List of female action heroes
Encyclopedia

Film

  • Alice
    Alice (Resident Evil)
    Alice is a fictional character and the primary heroine of the Resident Evil film series, which is loosely based on the video game series of the same name. Though she is not a character in the game series, she does eventually interact with a number of characters from the games, including Jill...

     from the Resident Evil films
    Resident Evil (film series)
    Resident Evil is a film series loosely based upon the Capcom video games of the same name. Constantin Film bought rights to the first film in January 1997 with Alan B. McElroy and George A. Romero as potential writers. In 2001, Sony acquired distribution rights to the film and hired Paul W.S....

     and video games
    Resident Evil (video game)
    Resident Evil, known as in Japan, is a survival horror video game by Capcom. The first installment in the Resident Evil series, it was originally released in 1996 for the PlayStation and was subsequently ported to the Sega Saturn and PC. In 2002, a remake of the game was released for the Nintendo...

  • Ellen Ripley
    Ellen Ripley
    Ellen Ripley is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Alien film series played by American actress Sigourney Weaver. The character was heralded as a seminal role for challenging gender roles, particularly in the science fiction genre, and remains Weaver's most famous role to...

     from the Alien series
    Alien (franchise)
    The Alien film series is a science fiction horror film franchise, focusing on Lieutenant Ellen Ripley and her battle with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as "the Alien"...

  • Trinity
    Trinity (The Matrix)
    Trinity is a fictional character and Neo's love interest in The Matrix universe, played by Carrie-Anne Moss in the films. In the gameplay segments of Path of Neo, she is voiced by Jennifer Hale...

     from The Matrix series
    The Matrix (franchise)
    The Matrix is a science fiction action franchise created by Andy and Larry Wachowski and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The series began with the 1999 film The Matrix and later spawned two sequels; The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both released in 2003, thus forming a trilogy...

  • Inspector Jessica Yang in Supercop
    Police Story 3
    Police Story 3: Super Cop , also known as Super Cop in North America, is a 1992 Hong Kong martial arts action crime comedy film starring Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh. Jackie reprises his "Kevin" Chan Ka-Kui character, a Hong Kong cop from Police Story and Police Story 2...

  • Barbara Meredith from Zorro's Black Whip
    Zorro's Black Whip
    Zorro's Black Whip is a 1944 Republic Pictures film serial starring Linda Stirling. The film was made after the popular 1940 20th Century-Fox remake of The Mark of Zorro and Republic was unable to use the character himself, but still wanted to capitalize on it. However, and despite the title,...

  • Rita Arnold from The Tiger Woman (1944 film)
    The Tiger Woman (1944 film)
    The Tiger Woman is a 12-chapter Republic film serial starring Allan Lane and Linda Stirling . The serial was re-released in 1951 under the title Perils of the Darkest Jungle and, in 1966, it was edited into the 100-minute Century-66 film Jungle Gold.Linda Stirling is a jungle girl lost in the...

  • Elektra
    Elektra (comics)
    Elektra Natchios, usually referred to only by her first name Elektra, is a fictional character in publications from Marvel Comics.Elektra is a kunoichi – female ninja assassin – of Greek descent. She wields a pair of bladed sai as her trademark weapon. She is a love interest of the superhero...

     from Daredevil (2003 film)
  • Lara Croft
    Lara Croft
    Lara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Square Enix video game series Tomb Raider. She is presented as a beautiful, intelligent, and athletic British archaeologist-adventurer who ventures into ancient, hazardous tombs and ruins around the world...

     from Tomb raider series
    Tomb Raider
    Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It was originally released in 1996 for the Sega Saturn, with MS-DOS and PlayStation versions following shortly thereafter...

  • Motoko Kusanagi
    Motoko Kusanagi
    is a fictional Japanese character in the Ghost in the Shell anime and manga series. She is a cyborg employed as the squad leader of Public Security Section 9, a fictional division of the real Japanese National Public Safety Commission. She is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka in the movies and the Ghost in...

     from Ghost in the Shell
    Ghost in the Shell
    is a Japanese multimedia franchise composed of manga, animated films, anime series, video games and novels. It focuses on the activities of the counter-terrorist organization Public Security Section 9 in a futuristic, cyberpunk Japan ....

