Edie Falco (diagnosed 2003 at 40)

When Sopranos star Edie Falco was diagnosed with breast cancer, she kept it almost completely secret; she barely told a soul on the set of the six-season HBO hit series on which she played mob wife Carmela Soprano. Falco quietly went into treatment and emerged cancer-free—and with shorter hair—in 2004. She says she chose to stay mum because she didn’t want any fuss or pity. “It was very important for me to keep my diagnosis under the radar...because well-meaning people would have driven me crazy asking, ‘How are you feeling?’” Falco told Health. Instead, she "bucked up, put on my Carmela fingernails, and was ready to work.”