Dame Emma Thompson didn’t mince her words recently when a new study revealed that films are four times more likely to have a talking animal as the lead character than a female actor aged over 60. “Women are half the population and we get older,” the Oscar winner fumed. “The older we get, the more interesting we are. Cinema needs to catch up!” We go behind the scenes to reveal those who are trying to change things from the ground up – and the stars who are bucking the trend…
The movers & shakers
Reese Witherspoon
She’s Hollywood’s darling, having starred in everything from Legally Blonde to Walk the Line. But as a producer, Reese, 50, has also gone out of her way to ensure women of all ages and stages see themselves on screen. The star recalls that 14 years ago, she asked a series of movie executives how many films they had in development with a female lead.
The moment everything clicked into focus
“And by lead, I don’t mean wife of the lead or the girlfriend of the lead. I was met with blank stares, excessive blinking and uncomfortable shifting. “I was flabbergasted. This was 2012 and it made no sense to me. Where was our Sally Field in Norma Rae, or Sigourney Weaver in Alien, or Goldie Hawn in… you name it. And my beautiful, intelligent daughter would not grow up idolising that same group of women.”
“Instead, she’d be forced to watch a chorus of talented, accomplished women wrapped into tight leather pants, tottering along on very cute, but completely impractical shoes, turn to a male lead and ask breathlessly, ‘What do we do now?’ It was time to turn to myself and say, ‘Okay, Reese, what are we going to do now?’”
Changing the narrative from the ground up
Since then, Reese has placed women – many of them older – centre stage in her productions, including The Morning Show, Little Fires Everywhere and Big Little Lies, which starred Meryl Streep, then 69.
Nicole Kidman
In 2010, Nicole started her production company Blossom Films. She created it specifically to develop interesting lead roles for women in midlife. It also aimed to provide opportunities for female directors, writers and cinematographers.
She explains, “Older women are conditioned to think, ‘Okay, well, I’m creeping closer to the end.’ But women as they get older become juicier, sexier and more embedded in their truth, and are more powerful.”
Turning belief into a body of work
Nicole, 58, has produced a string of TV shows featuring 50-plus women, including The Undoing, Nine Perfect Strangers and Expats, and says mature female actresses have proven they’re “potent, powerful and viable”.
She adds, “I just beg that the industry stays behind us because our stories are finally being told. “I never sat in a chair and heard someone say, ‘You’re past your due date.’ But I’ve had times where you’re turned down and the door is shut on you.”
Back in 2017, the Practical Magic alum vowed to work with a female director at least once every 18 months. She surpassed that goal and by May 2025, had collaborated with 27 women directors.
Geena Davis
To say Geena is fed up with the under-representation of older women in Hollywood is an understatement!
“It’s very strange and so prevalent,” says the Thelma and Louise star, 70.
In fact, she recalls, “A certain male actor once said I was too old to be his romantic interest… and I was 20 years younger than him.”
In an effort to stamp out Hollywood’s ageism and sexism, the actress founded her own research centre. It is called the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. The institute uses concrete data to highlight these issues.
The numbers behind the inequality
The institute’s research has found that Hollywood routinely pairs men with women who are 20 years younger, and that female characters over 50 are frequently portrayed as either frail and homebound, sad widows or the butt of jokes.
One study showed that menopause was virtually invisible in Hollywood storylines.
Says Geena, “Women over the age of 50 are just five percent of characters on screen.”
Geena lobbies studio execs to include older females in their casts and she practises what she preaches. The Stuart Little star is currently starring in Netflix’s The Boroughs – a science fiction horror show which focuses almost entirely on a group of senior citizens fighting monsters.
Stars bucking the trend
Dame Helen Mirren
At 61, Helen won her first and only Oscar for The Queen – and she’s been on a roll ever since. The now-80-year-old has proved her action-comedy chops in the two RED movies (about a bunch of long-in-the-tooth CIA agents) and most recently played ruthless matriarch Maeve Harrigan in MobLand.
She’s been involved in more than 50 films and TV productions since turning 60. As the star said when she became an octogenarian, “F**k it. I’m alive and I’m working!”
Jean Smart
Jean was 70 when she hit her stride in the award-winning comedy Hacks. In the show, she plays an ageing stand-up comedian dealing with everything from the culture wars to misogyny in showbiz. Her performance has won her four Emmys, three Golden Globes, three SAGs and four Critics Choice Awards. After a lifetime of being a low-profile character actor, Jean has found herself at the top of her game at the age of 74.
She admits there are days she wishes it had happened 20 years ago, but laughs, “Better late than never!”
Robyn Malcolm
Robyn’s star began to rise when she appeared in Shortland Street in the ’90s and she became a bona fide Kiwi icon in 2005 after stepping into the shoes of family matriarch Cheryl West in Outrageous Fortune. Now 61, Robyn says she co-created and wrote TV drama After the Party out of sheer fury at the lack of interesting, age-appropriate roles for middle-aged women. It won her a BAFTA nomination and Best Actress award at the New Zealand Television Awards.
“There are so many female stories, particularly older women’s stories, that have yet to be told, so it’s like the world’s our oyster right now.”
Jamie Lee Curtis
No one can forget the expression of shock on Jamie’s face when she won her first Oscar in 2023, aged 64, for Everything Everywhere All At Once. She said later, “I’ve had the most creative life in the last year than I have in my entire life.” That same year, she joined the cast of The Bear and won an Emmy. She’s also produced several projects, including Scarpetta.
“Don’t compare your 60-year-old self to your 20-year-old self,” says Jamie, “Compare your 60-year-old self to your 60-year-old self.”
Angela Bassett
“I don’t allow age to impose some limit on me,” says Angela.
“Half the time I forget how old I am.” Since turning 60, the What’s Love Got to Do With It star has received an honorary Academy Award for her long career in showbiz and also nabbed a Golden Globe for reprising her character Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
She’s continuing her role as Sergeant Athena Grant in the long-running TV drama 9-1-1, while also working as an executive producer on the show.
“At this age, I know what I want. I know what I’m worth. And I’m not afraid to ask for it,” says the 67-year-old.
Rebecca Gibney
“Retirement doesn’t work because, ultimately, you end up winding down… and you’re a long time dead!” says Rebecca, 61.
The Kiwi actress decided to keep things spicy by having “a year of saying yes” to anything she was offered. It led to new adventures, including her stint on Dancing with the Stars Australia and becoming the first female host of Millionaire Hot Seat. She also returned to the theatre and starred in the TV drama Prosper.
Turning 60, she says, felt like “another door opened to an unlimited creative opportunity to grow, explore and branch out”.
Demi Moore
In 2024, it seemed that Demi’s star was on the wane – but then came her role in the movie The Substance, which landed her an Oscar nomination and won her a Golden Globe and two Critics Choice awards. Ever since, her career has been turbo-charged, with roles in TV shows Landman and Feud: Capote vs. the Swans. Last year, she was named by Time Magazine as one of the world’s most influential people.
Explains the Ghost star, 63, “You could not pay me to be 21. Growing older can be better. I feel better in my skin… The better sense of yourself you have is something I wouldn’t trade.”
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