The 35 top contemporary beauties in Hollywood

1. Jennifer Connelly

Jennifer Connelly was born in the Catskill Mountains, New York, to Ilene (Schuman), a dealer of antiques, and Gerard Connelly, a clothing manufacturer. Her father had Irish and Norwegian ancestry, and her mother was from a Jewish immigrant family. Jennifer grew up in Brooklyn Heights, just across ...

2. Mélanie Laurent

Actress | Inglourious Basterds

Mélanie Laurent was born in Paris, France. She is the daughter of Annick, a ballet teacher, and Pierre, a voice actor, who is most recognized for the French version of The Simpsons (1989). She has a younger brother, Mathieu, and has both Sephardi Jewish (from Tunisia) and Ashkenazi Jewish (from ...

3. Famke Janssen

Actress | X-Men: The Last Stand

Famke Janssen was born November 5, 1965, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and has two other siblings. Moving to America in the 1980s, she modeled for Chanel in New York. Later, taking a break from modeling, she attended Columbia University, majoring in literature.

This model-turned-actress broke into ...

4. Katheryn Winnick

Actress | Vikings

Canadian actress, director and producer Katheryn Winnick stars in the critically acclaimed, Emmy award-winning television series Vikings, produced by MGM and The History Channel. In addition to her lead role on Vikings, an episode directed by Winnick will debut in 2019. Entertainment Weekly ...

5. Rachel Weisz

Actress | The Constant Gardener

Rachel Hannah Weisz was born on 7 March, 1970, in London, U.K., to Edith Ruth (Teich), a psychoanalyst, and George Weisz, an inventor. Her parents both came to England around 1938. Her father is a Hungarian Jewish immigrant, and her mother, from Vienna, was of Italian and Austrian Jewish heritage. ...

6. Margot Robbie

Actress | Suicide Squad

Margot Elise Robbie was born on July 2, 1990 in Dalby, Queensland, Australia to Scottish parents. Her mother, Sarie Kessler, is a physiotherapist, and her father, is Doug Robbie. She comes from a family of four children, having two brothers and one sister. She graduated from Somerset College in ...

7. Diane Kruger

Actress | Inglourious Basterds

Diane Kruger was born Diane Heidkrüger in Algermissen, near Hildesheim, Germany, to Maria-Theresa, a bank employee, and Hans-Heinrich Heidkrüger, a computer specialist. She studied ballet with the Royal Ballet in London before an injury ended her career. She returned to Germany and became a top ...

8. Rachel Hurd-Wood

Actress | Peter Pan

Rachel Clare Hurd-Wood is an English actress and model, best known for her roles as Wendy Darling in Peter Pan (2003), Corrie McKenzie in Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010), and Sibyl Vane in Dorian Gray (2009). She was born on 17 August 1990 in the Streatham district of South London, England, as ...

9. Taylor Cole

Actress | Dumbbells

Born and raised in Arlington, Texas, Taylor Cole had a fulfilling high school experience. Proving to be a gifted athlete, she played on her high school's volleyball team and traveled around the country with the Junior Olympics squad.

Her stunning good looks also allowed her to travel around the ...

10. Megan Fox

Actress | Transformers

Megan Denise Green (née Fox; born March 16, 1986) is an American actress and model. Megan was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to Gloria Darlene Cisson, a real estate manager and Franklin Thomas Fox, a parole officer; she was raised in Rockwood, Tennessee during her early childhood. She began her ...

11. Cobie Smulders

Actress | The Avengers

Cobie Smulders was born on April 3, 1982, in Vancouver, British Columbia, to a Dutch father and an English mother. As a girl, Cobie had set her sights on becoming a doctor or a marine biologist. In fact, it wasn't until high school that Cobie started to explore acting after appearing in several ...

12. Amanda Peet

Actress | 2012

Amanda Peet was born and raised in New York City. She is the daughter of Penny (Levy), a social worker, and Charles Peet, a lawyer, and has an older sister. Her father was of mostly English and German ancestry, and her mother was from a Jewish family (from Germany, Russia, and Hungary). Peet's ...

