11. MERYL STREEP
In Mamma Mia!, Meryl Streep's single-mom character, Donna, declares she's a loser at romance: ''No more ace to play,'' she sings ruefully. But at 59, the actress is throwing down aces all over the place. Last summer, Mamma Mia! raked in $559 million globally — a girl-power milestone. In December's Doubt, she banishes all frivolity as pop-music-bashing Sister Aloysius, a Catholic-school principal convinced that a priest has sexually abused a student. While Oscar buzz around her role is louder than those ABBA songs, Streep wishes adult dramas weren't always year-end-only, awards-bait affairs. ''I just wish sometimes that we'd have more stuff like Doubt in the summer,'' she laments. ''But that's against the laws of Hollywood.'' You said it, sister. —Steve Daly

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