Culture
Hollywood’s Top 10 Comeback Queens
Call it a comeback: these leading ladies faced thorny challenges in the past, but they grit their teeth, honed their craft, and came back better and stronger than ever
When Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis joined forces recently for the Freaky Friday sequel, Freakier Friday, it wasn’t just a reunion of colleagues – it was a reunion of comebacks. Both Lohan and Curtis belong to a celebrated list of female stars who overcame personal or professional difficulties to climb back to the top of the Hollywood mountain. Here’s our list of the top ten women whose talent could not be denied.
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz was one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood during the 2000s, reaching global stardom thanks to films such as Charlie’s Angels, Shrek and The Holiday. After the 2014 musical Annie, Diaz left the profession, deciding to “reclaim” her life and focus on family. This pause lasted over a decade, until she was coaxed back into acting by Annie co-star Jamie Foxx and starred in the appropriately titled comedy Back in Action this year. This sparked a full-on resurrection, with a fifth Shrek film and comedy Outcome, alongside Keanu Reeves, both in production. For fans of her work, her return to the movies is as seamless as they’d hoped.
Pam Grier
Described as “the first female action star” by Quentin Tarantino, Pam Grier was a pioneer for African-American women in film, thanks to 1970s thrillers such as Foxy Brown and Coffy. Her career dipped somewhat in the 1980s, before filmmakers who grew up with her movies began casting her in their projects. She starred in Tarantino’s 1997 crime film Jackie Brown, sparking a rebound that would see her consistently appear in hit TV titles such as The L Word and This Is Us. 55 years on from her cinema debut, Grier’s mark on Hollywood history is indelible.
Winona Ryder
Making her name in classics such as Beetlejuice, Heathers and Girl, Interrupted, quirky star Winona Ryder stuck to independent movies for much of the 2000s while her peers ascended to the Hollywood spotlight. Her strengths as a performer never wavered, however, and in the 2010s she reemerged in dramas like Black Swan and global TV sensation Stranger Things. Her heart-rending performance in the latter as single mother Joyce Byers placed her firmly back in the zeitgeist, and she triumphantly returned to cinemas with the 2024 sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Renée Zellweger
From rom-coms to award-winning dramas, there isn’t much that Renée Zellweger hasn’t achieved on the big screen. Some box office disappointments and an emotional burnout saw her take a six-year break from acting in the early 2010s, only to return in 2016, revived and ready to remind audiences why she won an Oscar. Her comeback was confirmed in 2019, when she nabbed a second Academy Award for her starring role in Judy, playing the late, great Judy Garland 16 years after her first award win for Cold Mountain.
Pamela Anderson
Few faces were more famous than Pamela Anderson’s in the 1990s. Hailed as a sex symbol for her bodacious role in TV show Baywatch, she became as notable for her personal life (and looks) as she was for her acting career. Though she was dismissed as vapid tabloid fodder for much of her career, she took a risk to prove herself in a dramatic role with 2024 drama The Last Showgirl, as a Vegas dancer coping with the closing of her long-running show. Now in her late fifties, Anderson has been able to prove the doubters wrong and propel herself back into the limelight.
Lindsay Lohan
Like Anderson, Lindsay Lohan was branded a celebrity tragedy due to an intense media spotlight on her personal life, under which early success with the likes of Freaky Friday and Mean Girls disappeared. After legal issues saw her step away from acting for much of the 2010s, she came back recently with the wholesome holiday film Falling for Christmas and a cameo in the Mean Girls remake. This sparked a demand among fans for a return to Lohan’s heyday, meaning she’s back for Freakier Friday this summer.
Drew Barrymore
She’s now part and parcel of the Hollywood landscape, but actor and talk show host Drew Barrymore was once considered one of the great “what if?” stories of the industry. As a child, success in films like E.T. led to a difficult early adulthood, as she struggled with fame at such a young age. However, Tinsel Town is built on ingénue dreams and underdog comebacks, and the actor began slowly building herself up in her 20s with blockbusters like Scream, The Wedding Singer and Charlie’s Angels. From outcast to A-lister, Barrymore became an inspiration for anyone in need of a second chance.
Natasha Lyonne
While she is the queen of TV today with hits like Russian Doll and Poker Face, Natasha Lyonne’s future wasn’t always so certain. She found fame in the late ‘90s with films like Slums of Beverly Hills and American Pie, but her career was cut short by a serious heroin addiction. After openly discussing the issues that led to her needing life-saving surgery in the 2000s, the actor became one of the hottest talents of the streaming boom, thanks to the success of Orange Is the New Black in 2013. From there, she built an empire that has taken her from the depths of despair to the heights of celebrity as a sought-after actor, producer, director and activist.
Jamie Lee Curtis
The daughter of iconic stars Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, Jamie Lee Curtis made her own way as the star of the Halloween horror franchise in the ‘70s and ‘80s, as well as blockbusters like True Lies. By her own admission, her fortunes have wavered over the decades, but in the late 2010s, she began making a string of critically acclaimed movies such as Knives Out, a Halloween reboot, and 2023’s Everything Everywhere All at Once. The latter was the confirmation of her return, winning Curtis a Best Supporting Actress Oscar and vindicating her years of fighting for the right roles.
Demi Moore
No list of this nature could be complete without Demi Moore, the A-lister who made an astounding comeback in 2024 horror-comedy The Substance. Playing a beloved star who is dismissed from her job and exiled from the glitterati for the crime of being an ageing woman, Moore poignantly depicted the pressures on women in the industry – and invalidated the producers throughout her career who branded her a “popcorn actress” unworthy of critical acclaim. The Substance would prove to be one of the best movies of last year, winning her a Golden Globe, a Best Actress Oscar nomination, and the hearts of movie fans all over the world.
[Header image: Caiaimage, Chris Ryan/Getty Images]
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