The Most Beautiful Actresses Ever

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Updated October 2, 2023 2.0M votes 101.7K voters 2.5M views
Over 101.7K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Most Beautiful Actresses Ever
Voting Rules
Vote up all of the most stunning and radiant actresses to have ever existed.
Latest additions: Salma Hayek, Zoe Saldaña, Charisma Carpenter
Most divisive: Jennifer Connelly

Since the first series of silent films were first released, some of the most beautiful women in the world have graced the silver screen. These pretty actresses are some of the most well-known people in the world. Starlets of the golden era of film include some of the biggest and most iconic movie stars like Vivien Leigh, Greta Garbo, and Ava Gardner are considered some of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood movie history. Over time, the influence of those women, along with other good looking actresses like Sophia Loren, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, and Elizabeth Taylor combined their talents and good looks to become some of the prettiest actresses in movie history.

Many of today's actresses are considered some of the most beautiful in the world. Charlize Theron, Salma Hayek, Scarlett Johansson, and Zoe Saldaña are considered to be beautiful female celebrities out there today. Many of these actresses have graced the pages of some of the top magazines, newspapers, and websites in the world.

With so many beautiful actresses to choose from, it's up to you to decide who should be considered the most beautiful actress ever. This may seem easy, but being beautiful is more than just being the hottest or sexiest female in Hollywood. To further complicate matters, there are also so many gorgeous actresses that have starred in movies for roughly 100 years. This is your chance to select who is the most beautiful actress of all time. You really can't go wrong with who choose on this Ultimate List of the Most Beautiful Actresses Ever. Vote up all the actresses you think are the most attractive or pretty of all time.

Ranked by
  • Grace Kelly
    1

    Grace Kelly

    High Noon, Dial M for Murder, Rear Window
    37,846 votes
    Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American film actress who became Princess of Monaco after marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956. After embarking on an acting career in 1950, when she was 20, Kelly appeared in New York City theatrical productions and more than 40 episodes of live drama productions broadcast during the early 1950s Golden Age of Television. In October 1953, she gained stardom from her performance in director John Ford's film Mogambo starring Clark Gable and Ava Gardner, which won her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination in 1954. Subsequently, she had leading roles in five films, including The Country Girl (1954) with Bing Crosby, for which her deglamorized performance earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. Other films include High Noon (1952), with Gary Cooper; High Society (1956), with Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra; and three Alfred Hitchcock films: Dial M for Murder (1954), with Ray Milland; Rear Window (1954), with James Stewart; and, To Catch a Thief (1955), with Cary Grant. Kelly retired from acting at the age of 26 to marry Rainier, and began her duties as Princess of Monaco. They had three children: Princess Caroline, Prince Albert, and Princess Stéphanie. Kelly retained her link to America by her dual U.S. and Monégasque citizenship. Princess Grace died at Monaco Hospital on September 14, 1982, succumbing to injuries sustained in a traffic collision the day before. After her death the French physicians treating her reported that a CAT scan had revealed she had suffered two brain hemorrhages. The first occurred prior to the crash, and is believed to have been the inciting incident that led to the crash. The second, suffered while in hospital, is believed to have been the result of physical trauma sustained in the crash. At the time of her death, she was 52 years old. She is listed 13th among the American Film Institute's 25 Greatest Female Stars of Classical Hollywood Cinema.
  • Odette Annable
    2

    Odette Annable

    Cloverfield, The Unborn, The Holiday
    21,291 votes
    Odette Juliette Annable (née Yustman; born May 10, 1985) is an American actress. She is known for various roles in film and television, including her starring role as Dr. Jessica Adams in the Fox medical drama series House, Beth McIntyre in the monster film Cloverfield, Aubrey Diaz in the ABC drama series October Road, and Samantha Arias/Reign in Supergirl.
  • Ava Gardner
    3

