Top Actresses of 2026
The Backbone of Leading Ladies: Forbes' 2025 Highest-Paid Actresses, Johansson's Career Box Office, Zendaya's 2026 Slate, IMDb Popularity, and YouGov Favorability.
How this list is put together
Compiled on 2026-08-09. AndactressesIn this edition: onlyfemale actors. The main table draws on Forbes 2025 women from the original pay rankings, plus The Numbers / Forbes figures forcareer box officeand 2026 year-to-datetheatrical grosses combined, IMDb 2025 most popular stars among actresses, and YouGov favorability ratings for contemporary actresses.
| Sources | Date | What’s being tracked |
|---|---|---|
| Forbes · Highest-Paid Actors of 2025 | Full year 2025 (published March 2026) | Pay for actresses in the original Top 20 list |
| Forbes / The Numbers(Johansson's career box office) | Around July 2025 | Cumulative worldwide box office of films appeared in |
| Forbes · 2026 release schedule | 2026-08 | Zendaya's theatrical totals that year |
| IMDb · Most Popular Stars of 2025 | Full year 2025 | On-site popularity; actresses excerpted in the article |
| YouGov · Contemporary Actresses | Current rating page online | Favorability among U.S. adults |
Pay: actresses in Forbes' 2025 Top 20
Forbes’ actor pay rankings now combine men and women. The Top 20 for 2025 took home roughly $590 million combined; few women cracked the top 20, but the highest-ranked ones sit near the very top:Scarlett Johansson about $43 milliontake-home (No. 4 on the overall list), followed by Millie Bobby Brown and Reese Witherspoon (tied at about $26 million), then Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz (about $20 million).
| # | Actresses | Take-home (approx.) | Gross (approx.) | Overall rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scarlett Johansson | $43 million | $50 million | Overall #4 |
| 2 | Millie Bobby Brown | $26 million | $35 million | #10 Overall |
| 3 | Reese Witherspoon | $26 million | $34 million | #12 Overall |
| 4 | Jennifer Aniston | $20 million | $26 million | #18 Overall |
| 5 | Cameron Diaz | $20 million | $23 million | #19 Overall |
Brown was framed as a streaming-native headliner; Diaz, meanwhile, was the name attached to a Netflix comeback deal. Actresses who didn't crack the Top 20 weren't "unpopular" — that pay sample was just more crowded that year.
Box Office: Johansson's career record + Zendaya's 2026
In the summer of 2025, per The Numbers / Forbes methodology,Scarlett Johansson Her films have grossed approximately $14.8 billion worldwide, surpassing Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., Zoe Saldaña, and others to make her the highest-grossing actor of all time (regardless of gender) at that point. Key drivers included the MCU and the newly released Jurassic World Rebirth(which opened to roughly $318 million globally).
Fast-forward to the 2026 release calendar: Forbes noted that by early August, Zendaya, thanks to The Drama、The Odyssey、Spider-Man: Brand New Day and others, had a combined global box office nearing $2 billion, with her and Tom Holland being written up as the year’s most powerful box-office couple.
| # | Methodology | Key Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lifetime global box office total (The Numbers / Forbes, July 2025) | Scarlett Johansson at roughly $14.8 billion, topping the chart at the time |
| 2 | Jurassic World Rebirth opens | Around $318 million worldwide (helping push the cumulative total past the mark) |
| 3 | Theatrical additions through 2026 to date (Forbes, August 2026) | Zendaya-related films combined for nearly $2 billion |
| 4 | Zendaya's 2026 standout titles | The Drama / The Odyssey / Spider-Man: Brand New Day |
Buzz: IMDb Most Popular Stars of 2025 (actresses)
IMDb's top ten most popular stars of 2025, with actresses ranking very high: the #1 and #2 spots go to Isabela Merced、Aimee Lou Wood; also on the list are Sydney Sweeney, Britt Lower, Sydney Chandler, and Vanessa Kirby.
| # | Actresses | Original chart rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isabela Merced | No. 1 of the Year |
| 2 | Aimee Lou Wood | No. 2 of the Year |
| 3 | Sydney Sweeney | No. 5 of the Year |
| 4 | Britt Lower | No. 6 of the Year |
| 5 | Sydney Chandler | No. 7 of the Year |
| 6 | Vanessa Kirby | No. 10 of the Year |
This list leans heavily on breakout series hits and the season's hot topics, so it diverges sharply from the salary rankings or career box-office charts—which is exactly why we split them into separate tables.
Favorability: YouGov Contemporary Actresses (U.S.)
YouGov contemporary actresses, ranked by popularity. The top tier is dominated by enduring names:Sandra Bullock Approximately 72%Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Julie Andrews, and Jamie Lee Curtis; Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Lawrence, and Reese Witherspoon also rank in the top fifteen.
| # | Actresses | Popularity | Fame |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sandra Bullock | 72% | 94% |
| 2 | Julia Roberts | 69% | 95% |
| 3 | Meryl Streep | 69% | 93% |
| 4 | Julie Andrews | 68% | 84% |
| 5 | Jamie Lee Curtis | 68% | 89% |
| 6 | Jennifer Aniston | 67% | 93% |
| 7 | Michelle Pfeiffer | 67% | 88% |
| 8 | Carol Burnett | 67% | 86% |
| 9 | Halle Berry | 67% | 91% |
| 10 | Scarlett Johansson | 67% | 89% |
| 11 | Jennifer Lawrence | 67% | 93% |
| 12 | Anne Hathaway | 66% | 92% |
| 13 | Sally Field | 66% | 84% |
| 14 | Sigourney Weaver | 66% | 85% |
| 15 | Reese Witherspoon | 65% | 93% |
For male actors, seethe 2026 Male Actors Rankingfor music, seeSingers & Artists、K-Pop。
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