  • Sarah Connor from Terminator series
    Terminator (franchise)
    The Terminator series is a science fiction franchise encompassing a series of films and other media concerning battles between Skynet's artificially intelligent machine network, and John Connor's Resistance forces and the rest of the human race....

  • Elizabeth Swann
    Elizabeth Swann
    Elizabeth Swann is a major character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series produced by Walt Disney Pictures. She appears in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and its two sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End...

     from Pirates of the Caribbean (film series)
    Pirates of the Caribbean
    Pirates of the Caribbean is a multi-billion dollar Walt Disney franchise encompassing a series of films, a theme park ride, and spinoff novels as well as numerous video games and other publications. The franchise originates with the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, which opened at Disneyland in...

  • Nikita, from La Femme Nikita
  • Beatrix Kiddo
    Beatrix Kiddo
    Beatrix Kiddo, primarily known as "The Bride", is a fictional character and the protagonist in the movie Kill Bill by American director Quentin Tarantino...

     from Kill Bill
    Kill Bill
    Kill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....

  • Mathilda from The Professional
    Léon (film)
    Léon is a 1994 French thriller film written and directed by Luc Besson...

  • Æon from Æon Flux (film)
    Æon Flux (film)
    New Zealander Graeme Revell composed the score for Æon Flux; the soundtrack is available via Varèse Sarabande as advertised on the film's official website -Comic book prequel:...

  • Princess Leia Organa
    Princess Leia Organa
    Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe...

     from Star Wars
    Star Wars
    Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

  • Pauline in the movie serial The Perils of Pauline
    The Perils of Pauline (1933 serial)
    The Perils of Pauline is a movie serial, and sound film remake, of the Pathé original. The 1933 12-chapter "cliffhanger" was produced by Universal Studios. Evalyn Knapp, herself a graduate of silent Pathé short subjects, starred as heroine Pauline Hargrave...

  • Hanna Heller from Hanna (film)
    Hanna (film)
    Hanna is a 2011 European-American action thriller film directed by Joe Wright. The film stars actress Saoirse Ronan as the title character with Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett...


Literature

  • Molly Millions
    Molly Millions
    Molly Millions is a recurring character in stories and novels written by William Gibson, particularly his Sprawl trilogy. She first appeared in Johnny Mnemonic, to which she makes an oblique reference in Neuromancer...

     in Neuromancer
    Neuromancer
    Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, a seminal work in the cyberpunk genre and the first winner of the science-fiction "triple crown" — the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award. It was Gibson's debut novel and the beginning of the Sprawl trilogy...

    and "Johnny Mnemonic," by William Gibson
    William Gibson
    William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...

  • V.I. Warshawski in a series of novels and short stories by Sara Paretsky
    Sara Paretsky
    Sara Paretsky is a modern American author of detective fiction.-Life and career:Paretsky was born in Ames, Iowa and raised in Kansas, graduating from the University of Kansas with a degree in political science. She did community service work on the south side of Chicago in 1966 and returned in...

  • Anita Blake
    Anita Blake
    Anita Blake is a fictional character in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series of novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. Subsequently, she has also appeared in the Dabel Brothers/Marvel Comics adaptation of her first novel, Guilty Pleasures....

     in Guilty Pleasures
    Guilty Pleasures (novel)
    Guilty Pleasures is a horror/mystery novel by Laurell K. Hamilton.-Plot introduction:Guilty Pleasures introduces the character of Anita Blake, vampire hunter, and her world, an alternate history where magic, vampires, werewolves and other supernatural elements exist...

     and other novels by Laurell K. Hamilton
    Laurell K. Hamilton
    Laurell Kaye Hamilton is an American fantasy and romance writer. She is the author of two series of stories. Hamilton is known for her New York Times-bestselling Anita Blake series, featuring a professional zombie raiser/supernatural consultant for the police as the protagonist in a world where...


