Jeanne Tripplehorn

Despite landing significant roles in high-profile features early in her career, actress Jeanne Tripplehorn worked for years before becoming a household name on the hit cable series, "Big Love" (HBO, 2006-11). Prior to playing one of three wives married to a Mormon polygamist, the stage-trained Tripplehorn worked steadily in features, making her big screen debut with a prominent supporting turn in "Basic Instinct" (1992). She upped her profile in a big way when she starred opposite Tom Cruise in "The Firm" (1993), but faded a bit after playing Kevin Costner's wife in "Waterworld" (1995), considered by many to be one of Hollywood's biggest and most notorious box office disasters. From there, Tripplehorn settled into a series of non-studio features like "Very Bad Things" (1998) and "Sliding Doors" (1998), the latter of which gave her a rare opportunity to display her comedic gifts. But it was her finely nuanced performance on "Big Love" - at once both strong and wounded - that earned Tripplehorn considerable acclaim and the promise of greater things to come.