50 Great Performances: The Women [EDIT] I forgot Naomi Watts!!!

Now that I'm back from out of town, it's time to get back to, well, celebrating the past 10 years (looking ahead is overrated), specifically the performances. I covered the gentlemen last week, so now it's time to move on to the ladies; what a decade they've had. Challenging, unconventional performances made the past 10 years relatively strong for women, even though as a whole they've sadly always struggled to land as many great roles as the menfolk. However, when the women came out to shine, whether in the expensive blockbusters or meager indies, they shone as brightly, if not more brightly, than their male counterparts. They were endearing, heartbreaking, complicated, funny, and a few of them were even action movie badasses. In Nine, Nicole Kidman's Claudia Jennsen tells Guido that she'd, "rather be the man", than play a symbolic muse. Luckily, the following performances (and many others) stand as proof that having two X chromosomes is nothing to sniff at.

**Like the men's list, I've tried to keep performances from 2009 off, seeing as they haven't had time to settle with me. Oh, and this time, there are pictures...LOTS OF THEM!

***EDIT: Somehow I totally forgot one of my favorite performances: Naomi Watts in Mulholland Dr.

Top 50 Female Performances: 2000-2009

• Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
• Adriana Barraza, Babel
• Amy Adams, Junebug
• Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
• Bjork, Dancer in the Dark
• Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
• Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
• Cate Blanchett, The Aviator
• Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago
  
• Ellen Burstyn, Requiem for a Dream
• Ellen Page, Juno
  
• Felicity Huffman, Transamerica
• Frances McDormand, Almost Famous
• Helena Bonham Carter, Sweeney Todd
• Helen Mirren, The Queen
• Hillary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
• Imelda Staunton, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Jane Lynch, the films of Christopher Guest
• Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind
• Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
• Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven
• Julianne Moore, The Hours
• Julie Delpy, Before Sunset
• Kate Hudson, Almost Famous
  
• Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Kate Winslet, The Reader
• Keira Knightley, Pride and Prejudice
  
• Laura Linney, The Squid and the Whale
• Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
• Meryl Streep, Adaptation
• Meryl Streep, Doubt
• Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
• Meryl Streep, The Hours
• Naomi Watts, Mulholland Dr.
  
• Nicole Kidman, Birth
• Nicole Kidman, Dogville
  
• Nicole Kidman, Margot at the Wedding
• Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge!
• Parker Posey, Best in Show
• Patricia Clarkson, Dogville
• Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Penelope Cruz, Volver
• Renee Zellweger, Chicago
• Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
• Salma Hayek, Frida
• Samantha Morton, In America
  
• Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
• Shoreh Agdashloo, House of Sand and Fog
• Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
• Uma Thurman, Kill Bill
• Vanessa Redgrave, Atonement
• Viola Davis, Doubt