Fab and 40s: Our Favorite Leading Ladies!

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Halle Berry

Her Oscar for Monster's Ball, came at age 35, butHalle Berry, 46, says the best thing that ever happened to her came at age 41, when she gave birth to now 4-year-old daughter Nahla in 2008. That's why she told an interviewer, "I'm not sad at all about turning 40," in 2007, when she was pregnant with her little girl. After a custody battlewith Nahla's dad, Gabriel Aubry, Berry seems to be managing that sometimes elusive balance between motherhood and work -- even turning down movie roles to spend time with Nahla. "She is my new favorite thing," she told Vogue about her daughter in 2010. But now Berry is back in theaters, starring in the hit book-to-film sci-fi movie Cloud Atlas. And, when she's not busy working, she's enjoying her engagement to actor Olivier Martinez, who proposed in January.

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Jennifer Garner
Former Alias star Jennifer Garner is still kicking butt at age 40! The busy mom, who has three kids with hubby Ben Affleck, looks amazing for her age -- which is why David Letterman couldn't believe she had her milestone birthday in April. "I like being 40," she told him. "I really like it. I had no problem with it. I feel like, what more could I want? I can't speak for [my husband], but it doesn't look like he's as happy as I am about turning 40." This year she starred in Butter and The Odd Life of Timothy Green, plus gave birth to her son Samuel. Next up, she's filming The Dallas Buyer's Club, and she shows no signs of slowing down.

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Sofia Vergara
She just got engaged, her career is on the upswing and she's one of the sexiest stars in Hollywood. So why is Modern Family star Sofia Vergara upset about reaching 40? "Turning 40 is horrible,” she admitted to Lucky. "People that say it isn't are full of sh*t!" (Love that honesty!) But even though she's not thrilled about aging, she's excited about the future -- and she hasn't ruled out having more kids. "[My fiance Nick Loeb] is younger than me, 37, and he never had them," says the actress, who has a 20-year-old son from her previous marriage. "So if he wants one, maybe I will have."

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Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston was 35 when Friends wrapped and 36 when her marriage to Brad Pitt fizzled in the most public way imaginable. Despite the ending of these two iconic eras, the 43-year-old actress continues to succeed in both Hollywood and in love. The Wanderlust star -- who met her fiance Justin Theroux, on the set of that Judd Apatow movie -- is currently filming We're the Millers and has a few other movies on deck. And she's managed to look better than ever. "I could do it," Aniston told U.K. Harper's Bazaar about getting Botox. "I mean, these lines are getting deeper every day, but when I tell you what’s happened to me -- these lines are just about living."

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Viola Davis
It seems that Viola Davis, 47, is at the peak of her career. Aside from landing two Oscar nominations in the past three years -- a supporting actress nod for Doubt (2009) and a lead actress nomination for last year's The Help -- Davis has maintained a steady stream of dramatic roles for the past several years. But according to Davis, not all actresses (especially African-American women) can be so lucky. "It’s much harder to get a film with a woman lead made," Davis said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "When a man hits 40 is when roles just begin to happen. And for women it doesn’t happen. I find that to be a very concerning issue." But despite Davis' worry, the actress has it pretty good: in addition to her flourishing film career, she adopted 1-year-old daughter Genesis with husband Julius Tennon last year.

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Sarah Jessica Parker
The last Emmy she won for Sex and the City came at age 39, and the 47-year-old Sarah Jessica Parker has only continued to endure as a fashion icon and actress since the HBO series left the airwaves. As both the star and a producer, she took the show to the big screen twice, all while raising 10-year-old son James Wilkie and 3-year-old twin daughters Marion and Tabitha (born via surrogate) with husband Matthew Broderick. Parker, who recently wrapped up filming Lovelace (she's taking on the role of Gloria Steinem), once told Oprah Winfrey that she aspires to have a balanced life. "I want to be a better parent, a better actress -- to keep myself challenged and terrified," she told Winfrey. "And I want to read books and have conversations with my friends about plays we've seen. I want to mess up a million recipes at home, like I used to."