13. Winona Ryder

Actress | Little Women

Winona Ryder was born Winona Laura Horowitz in Olmsted County, Minnesota, and was named after a nearby town, Winona, Minnesota. She is the daughter of Cynthia (Istas), an author and video producer, and Michael Horowitz, a publisher and bookseller. Her father's family is Russian Jewish and Romanian ...

14. Natassia Malthe

Actress | Elektra

Linn Natassia Malthe (born 19 January 1974) is a Norwegian model and actress.

Natassia is the younger of two daughters. She was born in Oslo, Norway, and is of half Malaysian descent. Her mother is from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. She is usually credited by her birth name but is sometimes credited as "...

15. Ashley Greene

Actress | Twilight

Ashley Michele Greene was born in Jacksonville, Florida to parents Michele (Tatum), an insurance broker, and Joseph Lacy Greene, US Marine who runs a concrete business. A self-confessed tomboy and "daredevil", Ashley loved to try to keep up with her older brother Joe, taking on activities such as ...

16. Gal Gadot

Actress | Wonder Woman

Gal Gadot is an Israeli actress, singer, martial artist, and model. She was born in Rosh Ha'ayin, Israel, to a Jewish family. Her parents are Irit, a teacher, and Michael, an engineer, who is a sixth-generation Israeli. She served in the IDF for two years, and won the Miss Israel title in 2004.

Gal ...

17. Minka Kelly

Actress | (500) Days of Summer

Minka Kelly was born in Los Angeles, California and she is the only child of former Aerosmith guitarist, Rick Dufay, and Maureen Kelly, an exotic dancer and single mother, who often moved with her daughter to different communities before settling in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by the time Minka was in...

18. Milla Jovovich

Actress | The Fifth Element

Milla Jovovich is an Ukrainian-born actress, supermodel, fashion designer, singer and public figure, who was on the cover of more than a hundred magazines, and starred in such films as The Fifth Element (1997), Ultraviolet (2006), and the Resident Evil (2002) franchise.

Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich ...

19. Natalie Portman

Actress | Black Swan

Natalie Portman is the first person born in the 1980s to have won the Academy Award for Best Actress (for Black Swan (2010)).

Natalie was born Natalie Hershlag on June 9, 1981, in Jerusalem, Israel. She is the only child of Avner Hershlag, a Israeli-born doctor, and Shelley Stevens, an American-born...

20. Brooke Shields

Actress | The Blue Lagoon

"Want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing". If you have not heard of Brooke Shields before, this tagline from her Calvin Klein Jeans ad had to grab your attention. Not that she has not had a previously noteworthy resume. She was born on May 31, 1965 in New York City and, at age 12,...

21. Laetitia Casta

Actress | Arbitrage

Born in Pont-Audemer, France, Laetitia Casta spent her childhood in the lush countryside of Normandy. At age 15, she was approached by an agent of Paris' Madison Models while building sand castles on a beach in Corsica. After her father agreed to let the agency take some test photographs, ...

22. Jessica Lowndes

Actress | A Mother's Nightmare

Jessica Lowndes was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1988. She studied at the Pacific Academy in Surrey. Jessica is an actress and an aspiring Singer. She has written 4 known songs: "Never Lonely", "Break", "Fly Away" and "Goodbye". This last one was heard in an episode of the series ...

23. Raquel Alessi

Actress | Ghost Rider

Raquel Alessi was born on March 7, 1983 in Los Angeles, California, USA as Raquel Nazzarena Alessi. She is known for her work on Ghost Rider (2007), Miss March (2009) and Entourage (2015).

24. Stana Katic

Actress | Castle

Stana Katic stars in the new 10-episode TV series Absentia (2017), produced by Sony Pictures Television and premiering on Amazon.

Katic's feature film work includes: CBGB (2013), about the punk rock club in NYC; Big Sur (2013), based on the Jack Kerouac novel; Frank Miller's film The Spirit (2008); ...

25. Keira Knightley

Actress | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Keira Christina Knightley was born March 26, 1985 in the South West Greater London suburb of Richmond. She is the daughter of actor Will Knightley and actress turned playwright Sharman Macdonald. An older brother, Caleb Knightley, was born in 1979. Her father is English, while her Scottish-born ...

