Charlize Theron
Theron says her beauty has often worked against her. "Jobs with real gravitas go to people that are physically right for them and that's the end of the story," she says in British GQ's May 2016 issue. "How many roles are out there for the gorgeous, f--king, gown-wearing eight-foot model? When meaty roles come through, I've been in the room and pretty people get turned away first."
Halle Berry
The actress' breakthrough role came in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever, released in 1991. The former beauty queen played against type as a down-and-out drug addict. The "'too pretty' thing got to be old," Berry told People in 2003. "Especially as I started to grow and go through all kinds of trials. I'm like, 'I've lived this! I've been down and out. I know what this is!'"
Jennifer Lawrence
Speaking about her Oscar-nominated role in Winter's Bone, Lawrence told View London in 2009, "I auditioned twice in L.A. and then they said that I was too pretty, so they turned me down. And then they continued the auditions in New York where I chased them and flew on the red-eye [flight] and showed up at the New York auditions and I was like, 'I'm back!' So I auditioned again and then we talked for hours and did some improv and I basically convinced them I was ugly enough to do it."
Kate Upton
"Living on a farm, beauty doesn't get you anywhere. Because I was pretty didn't mean I could convince my sister to do my chores. It was kind of inconvenient to be pretty growing up."
Sofía Vergara
"I'm limited because of my accent, the way I look. And if I want to do more serious stuff I think I'm going to have to end up producing it myself," Vergara told Vanity Fair in 2015. Regarding her shapely figure and her red carpet style, the Modern Family star told the magazine, "Sometimes you read in the press like, 'Oh, Sofía is wearing again the same shape dress,' and I want to answer them and say, 'What the f--k do you want me to wear?' Obviously there's a reason why that's what I go for."
Jessica Biel
"One director told me, 'I'm not looking for the sexiest woman. I'm looking for the girl next door.' [My beauty] really is a problem. I just want an opportunity. If you don't like the audition, then don't hire me. But if you don't want to even see me—that's hurtful. And why? You know nothing about me."
Scarlett Johansson
"[Not being cast for being too sexy] has happened to me before. That's always an unfortunate thing. I would imagine when casting someone, you would want to challenge yourself in some way. It is so interesting to see actors transform. There are certainly plenty of times when I am definitely not sexy."
Taylor Momsen
"The most obvious thing is to look at me and say, ‘Oh, pretty blonde girl, let's put her in pop.' I had long, pretty hair, and it didn't fit me. I'm pretty, but I'm not, like, a ‘pretty girl.' So I pulled up a bunch of photos of Joan Jett and said, ‘Do that to my hair.'"
Rob Lowe
"There's this unbelievable bias and prejudice against quote-unquote good-looking people, that they can't be in pain or they can't have rough lives or be deep or interesting. They can't be any of the things that you long to play as an actor. I'm getting to play those parts now and loving it. When I was a teen idol, I was so goddamn pretty I wouldn't have taken myself seriously."
Megan Fox
"It pisses me when people f--king complain that I'm too beautiful to get this part. That's bullshit. You wouldn't be working if you weren't attractive. Hollywood is the most superficial thing you could possibly be a part of. And if I weren't attractive I wouldn't be working at all."
Mischa Barton
"It kind of irritates me that I'm seen as this pretty face. People also say I'm too thin. The truth is, pretty people aren't as accepted as other people. It comes with all these stigmas. It's like, 'She's pretty and thin, so she's got to have problems. She must be anorexic or depressed or bitchy.' It doesn't help that my OC character is the pretty girl next door who looks like she has everything, but is totally f--ked up."
Melissa De Sousa
"I remember when I auditioned for Hustle & Flow, which is the one [movie] Terrence [Howard] got his nomination for. You know they thought I was 'too pretty' and I wouldn't be able to play a down-on-her luck stripper. But I begged them to see me," Melissa De Sousa told Rolling Out in 2014. "You know I went in and did my thing. I ended up screen-testing. The person who got it was Paula Jai Parker."
Gwendoline Christie
Brienne of Tarth is described in George R.R Martin's Song of Ice and Fire novels as large and unattractive. In response to her Game of Thrones casting backlash, Christie told Entertainment Weekly in 2013, "All my life, all I've ever wanted is for people to say—first of all—I'm pretty. But 'too pretty' is amazing,. I also loved that they said, 'Who's this model?' I only ever wanted to be a model. This acting thing—three years of drama school—is an accident! I was like, 'Wow, they think I'm a model?' I didn't mind it at all. I knew all the things I wanted to do to become the part. I've always been able to look very different very easily."
Olivia Wilde
"I pulled out of the Linda Lovelace biopic. I decided that it should go to someone who is not already sexualized by the public—Linda Lovelace was an innocent. Amanda [Seyfried] will do an amazing job. I would like to play roles that are in no way sexualized."
Evangeline Lilly
"I spent many nights crying myself to sleep wishing I was ugly because of the way men leered and disrespected me, because they assumed things about my mental capacity or my physical willingness based on the way I look. In high school, people wanted to find the worst in me. I was a good student, I was good at soccer, I was vice president of the student council, I was a pretty girl. It was easy for people to look at me and say 'F--k you.'"
Jessica Alba
"I had a show [Fox's Dark Angel] that premiered when I was 19. And right away, everyone formed a strong opinion about me because of the way I was marketed. I was supposed to be sexy, this tough action girl. That's what people expected. I felt like I was being objectified, and it made me uncomfortable. I wanted to be chic and elegant!"
Emmy Rossum
"[The Shameless producers] didn't want to see me; they wouldn't even [let me] audition. They thought my image too glamorous, that I couldn't not be pretty."