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Tina Fey
Tina Fey can make a joke out of virtually anything -- so why should the aging process be any different? The 42-year-old funny woman penned a New Yorker article in February 2011, in which she pokes fun at the way Hollywood views middle-aged women. "Science shows that fertility and movie offers drop off steeply for women after forty," Fey writes. In that article, she also noted that women, at least in comedy, are labeled 'crazy' after a certain age -- well, there's nothing crazy about Fey's success. Her sitcom 30 Rock has collected numerous Emmys since its start in 2006, and her 2011 memoir Bossypants sold more than 1 million copies. And did we mention she's a mom? Fey raises daughters Alice, 7, and Penelope, 1, with husband Jeff Richmond.

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Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow takes her 40th birthday seriously, so she took off to Italy for the big celebration! The Iron Man star shared her feelings about turning 40 to Us Weekly. "I was really worried about it, leading up to the day, but now I feel really happy and content with my life," the actress told reporters. "I'm excited to move into the next phase. It's much more exciting than I thought it would be." Besides having a busy career, the Oscar-winning actress keeps busy looking after her kids -- Apple, 8, and Moses, 6 -- and spending time with her musical hubby, Coldplay singer Chris Martin.

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Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock, 48, didn't have her star-making breakthrough until 1994's Speed at the age of 30. But since turning 40 in 2004, her career has reached new heights: She walked away with a best actress Academy Award for her role in 2009's The Blind Side. "I missed the screw-everything, have-a-good-time phase. I was worried that if I didn't stay on track and work, work, work, I was never going to accomplish anything," she told Harper's Bazaar. "Now I'm trying to have fun and have the freedom to do nothing." And Bullock has a good reason to do nothing these days: Though her marriage to Jesse James fell apart amid cheating accusations, the effervescent actress adopted now-2-year-old son Louis in January 2010.

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Julia Roberts
After her Oscar-winning turn in Erin Brockovich and meeting cameraman hubby Danny Moder on the set of The Mexican, Roberts became more selective with her projects, choosing to spend more time as a doting mom to 8-year-old twins Hazel and Phinnaeus and son Henry, 5. But beginning with Eat Pray Love and continuing through a long list of upcoming movies, including the adaptation of another book favorite, The Friday Night Knitting Club, Roberts remains firmly ensconced on Hollywood's A-list. And to what does she attribute all her life's successes? Aging! "I had lunch the other day with my niece, (actress) Emma (Roberts), and she said, 'You're so smart, Aunt Julia,'" Roberts once told Good Housekeeping magazine. "And I wanted to say, 'I'm not smart -- I'm 41! You're 17!'"

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Cameron Diaz
After seeing her risque photoshoot for Esquire U.K., it's hard to believe that blonde bombshell Cameron Diaz is 40 years old! "For the first time in my life I’m content,” she told the magazine in November. "I’m so excited. Getting older is the best part of life. Like, I know more than I’ve ever known. I have gratitude. I know myself better. I feel more capable than ever. And as far as the physicality of it -- I feel better at 40 than I did at 25." And though the actress is known for bouncing from one Hollywood hunk to the next, she's not ruling out marriage and kids. "There’s still a possibility of that," she said. "I ain't that old!"

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Nicole Kidman
Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman, 45, hopes that with age will come knowledge. "I'd like to be wise," she has said. "You have to go through a lot to get there, but I'm willing to go through a lot." Enjoying life as a mom to 4-year-old daughter Sunday Rose and to 1-year-old Faith Margaret with country-star husband Keith Urban (younger sisters to her adoptive kids with ex Tom Cruise, Isabella, 19, and Connor, 17), the actress is also in the middle of one of the busiest periods of her career. Her latest film to hit theaters was the thriller The Paperboy, costarring Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey. And, she's wrapping up several projects, which will come out next year, including Stoker, The Railway Man and Grace of Monaco, where she will be playing Grace Kelly.

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Marisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei's first major career triumph came with her Oscar-winning performance in My Cousin Vinny in 1993, and despite an Academy Award nod for 2002's In the Bedroom, many in Hollywood might have written off the 47-year-old actress if not for another Oscar-nominated performance as an aging stripper in 2008's The Wrestler. "In some ways, I think (The Wrestler) is making that transition for me... because this age (the early 40s) is an age where people say we can’t act anymore -- Hollywood hokum," she laughed to the Tufts Daily newspaper. "I feel this movie has opened up another layer for me as an actor." Tomei showed them -- she had several hits last year, including Crazy, Stupid, Love and The Ides of March, and is the leading lady in the upcoming holiday comedy Parental Guidance, costarring Bette Midler and Billy Crystal.

