What about that troublesome tag "icon"? Do we mean role models? Popular? Powerful? Beloved? Our icons are almost certainly all those things. We'll leave the last word to the trusty Oxford dictionary, which carries this definition: "An object of particular admiration, especially as a representative symbol of something (a literary icon of the 1970s)".

Cate Blanchett

FILM, THEATRE

As she shuffled on stage at January's AACTA awards in a tight, bright-red Armani sheath, an out-of-breath Cate Blanchett joked: "You hit 40 and it's all downhill from there." But at 43, the regal Melbourne-born, Sydney-based actor remains as in-demand as ever. Coming soon are two more instalments of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy, a new Woody Allen film and a project with Terrence Malick. Little wonder she stepped aside from the co-artistic director role at the Sydney Theatre Company last year, though she will continue to appear on stage. Up next is Jean Genet's The Maids in June, with Isabelle Huppert. We can't wait.

Tina Fey

TELEVISION, COMEDY

Forget Carrie Bradshaw – for relatable single female characters on contemporary television, 30 Rock's Liz Lemon nailed it. Comedian Tina Fey's goofy, unlucky-in-love TV writer (in a sitcom she created) is pure, understated feminist genius; bitingly funny but not sanctimonious. The first female head writer in the 22-year history of legendary comedy series Saturday Night Live, (for many of us outside the US, our first exposure was the 2004 film Mean Girls, which she co-wrote and starred in), Fey is one of the most talented producers, actors and comedians in a still male-heavy industry.

Helen Garner

AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE

Now 70, Helen Garner has been a role model for generations of Australian women (and men) as a writer of exquisite, muscular fiction, non-fiction and journalism, as a feminist and a contrarian. From her first novel, Monkey Grip, in 1977 to her recent books The First Stone, on sexual harassment, and Joe Cinque's Consolation, about a murder case, she has looked piercingly into the dark and tender parts of human relationships. She reveals her own frailties as frankly as those of the world she observes in stories where we can all find ourselves. If she is controversial it is because of her uncompromising honesty.

Hilary Mantel

INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE

British novelist Hilary Mantel shot to critical and popular stardom with her ninth and 10th novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, which made her the first woman to win two Booker prizes. Her fictionalised life of Thomas Cromwell and the court of Henry VIII crackles with the intrigue of politics and intimate details of character and conversation. Despite chronic illness, she has reinvented historical fiction and assured women that intelligence is beauty and middle-age can be a new beginning. Her recent comments that Kate Middleton (the Duchess of Cambridge) was a "shop window mannequin" were seen by some as harsh but were a bold call for greater freedom for Britain's queens.

Adele

POPULAR MUSIC

Adele isn't that special because she won't play along with the stick figure rules for pop singers or has a voice of power and depth. Nor is she that special because she bares every aspect of her fraught relationships in lyrics that make everything universal. Those are admirable qualities, certainly, and rare enough in these days of pre-fab, karaoke pop. What makes Adele Adkins something beyond regular is how she refuses to let anyone else's expectations rule her life. You can see it in her style, feel it in her willingness to admit fear and hear it in her expletive-filled stories and in that wild laugh.

PJ Harvey

ALTERNATIVE ROCK

The uncompromising British singer-songwriter Polly Jean Harvey has feathers in her cap that no other person can boast, not least winning Britain's prestigious Mercury music prize twice. Harvey became the first woman to win the Mercury, in 2001 for Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. A decade later she repeated the feat with Let England Shake. She also earned nominations for two albums in between. Her strident first album, 1992's Dry (which spawned the brilliant, howling single Sheela-Na-Gig) and the macabre To Bring You My Love still stand up just as well today.

Jacki Weaver

FILM

Jacki Weaver has been a kind of icon since the 1970s via such films as Caddie, Stork and Alvin Purple - an immensely likeable and talented actress who revealed just how colourful her life was in the 2005 autobiography Much Love, Jac. But as well as a strong body of theatre work, it's her career resurgence since shining as Janine "Smurf" Cody in Animal Kingdom (above) that cements her status. With two Oscar nominations in three years and a string of strong Hollywood roles, she is evidence that character and talent will out – even after turning 60. And by all accounts she remains as likeable and charming as she was way back then.

