Is Nicole Kidman villain Millicent in Paddington film the meanest?

THEY’RE so good at being bad. But which Hollywood actress has created the most memorable villain in movie history? Vote for your favourite femme fatale.

BAD girls might well have more fun. They certainly generate a lot of attention.

No wonder so many Hollywood A-listers — Kate Winslet (Divergent), Meryl Streep (The Giver) and Julianne Moore (The Hunger Games) among them — are keen to embrace them.

Nicole Kidman’s evil taxidermist in the upcoming film adaptation Paddington is just the latest in a long line of scene-stealing female villains that includes Angelina Jolie’s game-changing performance in Maleficent and Helena Bonham-Carter’s deliciously dark flight of fantasy as Death Eater Bella Lestrange in the Harry Potter films.

To coincide the first-look image of the Oscar-winning Australian actress in the role of Millicent, arch nemesis to Ben Whishaw’s beloved Paddington bear, we have compiled a list of our 10 family-friendly favourites.

Scroll down to vote.

Angelina Jolie (Maleficent)

While the critical reception was mixed, no one had a bad word to say about Angelina Jolie’s devilishly appealing performance as the iconic villainess in Disney’s revisionist take on the Grimm brothers fairytale Sleeping Beauty.

Margaret Hamilton (Wizard of Oz)

Talk about scene-stealing performances. Although she had only 12 minutes of actual screen time, Margaret Hamilton’s terrifying performance as the Wicked Witch of The West has been haunting successive generations of schoolchildren for more than 70 years.

Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)

It’s hard to think of a female villain with more wit, style or self-preservation skills than Miranda Priestly, the magazine editor Meryl Streep reportedly based on Vogue’s Anna Wintour.

Helena Bonham Carter (Harry Potter)

Always just a little left of centre, Helena Bonham Carter’s performance as Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange was deliciously unhinged.

Tilda Swinton (The Chronicles of Narnia)

Few family-friendly bad girls are quite as intimidating as Tilda Swinton’s ice queen in the live action adaptation of C.S. Lewi’s classic fantasy.

Angelica Huston (The Witches)

Angelica Huston was Roald Dahl’s personal favourite for the role of the Grand High Witch in veteran British director Nicolas Roeg’s film adaptation of the children’s classic. And she didn’t let him down.

Glenn Close (101 Dalmations)

From Dangerous Liaisons to Fatal Attraction, Glenn Close understands dark allure of villains better than most. But with black and white dognapper Cruella De Vil, she stripped evil back to its bare essentials.

Jennifer Lawrence (X Men: Days of Future Past)

In the first two films, Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) wasn’t much more than Magneto’s henchwoman. But the blue-skinned vixen (now played by Jennifer Lawrence) has a mutant agenda all of her own in the latest film in the X-Men franchise.

Charlize Theron (Snow White and the Hunstman)

The South African-born actress will reprise her role as Queen Raveena in the prequel to the 2012 fantasy, which took almost $400 million at the box office. Kristen Stewart won’t make an appearance but the services of Chris Hemsworth have been retained.

Uma Thurman (Batman and Robin)

The Kill Bill star’s early role as Poison Ivy to George Clooney’s Batman makes the list on the basis of outfit alone.