I started thinking about the best on screen nerd of the female persuasion after watching the lovely @maybeitwasutah geek it up in Superstorm. I  know many great geek girls in real life and of course the internet is full of them, however when you think about it, there are surprisingly few examples in film and TV.

Jana Carpenter in Superstorm

I don’t want to include girls who are briefly nerdy till a makeover fixes them, or funny characters who are so stereotypically uncool they don’t resemble many of the awesomely confident nerdy gals I know.  Hopefully film and television will eventually catch up and give us nerdy females we can look up to. In the meantime here are a few cool, nerdy geeky women you can currently see on screen.

Chloe O’Brian – 24

Played by Mary Lynn Rajskub Chloe uses her uber computer skills to save the world in almost every episode.

Willow Rosenberg – Buffy

Originally cast as an awkward nerd who was in love with her best friend, this geek girl character played by Alyson Hannigan evolved into a super sexy lesbian witch. Doesn’t count as a makeover, as she always retained her geeky roots, even when she went a bit evil.

Kate Libby aka Acid Burn – Hackers

Angelina Jolie played the sexy and confident female hacker in this classic hacking move.  Worth watching for the hilarious computer speak and awesome GUI’s alone. Mess with the best, DIE like the rest!!

Trinity – The Matrix

The One had a right shock when the mysterious uber hacker Trinity, played by Carrie-Anne Moss, turned out to have lady bits. I believe she was also in some other completely unrelated films with similar names, they weren’t sequels though! Okay?

Kari Byron – Mythbusters

Kari, a real life human geek rather than an actress playing one, can be seen on TV show Mythbusters working on experiments while managing to look adorably cool.  The story goes that she just turned up there repeatedly till they gave her a job, not sure if it is true, but she certainly seems to genuinely enjoy what she does.

Felicia Day – The Guild

While she is an actress (along with her many other talents), Felicia Day needs to be listed as herself, as she is clearly a real geek girl. If you have any doubt about her nerd credentials just check out her entertaining twitter stream.

Lisa Simpson – The Simpsons

She might be young and she might be animated, but this tiny nerd definately deserves a place in our geek girls list.

Uhura – Star Trek

The original Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols in the first Star Trek series was inspirational for many reasons, not least because she was able to pull off being sexy while playing with all those complicated buttons.

Velma Dinkley – Scooby-Doo

This animated nerd may not initially seem like a geek girl hero, however she is clearly the most intelligent member of the group who often saves the day with her brains, plus I kinda like her look.

Jordan Cochran – Real Genius

Not sure who else will have seen this awesome 1980’s nerd fest of a film, however I had to include her as Jordan played by Michelle Meyrink was one of the first cool geek girls I ever saw on screen.

Enid & Rebecca – Ghost World

Some great performances from Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson playing unusual, alternative and just plain geeky girls in this graphic novel based movie.

That’s it. Leave a comment if you can think of any great on screen geek girls I have left out.