As I write this, the top three are Daryl Hannah, Molly Ringwald, and Kelly McGillis. I voted for Annabeth Gish. I saw her in Mystic Pizza and she had Rising Star written all over her (I completely missed Julia Roberts, by the way).
Don’t forget Sean Young. She was on her way up in the 80’s. Blade Runner, The Boost etc etc. And then it just all fell apart for her after she got a (undeserving) rep as being a psycho bitch.
Ok, she might not have been in incredible demand during the eighties but the actress that was the hotest of the hot, the one fantasies are made of, the one who should have been in many movies just because:
I beg to differ. She may have been popular in the 80’s but that was solely due to her :ahem: assets. I predict that her career will experience a strong resurgence due, in no small part, to her oscar-winning performance in the otherwise forgettable A Beautiful Mind.
My own nomination is Wynona Ryder. Her 90’s career has been one long slow slide from leading performer to co-star to walk-on bit parts.
I figured Mare Winningham for a huge star when she kicked our asses (“our” being the Hollywood High Shakespeare competitors. I played the nurse in R&J) in the Shakespeare Festival. She acted in or directed 3 or 4 of the winning scenes, and they were so well done, so imaginatively and brilliantly conceived, she was burned on my consciousness. When she emerged as a working actress in the 80’s I was not even slightly surprised.
That she did not become huge I attribute both to her personal decisions and to her appearance, which is more character than leading.
I’m surprised that Mia Sara didn’t have a bigger career–she just shpouldn’t have gone from FERRIS BUELLER to TIMECOP–but she does have a great recurring role on BIRDS OF PREY. Jami Gertz, likewise, got some prime screen time on ALLY McBEAL.
Ally Sheedy should’ve been a major headliner in film. I think her Broadway (Off-Broadway?) run on HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH was pretty well-received.
My pick is Virginia Madsen. (Whom I liked her a lot better than a couple of her peers who came up around the same time: Demi Moore and Sharon Stone.) Sometime around 1990, she seemed to have real promise. Then she did “Highlander 2” and, well, her career never recovered from that body blow.