See 19 Stars Who Have Played Marilyn Monroe
See 19 Stars Who Have Played Marilyn Monroe
Andrea Wurzburger, Emily KrauserFri, June 26, 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC
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From left: Ashley Judd as Norma Jean Dougherty in 1996's 'Norma Jean & Marilyn'; Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe in 2011's 'My Week with Marilyn'; Ana de Armas as Norma Jeane in 2022's 'Blonde'Credit: HBO/Kobal/Shutterstock; Bbc Films/Kobal/Shutterstock; Netflix
It must be nerve-racking to step into the shoes of an icon like Marilyn Monroe, but several actresses have taken on the challenge!
Born Norma Jean Mortenson, the Hollywood starlet was also known as Norma Jeane Baker and Norma Jeane Dougherty before adopting the stage name of Marilyn Monroe in 1946. (She legally changed her name to her stage moniker a decade later, per TheAtlantic.) She broke out in the mid-1940s, and everything about her life, including her tragic death at age 36 on Aug. 4, 1962, became a talking point.
Monroe left her beauty mark on the world, both literally and figuratively. Her signature platinum curls, classic minimalist style and soft-spoken mystique became synonymous with Old Hollywood glamour, while her life story continues to fascinate and inspire.
To wit, quite a few actresses have portrayed the woman behind the legend over the years. From Misty Rowe's early turn in 1976's Goodbye, Norma Jean to Ana de Armas' Oscar-nominated performance in 2022's Blonde, the big and small screens have kept the bombshell's legacy and likeness alive.
Here are all the stars who've portrayed Monroe in film and on TV.
01 of 19
Misty Rowe
Misty Rowe as Marilyn Monroe in 1976's 'Goodbye, Norma Jean'Credit: Mary Evans/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection
Known for her high-pitched voice and bubbly screen presence, Rowe was a fitting choice to play Monroe in Larry Buchanan's 1976 film Goodbye, Norma Jean, which chronicles the late actress' childhood through her journey to becoming a superstar in the early 1940s.
02 of 19
Paula Lane
Paula Lane as Marilyn Monroe in 1989's 'Goodnight, Sweet Marilyn'Credit: Studio Entertainment Distribution/Courtesy Everett Collection
Paula Lane starred as Monroe in Buchanan's 1989 follow-up, Goodnight, Sweet Marilyn, released over a decade after Goodbye, Norma Jean. The film revolves around the murky circumstances surrounding Monroe's death.
03 of 19
Catherine Hicks
Catherine Hicks as Marilyn Monroe in the 1980 ABC TV movie 'Marilyn: The Untold Story'Credit: Denis Plehn/American Broadcasting Companies via Getty
Catherine Hicks played Monroe in various stages of her life in the 1980 ABC television movie Marilyn: The Untold Story. Per TVStoreOnline, the 7th Heaven alum auditioned three times for the role and later received an Emmy nomination in 1981 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special.
04 of 19
Theresa Russell
Theresa Russell as Marilyn Monroe/'The Actress' in 1985's 'Insignificance'Credit: Silver Screen Collection/Getty
Theresa Russell stepped into Monroe's shoes (well, heels) when she played her in the 1985 British drama Insignificance. The surreal film imagines an alternate reality where four iconic figures — Monroe, her second husband and baseball legend Joe DiMaggio (Gary Busey), physicist Albert Einstein (Michael Emil) and senator Joseph McCarthy (Tony Curtis) — cross paths in a New York City hotel one night in 1954.
The Wild Thingsstar toldFilm Talk in October 2025 that Insignificance "was a hard film. I resisted that thing at first."
"I don't know if you remember, but around that time, there were three or four different Marilyns — even Madonna was dressing up like Marilyn, and Judy Davis had done the [London] play," she recalled. "I thought, 'Holy s---, I don't want to do this.' It looked like a terrible trap. Then, after I stopped judging and all of that, I thought, 'Let's see how we can do this.' And I found a way. I didn't want to be an imitation of an imitation of an imitation. All those actresses — sorry — that's what they were doing."
Ultimately, Russell found her way to the character via "an interpretation, not that she was like that. But I think parts of it were like her."
