Sexiest Stars of 2014... So Far
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| Lupita Nyong'o, Oscar-winner for "12 Years a Slave" |
But, the fact that Nyong'o is stunning enough to be the face of a cosmetics company or front and center on a fashion magazine isn't the main reason she's on my list. It's also because she is extremely talented. At the end of the day, inner beauty in the form of talent has to match the outer beauty.
My focus is on actors and actresses of the silver and small screen who have done something notable this year. Of course, there are tons of sexy models in ads, on billboards, in catalogs, on runways and in music videos who are more than stunning, but just being gorgeous isn't enough. The person has to be a star-in-the-making or have potential to be in the light of Hollywood's eyes. There is a model named Ryan Paevey who this year landed a role on the soap opera General Hospital and he is unquestionably gorgeous, but he has yet to prove himself as an actor. So far, he's just a pretty face.
I avoid musicians. I also avoided athletes, even though there were a couple that made me question this rule. While people were certainly talking about Michael Sam, the University of Missouri defensive end who was drafted on the seventh round on May 11 to the St. Louis Rams, making him the first openly gay player in the NFL, another drafted player, Jimmy Garoppolo was drawing attention for different reasons.
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| Jimmy Garoppolo, "hottest quarterback" drafted to the New England Patriots |
Yet, football isn't really my thing. Film and television are. I've pulled a nice variety and they're all beautiful in their own way, but if I had to find a connection between the people on my list, it's got to be the lips. Most of the people with whom I'm fascinated have very sexy and certainly kissable lips.
So, here it is. My list of the Sexiest Stars of 2014... So far:
20. LUPITA NYONG'O - she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for 12 Years a Slave. The 31-year-old Kenyan born in Mexico also has her Master's Degree from Yale School of Drama. Some people were upset that she didn't have many roles lined up following her bravura performance as opposed to comparable white actresses. Her only credit this year is Non-Stop co-starring along side Liam Neeson, but since her win, more credits are being added to her name.
19. THEO JAMES - he's the soulful Brit with some Greek in him who caught people's attention in his first leading role in the short-lived CBS series Golden Boy, but now he's melting hearts as the stud in the new YA adventure franchise, Divergent.
18. SHAILENE WOODLEY - her face and body, particularly her booty, were also plastered everywhere as the lead in Divergent. Her TV series The Secret Life of the American Teenager was not so short-lived. It lasted for five seasons and just concluded last year. It was her role opposite George Clooney in The Descendants (2011) that put her on the map as a potential movie star. She has two upcoming films that could earn her an Academy Award nomination: Gregg Araki's White Bird in a Blizzard and the novel adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars.
17. KELLAN LUTZ - the actor and model recently played the titular role in The Legend of Hercules. Bodybuilding.com did a video where Lutz explained how he got and maintained his gorgeous, nearly-nude-for-the-whole-film shape. His efforts also landed him the March cover of Men's Health magazine. The Daily Mail did a write-up of it. It was announced that he might appear in the Lisa Kudrow comedy The Comeback but in the meantime the young action star will join the older action stars in The Expendables 3. A more revealing photo of the arresting 29-year-old was posted to The Gaily Grind, which proves not only is his upper body impressive but so is his lower.
16. STACY MARTIN - she played the most convincing sex addict I've ever seen as the titular character in Lars Von Trier's Nymphomaniac, Vol. 1. I know she's a good actress because she actually got me to believe as hard as it was that she was in love with Shia LaBeouf and his accent. The 23-year-old French actress made her debut in that film and bared her all, and matches Charlotte Gainsbourg. I'll be curious to see more from her, although I've already seen a lot.
15. JUSTIN DEELEY - Yes, he's a ridiculously, good-looking, underwear model, but some might recognize him from the re-booted 90210 series on the CW. I first caught wind of him in the adaptation of the popular, young adult book Geography Club. He plays off his looks and the assumed dumb-jock persona in his current TV series Drop Dead Diva. Yet, through interviews, it's obvious that Deeley is actually a smart, very intelligent and compassionate guy.
14. SASHEER ZAMATA - after Saturday Night Live was criticized harshly last year for its lack of black women on the show, Lorne Michaels scouted for female African-American talent and Sasheer was the solution. Reportedly, Sasheer is the fifth female black cast-member on the series and the first since Maya Rudolph left in 2007. The 28-year-old is from Indiana and graduated from University of Virginia. Like any cast member, she's good at improvisation and impressions.
13. DEREK THELER - I have become a huge fan of ABC Family's Baby Daddy. It's a very funny sitcom. I wasn't totally on board for the first season, but now I'm hooked and watch every episode and Derek is very hilarious on the show. That and the dude is like six-foot-six and all muscle! He's like the freakin' Incredible Hulk. The writers and producers of the show seem to delight in finding some reason to get Derek shirtless with the obligatory girls' screaming in lust on the soundtrack.
12. KATE UPTON - the 21-year-old model who has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue many times got her first significant role in a film this year. She played Amber opposite Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann in The Other Woman, which opened as the #1 film during the final weekend in April. Some of that success must be attributed to the trailer, which has Kate running in slow-motion down the beach in her bikini.
