25 Actors Who Perfected the Art of Being Mean on Film

We love to hate the villains in movies — and none of them would be as sensational without the talented actors portraying them. While most of the women on this list are reportedly lovely humans, they certainly know how to turn it around and play a dreadful person. Check out 25 extraordinary actors who play heartless ladies.

1. Rachel McAdams as Regina George

We have to start with the Queen B of being mean, Miss Regina George. Rachel McAdams absolutely nails this role as the meanest girl in high school who uses a sweet demeanor to thinly veil her evil nature. While she can play a charming rom-com lead in many movies, no one could ever compete with her heartless betrayal of Regina George.

2. Ashley Tisdale as Sharpay Evans

This one is a little light-hearted, as High School Musical is far from a tragic movie. Ashley Tisdale plays Sharpay Evans, the star singer and performer who always gets what she wants and doesn’t take no for an answer. Tisdale achieves the perfect amount of sassiness and “spoiledness” in this role.

3. Brittany Murphy as Tai Frasier

When it comes to Clueless, there are a few options for mean girls, but Tai Frasier’s unforgettable and pointedly harsh line when she calls Cher a virgin and mocks her for not having her license is supremely ice-cold. And Brittany Murphy usually played sweethearts on screen!

4. Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford

Mommie Dearest is the mostly true story of how Joan Crawford abusively raised her daughter Christina. Faye Dunaway portrayed this role so well that she said the mean and abusive persona haunted her for much of her career, as people believed she was as awful as the character she played.

5. Elaine Hendrix as Meredith Blake

Parent Trap is one of my favorite movies and would be nothing without the chilly and almost cruel soon-to-be stepmother Meredith Blake. Even her name strikes fear into my heart. Luckily, the twins are braver than I and took that shrew down so their adorable parents could get back together.

6. Sarah Michelle Gellar as Kathryn Merteuil

Another character who scares me, Kathryn Merteuil, is a stone-cold vixen and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Cruel Intentions is such a twisted and intense movie that always makes me supremely uncomfortable, and I don’t think it would be nearly as insane without Gellar, who also usually plays a sweetheart.

7. Judy Greer as Lucy Wyman (Tom Tom)

Judy Greer is one of the most underrated character actresses in the game, and she can do it all. Her role as Tom Tom in 13 Going on 30 shows how she can achieve the mean and heartless demeanor of a she-devil. Contrasted with Jennifer Garner’s clueless and kind character, Greer is perfectly cruel.

8. Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers

Gale Weathers is definitely not the meanest lady on this list, but she is pretty vile and harsh in the first Scream. Courteney Cox could not have played this role more perfectly, as she achieves the icy vibe of a woman just trying to do her job and get the juicy scoop on what’s happening.

9. Catherine O'Hara as Delia Deetz

Catherine O’Hara always plays a wonderful mean woman. While she’s not necessarily cruel in her roles, she can be selfish and dismissive, like when she plays Delia Deetz in Beetlejuice. She tears apart the house and redoes it to suit her own style, ignoring everyone else, and then pesters the ghosts to take advantage of them.

10. Jennifer Aniston as Julia Harris

Jennifer Aniston rarely plays a mean girl, but in Horrible Bosses, she’s a nightmare. Still as gorgeous as ever, her role as Julia Harris is creepy and overbearing, as she constantly tries to start an affair with her assistant, who is happily engaged. Julia Harris is a truly insane character that Aniston nails.

11. Rose McGowan as Courtney Shayne

In the same category as Regina George, we have Courtney Shayne from the iconic bad-girl movie Jawbreakers. Rose McGowan is supposedly a delight in person, but her cool and casual meanness in this movie will convince you that she has darkness in her heart.

12. Jennifer Coolidge as Fiona Montgomery

Fiona Montgomery is the evil stepmother in A Cinderella Story, played by the always hilarious Jennifer Coolidge. She captures the character beautifully, as Coolidge portrays a selfish and vapid woman who has no problem subjecting her stepdaughter to an isolated and miserable life of hard work.

