Janet Gaynor was an American actress. One of the most popular actresses of the silent film era, in 1928 Gaynor became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in the films: Sunrise (1927), Seventh Heaven (1927), and Street Angel (1928). Her career continued with the advent of sound film, and she achieved a notable success in the original version of A Star Is Born (1937). She worked only sporadically after the late 1930s.