earning approximately $500,000 per episode.

Jamie Lee Curtis (60)

Last year was a great year for Curtis. The scream queen turned 60 in November, and her latest Halloween broke all box o ce records. Not only was it the biggest horror movie opening with a female lead, but it was the highest grossing lm with a female lead over 55.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus (58)

The actress said an emotional goodbye to Veep after lming the nal episode of the hit American comedy in December. Louis-Dreyfus received six consecutive Emmy Awards for her portrayal of ctional vice president Selina Meyer, but the shows will end in 2019 after seven seasons on air, only pausing so she could receive treatment for breast cancer last year.