11. ROBBIE AMELL - the 26-year-old is the cousin of Stephen Amell, star of CW's Arrow. Good-looks and charm apparently run in the family. Robbie is the star of The Tomorrow People, a remake of a British series, which aired after Arrow. Sadly, the network cancelled Robbie's show after only one season. By the end of its run, the show lost half its viewership and was struggling to pull a million people, but to me it was still the best show on the CW and Robbie the better actor.
10. ARDEN CHO - she's the new love interest in MTV's Teen Wolf but check her out on YouTube because she's also a fantastic singer. She competed for the spot of Miss Korea in the Miss Universe pageant.
9. TERRY CREWS - the 45-year-old has the shape of a bodybuilder and he's put it on display in recent Old Spice commercials. He's always been in great shape. He was drafted to the NFL back in 1991. He retired in 1997 and started to pursue acting. He's done a ton of action films and comedies, but his most significant role was on the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris. He is currently on the series Brooklyn Nine-Nine and it was just announced that he will be the new host to Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
8. SASHA PIETERSE - she's only 18 but like Arden Cho, Sasha is acting on a teen drama and is putting out music albums. Sasha is a little bit country. She also is currently doing time in ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars. Admittedly, I don't watch that show. I was more impressed with Sasha's role in the indie comedy G.B.F. She was funny and fashionable and absolutely fierce in that film. She was so good that I think I might start watching her TV show.
7. RUSSELL TOVEY - he's not well-known in the United States. He's an English actor who has done a lot of great British television like Being Human, Doctor Who, Little Dorrit and Sherlock. This year, he guest starred on the HBO series Looking playing the boss with whom some can't help but want to have sex. One quote from that show that I love in description of him is, "With those ears, he's like the white Will Smith." Similarly, he's got a lot of charm and humor to spare.
6. GABRIELLE UNION - she's made my list before and I don't know why but I just am so drawn to her. No question she's gorgeous and stunning, but there's something about her that is also so classy and dignified. She's almost the definition of a lady. She certainly proves her sex appeal and how brilliant an actress she is on her TV series Being Mary Jane, but she's also having fun and mixing things up in Think Like a Man Too.
5. CHRIS PRATT - I first saw this guy 12 years ago in the TV series Everwood and that was a very dramatic show and one was always on the fence about his character. He changed directions drastically when he was cast in Parks and Recreation (2009). For years, he was known for this and other comedic roles that he did and especially for his massive weight gain for that show. He was always a great actor and funny, but far from sexy. Then, he started popping up in various film roles that required him to slim down, including Moneyball (2011) and Zero Dark Thirty (2012), two films that got nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Pratt getting the lead in this year's Guardians of the Galaxy seemed like a solid move, but it wasn't until he dropped the selfie of his body in the best shape of his life that put him on the sexy map.
4. SAMIRA WILEY - If you're not watching Orange is the New Black, then you are missing one of the best TV shows available right now, and one of the reasons is this beautiful young actress who plays Poussey. Her character's arc in Season 2 is outstanding. Check out the Valentine's Day episode, Episode 6, entitled "You Also Have Pizza" to see her particularly shine. Original episodes are new to Netflix and can be streamed there. She is simply fantastic.
3. MAHERSHALA ALI - Speaking of beautiful black people on Netflix, you can also check out House of Cards where this actor can be found in Season 2 of that show proving why he is indeed ridiculously sexy. If you're playing "Six Degrees of Separation" for TV actors, be aware of the NBC series Crossing Jordan where Ali and a lot of actors got their start in 2001. I didn't take notice of him until 2004 when he began co-starring in the USA series The 4400. He's appeared in several films, playing adopted or surrogate fathers in two different movies: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Place Beyond the Pines, though his role as Remy Danton has got to be his best.
2. SCARLETT JOHANSSON - A lot of people became aware of her in Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer (1998). She caught my eye in Ghost World (2001), but I didn't fall in love with her until Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003). Ever since then, her beauty has been commented upon countless times and she has risen to one of this generation's definite sex symbols, rather solidifying that status for Tom Ford's Vanity Fair cover where she posed nude. Every magazine has named her one of the sexiest women alive. It's undeniably true, but not only is she gorgeous but she is a good singer. One of her songs Chasing Ice was even nominated for an Oscar last year. This year, she's been a very busy girl, appearing in the independent film Under the Skin, as well as the Marvel blockbuster Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the summer sizzler Lucy.
1. PIERRE DELADONCHAMPS - In 2011, I named Jean Dujardin as the sexiest star of that year. The French actor's charisma was off the charts. The following year, I named Matthias Schoenaerts, a French-speaking Belgium. He appeared in Bullhead and Rust and Bone within the space of 2012 and represented sexuality in two extreme forms, but there was something raw and unafraid about his performance that really intrigued me. The same can be said for Pierre Deladonchamps. He only appeared in one film this year Stranger By the Lake but he is again a French-speaking actor who has shown an extreme form of sexuality where the performance is so raw and seemingly unafraid that you're just drawn to him. The 36-year-old actor is boyishly handsome as a fully nude babe in the woods. Delandonchamps has only done small roles on TV series in his native France. Stranger By the Lake is his first leading role and for it he won Most Promising Actor at the 39th César Awards.
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