HOT GALLERY: 12 of Our Favorite Jane Austen Film Heroines of TV and Film

After wealthy Mr. Dashwood dies, he leaves his wife and daughters penniless by the rules of inheritance. Emma Thompson, who also won an Oscar for writing the film, plays the sensible Miss Elinor Dashwood in Ang Lee’s 1995 classic adaptation of Austen’s novel. Will Elinor find love with amiable Edward (Hugh Grant)? Will his quiet reserve suit her? Will she ever slouch? Not on Emma Thompson’s watch.

Fa la, Mr. Darcy! Jennifer Ehle’s portrayal of sharp-tongued Elizabeth Bennet opposite Colin Firth’s smoldering Mr. Darcy inspired a generation of singletons to faint away. Austen fans were practically swooning in the streets when it was revealed that Ehle had a brief, romantic fling with Firth. Even Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones of Bridget Jones’s Diary fantasized about the pair, nodding to the fact that Bridget herself is loosely based on Elizabeth Bennet.
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“Good grief, woman. Your skills in the art of matchmaking are positively occult,” says Mr. Bennet (Donald Sutherland) to his wife in Pride & Prejudice (2005). Brenda Blethyn defends the aggressive Mrs. Bennet, telling the Telegraph that “I've always thought she had a real problem and shouldn't be made fun of. She's pushy with a reason. As soon as Mr. Bennet dies, all the money goes down the male line; she has to save her daughters from penury.” Her reasoning clearly resonates, as Blethyn’s portrayal of the blustering matriarch strikes fear into the hearts of any suitable bachelor, past and present.

If Brenda Blethyn is all delightful dithering as Mrs. Bennet, then Keira Knightley is cat's-eyes and sly smiles as Elizabeth Bennet. In Pride & Prejudice, Knightley tosses off dialogue as if penning a column for Ms. magazine. As Knightley explained to Movieweb.com, “I think when people see the film, they will see aspects of themselves in [Elizabeth]. Which is what's so brilliant about Austen, I think you see yourself in all her characters. Strong women.” You are a fierce one, Miss Bennet!

“The most incomprehensible thing in the world to a man is a woman who rejects his offer of marriage,” quotes Gwyneth Paltrow in the titular role of the 1996 adaptation of Emma. Paltrow plays the snobbish-if-well-meaning English heiress to the hilt, offering advice and matchmaking from her well-appointed position in society. Perhaps the future GOOP blogger was really just playing an 18th-century version of herself?

Where would Miss Emma Woodhouse (Gwyneth Paltrow) be without her naïve protégée, Miss Harriet Smith? Toni Collette plays Harriet as a bumbling, simple country lass in Emma—the perfect foil to Emma’s earnest opinions on husband hunting. Luckily for Harriet, Emma ultimately learns the error of her matchmaking ways.

Frances O’Connor was not a fan of Jane Austen as a child. “I was much more into the Brontes,” she told CNN. “Romance and rain and that sort of thing.” Luckily, she changed her mind as she aged, going on to give up a complex and, dare we say, sensual portrayal of Fanny Price in Mansfield Park. O’Connor expertly plays her chemistry off the charts with soul mate Edmund Bertram (Johnny Lee Miller). Kissing cousins have never been so sexy.

Sally Hawkins brings to life the much-put-upon Anne Elliot in this BBC television adaptation. Anne was persuaded to reject Captain Wentworth when she was a mere 19 years old. Now at the spinster-friendly age of 27, Anne is still unmarried and in love with the dashing captain, who is rich, handsome, and carrying a major grudge. Keep your fire extinguishers handy—Hawkins plays Anne with so much repressed, smoldering power that your television screen practically catches aflame.

Alicia Silverstone is Cher, a popular Beverly Hills princess who splits her time between shopping and matchmaking. Sound familiar? Amy Heckerling’s modern adaptation of Emma made Alicia Silverstone a star and Paul Rudd the cutest ex-stepbrother you ever wanted to kiss. “Sometimes you have to show a little skin. This reminds boys of being naked, and then they think of sex,” offers Cher as the ultimate key to catching your man. Austen would have surely applauded such a decisive, modern Emma.
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Northanger Abbey has only been adapted to film twice, which is unusual for a Jane Austen novel. And yet it easily has the most dramatic, dark flair. Felicity Jones brings us a Catherine Morland who is all ingénue innocence mixed with a taste for blood. “Our mother did suffer grievously and at the hands of our father. Do you remember I spoke of a kind of vampirism?” says the mysterious Henry Tilney to the highly strung Catherine Morland. The scheming romance and betrayal in this BBC television adaptation is all Austen.

Jane Austen never married, but there has been much speculation about the love affairs of perhaps the world’s best-known romantic author. Becoming Jane gives us the love story of the authoress before she was the famous writer, proposing that Jane almost ran away to marry Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy), the nephew of her neighbors. Meanwhile, Jane receives the attentions of the entirely suitable Mr. Wisley (Laurence Fox). Will Jane choose the acceptable Wisley or the dashing Lefroy? Or will she choose her writing in the end? Lucky for us and all future Austen devotees, we already know the answer.
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