Eluding stardom

By CHRIS HEWITT
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
1. TILDA SWINTON
Tilda Swinton is the best actress you've never heard of.
The Scottish Swinton, who earned raves for "Orlando" and "Adaptation," knows exactly why she isn't a star: She can't stomach it. "Sometimes, these scripts come to you. You know the movies will be made, you know they have the money to make them, you know they'll win Oscars and you just can't do them."
For her, it's an issue of taste (she says, "I was too well-brought-up" to reveal titles). The movies Swinton's interested in making are not the kinds of movies 15 million Americans are interested in ponying up 8 bucks for on opening weekend. In other words, they're nothing like the last several Angelina Jolie movies.
Other factors work against some actresses: Sandra Oh and Paula Jai Parker get pigeonholed by an industry where women of color who aren't named Halle don't sell tickets. Judy Greer's ability to do comedy, like Joan Cusack and Janeane Garofalo's before her, may have typecast her before audiences could even figure out who she is.
And, of course, all of these talented women are competing for a limited number of roles. Although the movie audience is 60 percent female, the percentage of female characters is much lower (of this month's 30 movies, only 11 feature prominent female roles). Swinton, who generally appears in independent films such as the new "Young Adam," says "industrial scripts" from Hollywood reveal how marginalized women are there.
Different images
"The leading man is always described as 'ruggedly handsome,' so everyone from Tom Cruise to Dustin Hoffman can see themselves in the role," she says. "The script will say he's just a 'regular guy,' but at the same time, every single woman in the script -- mothers, daughters, waitresses, all of whom are described as incredibly beautiful -- will go weak in the knees the minute they set eyes on him."
Here are nine other actresses who -- so far, at least -- are unwilling to check their unique talents at the door.
2. ISABELLE HUPPERT
I've seen Huppert in at least 40 films, and I still can't get a bead on her. Her characters usually have secrets -- whether it's the privately tormented title role in "The Piano Teacher," the homicidal mom in "Merci pour le Chocolat" or the prim nag in "8 Women" -- and they're almost always upper-class, maybe because Huppert's slightly turned-up nose and delicate features have a patrician air. France's top actress for more than two decades, Huppert wouldn't have to take chances at this point in her career, but she's drawn to dark stories that explore the extremes of emotional behavior.
You've seen her in: "Heaven's Gate."
You should see her in: "The Piano Teacher."
3. HOPE DAVIS
Her high-profile role as Jack Nicholson's whiny daughter in "About Schmidt" and the one-two punch of last year's "American Splendor" and "The Secret Lives of Dentists" -- both well-reviewed, underseen films -- helped her line up four big movies in the next 19 months. In those films, which include "Proof," opposite Gwyneth Paltrow, and "The Weatherman," opposite Nicolas Cage, audiences will get a chance to see how wry and down-to-earth Davis' talent is. When she's miscast, as she was as the shrewish mom in "Hearts in Atlantis," it's as if she's wearing a straitjacket.
You've seen her in: "About Schmidt."
You should see her in: "The Secret Lives of Dentists."
4. SARAH POLLEY
She almost got left off this list because "Dawn of the Dead" has given her enough oomph to merit an Entertainment Weekly puff piece. But even "Dawn" fans probably aren't familiar with Polley's best work. A look at her r & eacute;sum & eacute; makes it clear she's attracted to iconoclastic, personal films by directors with skewed visions. Not exactly the stuff of big box office, but this former child star in Canada (she was Ramona Quimby in the "Ramona" series that also aired here) hasn't made a false move since "The Sweet Hereafter" in 1997.
You've seen her in: "Dawn of the Dead."
You should see her in: "My Life Without Me."
5. ARSINEE KHANJIAN
Being married to a great director may hurt Khanjian's career more than it helps. Yeah, she gets to be in all of Atom Egoyan's features, but that's practically all she's been in. Do people assume she's busy working on his films? Or don't the other movies she is offered measure up? The Canadian-Armenian Khanjian has intriguing roles in the French films "Late August, Early September," "Irma Vep" and "Fat Girl," but her fierce intelligence is best showcased in Egoyan's films. Check out "Felicia's Journey," where she wittily hinted at the dark side of being a domestic goddess long before Martha Stewart's downfall.
You've seen her in: "The Sweet Hereafter."
You should see her in: "Felicia's Journey."
6. PAULA JAI PARKER
It always gives me a little lift to see Parker's name in the credits because I know that, even if the movie stinks, she's going to do something fresh and surprising. And, by the way, virtually all of the movies she's in do stink -- she's at her most inventive in otherwise worthless comedies such as "Sprung" or "My Baby's Daddy." As a black woman, she's in a double minority, movie-wise, which means she's competing with a very talented group of actresses for a limited number of roles.
You've seen her in: "Friday."
You should see her in: "My Baby's Daddy."
7. SANDRA OH
Wry, straightforward Oh made a bewitching debut as a young woman rebelling against the Chinese traditions of her uptight family in 1994's "Double Happiness," and she hasn't had a well-rounded role since. It's a common malady for actresses who make big, early splashes: "Welcome to the movies, and don't slam the door on your way out." Here's hoping marrying Alexander Payne, who wrote and directed "About Schmidt," will lead to better roles; she's in Payne's next film, "Sideways."
You've seen her in: "Under the Tuscan Sun."
You should see her in: "Double Happiness."
8. SHIRLEY HENDERSON
She's prolific -- seven films in 2002 alone -- but if a big part of what makes a star is a larger-than-life quality, then it's no mystery why Henderson remains virtually unknown. Her characters are exactly life-sized. Moviegoers may know her face -- she was the title character's best friend in "Bridget Jones's Diary" and Moaning Myrtle in the second "Harry Potter" -- but they aren't getting the full picture. She's a woman who seems to have become a good mother just to spite her ex-husband in "Wonderland," a drug-addicted tear stain of a singer in "Topsy-Turvy" and an achingly vulnerable survivor of the romantic wars in this year's "Intermission."
You've seen her in: "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."
You should see her in: "Intermission."
9. EMILY MORTIMER
A native of London, although she has a flawless American accent, Mortimer belongs in the women's role hall of fame for her work in "Lovely and Amazing," in which she played a woman who has gravitated to a job guaranteed to make her feel rotten about herself: acting. In the upcoming "Bright Young Things," where she's a British party girl who's tired of martinis and cocktail dresses, and in the musical version of "Love's Labours Lost," where her charming voice doesn't seem to match her uncertain footwork, she seems intent on reminding us that not being sure of ourselves is a fact of life.
You've seen her in: "Scream 3."
You should see her in: "Lovely and Amazing."
10. JUDY GREER
The go-to person for Joan Cusack roles that Cusack doesn't want to do, Greer has made a nice little career out of playing the ditzy, slightly pathetic sidekick. She's made 20 movies in the past six years, playing that part in virtually all of them, most memorably as the suicidal woman who helped Mel Gibson figure out "What Women Want." Hollywood often slots funny women into that Eve Arden/Cusack/Garofalo role, but her career is taking a turn for the better. In the current "13 Going on 30," she's still the best friend, but a hilariously mean one. And the current "Hebrew Hammer" is no classic, but it lets Greer play something higher-profile films haven't: a romantic lead.
You've seen her in: "What Women Want."
You should see her in: "The Hebrew Hammer."