Charlotte Saunders Cushman (July 23, 1816 - February 18, 1876), was an American stage actress.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she was encouraged by her mother to take up singing and after attempting opera unsuccessfully, she tried acting, making her stage debut in 1836 in New Orleans. She went on to become one of the greatest actresses of her day, successful at home as well as on the London stage. She made England her home for several years, becoming friends with the author Geraldine Jewsbury, who is said to have based a character on Cushman in her 1848 novel The Half Sisters .

In 1849. Cushman returned to America but in 1852 she decided to retire from the stage and took up residence in Rome, Italy where she remained until the last few years of her life.

Charlotte Cushman died in Boston in 1876 and was interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 1915 she was elected to the New York University Hall of Fame.