Badass can mean a lot of things. We're going to go with the open-ended definition that obviously encompasses beatdowns of galactic proportion but also leaves room for less punchy, but still impressive, displays of abject independence. Actresses are leaders, pure and simple. And young women (and men for that matter) look to the big and small screens for role models they can relate to and strive to become. These were the ladies most deserving of that attention on film and TV in 2015:
1. Charlize Theron - Mad Max: Fury Road
Her Imperator Furiosa is the character of the year in many ways. She steals the show in Fury Road, fighting alongside the title character, played by Tom Hardy. The story follows her more than Max. She rebels against the film's villain, Immortan Joe, stealing his five wives in hope of finding a better life. In the big picture, Furiosa is the rarest of heroes: a woman who isn't constantly reminded she's in over her head. This character, like Ripley in Alien, will live in film history.
2. Krysten Ritter - Jessica Jones
Jessica Jones gave women everywhere a superhero to call their own this year. On the Netflix series, Ritter is the personification of angst: a troubled woman haunted by her past who must face things if she wants a future. But despite how awful she feels inside, Jessica doesn't hesitate to do the right thing when she's needed. Ritter is iron in the role, never cracking a smile and barely sleeping in her fight to destroy the evil that nearly destroyed her.
3. Daisy Ridley - Star Wars: A Force Awakens
Princess Leia may have been the first female Star Wars hero, but Rey is a new incarnation for a modern generation. She pulls away when Finn (played by John Boyega) grabs her hand while they escape danger. This chick doesn't need a man's help. Rey is an independent person getting by on her guts and smarts alone and she's the new face of the biggest franchise in movies.
4. Rachel McAdams - True Detective
Another woman haunted by her past, McAdams gives Detective Bezzerides a darkness that makes her edged weapon artistry look tame. She's distant and angry, untrusting of others, and positively dangerous in a fight. She has the scuffle of the year inside a high end brothel, a scene that will take you to the edge of your seat.
5. Emily Blunt - Sicario
Blunt's Kate Macer is the kind of FBI agent who barely flinches when a shotgun blast zips by her head, opening a two foot hole in the wall behind her. She's hugely brave and idealistic. Sick of risking her life on operations that do nothing to slow the drugs and violence pervading her Arizona streets, she sets out on a rogue mission into the heart of gangland, Mexico City, where she faces unimaginable evil.
6. Lena Headey - Game of Thrones
For her walk of atonement alone, Headey's Season Six Game of Thrones performance should go down as one of the bravest of the year. Always a source of misery and deception on the show, her Cersei Lannister saw the tables turned in a big way this year as she was imprisoned and humbled beyond imagination. Her sentence crescendoes in a Christ-like walk from the Great Sept of Baelor to the Red Keep, shaved and completely nude, as thousands of King's Landing citizens berate and abuse her. Headey is heartbreaking in the sequence.
7. Melissa McBride - The Walking Dead
Carol's killing spree of the homicidal "Wolves" in episode two of Season Six this year will live in Walking Dead lore. That one performance is enough to make this list, but Carol is always willing to do the dirty work others are afraid of. She's one of the grittiest TV characters in recent memory and McBride is incredible in the role, lending Carol a motherly charm when needed while remaining cutthroat.
8. Rebecca Ferguson - Mission: Impossible -Rogue Nation
She would've made this list for her motorcycle driving skills alone, but Ferguson also showed she could handle herself in a fight as Ilsa Faust in the latest Mission: Impossible. An early scene shows off the actress' physical skills as she uses a combination of martial arts to subdue a room full of bad guys. She even knife fights a guy called "The Bone Doctor."
9. Elisabeth Moss - Mad Men
Moss has always been a badass as Peggy Olsen on Mad Men, albeit a sensitive one. Her rise from secretary to a corner office is one of the great character arcs in modern television and her independence was always apparent. This year brought with it the final season of the show and Peggy had one of the best scenes in the show's history. Arriving at her new job in sunglasses with a cigarette dangling from her mouth like Clint Eastwood, Peggy announced her arrival with authority.
10. Amy Schumer - Trainwreck
It was a big year for the most popular comedian in America. From Inside Amy to the Apollo to Trainwreck, Schumer was everywhere. It's that last performance that lands her on this list. Schumer wrote and starred in her first feature and, with an assist from director Judd Apatow, churned out the comedy of the year. She's as honest and as down to Earth as ever in the movie which ends with a choreographed routine that will blow you away.
Honorable Mentions: Jennifer Lawrence - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, Michelle Rodriguez and Ronda Rousey - Furious 7, Alicia Vikander - Ex Machina, Miranda Otto - Homeland, Amy Landecker - Transparent, Liv Tyler - The Leftovers, Maika Monoe - It Follows, Greta Gerwig - Mistress America, Jessica Chastain - Crimson Peak, Karidja Touré - Girlhood, Emilia Clarke - Game of Thrones, Bryce Dallas Howard - Jurassic World, Evangeline Lily - Ant-Man, Melissa McCarthy - Spy, Shu Qi - The Assassin, the cast of Mustang
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