    Ava Gardner

    The Killers, On the Beach, Earthquake
    19,776 votes
    Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress and singer. Gardner was signed to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941, and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers (1946). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in Mogambo (1953), and also received BAFTA Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for other films. Gardner appeared in several high-profile films from the 1940s to 1970s, including The Hucksters (1947), Show Boat (1951), Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Bhowani Junction (1956), On the Beach (1959), 55 Days at Peking (1963), Seven Days in May (1964), The Night of the Iguana (1964), The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966), Mayerling (1968), The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), Earthquake (1974), and The Cassandra Crossing (1976). Gardner continued to act regularly until 1986, four years before her death in London in 1990, at the age of 67. She is listed 25th among the American Film Institute's 25 Greatest Female Stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema.
  • Scarlett Johansson
    4

    Scarlett Johansson

    Lost in Translation, The Avengers, The Prestige
    19,314 votes
    Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress and singer. She is the world's highest-paid actress, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, has made multiple appearances in the Forbes Celebrity 100, and is the recipient of several awards, including a Tony Award and a British Academy Film Award. Born and raised in Manhattan, New York City, Johansson aspired to be an actress from a young age and first appeared on stage in an Off-Broadway play as a child. She made her film debut in the fantasy comedy North (1994), and gained early recognition for her roles in Manny & Lo (1996), The Horse Whisperer (1998), and Ghost World (2001). She shifted to adult roles in 2003 with her performances in Lost in Translation, which won her a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, and Girl with a Pearl Earring. She was nominated for Golden Globe Awards for these films, and for playing an estranged teenager in the drama A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004), and a seductress in the psychological thriller Match Point (2005). Other works during this period include the mystery thriller The Prestige (2006) and the comedy-drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), and the albums Anywhere I Lay My Head (2008) and Break Up (2009), both of which charted on the Billboard 200. In 2010, Johansson debuted on Broadway in a revival of A View from the Bridge, which won her a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress, and began portraying Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She voiced an intelligent computer operating system in the 2013 comedy-drama Her and played an alien in the 2013 science fiction film Under the Skin and a woman with psychokinetic abilities in the 2014 science fiction action Lucy. Her films have grossed over $5 billion in North America and over $14.3 billion worldwide, making Johansson the third-highest-grossing box-office star of all time both domestically and worldwide. As a public figure, Johansson is a Hollywood sex symbol. She is a prominent celebrity brand endorser, and also supports various charities and causes. She has been married twice, to the Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds from 2008 to 2011 and the French businessman Romain Dauriac, with whom she has a daughter, from 2014 to 2017.
  • Jacqueline Bisset
    5

    Jacqueline Bisset

    Bullitt, Day for Night, Murder on the Orient Express
    22,055 votes
    Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset ( BISS-it; born 13 September 1944) is an English actress. She began her film career in 1965, first coming to prominence in 1968 with roles in The Detective, Bullitt, and The Sweet Ride, for which she received a most promising newcomer Golden Globe nomination. In the 1970s, she starred in Airport (1970), Day for Night (1973) which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Deep (1977), and Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress in a Comedy. Her other film and TV credits include Rich and Famous (1981), Class (1983), her Golden Globe-nominated role in Under the Volcano (1984), her Cesar-nominated role in La Cérémonie (1995), her Emmy-nominated role in the miniseries Joan of Arc (1999) and the BBC miniseries Dancing on the Edge (2013), for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress (television). She received France's highest honour, the Légion d'honneur, in 2010. She speaks English, French and Italian.
  • Elizabeth Hurley
    6

    Elizabeth Hurley

    Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Bedazzled, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
    22,951 votes
    Elizabeth Jane Hurley (born 10 June 1965), more generally known as Liz Hurley, is an English businesswoman, actress, and model. She has been associated with the cosmetics company Estée Lauder since the company gave Hurley her first modelling job at the age of 29. They have featured her as a representative and model for their products, especially perfumes such as Sensuous, Intuition, and Pleasures, since 1995. Hurley owns an eponymous beachwear line.As an actress, her best-known film roles to date have been as Vanessa Kensington in Mike Myers' hit spy comedy, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) and as the Devil in Bedazzled (2000). In 2015, Hurley began starring in the E! original series The Royals. In the 1990s, Hurley became known as the girlfriend of Hugh Grant. In 1994, as Grant became the focus of international media attention due to the success of his film Four Weddings and a Funeral, Hurley accompanied him to the film's Los Angeles premiere in a plunging black Versace dress held together with gold safety pins, which gained her instant media attention.