13. Amanda Bynes as Marianne Bryant

Amanda Bynes plays a religious mean girl in Easy A, where she runs around condemning everyone for their sins despite being a pretty bad person herself. The self-righteousness and lack of awareness in this character are executed amazingly by Bynes, who is wildly funny in the role.

14. Megan Fox as Jennifer Check

Megan Fox‘s Jennifer Check is more than mean; she’s the devil incarnate. Well, technically, she’s a succubus, which is like a demon, but close enough. One of the most beautiful women on the planet plays a terrifyingly unhinged and hungry teenager who murders boys who go to her school and prays on her innocent friend.

15. Elisa Donovan as Amber Mariens

Another mean girl from Clueless, Amber Mariens, is more a side character than a main character, but every line she delivers is dripping in attitude. Whether she’s stealing Cher’s style or refusing to participate in gym, you can feel her pettiness and spite through the screen.

16. Molly Ringwald as Claire Standish

I don’t think everyone considers Claire Standish a mean girl, but there is enough in the movie to warrant the label. Molly Ringwald typically plays the dowdy girl next door, but in The Breakfast Club, she takes on the spoiled little rich girl persona and is relatively unlikeable for the better half of the movie.

17. Michelle Pfeiffer as Velma von Tussle

Honorable mention to Brittany Snow, who plays Velma’s daughter in Hairspray, but Velma is a heinous and unredeemable human. She tries to seduce a married man, shames the main character for her weight, and tries to sabotage literal children, all because she wants to hold onto her idea of what society should look like.

18. Sarah Jessica Parker as Shelly Stewart

SJP is best known as Carrie Bradshaw, but she plays a less favorable character in The First Wives Club. She is Shelly, one of the main character’s husband’s new girlfriends, who seems to feel no sort of sympathy toward the woman she is hurting. Shelly is ditsy and vapid, which Parker portrays wonderfully, and you’ll hate her in an instant.

19. Eva Mendes as Crystal Allen

One of my favorite actresses of all time, Eva Mendes, plays the other woman in The Women, starring Meg Ryan. Like Shelly in The First Wives Club, Crystal has no remorse for hurting other women, and when confronted by her boyfriend’s wife, she reaffirms that she knows he’s married and doesn’t care, not even a little bit.

20. Tilda Swinton as The White Witch

One of the more magical menaces on this list, The White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a terrifyingly cold and heartless woman. Tilda Swinton can chameleon herself into any role, but in my head, she will always be the pale and evil witch from the inside of the wardrobe.

21. Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly Holbrook

Hilly Holbrook is a despicable woman who is racist, selfish, and horrible in every way. Bryce Dallas Howard, who seems to be able to play any role, brings this character to life with her powerful shrieking and coldhearted line delivery. No one could’ve portrayed Hilly’s malice as well as Howard did.

22. Selma Blair as Vivian Kensington

This mean girl is redeemed at the end of the movie, but she starts super awful. Vivian Kensington is the new fiance of Elle Wood’s ex-boyfriend in Legally Blonde. Selma captures the character perfectly as an insecure young woman who eventually sees the light and becomes more of an empathetic and kind person.

23. Jaime Pressly as Priscilla

Priscilla is the stereotypical mean girl in the parody film Not Another Teen Movie. Jaime Pressly is a phenomenal and underrated actress, and she is hilariously wicked and nasty in this movie, capturing the vibe of every mean girl in every Hollywood film ever. You’ll love to hate her in this movie.

24. Sandra Bullock as Margaret Tate

Sandra Bullock can go from playing the shy and wholesome lead in While You Were Sleeping to the cold-hearted and hostile boss in The Proposal. She has a bitter and poisonous way about her, but the character slowly softens throughout the movie, showcasing Bullock’s impressive range and nuanced acting.

25. Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly

Perhaps the most iconic she-devil to ever grace the big screen, Miranda Priestly is a cruel and unapologetic editor-in-chief who puts her job before everything and everyone. Meryl Streep brought this character to the next level with her flippant mannerisms and disguised facial expressions that could intimidate anyone.