Drew Barrymore

Drew Barrymore was on film at five, in Altered States, and famous at seven as Gertie in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. She is a granddaughter of John Barrymore, which is the kind of inheritance that comes with a bill attached. The childhood that followed was very public and very bad, marked by drug and alcohol problems, and she published an autobiography, Little Girl Lost, before she could legally drink.

The comeback was self-engineered, which is the important part of her story. She rebuilt through provocation (Poison Ivy, Bad Girls) and then stopped waiting for offers, producing Never Been Kissed and Charlie's Angels through her own company and turning herself into a studio player rather than an available actress. Her directorial debut, the roller derby comedy Whip It, followed in 2009.

On screen her gift is warmth without sugar. She plays likeable people who are visibly amused by the person opposite them, which is why the Adam Sandler pairings work so well across The Wedding Singer, 50 First Dates and Blended: she is the one who finds him funny, and the audience follows her lead. She is also a much better horror presence than her filmography suggests, from the opening of Scream to the deadpan suburban carnage of Santa Clarita Diet.

Her accolades include a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award, with five Emmy nominations, and she was named to Time's hundred most influential people in 2023. She now hosts a daytime talk show, which has quietly become her main job.