A new British study has found that a man named Chris stands a better chance of landing a lead film role than any woman over the age of 60 — and that a talking animal is four times more likely to headline a major release than an older actress.
The analysis, conducted by researchers at the University of West London School of Film, Media and Design for the Age Without Limits anti-ageism campaign, examined the 100 highest-grossing films released in the United Kingdom across 2023, 2024 and 2025. Out of 300 films surveyed over three years, six featured a man named Chris as lead actor, while just five starred a woman over the age of 60. Around 20 films featured a talking animal in the lead role.
Chris Pratt alone accounted for half of the Chris contingent, headlining The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Garfield Movie. The remaining three slots went to Chris Pine (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves), Chris Hemsworth (Transformers One) and Christian Friedel (The Zone of Interest).
The five films starring an older woman over the three-year period were Allelujah with Jennifer Saunders, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 with Nia Vardalos, Book Club: The Next Chapter with the late Diane Keaton, The Substance with Demi Moore and Freakier Friday with Jamie Lee Curtis. Notably, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy narrowly missed inclusion because its star Renée Zellweger was three years below the study’s 60-year threshold.
The findings arrive as broader data reinforces the pattern. In the top-grossing U.S. films of 2025, women aged 60 and older accounted for just 2% of all major female characters, compared with 8% for men of the same age group.
Emma Thompson, a public supporter of the campaign, put the disparity plainly. “Women are half the population and we get older. So where are the stories about us?” she said, adding that cinema has yet to match lived reality for older women. Thompson’s own 2025 noir drama Dead of Winter grossed just $112,006 at the UK box office despite strong reviews, underlining the commercial obstacles that films fronted by older women routinely face.
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A public poll carried out alongside the research found that 39% of women surveyed believe too few films feature female actors over 60 in lead roles. Sixteen percent said the presence of an older female lead would make them more likely to buy a ticket — twice the proportion who said it would put them off.
Age Without Limits launched in January 2024 as England’s first dedicated anti-ageism campaign, backed by data showing that half of adults over 50 in England had experienced age discrimination in the previous year. Among those aged over 70, discrimination was most keenly felt through portrayals in television and film. Campaign spokesperson Anna Bailiss called ageism “the most common form of discrimination” and said it “limits work, health, relationships, ambition and confidence — and ultimately whose lives are seen as worth investing in.”
