5 Female Action Heroes To Hold You Over Until John Wick Spin-Off ‘Ballerina’ Hits Theaters This June

As a die-hard John Wick fan and life-long lover of kick-ass women in lead action roles, there is nothing I’m more excited for than this summer’s Ballerina starring Ana de Armas. If you’re in the same boat and need a way to off-set the anticipation, here are five female led action films and TV series to tide you over.

Atomic Blonde

Charlize Theron lives rent free in my head as Lorraine Broughton. The perfect platinum blonde hair, iconic ice plunge, amazing 80s soundtrack and fashion, gritty Berlin color scheme, and choreographed one-take stairwell fight are all unforgettable examples of how no detail was left un-curated in this highly stylized masterpiece. How could you help but let yourself be transported by it?

Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2

Bill’s name may be the only one featured in the title, but this movie is all about the women. While Uma Thurman’s role as ‘The Bride’ is sure to live on in cinematic history, I’m more fond of her various adversaries played by Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, and Chiaki Kuriyama. It’s eye-plucking, brain-splitting, punch your way out of a coffin action you’ll never tire of rewatching.

Salt

Laura Croft: Tomb Raider and Mr. and Mrs. Smith proved that Angelina Jolie could do an action film in her sleep, but Salt gave the actress an opportunity for a more serious take on the genre without any of the romance or fantasy slants to prop it up. She has the charisma and gravitas needed to believably leap from semi to semi on the freeway, and proved she could hold her own in the same bracket as 007.

Citadel: Diana

If you’re not familiar with Matilda De Angelis, she’s a star you need to keep an eye out for. Known for her leading role in Netflix’s The Law According to Lidia Poët, the Italian actress shares may qualities with our next pick in her expressive ability to portray the duality of espionage. In one scene Diana’s youth and vulnerability shine through, while in the next a disguise transforms not only her appearance, but her personality into a cold-hard killer.

Alias

Before Jennifer Garner gave us ‘Once Upon A Farm’ and ‘Pretend Cooking Show’ she brought the world spy Sydney Bristow, a grad student recruited by what she believes to be the CIA, but is actually covert criminal organization, SD-6. We have this series to thank for its gratuitous post-Super Bowl lingerie private jet fight scene, as well as Garner’s adorable relationship with ‘Spy Daddy’ Victor Garber.