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Courteney Cox
Though she shows her sexy side as a single 40-something mom on the ABC show Cougar Town, Courteney Cox, 48, doesn't always feel so sexy in her real life. "I've never seen so many beautiful people walking around. Then as I get older, I find myself going, Wow, I can't believe I'm not the youngest one anymore!" Cox told Marie Claire. These days, the mom to 8-year-old daughter Coco is dealing gracefully with her separation from husband David Arquette after 11 years of marriage. And she remains close friends to Coco's godmother, BFF Jennifer Aniston.

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Salma Hayek
An actress, producer and director, 45-year-old Salma Hayek gets busier every year. She may look sweet, but the Mexican bombshell starred as a no-nonsense cartel leader in the Oliver Stone drama Savages earlier this year. She followed up the tough-talking role with a light-hearted one, in the Kevin James comedy Here Comes the Boom. Mom to 5-year-old daughter Valentina (with husband Francois-Henri Pinault), Hayek has also used her celebrity to advocate for children's causes around the world, even causing a stir when she breastfed an African infant on a goodwill mission to Sierra Leone. "I know a lot of women think that this is the time when you start getting depressed," Hayek told Glamour. "To that I say, "No, no, no, no, no!" I'm having the best time of my life."

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Laura Linney
It's a safe bet that many of the roles you know and love Laura Linney, 48, for have come since she turned 40: HBO's fantastic miniseries John Adams (which nabbed her a well-deserved Emmy) and her Showtime comedy The Big C, about a suburban mom and teacher who tries to find the humor in being diagnosed with cancer. In an interview with The New York Times, Linney shed light on why she's enjoying the most productive years of her career post-40. "A lot of people don’t get that privilege," Linney told the newspaper, referring to the loved ones she's lost. "And there’s an extreme disrespect toward that that’s cuckoo." And when she's about to complain about some aspect of aging, she imagines those she's lost "taking me by my shoulders and shaking me (and saying) 'Snap out of it!'"

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Naomi Watts
Like her good friend Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, 44, has hit her career and personal life stride, successfully juggling a thriving career, motherhood (to sons Sasha, 5, and Samuel, 4) and a relationship with her children's father, actor Liev Schreiber. And Watts opts to see the positive side of aging. "Instead of thinking, 'How can I slow the aging process?' I think 'How can I bend the rules?'" the Australian actress told an interviewer. "Every year you add to your life, you're going to add a different experience to your face." Among the new experiences she'll be adding to her resume: playing Princess Diana in the upcoming film Diana.

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Vanessa Williams
Vanessa Williams has been Miss America, a Grammy-nominated singer and an Emmy-nominated actress while raising four kids and surviving two divorces. The 49-year-old actress followed up her deliciously over-the-top role on the now-defunct Ugly Betty with an equally juicy role as Lynette's (Felicity Huffman) college frenemy on Desperate Housewives before it ended. And she says she's managed to age so gracefully by exercising, eating well, using good beauty products and keeping a simple, realistic goal in mind. "My goal is to look like me. I have four kids," Williams -- who's been open about using Botox -- told Working Mother magazine. "I'm proud of my age."

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Edie Falco
She'll always be Carmela Soprano to a lot of TV fans, but her over-40 role as a drug-addicted nurse and married mom on Nurse Jackie has proven that The Sopranos actress Edie Falco, 49, can more than hold her own. Age certainly doesn't get in the way of her acting -- Falco won an Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series in 2010 for her role in the Showtime hit, and was nominated for the same award this year. "After 32 everybody is the same age. My friends and I all forget who's older," Falco told Ugo.com. The breast cancer survivor also juggles work with her home life as the single mom of two adopted children, son Anderson, 7, and daughter Macy, 4.

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Diane Lane
Diane Lane, 47, has been making movies since she was 13, when she appeared opposite Sir Laurence Olivier in 1979's Little Romance, a role that landed her on the cover of Time magazine. Now, more than 30 years later, Lane is taking her life and career in stride. "As I take each baby step toward 60 and away from, uh, 20, I'm realizing I have everything I need," the actress -- who's married to Josh Brolin and has a 19-year-old daughter, Eleanor, with ex-husband Christopher Lambert -- told Redbook magazine. "I'm not talking about material possessions. To me, there's no greater reward than being around people you care about and can be present with." Next up for Lane? Playing Clark Kent's adoptive mother in the highly anticipated Superman reboot, Man of Steel!