05 of 19
Susan Griffiths
Susan Griffiths as Marilyn Monroe in 1991's 'Marilyn and Me'Credit: New Films International/Courtesy Everett Collection
In 1991, Susan Griffiths — who had been impersonating Monroe in movies, advertisements and TV shows for decades — got the chance to play the icon in the TV movie Marilyn and Me, which focused on her alleged romance with writer Robert Slatzer (Jesse Dabson), who claimed he secretly married Monroe before Hollywood fame.
Griffiths told the Los Angeles Times in September of that year that she aimed to portray Monroe as a "real person" in the film, saying, "I used my own voice. I never did an imitation of her breathy, low voice. I really just did a version of myself in her capacity."
06 of 19
Barbara Niven
Barbara Niven as Marilyn Monroe in 1998's 'The Rat Pack'Credit: Hbo/Original Film/Kobal/Shutterstock
In HBO's Emmy-winning 1998 film The Rat Pack,Barbara Niven portrays the screen siren, who is introduced to John F. Kennedy (William L. Petersen) by Frank Sinatra (Ray Liotta) and begins an extramarital affair. The cast also includes Joe Mantegna as Dean Martin and Don Cheadle, who won a Golden Globe for his performance as Sammy Davis Jr.
"This was one of the greatest honors, & also a bit terrifying —because how do you play an ICON? No one can live up to the real Marilyn, but I hope she was happy with what I did. 💖," Niven wrote on X in February 2023 alongside throwback photos of herself as Monroe.
07 of 19
Melody Anderson
Melody Anderson as Marilyn Monroe in 1993's 'Marilyn & Bobby — Her Final Affair'Credit: Barry Weitz/The Auerbach Company/Kobal/Shutterstock
Melody Anderson played the blonde bombshell in the 1993 TV movie Marilyn & Bobby: Her Final Affair, a fictional account of the alleged affair between Monroe and then-U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
08 of 19
Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd as Norma Jean Dougherty in 1996's 'Norma Jean & Marilyn'Credit: HBO/Kobal/Shutterstock
In the 1996 HBO original movie Norma Jean & Marilyn, Ashley Judd played Norma Jean Dougherty, a fictionalized version of Monroe's pre-fame self who haunts and confronts her glamorous alter ego (Mira Sorvino) in dream-like scenes. Judd's performance earned her Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.
"I have never been a student of Marilyn Monroe's iconography, unlike Mira, who all her life had loved Marilyn," Judd told the New York Daily Newsin May of that year, adding, "It's great that I wasn't coming from this deep well of affection for her in my head, even though, ultimately, I ended up with one."
09 of 19
Mira Sorvino
Mira Sorvino as Marilyn Monroe in 1996's 'Norma Jean and Marilyn'Credit: HBO/Kobal/Shutterstock
Opposite Judd in Norma Jean & Marilyn, Sorvino stepped into the role of Monroe, channeling the famous actress after she became a superstar. She, too, received Emmy and Golden Globe nods for her leading performance.
Of playing Monroe, the Romy and Michelle's High School Reunionstar told the HFPA in July 2019, "The interesting thing about Marilyn, with all of her screwed-up-ness and all of her obvious problems in life, there was something very truthfully feminine about her, and it kind of empowered me to go back to accepting myself as a woman rather than an I'm just another person. I want to be me."
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10 of 19
Poppy Montgomery
Poppy Montgomery as Marilyn Monroe on the 2001 CBS TV miniseries 'Blonde'Credit: CBS via Getty
Poppy Montgomery took her turn as Monroe on the 2001 miniseries Blonde, the first screen adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name.
The Australian actress told Entertainment Weeklyin May 2001, "When I told my mother I got the part of Marilyn Monroe, she didn't even bat an eyelash. She said, 'Well, you've been rehearsing for it your whole life.' "
11 of 19
Charlotte Sullivan
Charlotte Sullivan as Marilyn Monroe on the 2011 miniseries 'The Kennedys'Credit: ReelzChannel
In 2011, Charlotte Sullivan appeared on one episode of the eight-episode miniseries The Kennedys as the blonde bombshell and performed Monroe's infamous "Happy Birthday" to President Kennedy on his 45th birthday.
12 of 19
Michelle Williams
Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe in 2011's 'My Week with Marilyn'Credit: BBC Films/Kobal/Shutterstock
Michelle Williams transformed into Monroe for the 2011 film My Week with Marilyn. She won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Monroe and was nominated for an Academy Award.
