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As the legendary Glenda Jackson returns to the small screen in Elizabeth is Missing, following a successful 23 year second career in politics, we celebrate seven actor women who have publicly stood up for their political beliefs.

The Rt Hon Glenda Jackson in 1992

With two Oscars, two Emmys and a Tony award in her trophy cabinet, Glenda Jackson is acting royalty. But her ambitions didn't end with Hollywood. In 1992 she was elected Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate (later Hampstead and Kilburn) and she remained in politics until 2015. She saw politics as "exchanging one extremely demanding disciplined area of work for another".

Recently coaxed back to the small screen for ´óÏó´«Ã½ One drama Elizabeth Is Missing, Glenda told ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Scotland that she was tempted to play the role of Maud, who has dementia, because she is concerned with the realities of our aging population: "How do we care for people and how do we pay for it?", the actress said, "This is a big thing that is facing us all."

Jameela Jamil was a high school English teacher before becoming a TV and radio presenter. When she underwent a health scare four years ago, it triggered a move to Los Angeles where she was cast in hit comedy The Good Place despite having never acted before.

The show raised her profile significantly and she has become more publicly vocal about the issues she feels strongest about including female body image. She launched the to encourage people to post images weighing their achievements rather than their bodies.

Image: Northern Ireland Office

Prior to joining the British royal family Meghan Markle, now Duchess of Sussex, had a successful Hollywood acting career, and was perhaps best known for her role on American legal drama Suits.

Always politically vocal on issues of gender inequality, at the age of 11 Meghan wrote a letter to the then US first lady, Hillary Clinton objecting to a line in a washing-up liquid TV advert that addressed only 'women'. The line was thereafter changed to 'people'.

She has worked with the United Nations and received a standing ovation from an audience for a stirring speech on International Women's Day 2015 and recently launched her own clothing line for women's charity Smart Works in London which helps long-term unemployed women.

Stacey Dash is well known for her appearance in cult classic high school film Clueless (1995) in which she played Dionne Davenport the best friend of Cher Horowitz.

Dash swapped acting for becoming an outspoken pundit on Fox News and in 2018 and subsequently she filed to run as a Republican candidate for Congress — she later withdrew from the race.

She is on what she sees as the continued segregation and hit the headlines for expressing her opinion on Black History Month: "There shouldn't be a Black History month. We're Americans. Period. That's it."

Best known as Miranda in Sex and the City, Cynthia Nixon launched a bid for New York governor.

Described as ‘a long-time advocate for public education’, Nixon announced he was running for governor in March 2018 .

By September, however, it had become impossible for her name to appear on the ballot as she didn't have enough support from the Democratic Party. Democratic party endorsement at the state Democratic Convention

Sandi Toksvig began her comedy acting career with famous student theatre club The Footlights and went on to present, write and perform on TV and in theatre.

In 2015, she quit ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4's News Quiz to set up a new political party named the Women's Equality Party.

Speaking at the Hay festival that year, the veteran broadcaster said she had once wanted to be a human rights lawyer, and had taken the leap to start the the party after deciding it was “not too late to fight the good fight, after all”.

She is well known for replacing Stephen Fry on comedy panel show QI and in 2018 revealed she was paid around 40% of what he had been paid.

Jane Fonda in Grace & Frankie | Image: Netflix

Fonda is a multi-award winning actor with a long career in Hollywood behind her and currently starring in popular Netflix show Grace & Frankie. She rose to prominence in the 1960s for films like Barbarella and her political activism was not far behind.

A feminist and pro-civil rights campaigner, Fonda courted controversy during the Vietnam War when she was photographed seated on an anti-aircraft gun which would have later been aimed at Americans soldiers.

She is a passionate activist for women's rights and has spoken out on many other issues such as the Iraq War, the Israel-Palestine conflict and the rights of indigenous peoples.

Still politically active at 81, in October and November 2019, Fonda was arrested three times in consecutive weeks protesting climate change outside the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C alongside The Good Place actor Ted Danson and her Grace and Frankie co-star Sam Waterston.