Whatever else one can say about gender equality in Hollywood, there's clearly no shortage of female roles for space princesses, alien hunters and flying nannies.
For THR's latest intra-industry poll, the editors asked Hollywood professionals — actors, writers, directors and others — to take an online survey of their favorite fictional female characters. More than 1,800 participated — twice as many women as men — but the results proved there isn't such a great divide between the sexes after all, at least when it comes to what types of females we enjoy watching on screens. By comfortable majorities, both genders picked a certain Hogwarts know-it-all as their No. 1.
Naturally, the poll was anonymous, but some industry pros don't mind sharing. "The tough Angelina Jolie characters in Wanted and Salt — and whoever Ava Gardner played in capri pants," offers Dawn Hudson, CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Hunger Games franchise producer Nina Jacobson confesses to having a "soft spot for Katniss Everdeen," while Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy admits that as a child she worshiped Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. "I used to think I was her," she says.
Chances are, there's at least one character on these pages who you once imagined being, particularly if you're female — and maybe even if you're not. After all, who hasn't dreamt of bitch-slapping an alien, owning a pet dragon or even traveling by umbrella?
Click here to vote for your favorite female character of all time in THR's bracket.
Edited by Benjamin Svetkey and Andy Lewis. Reported by Rebecca Ford, Mia Galuppo, Borys Kit, Ashley Lee, Kendal McAlpin, Brian Porreca and Bryn Elise Sandberg.
