Linda Hamilton

Hamilton studied acting in Washington, D.C. before moving to Los Angeles and working steadily in television through the late 1970s and early 80s, including a lead role on a short-lived horror series, well before The Terminator made her a genre icon.

Sarah Connor's transformation from waitress to warrior — carried across two films by Hamilton's ferocious commitment — is the defining character arc of 80s and 90s science fiction. She trained for months in weapons handling and gymnastics ahead of Terminator 2 to physically embody Sarah's transformation into a hardened survivalist, famously performing many of her own pull-ups and combat stunts herself.

She married director James Cameron during the years between the two films, and returned to the role decades later for Terminator: Dark Fate alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, becoming one of the few actors in the franchise to reprise a role across such a long span while still performing much of her own physical work.