26. Sarah Shahi

Actress | Bullet to the Head

Sarah Shahi was born Aahoo Jahansouz in Euless, Texas, to an Iranian father and Spanish mother. She is a former NFL cheerleader and a descendant of a 19th-century Persian Shah. She attended Trinity High School and Dallas Southern Methodist University, studied opera and majored in English. As a ...

27. Olivia Wilde

Actress | Tron

Actress and activist Olivia Wilde is a modern day renaissance woman, starring in many acclaimed film productions, while simultaneously giving back to the community.

She was born on March 10, 1984 in New York City. Her parents are Leslie Cockburn (née Leslie Corkill Redlich) and Andrew Cockburn. Her ...

28. Mila Kunis

Actress | Black Swan

Mila Kunis was born Milena Markovna Kunis to a Jewish family in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, USSR (now independent Ukraine). Her mother, Elvira, is a physics teacher, her father, Mark Kunis, is a mechanical engineer, and she has an older brother named Michael. Her family moved to Los Angeles, California, ...

29. Camilla Belle

Actress | Practical Magic

Belle was born as Camilla Belle Routh in Los Angeles, California, to Deborah, a fashion designer, and Jack Wesley Routh, who composed country music and owns a construction company. Her mother is Brazilian and her father, who is from Kingman, Kansas, has English, German, and French ancestry. Camilla...

30. Karolina Kurkova

Actress | G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Karolina Kurkova is a supermodel best known for her work as a Victoria's Secrets lingerie model. She has appeared in nine Victoria's Secret Fashion shows between 2000 and 2010 and was named a Victoria's Secret Angel in 2005. She has graced the covers of such notable fashion magazines as Vogue, Elle...

31. Kelly Brook

Actress | Piranha 3D

Kelly Brook (born 23 November 1979) is an English model, actress and television presenter best known for her roles in the 2010 horror comedy remake Piranha 3D and in the NBC sitcom One Big Happy. Brook was born and raised in Rochester, Kent, as Kelly Ann Parsons. She is the daughter of Sandra Kelly...

32. Lena Headey

Actress | Game of Thrones

Lena Headey is a British actress. Headey is best known for her role as "Cersei Lannister" in Game of Thrones (2011) (2011-present) and The Brothers Grimm (2005), Possession (2002), and The Remains of the Day (1993). Headey stars as "Queen Gorgo", a heroic Spartan woman in the period film, 300 (2006)...

33. January Jones

Actress | X: First Class

January Jones was born on January 5, 1978 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She is the daughter of Karen Sue (née Cox), a sporting goods store manager, and Marvin Roger Jones, a gym teacher and fitness director. She is of Czech, Danish, English, Welsh, and German ancestry. She was named after the ...

34. Molly Sims

Actress | Yes Man

Molly Sims was born on May 25, 1973 in Murray, Kentucky to James and Dottie Sims. Following her graduation from high school, Molly attended Vanderbilt University with hopes of pursuing a law career. Two years into college, she submitted a few photographs of herself to a modeling agency at the ...

35. Evan Rachel Wood

Actress | Thirteen

Evan Rachel Wood was born September 7, 1987, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her father, Ira David Wood III, is a theatre actor, writer and director, and her mother, Sara Wood, is an actress and acting coach. She has two older brothers--Dana Wood, a musician, and Ira David Wood IV, who has also acted. ...

36. Jordana Brewster

Actress | The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

Raven-haired beauty Jordana Brewster was born on April 26, 1980 in Panama City, Panama. Her mother, Maria João Leal de Sousa, is a Brazilian-born model who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1978 . Her father, Alden Brewster, is an American-born investment banker, who has English, ...

37. Zooey Deschanel

Actress | New Girl

Zooey Deschanel was born in 1980 into a showbiz family. Her father, Caleb Deschanel, is an Academy Award-nominated cinematographer (perhaps most notably for The Passion of the Christ (2004)) and her mother, Mary Jo Deschanel (née Weir), is an actress who appeared in Twin Peaks (1990). Her paternal ...

38. Ashley Wood

Actress | Argo

Ashley Wood is an actress, known for Argo (2012), Shameless (2011) and A Christmas Switch (2018).