Diane Lane

An enduring, fresh-faced beauty who started out on stage as a child actress in the '70s, Lane landed movie roles while still a teen. Although she appeared in a number of high-profile films (Rumblefish, The Outsiders), she was mainly used as eye candy, and after a couple of bad choices — including turning down the mermaid role in Splash but signing on to megaflops Streets of Fire and The Cotton Club — her career stalled. After a three-year hiatus, she returned to showbiz in 1987, yet for the next 15 years, she toiled away in substandard parts or projects, aside from a few notable roles such as her Emmy-nominated turn as a prostitute in the 1989 miniseries Lonesome Dove. Then her steamy performance as a suburban mom embroiled in an affair in 2002's Unfaithful deservedly earned her rave reviews as well as Golden Globe and Oscar nods. After three decades in entertainment, she had finally arrived on the A-list.