BLOGS
Many, many actresses get their start in the modeling world. Some have a talent for acting early on and only use modeling as a stepping stone, but others are simply born to look pretty, and seem to only move on to acting because they'll make more money, and because they can do it past the age of 23. In the new series The Beautiful Life, The CW looks at the seamy side of modeling, and as a nod to one of the greats, has cast former supermodel Elle "The Body" Macpherson as the head of a modeling agency. Unfortunately, while it's great to see her again, we're not sure that that was the best casting decision. We looked at the massive list of actresses who used to be models and picked the five best working actresses today and the five worst. They're all gorgeous, of course, and we respect them for excelling in one career, let alone two, but the truth is, some need to stick to simply being beautiful.
THE BEST
1. Jessica Lange
Her training in mime and her work with an invisible gorilla in King Kong must have taught her how to emote, because she went on to earn an Oscar for 1982's Tootsie as well as being nominated for that same year's Frances. She scored another win for Blue Sky, was convincingly terrorized in Cape Fear and Rob Roy, and she did a lot of work on the legitimate stage in between. She most recently scored an Emmy nomination at the age of 60 for Grey Gardens.
2. Charlize Theron
Working with big monkeys must be the key to success, because after her role in Mighty Joe Young, Theron scored supporting roles in The Devil's Advocate and The Cider House Rules. But those were just practice for her role in Monster, as an abused prostitute turned serial killer, which earned her an Oscar. She received another nomination for playing a miner in North Country.
3. Angelina Jolie
Say what you will about the Tomb Raider movies, Jolie won an Oscar for her role as a sociopath in Girl, Interrupted and has alternated between cool, collected roles in quality action flicks and emotionally draining parts in otherwise weak dramas ever since. She finally hit the right combo again with The Changeling, which earned her an Oscar nod.
4. Famke Janssen
Yes, her breakout role was as a Bond Girl, but Janssen matured and began to play more roles that required more nuance and less thigh-crushing. She was boxed into the sci-fi and horror genres for a while (her run as Jean Grey in the X-Men franchise was nicely understated), but she went on to a memorable run on Nip/Tuck and a moving performance as a pool hustler in Turn the River.
5. Vanessa Williams
Not only has Williams played the hilariously evil Wilhelmina Slater on Ugly Betty for a few seasons now, the former pageant queen and Miss America has played a number of dramatic film roles, including the dying mother of a developmentally challenged boy in My Brother and a pretty bad-ass detective in Shaft.
THE WORST
1. Cindy Crawford
Despite being one of the most famous models in the world at one point, Crawford only played one serious role -- in 1995's Fair Game -- before calling it quits, probably because she was out-acted by Billy Baldwin. Had no one ever watched her cardboard-cutout hosting abilities on House of Style? She now designs and sells furniture.
2. Estella Warren
It may not be fair to judge Estella Warren, who scored high-profile roles in terrible, terrible movies -- Planet of the Apes, Driven, Kangaroo Jack -- but her performances in them were so lackluster and wooden that her career has slowly dwindled to appearing in National Lampoon movies.
3. Andie MacDowell
McDowell, on the other hand, has had high-profile roles in some great movies -- Groundhog Day, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Sex Lies and Videotape -- but still managed to be the dullest thing about all of them. She belongs on this list for the rain scene in Four Weddings alone.
4. Elle Macpherson
Elle's roles as a model in both Alice and Sirens didn't require her to stretch much, but even a simple dinner conversation with George Clooney in Batman and Robin is painful to watch.
5. Kathy Ireland
Two words: Necessary Roughness.
Agree? Disagree? Nominate your fave or least fave model-turned-actress below.
