The 50 Tallest Leading Ladies In Hollywood, Ranked By Height

When Jennifer Garner was asked by NW magazine about the minimum height she would look for in a partner, she replied, “I’m 5’8”, so [that height] is a good start.” Her ex-husband Ben Affleck certainly fit the bill, then, as he is one of the tallest leading men in Hollywood at 6’3”.

Gwyneth Paltrow clocks in at 5’9”, which makes her a few inches taller than her Iron Man co-star Robert Downey Jr. In fact, whenever the duo were seen on red carpets together and Paltrow sported heels, eagle-eyed fans were convinced Downey Jr. was also wearing purposefully chunky boots to appear closer to her height. We’re sure there was Hollywood magic at play in the films as well to make sure Pepper Potts didn’t tower above Tony Stark.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is best known for her performances in The Dark Knight, Crazy Heart, and HBO drama The Deuce. She is a good height match for most of her male co-stars and is taller than a lot of female actresses. She is also only slightly shorter than her husband, Peter Sarsgaard.

At a leggy 5’9” and with gorgeous good looks, it’s no wonder that Cameron Diaz began her career as a model. And she was significantly taller than Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore when they starred together in the Charlie’s Angels movies. With Barrymore standing at 5’4” and Liu an inch shorter than that, Diaz’s soaring stature was easy to notice.

Let’s face it: next to Tom Cruise, most women are going to look tall. But his ex-wife Katie Holmes would actually tower over a lot of other leading men, too. In a 2005 interview with Florida Today to promote Batman Begins, she spoke about filming scenes with Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader. The British actor is just a few inches taller than Holmes, who said, “I’m not a petite little actress — I’m 5’9” — so I made him sweat a little. I was like, ‘I love this!’”

Julia Roberts is another of Hollywood’s taller leading ladies. She once said that when Mystic Pizza was released in 1988, members of the public would tell her that she looked 6 foot tall. Nevertheless, the actress’ height, curly hair, and long legs helped to establish her as a unique presence on our screens.

Lucy Lawless is a sci-fi icon to a whole generation of fans thanks to Xena: Warrior Princess — the cult action-fantasy show from the 1990s. Yet the role led to a bit of typecasting for Lawless. She told Zap2it in 2005, “I’m sure there are people who wouldn’t want to see me because they are convinced I am 7 feet tall. I’m only 5’9”.” She added, “But then, I think the average man is, what, 5’8”, so I guess I am still a little taller.”

When Blake Lively was pictured standing beside co-star Anna Kendrick at the red carpet premiere for the 2018 flick A Simple Favor, her stature took some people by surprise. PopSugar even published an article about how unexpectedly tall she is. You see, Lively has a whopping 8 inches on Kendrick, and it seemed to be the first time people properly took notice of her height.

Laura Prepon is known for her starring roles in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black and That ’70s Show. And it’s hard not to notice how tall Prepon is in both of these programs. At 5’10”, she tends to tower over most of her fellow female co-stars. But the actress is also 2 inches taller than her real-life husband Ben Foster — star of Hell or High Water and Leave No Trace.

Rapper-turned-actress Queen Latifah has been a part of the pop culture landscape since the 1990s. She has always been known for her fuller figure and for championing body positivity. But you may be surprised to learn that Latifah is also much taller than the average American. Standing at 5’10”, she put that stature to good use in her 2021 TV reboot of The Equalizer on CBS.

Liv Tyler — famous for her performances in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and 9-1-1: Lone Star — is 5’10”. Over the years, Tyler’s height has meant that she has towered over some of her male counterparts. If you were a fan of Gunpowder, for example, could tell that she’s 2 inches taller than co-star Kit Harington?

America’s Next Top Model creator and presenter Tyra Banks is an impressive 5’10”. And the beauty’s height and enviable figure have certainly benefitted her modeling career. In 2014 she told Life & Style magazine that she went through a transformation at the age of 11 – losing 30 pounds and experiencing a growth spurt.

In 2004 Mandy Moore told The Times in Indiana, “I’m 5’10” now, and I love being a tall woman. I was pretty average until I was 14, and then I went through a spurt where I grew 4 inches in one summer. At first, I felt a little gangly, but now I’m proud.” Moore is actually slightly taller than Milo Ventimiglia, her on-screen spouse in This Is Us.

