The 25 Greatest Actresses of the '90s

Alfre Woodard
''She doesn't work as much as she should. She's definitely one of the best people working today, and I hope people stop sleeping on her talent.''
Spike Lee

In every one of her movies, Woodard, 45, finds a transcendent moment of calm. She may be fearful of violence, as in the South African drama Bopha!, or frustrated by bitchery, as a nurse in Passion Fish, but what a delight it is when she takes a breath and lets the cares of the day simply flicker across her eyelids.
Don't Miss Passion Fish (1992), Crooklyn (1994), HBO's Miss Evers' Boys (1997)
Next The family drama Down in the Delta, directed by Maya Angelou

Holly Hunter
''She's so incredibly fierce that it almost makes her funny. She saw that horrible, horrible, horrible pink coat and she said, 'I have to wear this for the whole movie.'''
Jodie Foster (director of Home for the Holidays)

At 5 foot 1, she may well be the tiniest member of our crew, but don't be fooled: Her '89 romp Miss Firecracker could have been named for her. After using her swampy drawl to hysterical effect in 1987's Raising Arizona and Broadcast News, Hunter, 40, won an Oscar for playing a mute woman in The Piano. But let her rip (A Life Less Ordinary, Living Out Loud), and you'll see that the molasses is flammable.
Don't Miss The Piano (1993), Home for the Holidays (1995), Living Out Loud (1998)
Next The indie drama Woman Wanted, costarring and directed by Kiefer Sutherland

Michelle Pfeiffer
''Michelle appears to be so solid, and at other moments so fragile — it's a mysterious quality, a kind of transparency, and it's something she understands how to control. That makes her a great star.''
Martin Scorsese

Being earth's most beautiful woman isn't the only reason she's on this list: Pfeiffer, 41, is equally at home playing a drug-addled mobster mistress (Scarface), slithering across a piano (The Fabulous Baker Boys), and flirting with social disaster (The Age of Innocence). Her slinky Catwoman in Batman Returns remains the franchise's best villain. Rowrrrrr.
Don't Miss Batman Returns (1992), The Age of Innocence (1993), One Fine Day (1996)
Next A voice in The Prince of Egypt; Deep End of the Ocean, with Whoopi Goldberg

Edited by Jess Cagle and Mark Harris.
Written and reported by Rebecca Ascher-Walsh, Steve Daly, Daniel Fierman, Jeff Gordinier, David Hochman, Dave Karger, Christopher Nashawaty, Degen Pener, Tim Purtell, Joshua Rich, and Benjamin Svetkey