9 Comments
Add a comment
Search thousands of recaps and more
BLOG ARCHIVES
The Telefile
January 2010
34 Entries
December 2009
32 Entries
November 2009
47 Entries
October 2009
65 Entries
September 2009
66 Entries
August 2009
58 Entries
July 2009
72 Entries
June 2009
71 Entries
May 2009
50 Entries
April 2009
57 Entries
March 2009
66 Entries
February 2009
52 Entries
January 2009
56 Entries
December 2008
51 Entries
November 2008
71 Entries
October 2008
88 Entries
September 2008
86 Entries
August 2008
120 Entries
July 2008
115 Entries
June 2008
90 Entries
May 2008
44 Entries
April 2008
30 Entries
March 2008
27 Entries
February 2008
30 Entries
January 2008
44 Entries
December 2007
31 Entries
November 2007
66 Entries
Blog Categories
A Guest Star is Born
7 Entries
Annals Of Fantasy Stuntcasting
27 Entries
Annals Of Stuntcasting
79 Entries
Around The Rest Of The Media
29 Entries
Awards
33 Entries
Can't They Just Leave Well Enough Alone?
51 Entries
Celebrity Child Abuse
10 Entries
Character Corner
78 Entries
Commercials In Antiquity
3 Entries
Cool Stuff We Need
9 Entries
Crossover Alert!
2 Entries
Dear Sir Or Madam: No One Cares
15 Entries
DVDs Unwrapped
4 Entries
Everybody Dance Now
25 Entries
Everything's Better With Music
47 Entries
Fall TV
5 Entries
Follies Of The Overrated
33 Entries
Good Things Come In Small Packages?
25 Entries
Great Moments In Real TV
66 Entries
Helpful Hints And Site Business
9 Entries
Hollywood Self-Congratulation Corner
9 Entries
Hollywood To TWoP: Hello There!
104 Entries
I Hate Procedurals
5 Entries
IMDb Fun Times
2 Entries
Irrational Exuberance
192 Entries
Judging Fictional Strangers
65 Entries
Judging Strangers
151 Entries
Less Famous Siblings
8 Entries
Let's Go to the Video
137 Entries
Let's Review, Shall We?
24 Entries
Lying Liars Who Lie
4 Entries
Not Available on Laserdisc
3 Entries
Not Just Super, It's Supernatural
2 Entries
Notes and Comment
22 Entries
Obituaries Without Pity
14 Entries
Olympics
26 Entries
PBS: It's Good For You
6 Entries
Picks
7 Entries
Producers Speak Out
11 Entries
Reading: It's Fundamental
1 Entries
Really Ridiculous Reality Shows
114 Entries
Shameless Acts of TWoP Self-Promotion
15 Entries
Show vs. Show
6 Entries
Shows Nobody Cares About Anymore Except Us
39 Entries
Skimming Across the Pond
21 Entries
Soap Auditions
10 Entries
Stars Making News
67 Entries
That's F&*!ed Up
101 Entries
The Biz
134 Entries
The Forgotten
7 Entries
The TCAs
6 Entries
The Upfronts: First Looks
7 Entries
Things We Can't Stop Saying
4 Entries
Things We're Ashamed Of
5 Entries
Today's TWoP News
214 Entries
Top of the TWoP
5 Entries
True Confessions
5 Entries
True Tales Of The TWoP Bullpen
10 Entries
Tubey Awards
13 Entries
TV on DVD
21 Entries
TWoP 10
82 Entries
TWoP On The Town
4 Entries
TWoP To The Rescue
18 Entries
Vagaries Of Scheduling
13 Entries
Very Bad Things
39 Entries
We Ask, They Answer
6 Entries
We Got Sports, How 'Bout You?
27 Entries
We Should Totally Be TV Execs
16 Entries
Were We Ever So Young?
8 Entries
WGA Strike
32 Entries
Awww...I loved Elle in If Lucy Fell but it is a cheesy movie.
What about Cameron Diaz? I know she's had her share of crap, but she's also done some really funny stuff. Best comedic timing of any model-turned-actress.
Where would Tyra Banks fall on this list? She's acted in a few movies... Higher Learning, Coyote Ugly, that Disney TV movie. I'm going to guess the bottom half, then, right?
If ranked, Andie MacDowell should be No. 1. Or the sole occupant of the "Worst." list. She RUINS movies.
Tricia Helfer should be a serious runner-up on that list. She absolutely killed on Battlestar Galactica.
p jame - totally agree! such a cheesy movie but still great. i actually watched that last weekend.
Milla Jovovich! She would definitely be in the top half.
Errr...why no Tricia Helfer?
you are right