Alisha Weir’s Abigail turns innocence into a weapon. Dressed like a fragile ballerina, she moves with poise until the fangs come out. The real chill comes from how easily she shifts from grace to carnage, smiling through every scream. This isn’t your typical child vampire. She’s a predator wrapped in pink satin, and she knows exactly what she’s doing. | © Universal Pictures
Chloë Grace Moretz makes Abby in Let Me In feel achingly real. At first, she’s just a shy, barefoot girl in the snow, and then you see the hunger behind her eyes. Every small smile hides centuries of loneliness, and when the blood starts to flow, pity and fear twist together in equal measure. | © Overture Films
Hotel Transylvania gives vampires a playful twist, centering on Mavis, the curious daughter of Count Dracula. Sheltered in her father’s monster-only resort, she dreams of seeing the human world, until a human named Johnny stumbles in and changes everything. Her journey from overprotected daughter to self-assured young woman is sweet, funny, and surprisingly relatable. | © Sony Pictures Releasing
Jenny Wright’s Mae in Near Dark feels caught between tenderness and damnation. She’s part drifter, part predator, a vampire who still remembers what it means to care. When she turns Caleb, it’s less an act of malice than a desperate attempt to keep from being alone, and that quiet sadness lingers long after the blood dries. | © De Laurentiis Entertainment Group
Few screen villains radiate power like Aaliyah’s Queen Akasha in Queen of the Damned. She doesn’t enter the story – she takes it over, awakening from centuries of slumber, ready to rule again. Every move she makes feels deliberate, dangerous, and magnetic, turning Akasha into a symbol of both beauty and absolute destruction. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
Sheila Vand’s vampire in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night feels unlike any other on screen. She moves through the deserted streets of Bad City with eerie calm, turning from a quiet observer into a force of retribution. There’s something deeply human in her isolation, and something chilling in how easily she decides who deserves to live. | © Kino Lorber
Tilda Swinton’s Eve in Only Lovers Left Alive is the rare vampire who radiates warmth instead of menace. Wise, cultured, and endlessly curious, she finds beauty in books, music, and the small joys that outlast centuries. While others brood over immortality, Eve celebrates it, proving that even in eternal night, compassion and art can still keep the soul alive. | © Sony Pictures Classics
Hailee Steinfeld’s Mary in Sinners brings a fresh, emotional depth to the vampire myth. Her story blends personal pain with the curse of immortality, showing a young woman caught between who she was and what she’s become. Steinfeld plays her with raw honesty and quiet strength, making Mary one of the most haunting new faces in modern horror. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
Clara and Eleanor Webb from Byzantium bring a haunting twist to the vampire myth. A mother and daughter bound by secrecy and blood, they clash between survival and the need to be seen. Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton make their bond feel both tender and tragic, a love story forged in centuries of pain. | © IFC Films
Elena Gilbert from The Vampire Diaries starts as a grieving teen and becomes the show’s beating heart. Through love, loss, and even death, she endures without losing her compassion. Her strength and humanity make her one of TV’s most relatable vampires. | © Warner Bros. Television
Alice Cullen from Twilight is the rare vampire who feels genuinely warm. With her visions of the future and an open heart, she often guides the Cullen family and Bella out of danger. Playful, loyal, and endlessly optimistic, Alice is the emotional anchor of the saga, proving that even in a world of darkness, kindness can be its own superpower. | © Summit Entertainment
Santanico Pandemonium in From Dusk Till Dawn is the definition of a vampire queen – mesmerizing, dangerous, and unforgettable. Her snake dance marks the movie’s wild turn from crime thriller to full-blown horror, and audiences still talk about it decades later. Equal parts homage and icon, she’s burned into pop culture as one of the genre’s most hypnotic figures. | © Miramax Films
Nadja from What We Do in the Shadows is chaos wrapped in lace and centuries of attitude. She’s dramatic, hilarious, and just self-aware enough to know it. Between her fights with Laszlo, ghostly past lovers, and flashes of eerie tenderness, she balances absurd comedy with real emotion, and still steals every scene. | © FX Networks
Pam from True Blood is the definition of a vampire with bite, and not just literally. Fiercely loyal to her maker, Eric yet never afraid to roll her eyes at him, she delivers sarcasm sharper than her fangs. Beneath the designer clothes and deadpan humor, though, lies a rare kind of devotion and vulnerability that make her one of the show’s most magnetic characters. | © HBO
Selene in Underworld redefined the modern vampire archetype. Cold, lethal, and impossibly stylish, she’s a warrior caught between bloodlines: part assassin, part tragic antihero. Dressed in black leather and armed with twin pistols, Selene’s every movement feels like a dance between vengeance and vulnerability, anchoring one of the most iconic vampire franchises of the 2000s. | © Sony Pictures Releasing
From tragic immortals to fierce queens, female vampires have always ruled the screen in their own way. Some seduce, some protect, and others simply survive, each with a story that cuts deeper than their fangs. These are the women who redefined what it means to be undead.
