10 Strong Female Characters That Have Become Real Role Models

To make a female character interesting, it’s not enough to just make her beautiful. This character should be deep and charismatic to help audiences feel a connection with her. Internet users shared their opinions on which female characters are great role models as strong and charismatic women.

Minerva McGonagall, the Harry Potter film series

• I was seriously contemplating naming my cat Minerva, but my cat is a little...she’s not that smart. Minerva McGonagall is one of those strong female characters that doesn’t shove it down your throat, she just was sort of like a granny. And the choice of Maggie Smith was perfect for the character. © Esmerelda-Weatherwax / Reddit
• Minerva McGonagall is everything I dreamed to be. She wasn’t a boring angry miserable old lady who regretted not focusing on her family and focusing on her career. She was the opposite. Yes, she was serious, but she wasn’t without humor, and she wasn’t bitter.
  She was actually nice, wise, and everyone looked up to her, and she never once commented on her lack of children, and she looked overall content with her life. McGonagall had a huge impact on my life because she was the only one in my childhood to show me that the life I wanted was possible. © Kat Čierna / Quora

Nani, Lilo & Stitch

• Nani is a realistic portrayal of an orphaned 19-year-old girl trying to make ends meet and provide the best life she can for her younger sister and herself. Trying to balance her social/romantic, work, and personal life and being forced to grow up and take responsibility fighting CPS to keep her only family left together, all the while facing alien shenanigans that occur. As Stitch said, “Broken but still good. Yeah, still good.” © Daedalus_Blade / Reddit
• I always liked how Nani never dismissed Lilo’s strange ideas or interests. Lilo enjoyed taking odd photos of strangers at the beach. What did Nani do? She developed/printed Lilo’s photos, so she could hang them on her bedroom wall. When Lilo asked for a lobster as a pet, Nani never made her feel stupid and instead insisted on a dog simply because they had a “dog door, not a lobster door.”
  The only time she really got upset with Lilo was when her safety was at risk. She always encouraged Lilo to be her weird little self, despite having to carry so much on her shoulders to keep the family together. All at the age of 19! © foolwire / Reddit

Elizabeth Swann, the Pirates of the Caribbean film series

• Elizabeth is independent, speaks her mind, and she’s also intelligent, brave and determined. But the most important thing is that her character does develop over the course of the story, Elizabeth starts the story as a lady and ends it as a pirate king. © Kami Ghorbanpour / Quora
• Elizabeth Swann is a good role model: fearless, adventurous, brave, curious, strong-minded, determined, independent, quick-witted, clever, loyal, kind, and beautiful. © Amelia Osbourne / Quora

Morticia Addams, The Addams Family

• There is a strong female character in a movie who doesn’t need to have muscle or kick some butt to look strong, or have short hair, or even wear pants. Morticia Addams. She isn’t afraid to be different, to become herself despite what other people think of her. She’s a wife and a mother, and also the matriarch of her family, feared, loved, and respected by them. The 1991 movie showed her as a strong woman without the need to be masculine to be in control of the situation. © Antonius Kamal / Quora
• Morticia lives in a long and loving marriage, loves her kids but lets them grow and pursue their own interests, is protective of the people she loves, and has an awesome house. What’s not to love? © wheezy_runner / Reddit

Ellie Sattler, Jurassic Park

• Ellie Sattler’s got her own skills, strengths, and motivations. She’s just as capable as her male colleagues, she goes her own way and does her own thing. Great character. © ThisIsTheNewSleeve / Reddit
• Ellie is good in the book too. Because Michael Crichton, the creator of this universe, supports the paleobotany thing with brilliant riffs on plant life and its importance. © TankVet / Reddit

Mattie, True Grit

• Mattie Ross is one of the most expertly, comprehensively imagined female characters I can remember reading or watching. The novel dates from the late ’60s, but the Coen brothers’ recent movie was a timely and accurate portrayal, and Hailee Steinfeld was superlative in the role. © Charles Corn / Quora
• Mattie dealt with her family’s affairs when her father was killed. She deftly negotiated the sale of and purchase of livestock and held her own on the frontier. She was a strong young woman with a lot of initiative. © Ben Rosenberg / Quora

Regina George, Mean Girls

• Regina George is my favorite female movie character of all time. Sure, she’s pretty, but the most interesting thing about Regina George isn’t her looks. It’s how she manipulates, is cunning, and how blunt and charismatic she is. Regina George is a bully, but she still has a likeable personality. © Kenny Nguyen / Quora
• Regina may be catty, manipulative, and superficial. But she’s clever and dedicated to becoming Spring Fling Queen. There’s nothing she won’t stop at in order to get the title. She has many negative traits, but you can’t say she isn’t cunning and dedicated. © Jay Melvin / Quora

Lisbeth Salander, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

• Lisbeth Salander is not the prettiest girl character yet one of the best. Apart from her goth looks, she is one of the best computer hackers in the world, she is a security specialist, bike enthusiast, she is fierce, she attacks like a viper, punishes people, steals from offenders, and doesn’t feel guilty about it. Yet she is beautiful, and she has emotional vulnerability when it comes to the people she loves. © Prateek Guru / Quora
• Lisbeth is a cyborg with a philosophy degree. She’s incredibly smart and has a level of focus that is scary. Hands down my favorite female character. © El_Dubious_Mung / Reddit

Marge Gunderson, Fargo

• Marge is established as a strong character from the get-go as she is woken up early in the morning, driving through thick snow to get to the crime scene. Her family background gives a sense of normalcy and gentleness, but at the same time, she is firm and cannot be taken for granted.
  You know her colleagues treat her with importance because the rest of the cops constantly report to her. She is not afraid to pursue a critical lead without backup, but smart enough to keep her distance. Throughout the movie, she is strong but normal, something that’s not shown often or easy to achieve. © Shashank Chidambara / Quora
• Marge Gunderson is the Aristotelian ideal of a strong female character. © Unknown author / Reddit

Princess Leia Organa, Star Wars

• Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back. I just saw that again last week and loved how strong she was. Compare her to many of the female characters pre-Star Wars, she’s amazing. © bowaxo3445 / Reddit
• I was surprised by how funny her dialogue is. Like it’s not exactly laugh-out-loud hilarious, but she comes out with the zingers from minute one, and it’s great. She isn’t just snarky, she’s snarky to Darth Vader, and Grand Moff Tarkin. I’m guessing the list of people who have the guts to be snarky to either of them isn’t much longer than one name. © vaildin / Reddit

Do you have favorite female characters?