Actor: Linda Hamilton

Linda Hamilton played Sarah Connor across two films that are almost unrecognisable from each other. In The Terminator she is a waitress with no capacity to fight; in Terminator 2 she is a heavily muscled institutionalised survivalist.

The physical transformation involved months of military and weapons training, and it changed what a female action lead could look like.

Beauty and the Beast on television gave her a long romantic lead in an entirely different register.

She returned to the role in Terminator: Dark Fate after nearly thirty years, and has spoken openly about bipolar disorder and about her marriage to James Cameron.