Kathryn Bigelow

FILM

Kathryn Bigelow has an Oscar for best director, which makes her unique among women filmmakers. But that's not what's interesting about her. She has made distinctive and inventive genre films, full of kinetic energy and visceral physicality. She explores stories of obsession and transgression, and she is drawn to tightly knit groups, often on the margins, united by unlikely bonds of community, whether they are vampires (Near Dark) or Zen surfer bank robbers (Point Break). And although she often focuses on male protagonists, she has created some striking, unusual roles for women, from Blue Steel to Strange Days to Zero Dark Thirty.

Magda Szubanski

AUSTRALIAN FILM AND TELEVISION

A cabaret-style sketch comedy performer at Melbourne University in the mid-'80s, Magda Szubanski has established herself as one of Australia's most loved comedy, television, film and musical stars. She is an inspirational and surprising success story, proving talent can always win out. In her own words: “I'm overweight. I'm short. I'm gay. I've got a funny name. It is surprising to me that someone like me would be in that place.” Szubanski was widely lauded last year when she came out on national television, maturely discussing her sexuality in an effort to promote tolerance and gay marriage.

J.K. Rowling

CHILDREN'S FICTION

Joanne "J.K." Rowling became a hero to children, English teachers and wannabe authors worldwide when a book series she started writing in cafes and completed on an old typewriter took her from clinical depression and social welfare to the life of a philanthropic multimillionaire and Britain's bestselling author in a matter of five years. The idea came to her on a train ride to Manchester and her seven-year quest to write the first novel, overcoming a litany of obstacles including the death of her mother, is inspiring. The Harry Potter novels and films are now the benchmark for blockbuster franchises worldwide, and Rowling is one of the most influential women in Britain, but also one of the most admired women in the world.

Kylie Minogue

POPULAR MUSIC

Loved by girls, guys, gays and grandmothers, Ramsay Street's most famous alumnus celebrated her 25th anniversary in the music industry in 2012. Whatever you think of her music, it's hard to dislike the singing budgie-turned-battler, the woman who morphed from girl-next-door to chart-topping sex symbol with seeming effortlessness and an admirable touch of class. Her recent performance in Holy Motors hints at an as-yet untapped acting talent, but the 44-year-old is not hanging up her stilettos just yet - this year she was signed to Jay-Z's venerable Roc Nation label, with a new single and album reportedly on the way.

Oprah Winfrey

TELEVISION

You know someone is an icon when they are known the world over by their first name. Her enormously successful Oprah Winfrey Show broke all records. It was on air from 1986 to 2011 and had the highest ratings in history for a program of its kind. With those ratings came followers worshipping at Oprah's self-help mantel. At her peak of popularity, Oprah was considered the most influential woman in the world. Her shows were seen by 46 million people every week and she was without doubt the richest African American in history, and most admirably, a great philanthropist.

Asher Keddie

AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION

In the past couple of years, Keddie has been all over our screens with a lead role in the Ten Network's Offspring, as Blanche d'Alpuget in the telemovie Hawke and, most memorably, as Ita Buttrose in Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo. But what seems like overnight success has been almost three decades in the making, starting with the 1980s television series Five Mile Creek. One of our most prolific and versatile actors, Keddie shines in everything from crime procedurals and police shows to nuanced dramas such as Love My Way. Her star burns brightest, however, when she portrays real-life Australian icons.

Leigh Sales

AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION

When political strategist Graeme Morris branded Leigh Sales a "cow" for her tenacious interview with Tony Abbott on ABC's 7.30, he caused a minor storm. Fortunately, Sales brushed off his sexist remarks to forge her reputation as this country's best political interviewer (winning a Walkley Award to boot). Tenacious and thorough, she unfailingly demands real answers in place of the carefully scripted soundbites most politicians proffer. What's more, she appears to be enjoying her job – as is evident in her energetic demeanour and engaging screen presence. Former 7.30 host Kerry O'Brien was a tough act to follow, but Sales has taken Aunty's flagship current affairs program to new heights.

Deborah Mailman

AUSTRALIAN FILM AND TELEVISION

If there was an award for best smile, she'd win it hands down. Mailman radiates a certain inner joy, something only ever dimmed by her deliberate acting, when she can bring complex and compelling emotions to the fore. From her breakthrough role in the film Radiance, for which she won an AFI award, to her much-loved character Kelly on The Secret Life of Us, she won over Australian audiences. Throw in other roles from television's Offspring to films Bran Nue Dae and the smash-hit The Sapphires, for which she again won an AACTA (formerly the AFIs) this year, and we can't get enough of this wonderful performer.

