Sarah Connor

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Played by Linda Hamilton

When we first meet Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) in James Cameron’s Terminator, she’s a meek single gal on the lam to protect her unborn child from a futuristic cyborg. When we catch up with her ten years later in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, she’s become the world’s toughest mama; lean and muscled (thanks to Hamilton’s incredible off-screen training regimen) and stuck in a mental institution, Connor lives for one thing, and one thing only: to reunite with her ten-year-old son John. Luckily, with the help of another father figure from the future (Arnold Schwarzenegger as a kinder, gentler Terminator), Sarah cobbles together her atypical family unit, putting all those years of mercenary living, arms collecting, and weapons training to good use in order to protect her only son – and with him, the future of mankind – from total nuclear annihilation. If that ain’t maternal dedication, we don’t know what is.