stars at their most beautiful

I was tripping down the 90s memory lane and watching a video of Gangsta’s Paradise when I just remembered how gorgeous Michelle Pfiefer was in the movie, Dangerous Minds. She’s one Hollywood beauty all right, but I especially love her face here. I don’t know if it’s because she was giving off that pregnancy glow or she was just in her element.

A glowing Michelle Pfeifer as a high school teacher who attempts to save her students from the dangers of living in the 'hood.

This trip had me thinking about Hollywood’s most beautiful stars, women who had my eyes glued to the screen because of her face. Thus, I recount the most beautiful women of tinseltown and the movies I’ve seen where I believed the beauties were at their mostest most:

Demi Moore: Ghost. I remember as a kid that the blockbuster was in the theaters for 3 weeks that time. And even my best friend had her hair cut like Molly’s. As did almost everyone. It was the “Rachel” cut of the early 90s.

Demi Moore's boyish cut had girls hitting the salons. This was the iconic 'do of the early 90s, surpassed only by the Rachel hair years later.

Mena Suvari: American Pie. I couldn’t get over the face of goody two shoes Heather at the time. I loved her eyes and wished I’d have a little girl with eyes like that in the future. She went on to star in American Beauty as exactly that not long afterwards.

Angelina Jolie: Original Sin. So she’s a regular most beautiful lister, and I can really understand why. But no matter how she makes men fall over themselves with those full lips, fuck-me eyes, and you-know-you-want-me confidence, I’m still taken aback by the first time she showed her face and smiled beneath her parasol at Antonio Banderas as a mail-order bride in this movie.

Angelina Jolie's portrayal of a devious mail-order bride raised testosterone to alarming levels.

Audrey Hepburn: Sabrina. My all-time favorite is still Breakfast at Tiffany’s, hands down, but Hepburn’s Cinderella transformation from the chauffer’s daughter to a Parisienne sophisticate just brings tears to my eyes. She soon had the two brothers–one playboy and one cynic–falling for her.

Ingrid Bergman: Casablanca. When Rick (Humphrey Bogart) asked Ilsa how he got to be so lucky, you’d understand why he did so. Her face at that moment was so golden that you just want to stare at her and mumble a follow up with, “Yeah, how’d he get to be so lucky?”

The most beautiful woman ever to visit Casablanca, portrayed by Ingrid Bergman, would save a noble cause. But only if it would break the heart of the man she loved.

Wynona Ryder: Edward Scissorhands. When Johnny Depp and Wynona Ryder were a couple a long time ago, I thought they were the most beautiful there ever was. It was so obvious why heathrob Johnny Depp had her name tattooed on his arm back when they were dating. And why pure, innocent Edward would knowingly commit a felony for the unattainable Kim.

Meryl Streep: She-Devil. Not one of her popular or Oscar-winning movies, but this full-blooded beauty (high school cheerleader and prom queen)  and talented actress (count the Academy awards and nominations) was too gorgeous when she played pushover home wrecker in this forgettable-if-not-for-Meryl-Streep’s-face movie.

Zhang Ziyi: Memoirs of A Geisha. Certainly one of my all time favorites (storyline, actors, cinematography), I thought the movie was made as moving as it was because of Zhang Ziyi‘s beautiful portrayal. Her face truly captured the innocence of a geisha wannabe and her acquired fierceness as she rose to obtain the highest bid for her innocence. The over make up did nothing to make me doubt Zhang Ziyi‘s oriental beauty.

Annette Benning: Love Affair. Sure it was part of the script, but even if it were in real life, Mike (Warren Beatty) would still give everything up for the stunning yet elusive Terry. Annette Benning was so stylish and all her outfits in this movie were to-die for.