Age: 42
Occupation: President of France's far-right National Front party
Previous TIME 100 appearances: 0
Though she champions many of the same far-right positions that kept her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, from becoming more than a controversial outlet for protest votes, Marine Le Pen has found a way to render those reactionary policies unsettlingly popular. Her pro-choice stand and defense of fellow single working mothers help Le Pen appear more moderate to a growing number of mainstream conservatives — even as she pushes the same law-and-order, anti-immigrant, Islamophobic and euro-shunning messages that led voters to reject her father. This less divisive style and her oratory talents have made Le Pen France's fastest-rising politician, and a probable game changer in France's 2012 presidential election.