Time was when actresses were expected to have swapped their greasepaint for aprons by the time they turned 40 and settle down to playing mothers on-screen and off it. Thankfully, we've left those dark ages behind. Take inspiration (or look and weep!) from this roll call of celebrities who have looked 40 squarely in the face and stared it down. Sridevi, Madhuri, JLo, Halle and gang prove that age is truly no bar now.
Time was when actresses were expected to have swapped their greasepaint for aprons by the time they turned 40 and settle down to playing mothers on-screen and off it. Thankfully, we've left those dark ages behind. Take inspiration (or look and weep!) from this roll call of celebrities who have looked 40 squarely in the face and stared it down. Sridevi, Madhuri, JLo, Halle and gang prove that age is truly no bar now.
Just when we thought she had settled for a quiet life of domesticity with husband Boney Kapoor and her two daughters,
Sridevi stunned us with her comeback film English Vinglish which fetched her a standing ovation at the Toronto
Film Festival. At 49, Sridevi looks even better than she did when she was in her prime as an actress.
Dhak Dhak girl Madhuri Dixit, who relocated to India last year after living in the US for almost a decade, still
manages to cause hearts to flutter in her current role as judge on the dance reality show . She recently
matched her former on-screen rival Sridevi step-for-step on the same show. 45-year-old Madhuri is readying for her comeback and has
signed films like Gulab Gang and Dedh Ishqiya.
Oh, to look like Monica Bellucci when we are 48! The sexy Italian actress recently took the San Sebastian International Film Festival by storm in a series of stunning outfits that would have put actresses half her age to shame. You might remember Monica from the Matrix sequels and as Cleopatra in the live action Asterix And Obelix: Mission Cleopatra. Monica is married to Ocean's Twelve and Thirteen actor Vincent Cassel.
Mexican actress Salma Hayek's secret to eternal youth - she says she doesn't wash her face! At 46, it seems to work for her. Not only is Salma drop-dead gorgeous, she's also a funny girl. We loved her in 30 Rock and movies like The Grown Ups. She can also turn in a mean dramatic performance, like her Oscar nominated turn in Frida.
Jennifer Lopez made it to the Forbes' 100 Most Powerful Women List last month and has already played big concerts this year as well judged reality show American Idol. She has a boyfriend many years her junior, juggles her singing career with movie roles, has a clothing line and one of the most famous bodies (not to mention behinds) in showbiz. Even now, at 43.
Halle Berry's bikini-clad scene from Die Another Day and leather-clad turn as Catwoman elevated her for ever more to a level of desirability most actresses only dream of. At 46, Halle has defied age and diabetes with regular workouts and a healthy diet.
Also 43, Catherine Zeta Jones has weathered several recent personal storms, including her battle with bi-polar disorder and husband Michael Douglas' bout with throat cancer. Despite that, the raven-haired Chicago actress never looks anything less than serenely lovely.
Sharon Stone's Basic Instinct has kept her miraculously youthful even at 54. She has a body that is the envy of actresses much younger than her, alabaster skin and a style that remains as playful and fearless as it was when she wore a couture skirt with a white Gap shirt to the Oscars in 1998.
The Queen of Pop Madonna may have ditched the conical bras for sheer black lace, but that's pretty much all that's changed from when she was twenty something to now, when she's 54. She's still controversial, still a style icon, still admired for her fantastic figure, and still a bundle of energy in concert.
At 47, Sex and The City star Sarah Jessica Parker has lost none of the charm from when she starred in Footloose decades ago, and has managed to be the favourite face for leading fashion brands. Here she is, at a ballet gala in New York, wearing a sheer Valentino dress that left a trail of dropped jaws in her wake.
