Where would we be without our strong on-screen female characters? In a sad, dark, cold place without excellent jokes, all the world’s sass and some serious action moves, obviously. We’re pretty sure science has proven that girls and women make TV and cinema better to watch – they’re some of the best spies, comedy writers and FBI investigators in recent memory.

From Red Sparrow’s Dominika Egorova to 30 Rock’s Liz Lemon, here’s a small selection of the female characters that light up our screens and lives in equal measure.

Dana Scully, The X Files

Dana Scully cares not for your wild conspiracy theories and head-in-the-clouds approach to investigative work (sorry, Mulder). She’s a woman of science, and just about the finest example of a how a gal should behave in a male-dominated workplace – she stands her ground and sticks up for what she believes in, even though the answer in all of the cases she works on is almost always aliens.

If anyone even comes close to writing a thesis called Einstein’s Twin Paradox: A New Interpretation at age 23 like Scully did, please let us know. Until then, Dana’s status as kween of the FBI remains unchallenged. Plus, she wears pumps and a nineties twin set suit like no one else on this earth.

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Diana Prince, Wonder Woman

As a character in the DC universe, Diana Prince has adopted such roles as an Army nurse, a military intelligence officer, a business woman, astronaut, a staff member of the United Nations, and, of course, Wonder Woman. Even if we could all live forever with superhuman abilities and be trained by Robin Wright like her, few of us would achieve her level of greatness. She is Wonder Woman, after all (and Robin Wright is the best coach ever).

One of the things we love most about Diana is her capacity for empathy. Even when the world is quite literally burning around her, she never gives up hope for humanity. If only we had your patience, WW.

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Dominika Egorova, Red Sparrow

Jennifer Lawrence plays a prima-ballerina-turned-seductive-spy in the upcoming espionage thriller Red Sparrow, and we are here for it. Her character, Dominika Egorova, is an icy-cool, whip-smart, wig-wearing heroine who has no time for the foibles of gross dudes who immediately assume she’s an escort.

In the aftermath of a life-altering accident, Egorova is forced to join The Sparrow School, the world’s most ruthless intelligence agency, which values skills like seduction and manipulation over, well, almost everything else. Needless to say, she passes with flying colours.

Joel Edgerton, who plays an American CIA agent trying to win her trust, hits the nail on the head in his voice over: “Young officers trained to seduce and manipulate, to use their bodies, to use everything.” Dominika goes on a quest to take back control of her life in a game of thrilling manipulation… we can’t wait to see how it goes when the film comes out, tbh.

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Cookie Lyon, Empire

Cookie Lyon (played by Taraji P. Henson) is ultimate CEO goals. Sure, her backstory might be a little shady – she fell into dealing drugs early on in life – but anyone who helped build an entertainment empire from the ground up, all while dealing with kids and a fairly manipulative neck-breathing ex-husband (played by Terrence Howard) deserves every bit of respect she gets, and then some. Cookie is street smart, wise, outspoken and supportive – as long as you don’t cross her or try to cheat her out of what’s hers.

Our girl-crush on Cookie began all the way back at Empire season 1, because can anyone else crash a board meeting fresh out of prison wearing an outrageous zebra-print dress and a fur coat? We think not. Ms Lyon knows how to get the job done, to say the least.

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Liz Lemon, 30 Rock

Anything Tina Fey does gets a hard nod from us, but her work playing the character of Liz Lemon on comedy favourite 30 Rock is second to none. A fictional writer for a Saturday Night Live show, Lemon is essentially a comic rendition of Tina Fey herself, which makes us love her even more.

Part of Lemon’s charm is her unashamed dag-ness, her awkwardness, and her refusal to subscribe to what women ‘should’ eat, wear, say, think or write in line with outdated notions of femininity. Liz Lemon is always herself, and we think that’s pretty rad. She’s also been known to dish out some zinger comebacks and she loves mac and cheese. Liz Lemon can do no wrong in our eyes.

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(Lead image: Red Sparrow/20th Century Fox)

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Don’t miss Red Sparrow in cinemas March 1. Check out the trailer here.