Kerry Washington

Despite countless hindrances, Kerry Washington quietly became one of the most important actresses of her generation. Earlier in her career, she was never even considered for “big” and/or “important” roles. For example, she played a textbook supporting character (Alicia Masters) in Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) despite all the main actors being marginally less talented. Nonetheless, after a slew of successful movie and TV roles, Washington finally landed her long-awaited role of a lifetime.
She was cast as crisis management specialist Olivia Pope in Scandal (2012–2018). Despite this political thriller being kind of trashy, Washington still managed to get nominated for Emmy two times. After this surge in popularity and constant critical acclaim, the actress enjoyed even more success with projects like Little Fires Everywhere (2020). While people find it easier to focus on her raw acting prowess, it needs to be pointed out that she is one of the sexiest women in all of Hollywood. Her blink-and-you’ll-miss-it naked scene in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (2012) was pretty great, by the way!