Television

  • Starbuck
    Kara Thrace
    Kara Thrace is a fictional character in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica franchise. Played by Katee Sackhoff, she is a revised version of Lieutenant Starbuck from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series...

     from the Battlestar Galactica series
    Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
    Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...

  • Cathy Gale
    Cathy Gale
    Dr Cathy Gale was a fictional character, played by Honor Blackman, on the 1960s British series The Avengers. She was the first regular female partner of John Steed following the departure of Steed's original male co-star, Dr David Keel...

    , Emma Peel
    Emma Peel
    Emma Peel was a fictional spy played by Diana Rigg in the British 1960s adventure television series The Avengers. She was born Emma Knight, the daughter of an industrialist, Sir John Knight.-Casting:...

     and Tara King
    Tara King
    Tara King is a fictional character of British 1960s adventure television series The Avengers, played by canadian actress Linda Thorson. Sixth partner of agent John Steed , she appeared in season 6 of the series , playing 33 episodes. She is Emma Peel successor...

     from The Avengers
    The Avengers (TV series)
    The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...

  • Purdey from The New Avengers
    The New Avengers (TV series)
    The New Avengers is a British secret agent fantasy adventure television series produced during 1976 and 1977. It is a sequel to the 1960s series, The Avengers which was created by Sydney Newman, and the new version was developed by original series producers Brian Clemens and Albert Fennell.The...

  • Buffy Summers
    Buffy Summers
    Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...

     from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  • Max Guevera from the Dark Angel TV series
    Dark Angel (TV series)
    Dark Angel is an American biopunk/cyberpunk science fiction television series created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee. The show premiered in the United States on the Fox network on October 3, 2000, and was canceled after two seasons...

  • Kim Possible from the tv series of same name
    Kim Possible
    Kim Possible is an American animated television series about a teenage crime fighter who has the task of dealing with worldwide, family, and school issues every day. The show is action-oriented, but also has a light-hearted atmosphere and often lampoons the conventions and clichés of the...

    .
  • Doña María Teresa (Tessa) Alvarado from Queen of Swords
  • Sydney Bristow
    Sydney Bristow
    Sydney Anne Bristow , played by Jennifer Garner, is the main character and protagonist on the television series Alias. She is an American woman with Russian-American family background who works as a spy for the CIA....

     from Alias
    Alias (TV series)
    Alias is an American action television series created by J. J. Abrams which was broadcast on ABC for five seasons, from September 30, 2001 to May 22, 2006...

    (TV series, 2001-2006)
  • Xena
    Xena
    Xena is a fictional character from Robert Tapert's Xena: Warrior Princess franchise. She first appeared in the 1995–1999 television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, before going on to appear in Xena: Warrior Princess TV show and subsequent comic book of the same name...

     and Gabrielle
    Gabrielle (Xena)
    Gabrielle is a fictional character played by Renée O'Connor in Xena: Warrior Princess. She is referred to by fans as the Battling Bard of Potidaea. Her trademark weapons are the Amazon fighting staff and later, the sais...

     from Xena: Warrior Princess
    Xena: Warrior Princess
    Xena: Warrior Princess is an American–New Zealand supernatural fantasy adventure series that aired in syndication from September 4, 1995 until June 18, 2001....

    and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
    Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
    Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is a television series, filmed in New Zealand and the United States. It was produced from 1995, and was very loosely based on the tales of the classical Greek culture hero Heracles...

  • Kathryn Janeway
    Kathryn Janeway
    Kathryn Janeway, played by Kate Mulgrew, is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise. As the captain of the Starfleet starship USS Voyager, she was the lead character on the television series Star Trek: Voyager, and later, a Starfleet admiral, as seen in the 2002 feature film Star Trek...

     from Star Trek: Voyager
    Star Trek: Voyager
    Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...

