By Kathleen Murphy
Special to MSN Movies

Hollywood's always hot for sure things. Remake blockbusters. Piggyback a sequel -- or a prequel -- on a megahit. Churn out more of whatever sold last week. Cast Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt in anything that moves. Keep those carbon-copy movies a-coming!

That makes for hard times for actresses who aren't Angelina Jolie or Reese Witherspoon, Hollywood "sexpots" or "sweeties." But that's nothing new, you say. Hasn't the silver screen more often than not been sudden death to women who look and act "different" or to stars on the far side of 25?

Maybe so. But box-office tyranny has joined forces with Botox, cosmetic surgery and 24/7 workouts to manufacture something scarily like the "virtual" actress -- an ageless creature as smooth and perfect and unlived-in as any videogame avatar.

Problem is, audiences are flat-out bored with clones and carbon copies (witness last summer's box-office slump.)  Movie lovers have a jones for faces (and voices ... and bodies) that belong to signal, distinctive characters instead of cosmeticized, buff, generic perfection. What's needed are flesh-and-blood works in progress, beauty spiced by quirks and flaws, shaped by experience, colored by singular acting style and intelligence.

Underappreciated, too often underrated, idiosyncratic actresses are still at large in movieland, however. Though top billing may elude them, these women take first place in our movie memories ...

Sarah Polley
Passing her on the street, you might not give her a second glance. Almost anemic in her pallor, she looks like a thousand other delicate, coffee-house blondes, with wide-set eyes, soft mouth, long, straight hair. But turn the camera on Polley's deceptively quiet face and watch it incandesce with white-hot emotion and fierce intelligence -- or glow with surprising sensuality. Polley hit the international big-time with Atom Egoyan's "The Sweet Hereafter" (1997), playing a paralyzed teenager with a very old soul, serene and wise despite terrible emotional wear and tear. Badly scripted, beautifully acted, "Guinevere" (1999) garnered her the title of indie "It Girl," but the maverick actress continued to deep-six hot properties in favor of challenging roles in movies with directors she admires: David Cronenberg's "eXistenZ"; Kathryn Bigelow's "The Weight of Water"; Michael Winterbottom's "The Claim"; and Isabel Coixet's "My Life Without Me." And political activist Polley's latest role is a witch with a message in Icelandic director Sturla Gunnarson's forthcoming "Beowulf and Grendel."