Kate Champion

AUSTRALIAN DANCE

Kate Champion, 51, is no dancing prima donna. She creates and choreographs dance pieces as engaging as they are accessible. The daughter of a Sydney University psychology professor, Champion was clumsy as a child before she enrolled in local dance classes, and at 16 joined Munich's Iwanson Dance Company. She got her break dancing in a touring show with Kim Carpenter's Theatre of Image. In the '90s she began devising her own dance shows, and by 2002 had created Force Majeure, an influential Sydney modern dance company. Her show Never Did Me Any Harm was a funny physical theatre examination of parenting and chimed with anyone who's ever been in a family.

Lady Gaga

POPULAR MUSIC

No list of iconic women in entertainment could hold its head up without including Stefani Germanotta. Call her a pop singer, dancer, designer, LGBT activist . . . whatever, but you can't ignore Lady Gaga. Responsible for some of the biggest hits of the past five years, her sophistication, wit and sheer bravery leave her head and shoulders above almost all her contemporaries. Her roots are pure New York performance art, inspired in part by the likes of Marina Abramovic and Yoko Ono and, although she seems to have been around forever, it comes as a shock to remember she is only 26 with, hopefully, a long and fascinating career to come.

Dame Judi Dench

FILM, THEATRE

In an era when notoriety and bad behaviour are so often passed off as talent and star quality, thank god for Dame Judith Olivia Dench. With a career dating back to 1957, Dench deserves her icon status on longevity alone. But it is the breadth and quality of her work over 50 years that really makes her shine. While modern audiences will know her primarily for her pitch-perfect role as spy chief M in recent Bond movies, she can also lay claim to a long and distinguished Shakespearean career and a successful run in TV sit-coms. Outside her work, Yorkshire-born Dench has always been a byword for dignity and class.

Judith Lucy

AUSTRALIAN COMEDY

In the publicity conscious entertainment world, where image sometimes seems more important than talent, Judith Lucy stands out. A comic who says what's on her mind and tells frank and funny stories that show her in a far-from-flattering light is to be appreciated. Who else would call shows I Failed!, Nothing Fancy and Judith Lucy's Not Getting Any Younger? Well, no one not called Judith Lucy for a start. The films Crackerjack, Bad Eggs and The Sapphires, her TV work on The Late Show, Rove, Judith Lucy's Spiritual Journey and Agony Aunts, her one-woman shows, radio gigs and the book The Lucy Family Alphabet all demonstrate a very Australian comic sensibility and a blistering honesty.

Julia Morris

AUSTRALIAN COMEDY AND TELEVISION

Despite the bang-up title – "Lady", literally purchased on the internet in 2003 – the heart of Morris' power lies in her relatability: she is everywoman. A mother, a wife, a former single girl and a comedian whose success, when she emerged in the 1990s, challenged the notion that everyone on TV had to be rake thin and blonde. In winning last year's Celebrity Apprentice she revealed her strength and generosity – she shared the prize with the runner-up – and in stepping up to the Channel Nine drama House Husbands proved that with hard work and determination every little girl who dreams of becoming an actress can get her wish.

Ursula Yovich

AUSTRALIAN THEATRE

Singer and actor Ursula Yovich narrated The Secret River at Sydney Theatre in January. "The play brings up a lot of hurt," Yovich, raised by a Serbian father in her indigenous mother's country, Maningrida, far north Arnhem Land, wrote to director Neil Armfield. Yovich, 35, insists she's "not a trained actor by any means", yet she won a Helpmann award for best female actor in a play for her role in Capricornia in 2007 for Belvoir Theatre. Three more Helpmann nominations have followed, including for best cabaret performer in 2011 for her soulful one-woman show Magpie Blues, in which she sang Over the Rainbow in Burarra, Serbian and English, no less.

Written by: Steve Dow, Nick Galvin, Giles Hardie, Philippa Hawker, Michael Idato, Michael Lallo, Garry Maddox, Kylie Northover, Karl Quinn, Annabel Ross, Christine Sams, Susan Wyndham.