  • Ziva David
    Ziva David
    Ziva David is a fictional character from the NCIS television series by CBS Television, portrayed by Chilean actress Coté de Pablo....

     from "NCIS"
  • Cameron
    Cameron
    -People:* Cameron * Cameron * The Scottish Clan Cameron* David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom* Cam'ron, the stage name of hip hop artist Cameron Giles...

     from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Videogames

  • Samus Aran
    Samus Aran
    is the protagonist of the Metroid video game series. Introduced in the 1986 video game Metroid, Samus is a female ex-army soldier bounty hunter usually fitted with a powered armor suit with weapons that include beams and missiles...

     from the Metroid
    Metroid
    is an action-adventure video game, and the first entry in the Metroid series. It was co-developed by Nintendo's Research and Development 1 division and Intelligent Systems, and was released in Japan in August 1986, in North America in August 1987, and in Europe in January 1988...

    series
  • Chell
    Chell (Portal)
    Chell is the protagonist and player character of the Portal series. Chell first appears in Portal, where she is taking part in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center's test under supervision by GLaDOS. GLaDOS tries to kill her as Chell then tries to escape the Enrichment Center, attempting to kill...

     from the Portal series
  • Sonya Blade
    Sonya Blade
    Sonya Blade is a player character from the Mortal Kombat series. She is portrayed in the games as an officer of the United States Special Forces.-In video games:...

     from Mortal Kombat
    Mortal Kombat (video game)
    Mortal Kombat is a 1992 fighting-game developed and published by Midway for arcades. In 1993, home versions were released by Acclaim Entertainment. Released in the Fall of 1994, the Microsoft Windows 3.1x version was released by Activision Interactive. It is the first title in the Mortal Kombat...

  • Faith from Mirror's Edge
    Mirror's Edge
    Mirror's Edge is a single-player first person action-adventure video game developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was announced on July 10, 2007, and was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2008. A Microsoft Windows version was released...


See also

  • Buffy studies
    Buffy studies
    Buffy Studies is a term applied to the collection of written works about, and the university courses that discuss aspects of, the television program Buffy the Vampire Slayer and, to a lesser extent, its spin-off program Angel. It explores issues related to gender and other philosophical issues as...

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer in popular culture
  • Joan of Arc in film
  • List of superheroines
  • Woman warrior
    Woman warrior
    The portrayal of women warriors in literature and popular culture is a subject of study in history, literary studies, film studies, folklore and mythology, gender studies, and cultural studies.-Archaeology:...

  • Xena: Warrior Princess in popular culture
    Xena: Warrior Princess in popular culture
    Xena: Warrior Princess has been referred to as a pop cultural phenomenon and feminist and lesbian icon. The television series, which employed pop culture references as a frequent humorous device, has itself become a frequent pop culture reference in video games, comics and television shows, and has...



Further reading

  • Alvarez, Maria. "Feminist icon in a catsuit (female lead character Emma Peel
    Emma Peel
    Emma Peel was a fictional spy played by Diana Rigg in the British 1960s adventure television series The Avengers. She was born Emma Knight, the daughter of an industrialist, Sir John Knight.-Casting:...

     in defunct 1960s UK TV series The Avengers)", New Statesman
    New Statesman
    New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....

    , 14 August 1998.
  • Au, Wagner James. "Supercop as Woman Warrior." Salon.com
    Salon.com
    Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...

    .
  • Barr, Marleen S. Future Females, the Next Generation : New Voices and Velocities in Feminist Science Fiction Criticism. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000.
  • Buffy The Patriarchy Slayer - Bibliography of scholarly articles on Buffy Studies.
  • Deuber-Mankowsky, Astrid and Dominic J. Bonfiglio (Translator). Lara Croft: Cyber Heroine. Minneapolis: University Of Minnesota Press, 2005.
  • Early, Frances and Kathleen Kennedy, Athena's Daughters: Television's New Women Warriors, Syracuse University Press, 2003.
  • Garner, Jack. "Strong women can be heroes, too." Democrat and Chronicle
    Democrat and Chronicle
    The Democrat and Chronicle is the most widely circulated daily newspaper in the greater Rochester, New York area. Located at 55 Exchange Boulevard in downtown Rochester, the Democrat and Chronicle operates under the ownership of Gannett. The paper's production facility is located in the town of...

