What actresses under 35 have the best careers?

As far as English-language actresses go, Stone and Ronan stand out pretty clearly.

Margot Robbie.

Robbie, Lawrence and my personal fav Emma Stone.

Oh honey, myself of course...

I've certainly spent enough nights meeting directors at the hotels around four in the morning for career advice...

Resurrecting this thread for a sec just to say that I'm kinda surprised to see so many people bring up Lawrence, because to me hers is actually a shining example of a disappointing career. I'm guessing the awards and name recognition are enough to earn her a spot here in spite of the quality of the work that she's actually been turning in lately, but personally I'm still waiting for her to live up to the promise of her breakout. She's one of the most naturally gifted and compelling performers of her generation, but instead of following in her contemporaries' footsteps and choosing roles that play to her skills and help hone her craft, she has filled up most of the time since her Oscar win by getting miscast in forgettable David O. Russell joints, sleepwalking all the way to the bank as a shockingly inert Mystique, and signing up for bad scripts like Passengers.

Love them or hate them, mother! and to a lesser degree Red Sparrow were basically the only choices she's made since 2012 that showed a willingness to take risks, push herself and use her A-list clout to get challenging projects screening for a wide audience. That's not much considering we're going on 7 years since Silver Linings Playbook. Outside of those two titles, the most interesting stuff she's been linked to in that meantime have been projects that either she dropped out of (Linklater), never got off the ground at all (Spielberg), or got made and released to great acclaim but with other actresses in the roles she was reportedly considered for (Tarantino, McQueen).

In comparison to other actresses of her age group who rose to stardom not too far removed from her, Stone and Ronan's careers are blossoming quite nicely as they seek out diverse roles and add to their roster of auteurs; Robbie is solidifying herself as a versatile, acclaimed performer and dipping her toes into producing; and even Kristen Stewart, who has a far more limited set of skills, has crafted a fine arthouse niche for herself and worked with a solid list of filmmakers who have helped her come into her own. Lawrence's trajectory, on the other hand, is more comparable to those of Vikander and maybe Larson, both of whom are also yet to match their breakout highlights.

If I'm being honest, there's plenty of actresses whose careers this board loves to rag on who have far more interesting filmographies than Lawrence's, even if they don't have the statuettes or the A-list status to earn them a pass for their missteps. While I'm not gonna deny that the majority of Naomi Watts's recent choices have been utterly baffling and that her résumé has taken a disastrous turn towards the messy since she got her 2nd nomination, at least she's had a couple of projects following The Impossible which will ultimately stand out as being among the most important works of this decade. Lawrence may not have as many Shut-Ins or Book of Henrys to her name, but she also hasn't had anything like Birdman or especially Twin Peaks: The Return, and when all is said and done those two will count a lot more towards Watts's body of work than a filler 4th Oscar nomination for a mess that nobody even remembers existed anymore will for Lawrence's. Watts earns the shit out of her Flop Queen title, but not many people can say they've had a groundbreaking all-timer like that just 2 years ago. (See also: Carey Mulligan, who's usually associated with unfulfilled potential but also deserves more credit than she gets considering how many solid to strong films she's got under her belt.)

I'm very much hoping this indie drama Lawrence is doing with A24 and Brian Tyree Henry rekindles something in her, because there's a wealth of potential going untapped there.