Charlize Theron seemed to realize how tall she is when she played serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. In real life, Wuornos is only 5’3”, you see — a whole 7 inches shorter than Theron. In a 2004 interview with The Advocate, Theron said she couldn’t believe this when she found out.

When Gal Gadot was cast as Wonder Woman, she was still virtually unknown to most movie audiences — despite a recurring role in the Fast & Furious movies. Unsurprisingly, the Israeli beauty was originally a model. In 2004 at the age of just 18, she won the Miss Israel pageant and also took part in Miss Universe that same year. Her height only adds to her beauty.

Marriage Story star Laura Dern is super-tall, but she clearly embraces it. In 2020 she revealed to Style magazine that she and Big Little Lies co-star Nicole Kidman sent the daughter of a mutual friend an empowering video. The girl was struggling with being an unusually tall 13-year-old, but Dern and Kidman explained that she should be proud of her height.

In 2019 The Los Angeles Times conducted an interview with Anjelica Huston — the legendary star of The Addams Family and The Witches. The newspaper wrote, “Huston is a tall woman, striding confidently to the rose garden on her sprawling, wildish ranch…” But how tall is she? Well, the actress is 5’10”, to be exact.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge rose to fame with the widely acclaimed sitcom Fleabag, which became hugely popular in both her native Britain and the U.S. An actress and writer, she was also the executive producer and head writer on the first season of Killing Eve, which again became a massive hit. Waller-Bridge’s long limbs and elegant frame help her stand out from most other actresses in the game.

“Clichés used to describe Tilda Swinton: impossibly tall, goddess-like, ethereal, androgynous, lit from within,” Esquire wrote in 2014. All of these descriptors are accurate, as Swinton has made a career out of looking different from most other women in Hollywood. She was the perfect choice to portray Jadis the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Why? Well, it didn’t take a whole lot of camera trickery to make her appear more than a foot taller than her co-stars.

Sydney Tamiia Poitier has enjoyed roles in such projects as Amazon’s Homecoming and Canadian crime comedy Carter. And height is clearly in her genes, as her father, the legendary Sidney Poitier, stood at nearly 6’3”.

The iconic Sigourney Weaver told The Dallas Morning News in 1989, “I am 5’11” tall.” So we’re going to go with her, despite the fact that some websites have her down as being 6 foot. Who are we to argue, right? Either way, the Aliens and Ghostbusters star is an extremely tall woman, and it’s always helped give her a certain regal presence on screen.

You may know Missi Pyle from her hilarious roles in movies such as Dodgeball and Galaxy Quest, or her amusing guest spots in the sitcoms Friends and Two and a Half Men. In 2016 Pyle told The A.V. Club that she started booking those comedy guest spots out of necessity. She said, “I was so tall. I was just too tall to play the romantics, so I kind of went into comedy because of that.”

Rebecca Romijn played Mystique in the original X-Men trilogy and joined the cast of Star Trek: Discovery in season two. She once revealed on The Ellen Degeneres Show that she suffered from painful scoliosis when she was a growing teen. Her 5-foot 11-inch frame eventually became her calling card as an actress and model, though.

In 2019 Jumanji and Guardians Of The Galaxy star Karen Gillan claimed that male co-stars have had to step up on boxes in scenes with her. She told the Beauty Fashion Friends podcast, “It’s happened usually during kissing scenes because it doesn’t look good when the guy is looking up to kiss.” She added, “But I’m a giant. I’m 5’11”.” Sadly, she didn’t specify the names of her short co-stars.

“I was a teenager who wouldn’t conform, but I had a lot of fears and insecurities because I was very tall,” Nicole Kidman told Glamour UK in 2020. “I was 5’10” by the time I was 13 years old.” And she is taller than her husband Keith Urban, who was spotted wearing platform shoes when they appeared at the Golden Globes together.

Lena Olin has been working in movies for over four decades — forging a path with memorable roles in films such as Chocolat, The Reader, and Queen of the Damned. With her piercing cheekbones and exotic features, it’s no surprise that the beautiful Olin was a model before turning to acting. In fact, she won Miss Scandinavia in 1974 when she was just 19 years old.