In November of that year, Williams told The Hollywood Reporter of portraying Monroe authentically, "For me, the most crucial discovery — the flash — was that the widely accepted image of Marilyn Monroe was a character that Norma Jean played."
She added, "Unless you study her and understand her a bit better than the commonly accepted view, one could miss who she was underneath that. Marilyn was a part she played."
13 of 19
Uma Thurman, Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty
From left: Uma Thurman as Rebecca Duvall as Marilyn Monroe on 'Smash'; Katharine McPhee as Karen Cartwright as Marilyn Monroe on 'Smash'; Megan Hilty as Ivy Lynn as Marilyn Monroe on 'Smash'Credit: Will Hart/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images; Mark Seliger/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images (2)
Uma Thurman, Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty each took their turn in 2012 as Monroe on Smash, the NBC series about the staging of a fictional musical appropriately named Bombshell.
14 of 19
Blake Lively
From left: Chace Crawford as Nate Archibald, Hugo Becker as Louis, Blake Lively as Serena Van Der Woodsen as Marilyn Monroe, Ed Westwick as Chuck Bass (front) and Penn Badgley as Dan Humphrey on 'Gossip Girl'Credit: Giovanni Rufino/The CW
In 2012, Blake Lively briefly channeled Monroe for a dream sequence on the 100th episode of Gossip Girl in 2012, donning Monroe's iconic hot pink outfit as she lip-synced "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" from 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
15 of 19
Kelli Garner
Kelli Garner as Marilyn Monroe on 2015's 'The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe'Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock
Kelli Garner played Monroe on the 2015 miniseries The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe. The day the first 84-minute episode premiered on Lifetime that May, the Lars and the Real Girl actress told Today that she was "extremely apprehensive" to take on the role.
"It's Marilyn Monroe, you know? Those are really, really big shoes," Garner said in May of that year. "And I wasn't sure if I could pull it off."
16 of 19
Alisha Soper
Alisha Soper as Marilyn Monroe on 'Feud: Bette and Joan'Credit: FX Network
The first season of Ryan Murphy's Feudwas devoted to the notorious rivalry between Hollywood icons Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange) and Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon) during and after the making of the 1962 cult classic What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?.
In the pilot, Alisha Soper makes a brief appearance as Monroe, wearing a red sequin gown to accept a Golden Globe in 1961 for her performance in Some Like It Hot — even though Monroe didn't attend the ceremony IRL.
17 of 19
Margot Robbie
Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn as Marilyn Monroe in 2020's 'Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)'Credit: Warner Bros.
Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn embraces the bombshell archetype in the 2020 DC film Birds of Prey.
After taking a hit from Roman Sionis/Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) while tied up at his nightclub, Harley falls into a surreal musical fantasy in which she becomes Monroe and performs a more violent rendition of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."
18 of 19
Ana de Armas
Ana de Armas as Norma Jeane in 2022's 'Blonde'Credit: Netflix
De Armas stars as the late actress in the controversial 2022 Netflix film Blonde,a somewhat fictional take on the icon's life.
According to de Armas, it was hard work perfecting Monroe's signature breathy voice.
"I tried!" she told the U.K.'s Sunday Times in January 2021. "It only took me nine months of dialect coaching and practicing, and some ADR sessions."
The Knives Out star received rave reviews following the film's Venice Film Festival debut in September 2022, despite the movie itself getting a lukewarm reception. De Armas later earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, becoming the first Cuban performer to be recognized in the category.
19 of 19
Madonna and Chloe Fineman
From left: Madonna as Marilyn Monroe during the 'Inaugural Gala' sketch on 'Saturday Night Live' in 1993; Chloe Fineman as Marilyn Monroe during the 'Blonde' sketch on 'SNL' in 2022Credit: Al Levine/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty; Will Heath/NBC via Getty
Over the years, Saturday Night Live has seen several stars put on the bottle blonde wig and emulate Monroe's breathy voice. Madonna played the icon several times throughout the '80s and '90s, including in the 1993 "Inaugural Gala," and Chloe Fineman spoofed the 2022 Netflix film Blonde with a parody of Monroe.
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