When the character of Superman was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, it made sense he would need a side kick.
By the time the first Superman comic was published by DC Comics in 1938, Lois Lane was by Superman/Clark Kent’s side.
Now, as the Man of Steel once again hits movie screens across the world, let’s take a look back at the actresses who have played the iconic role.
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Noel Neill
The first live-action adaptation of Superman was a 1948 movie starring Kirk Alyn.
Noel Neill, a former photographic model and pin-up girl, was handpicked by the film’s producer Sam Katzman to play Lois Lane – an award-winning journalist alongside Clark Kent at the Daily Planet newspaper.
Katzman had previously cast Neill in a recurring role as an aggressive reporter for a high-school newspaper in his ‘Teen Agers’ series of musical comedies, and thought she would make the perfect Lois Lane.
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She played Lane in Superman and reprised the role two years later in the sequel Atom Man vs. Superman.
She later took over from actress Phyllis Coates (see below) in the TV show Adventures of Superman.
Phyllis Coates
In 1951, there were plans for a new adaptation of Superman starring movie star George Reeves for Superman and the Mole Men.
But by the time it was made, it was decided it would instead be a pilot for a new TV show, Adventures of Superman.
Phyllis Coates, who was signed to 20th Century Fox at 17 and appeared in a number of films and TV shows, was cast as Lois Lane.
She filmed one season of the show before scheduling conflicts meant she was unavailable to continue with the series.
Noel Neill then reprised the role for seasons two to six.
Margot Kidder
By the 1970s, the time was right for a new Superman movie, but it took years to get off the ground.
Christopher Reeve, then a little-known actor who had trained at Juilliard acting school, was cast in the title role.
The search for Lois Lane lasted months and more than 100 actresses were considered, including Anne Archer and Lesley Ann Warren, before it eventually came down to two: Stockard Channing and Margot Kidder.
Kidder was a Canadian-born actress who had previously starred opposite Robert Redford and Susan Sarandon in the 1975 film The Great Waldo Pepper.
In the end, Kidder won the role after she was flown to England for a screen test a month before filming was set to begin.
Superman: The Movie was released in 1978 to huge success, and Kidder was widely praised for her performance.
She reprised the role in Superman II, but only had a dozen lines in the third film, reportedly because she had voiced her unhappiness over the change of director.
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Kidder and Reeves became close friends on set, and this continued until his 2004 death from complications of the quadriplegia he suffered after a 1995 horse riding accident.
Kidder is widely considered the best Lois Lane, and even other actresses who have gone on to play the part have credited her as their inspiration.
Teri Hatcher
The 1990s saw another version of the Superman story come to life in the form of a TV show, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
This time, the storyline focused as much on the relationship and romance between Lois Lane and Clark Kent as it did on Superman’s exploits.
Teri Hatcher, who had previously guest starred in Seinfeld, was cast as Lois Lane opposite Dean Cain as Superman/Clark Kent. The show was initially a huge success and ran from 1993 to 1997.
Just this year, Cain addressed rumours they did not get on and recalled a chemistry read with Hatcher during an appearance on the Inside of You podcast.
“They go, ‘Teri wants you to go and run lines with her.’ No other girl had asked me to run lines,” he said.
“She’s in this room and she goes, ‘You don’t like me, do you? We were at the network together. You never talked to me. You didn’t say hi to me’. I go, ‘You didn’t say hi to me either’.
“But that right there was the relationship between Lois and Clark. Lois drove the series, and that was her.
“She carried the show. I just got to react off her. It worked wonderfully. It was a great pairing.”
Erica Durance
The TV series Smallville was described as a “coming-of-age” story centred on Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent when he was still in high school.
It hit TV screens in 2001 but the character of Lois Lane was not introduced until season four, with Erica Durance stepping into her shoes as a teenage Lane, who comes to town to search of her cousin.
It is there she crosses paths with Clark Kent, played by Tom Welling. She enrols in the local high school, where she first becomes interested in journalism.
Season seven sees her win a job at the Daily Planet newspaper, and by its final season 10 years later, Lois and Clark were engaged.
Series developer Al Gough said when casting the role, they looked to Margot Kidder for inspiration, wanting someone who was pretty but smart and witty.
Dozens of actresses auditioned before a little-known Durance, who was Canadian like Kidder, won the part after a visit to the set where she and Welling proved their chemistry.
Kate Bosworth
When Superman came back to the big screen in the 2006 film Superman Returns, unknown actor Brandon Routh was cast in the role.
It was Kevin Spacey, who had been cast as Lex Luthor, who recommended Bosworth to director Bryan Singer after he co-starred with her in the 2004 film Beyond the Sea.
Other actresses under consideration for the role included Claire Danes, Keri Russell and Amy Adams, who went on to play Lois Lane later.
Bosworth did eventually win the role but some movie reviewers were not fans of her casting, with many citing her young age – she was just 22 when she filmed the role.
Amy Adams
The next movie adaptation of the Superman story was in the 2013 film Man of Steel, starring British actor Henry Cavill in the title role.
Amy Adams, who like Cavill had been under consideration for the previous film, beat out the likes of Kristen Stewart, Zoe Saldaña, Olivia Wilde, and Mila Kunis to win the role of Lois Lane.
Director Zack Snyder told The Times, “There was a big, giant search for Lois.
“For us, it was a big thing and obviously a really important role. We did a lot of auditioning, but we had this meeting with Amy Adams and after that I just felt she was perfect for it.”
In announcing her casting, he said she had “all of the qualities we love about Lois: smart, tough, funny, warm, ambitious and, of course, beautiful”.
She reprised the role in the 2016 film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and 2017’s Justice League.
Elizabeth Tulloch
Elizabeth Tulloch was first chosen to play Lois Lane in The CW Arrowverse crossover events Elseworlds and Crisis on Infinite Earths.
This led to both Tulloch and her co-star Tyler Hoechlin to be offered the chance to reprise their roles in the TV series Superman & Lois, which depicts Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane returning to Smallville with their twin sons Jonathan and Jordan.
The series premiered in 2021 and ran for four seasons. During that time, Tulloch was twice nominated for a Saturn Award for best actress on television.
Rachel Brosnahan
In 2023, it was announced a new Superman film was in the pipeline with writer/director and co-chief executive of DC Studios, James Gunn at the helm.
Rachel Brosnahan, an Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress, who is best known for her roles in House of Cards and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was cast as Lois Lane opposite David Corenswet in the title role.
She recently told CBS Mornings stepping into the iconic character’s shoes was like “the dream I didn’t know I had” and admits she took inspiration from Margot Kidder’s portrayal of Lois Lane.
To prepare for the role, she interviewed investigative reporters and journalists, and said she played Lane as “somebody who’s completely capable”.
Superman was released worldwide on July 11, 2025.
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