Former supermodel Tricia Helfer is most famous for playing Number Six in Battlestar Galactica. Over the course of her career, the star has also appeared as take-no-prisoners women in shows such as Lucifer, Killer Women, and Van Helsing. In 2014 she told HuffPost, “Part of the reason I find myself doing strong roles is because it’s what people hire me for. You know, I’m tall, I have a stronger, deeper voice than a girly one.”

Cosmopolitan writer Leanne Bayley couldn’t help but marvel at Adrianne Palicki’s stature when the two met in 2013. Bayley wrote, “At 5’11”, with honey blonde hair, Adrianne Palicki is gorgeous. There’s no doubt about that. But we didn’t realize she’d be quite so, well, amazonian.” And this was an apt description, as Palicki played the Amazon superhero Wonder Woman in a 2011 NBC pilot that failed to go to series.

When Famke Janssen was starring in the X-Men franchise as Jean Grey, her height caused a few issues with her co-stars. Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman is 6’2” — making him a foot taller than the character in the comics. And James Marsden — who played Grey’s lover Scott Summers, a.k.a. Cyclops — is around 5’9” tall. As a result, he had to adjust his footwear to appear as tall as her.

Kia Stevens wrestled as Kharma in WWE and as Awesome Kong in other promotions. At 5’11” and weighing a formidable 272 pounds, she was a far cry from most of the other female competitors. In recent years, though, Stevens has made the move into acting with her role as Tammé Dawson in the hit Netflix series GLOW.

In 2007 a 17-year-old Taylor Swift spoke to Entertainment Weekly about her impressive height. She said, “I’m 5’11”, so when I wear heels, it’s definitely a real good view that I have. I’m like 6’2” when I wear heels, so I tend to wear cowboy boots a lot.” The pop icon has also dabbled with acting over her career — appearing in Valentine’s Day, The Giver, and 2019’s Cats.

Stacy Keibler — former WWE wrestler and Dancing with the Stars contestant — has enjoyed guest spots on Chuck and How I Met Your Mother. She never managed to appear on screen alongside boyfriend George Clooney when they dated for two years from 2011, though. Regarding her frame, the leggy beauty once told Playboy, “I do like tall guys. I’m 5’11”, so I want to be able to wear the shoes and the heels I like.”

In 2020 Janet McTeer told The Los Angeles Times, “I’m 6 feet tall, and I’ve never been what you would call conventionally pretty.” We’d quibble over that second part. But what can’t be argued is that the star’s height worked perfectly for her role as the icy, imposing cartel lawyer Helen Pierce in Ozark. In fact, in a 2016 article in The New Yorker, it was revealed that her on-set nickname is “McTall.”

Geena Davis’ resume includes lead roles in a host of classic films, including The Fly, Beetlejuice, and Thelma & Louise. Although her height was once a subject of angst for the teen Davis, she eventually embraced it. The actress told Ladies Home Journal, “I’ll admit I’m 6 feet tall. Now I’ve noticed the press saying I’m 6’2”. I’m growing. In a few years, I’ll be 6’4”!”

In the 1990s Australian model Elle Macpherson transitioned to acting with some success, starring in Sirens, Batman & Robin, and Friends. Her tall frame and athletic body also set her apart from everyone else. She told the Daily Mail in 2019, “I was 6 feet tall, 36 hips, 36 bust and broad shoulders from swimming all my life. I just needed to embrace my uniqueness.”

Brooke Shields is easily in the upper echelons of Hollywood’s list of tall ladies. But, interestingly, her youngest daughter Grier may exceed her mom’s height. When the family are pictured together, the teen sometimes looks to be taller than her mother. Perhaps she’ll follow her mom into the modeling business!

Kill Bill star Uma Thurman initially had a tough time with her height when she was growing up. From an early age, she was much taller than everyone in her class at school, and her feet were also unusually big. Her lanky frame as a teen lent itself perfectly to modeling, though, and she would eventually become a Hollywood sex symbol with the movie Dangerous Liaisons.

