That 80s hot streak of American actresses...

You forgot Susan Sarandon.

Oh Tyler honey, JUDY DAVIS!!!

Oh honey!  Sometimes being this beautiful is a curse...

I would include Geena Davis too! She may not have been super prolific but she won an Oscar for The Accidental Tourist and did The Fly and Beetlejuice. I second the Susan Sarandon mention too.

But yes, I did not actually realize what a strong decade for American actresses this was. My favorite is Pfeiffer, followed by Lange, but Close's 80's work is very strong too.

For me, the 2010's is still by far the best decade for actresses, maybe behind the 60's because so many iconic performances are from that time. But the 80's were so important to cement the status of many of the current giant actresses, the ones everyone looks up to.

I can't start talking about the 80's by anyone else besides Meryl. That's when she delivered her two finest performances - and two I consider all-time best -, Sophie's Choice and A Cry In The Dark. They're so different from each other, and show different strenghts from Streep. She also had The French Lieutenant's Woman, Out of Africa, Silkwood, Ironweed and even the campfest that's She's Devil (not entirely good, but a sign that she was willing to step into new territory).

And then I'd move to Holly Hunter. Her best performance (The Piano) came in the 1990's, but she had pretty great movies between Blood Simple, Raising Arizona and Broadcast News. And then Close, who was simply iconic in Dangerous Liasions and Fatal Attraction, even if I don't care about the other movies she did in the 80's.

And even if they didn't go on to have careers I love, I think Whoopi and Barbara Hershey are two unsung heroes from the 80's. The Color Purple, Shy People and A World Apart are performances people should talk about more.

Oh honey, I forgive you. Australia didn't become a state until 1994, anyways.

I love Debra Winger man, and for a short time there she was throwing serious heat...but just like Edward Norton (appropriate given the current discussion), her reputation for being difficult to work with derailed her career.

I love her in a shallow pacinoyes way like sometimes I really really loved her looks and her slightly goofy crumpled face - in Sea of Love - all 80s big hair and wide lapels - swooooooooooooon she has the kind of body where it doesn't seem like a gym body - she's just sexy beyond belief.

Her acting in Sea of Love should have taken her into Pfeiffer star territory but it came too late I guess - she was mid-30s there. Pacino had never done anything like that opposite a strong female (maybe Panic in Needle Park but not really) and that was just his 13th film performance (3rd cop!) iirc. Think of that he had been around since '71 and that was '89 - he was the DDL of his day. But that's a different issue!

She should have had that career bump because there are several scenes in that movie where she goes at him and is his equal in scenes and you know, at that time, no one did that to him. I often say that Streep 15 years later in AiA challenged Pacino which made him be more "female-friendly" and a better, more complete actor as he got older (yeah, I said it) - opposite Streep, Mirren, Hunter, Sarandon, Bening - but you could actually say it started here with Barkin.

Most importantly she talked seriously about acting - she knew who were the best actors going and she tried to do stuff that would make her a better actor too. It didn't always work out - a Nicholson flop and some good work that didn't fully click and she got a lot of bad breaks too (her performance in Blake Edwards Switch is a total gem in a dud film that deserves to be rediscovered in the #metoo era - she's a riot) but she was never a pushover or a wallflower.

I am posting a long scene here but this scene is exactly what she had that made her special and unique - watch how it starts and ends, this is 50s film noir level tough girl stuff - none of the movies that Sea of Love was "like" were like this at all. She stands up to him, the way a real person would, and look at the levels in this writing (by Richard Price) and acting and yeah it's his scene but she is totally his equal as a character and actress in this role.

When you consider the population size of Australia, I think it's maybe even more incredible that Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Toni Collette, Naomi Watts, Rachel Griffiths, Frances 'O Connor and Claudia Karvan were born within about 4 years of each other.

The previous generation, they pretty much had Judy Davis and that was it. Then it exploded.

Watts is a bit iffy, because she moved to Australia at 14, which isn't young enough to make her country of birth/origin irrelevant. And she tends to claim Brit status or Australian status depending on convenience over the years. But she did start her acting training and career in Australia, so I guess they can take credit for her.

Kidman being born in Hawaii and Blanchett having an American father are technicalities. Kidman's AustralIan parents took her back to Australus as a toddler, where she was raised and trained as an actor. And Blanchett was born and raised in Melbourne. I consider Kidman and Blanchett to be 100% Australian (even if they have dual nationality) and products of Australian acting training.