4. Sandra Bullock
Rom-com darling, Sandra Bullock, got serious in 2009 with a knock out dramatic performance in the appropriately titled American Football biopic The Blind Side, which saw her take home the best actress Oscar. In the 90s and early 2000s, Sandy was your go-to girl if you needed a winning, down-on-her-luck comic, female heroine. In return, she pulled in audiences for the good (While You Were Sleeping (1995), Miss Congeniality (2000)), the bad (Hope Floats (1998)) and the ugly (All About Steve (2009) - so bad it deserves two mentions in one article) becoming one of Hollywood's highest paid actresses in the process. She proved she could to handle herself in action flicks too, starring in box-office smash, Speed (1995), one of the most iconic films of the 90s. Bullock's extreme like-ability and easy versatility had always pointed to real dramatic potential. She hinted at what was to come in legal thriller A Time to Kill (1996), and with her deft portrayal of an isolated housewife in ensemble film Crash (2004). But after The Blind Side and another Oscar nominated turn as a lone astronaut fighting for survival in 2013's groundbreaking CGI space flick Gravity, Sandra looks set to take her place amongst Hollywood's dramatic heavyweights. She still found time to make buddy comedy the Heat in 2013, though. Old habits die hard.