In 2015 The West Wing and Mom star Allison Janney told the website Stuff that she didn’t know if she would make it as a tall woman in Hollywood. She said, “When I first started out in this business, with my size and whatever, I couldn’t even get arrested in this business. I was ecstatically surprised when it turned out there was a place for me in this industry.”

In 2010 Deep Blue Sea and Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. actress Saffron Burrows told BlackBook magazine that her height is fluid. She laughed, “I think it’s subjective, really. Depending on my mood, I’m 5’11” or 6 foot.” We’re going to go with the latter height, though, which is what The Guardian put her down as in a 2020 profile.

Brigitte Nielsen is so tall that while filming a small role in Creed II, she was able to hide her pregnancy from the cast and crew. Then, aged 54, she told Fox News, “But you also have to remember, I’m 6 feet. Almost 6’1”. So, a bump on me looks much less on me than a lady who’s 5’2”, for example. So even when we were shooting, and I was wearing my first outfit, which was an ivory suit, no one could tell.”

In 2014 Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones confirmed on Saturday Night Live that she is 6 foot tall. While it certainly has led to Jones having a unique look among Hollywood women, she did tweet that it has made dating difficult for her. Once, she even claimed her height and stature are why she is still single.

Archer star Aisha Tyler appeared on Southern California Public Radio’s Take Two program in 2014. While there, the star revealed that her height was key in forming her comedic identity. Tyler said, “I’ve always been an outsider. People remark on my height. I’m 6 feet tall now, but I’ve been this tall since I was, like, 5’8” in the third grade.”

These days, 3rd Rock From The Sun star Kristen Johnston is comfortable in her own skin, but as a teenager, she struggled with her stature. In 1996 she told Entertainment Weekly, “I was 5’11.5” at age 13. I was enormous, a monstrosity, a freak. I’ve always been an outsider.”

Glee star Jane Lynch has been flying the flag for both tall women and the LGBTQ community in Hollywood for several decades. She unfortunately had a somewhat angst-ridden childhood because of her differences, though. In 2011 she told Vogue, “When I grew up — just like in Glee — you had to be what they considered ‘normal’ or you got a Slushee in your face. I didn’t want to be too tall. I didn’t want to be too loud. I didn’t want to be gay.” 

As Elle magazine put it in 2020, “There’s tall, and then there’s Karlie Kloss tall.” And Kloss told People magazine in 2016, “I think I would look like a crazy woman walking around [New York City] in heels since I’m 6’1” and 6’4” in heels. Plus, I take the subway, so I’d stand out even more!”

Actress Suzie Plakson has appeared in a whole host of television shows over the years — including multi-episode stints on Mad About You and How I Met Your Mother. To sci-fi fans, though, she is likely best known for playing four different characters across three Star Trek shows. She was K’Ehleyr and Doctor Selar in The Next Generation, Tarah in Enterprise, and the Lady Q on Voyager.

Russian tennis superstar Maria Sharapova has made appearances in Billions and The Morning Show in recent years — along with a short cameo in Ocean’s 8. In 2005 the then-18-year-old told the Los Angeles Times about a growth spurt that had taken her height to 6’2”. Sharapova said she had received back pain from it. Ouch.

Tenet star Elizabeth Debicki told the Daily Mail in 2016, “Granted, it’s not easy to be a super tall woman in Hollywood. But there are times when it works in my favor. In The Night Manager, for example, both of my co-stars — Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston — are also well over 6 feet, and it was lovely to look a co-star in the eye and not have them standing on an apple box.”

Okay, so this one probably isn’t that surprising. But did you know that the Star Wars and Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie often emphasizes her statuesque height even more by wearing skyscraper heels? She told Vogue, “At 12, I was 5’7” inches. At 14, I was 6’1”. Then I grew another couple of inches after that when I was around 18. I’m now 6’3” and a quarter.” She’d tower over almost every leading man in Hollywood.

Retired basketball star Lisa Leslie has parlayed her fame into a few movie roles over the years. She played herself in 2012’s Think Like a Man and What Men Want seven years later. The 6-foot-5-inch athlete has also modeled, and she once told the Star Telegraph, “I did my first fashion show when I was 11. It took off from there. I was already a 6 footer at the time…” Whoa.