    . 15 June 2001.
  • Heinecken, Dawn. Warrior Women of Television: A Feminist Cultural Analysis of the New Female Body in Popular Media, New York: P. Lang, 2003.
  • Ho, Sam. "Licensed to Kick Men: The Jane Bond Films." The Restless Breed: Cantonese Stars of the Sixties. Hong Kong: Urban Council of Hong Kong, 1996. ISBN 962-7040-50-9
  • Hopkins, Susan, Girl Heroes: the New Force in Popular Culture
    Girl Heroes
    Girl Heroes: The New Force In Popular Culture is a 2002 text by Susan Hopkins. It is a cultural analysis of the contemporary archetype of the girl hero in popular culture....

    , Pluto Press Australia, 2002.
  • Inness, Sherrie A. (ed.) Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in Popular Culture, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
  • ———. Tough Girls : Women Warriors and Wonder Women in Popular Culture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.
  • Karlyn, Kathleen Rowe. "Scream, Popular Culture, and Feminism's Third Wave: 'I'm Not My Mother'. Genders: Presenting Innovative Work in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences No. 38 (2003).
  • Karras, Irene. "The Third Wave's Final Girl: Buffy the Vampire Slayer." thirdspace 1:2 (March 2002).
  • Kennedy, Helen W. "Lara Croft: Feminist Icon or Cyberbimbo?: On the Limits of Textual Analysis". Game Studies: The International Journal of Computer Game Research. 2:2 (December, 2002).
  • Kim, L. S. "Making women warriors: a transnational reading of Asian female action heroes in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media. No. 48, Winter, 2006.
  • Kingston, Maxine Hong
    Maxine Hong Kingston
    Maxine Hong Kingston is a Chinese American author and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a BA in English in 1962. Kingston has written three novels and several works of non-fiction about the experiences of Chinese immigrants living in the United...

    . The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
    The Woman Warrior
    The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts is a memoir by Maxine Hong Kingston, published by Vintage Books in 1975. Although there are many scholarly debates surrounding the official genre classification of the book, it can best be described as a work of creative non-fiction.Throughout...

    . New York: Vintage, 1975.
  • Magoulick, Mary. "Frustrating Female Heroism: Mixed Messages in Xena, Nikita, and Buffy." The Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 39 Issue 5 (October 2006).
  • Mainon, Dominique. The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women on Screen. Pompton Plains, N.J. : Limelight Editions, 2006.
  • Osgerby, Bill, Anna Gough-Yates, and Marianne Wells. Action TV : Tough-Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks. London: Routledge, 2001.
  • Rowland, Robin. "Warrior queens and blind critics." Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
    Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
    The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...

    .
    31 July 2004.
  • Spicuzza, Mary. "Butt-Kicking Babes." AlterNet
    AlterNet
    AlterNet, a project of the non-profit Independent Media Institute, is a progressive/liberal activist news service. Launched in 1998, AlterNet now claims a readership of over 3 million visitors per month .AlterNet publishes original content as well as journalism from a wide variety of other sources...

    .
    27 March 2001.
  • Tasker, Yvonne. Action and Adventure Cinema. New York: Routledge, 2004.
  • ———.Working Girls: Gender and Sexuality in Popular Culture. London: Routledge 1998
  • ———.Spectacular Bodies : Gender, Genre, and the Action Cinema. London and New York: Routledge, 1993.
  • Trickey, Helyn. "Girls with Gauntlets." Turner Network Television
    Turner Network Television
    Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...

    .
  • Ventura, Michael. "Warrior Women." Psychology Today
    Psychology Today
    Psychology Today is a bi-monthly magazine published in the United States. It is a psychology-based magazine about relationships, health, and related topics written for a mass audience of non-psychologists. Psychology Today was founded in 1967 and features articles on such topics as love,...

    . Nov/Dec 1998. 31 (6).
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