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Overview of
our 17th annual list:
We usually
know approximately how things will turn out before
the poll actually happens. Last year we knew that
Scarlett Johansson and Alexandra Daddario would be
the top two, and the only drama involved which would
emerge supreme. 2015 was not like that. There were
45 scenes on the ballot, and only one of the women
involved had been on the ballot the previous year,
and that was Keri Russell with only rear exposure
each year, so nobody's established star power was
capable of overwhelming the field. Not only was
there no single star to stand above the rest, but
there was no single scene which stood out either. It
was a diverse field, and the championship was, to
use a sports phrase, anybody's ballgame. I myself
could not decide between several contenders. Alicia Vikander certainly came
storming out of nowhere to make an impression on
this year's list. She not only won the voting for
one film, but she also earned another place on the
list for a second film, and both of those films were
nominated for Golden Globes.
While some of the names near the
bottom of the list are familiar, the top ten
consisted almost entirely of faces new to the list.
Not a single one appeared in the top ten in the
previous two years, and only Sarah Silverman had
ever appeared in the top ten before. Many of the
women in the top ten were long-time TV performers
who had never previously done any nudity.
In my opinion, a few scenes
could have gotten more enthusiasm from the voters.
Madalina Ghenea, Olivia Chenery and Sarah Hay could
easily have been in my personal top ten rather than
Rosabell Sellers, Emily Kinney and Sarah Silverman.
A few other scenes suffered from coming out too late
in the year, or being unable to reach the immense
American audience, thus failing to gather steam. Bel
Powley could have been much higher on this list,
given that she did substantial nudity in a highly
respected film. Three other possible contenders fell
off the list entirely (the two women in Love, Freya
Mavor in La dame dans l'auto aves des lunettes en un
fusil and the tandem of Cecile de France and Izia
Higelin in La Belle Saison).
On the other hand, the top seven
are all solid entries, even if there is no "perfect
storm" caused by the alignment of a major star and
groundbreaking exposure.
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| 19t |
Liv Tyler in
"The Leftovers"
season two,
episode three
This vote is really
a tip of the cap to Liv's past. There is minimal
nudity, and she's no longer the fresh-faced ingenue
who impressed us so deeply in Stealing Beauty in
1996, nor the sex kitten who aroused us five years
later in One Night at McCool's, nor the cool beauty
we loved in Lord of the Rings.
But she's still Liv Tyler, dammit, and she's
removing her panties.
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| 19t |
Karen Hassan in "The Vikings"
season three,
episode ten (uncensored version)
This is one
of the three entries on this year's list which
featured some B&D, the others being 50 Shades of
Grey and Bound, and this is the only one from a TV
production.
Be wary of buying a season DVDs for Vikings, by the
way. Make sure you know what you are getting. The
version aired in the USA is not always the same as
what they see overseas.
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| 19t |
Alicia Vikander in The Danish
Girl
5.7 at IMDb, 71% at Rotten
Tomatoes
Alicia pulled
off the rare double entry on this years list,
including the top spot (see below).
Do you remember that Halle Berry pulled that off in
2001 in ever more impressive fashion? She took first
place that year and her nearest competitor was -
Halle Berry!
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| 16t |
Nicole
Kidman in Strangerland
5.2 at IMDb, 35%
positive reviews
It is
interesting to peruse the historical chart of the
poll's results throughout the sixteen years of its
existence (see the bottom of the page). Many of the
women from the very first year are forgotten or out of
the nudity game, but one woman on that first list also
did a full frontal this year - that would be the
esteemed Ms. Kidman. Even more impressive is the fact
that if there had been a poll in 1986, going back
another thirteen years, she might have been a
contender on that one as well, for her performance in
Windrider. That makes 29 years between her first nude
scene and her last - and she's still in her forties,
and looks so good that it seems she can keep going for
a long time.
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| 16t |
Madalina
Diana Ghenea in Youth
7.5 at IMDb, 75%
positive reviews
I mentioned in the
summary that I believe this scene to be underrated.
This is a respected movie directed by Paolo Sorrentino
(director of the Oscar-winning film The Great Beauty),
featuring major stars (Michael Caine, Jane Fonda,
Harvey Keitel and Rachel Weisz). Moreover, the young
Romanian actress is a spectacular beauty, very
credibly cast in the part of Miss Universe,
doing total nudity in good light.
That ought to add up to something better than 16th
place. If the list had been mine alone to construct, I
would certainly have placed it in the top ten,
possibly in the top five. In fact, I have no strong
argument against those who felt it was #1.
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| 16t |
Lola Le Lann in Un
Moment d'Engarement
6.3 at IMDb, no
reviews at RT
The film is a remake of a movie of the same name
released in 1977 and directed by Claude Berri. Cassel
and François Cluzet reprise the roles played by
Jean-Pierre Marielle and Victor Lanoux at
the time, while Lola takes over the role originally
played by Agnès Soral.
Thanks to a great audition with Vincent Cassel, Lola
won the role despite no previous acting experience,
and to date she has not been cast again.
By the way - the beautiful 19-year-old French actress
has a twin sister!
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| 15 |
Bel Powley in Diary
of a Teenage Girl
7.2 at IMDb, 94%
positive reviews
Here's another
underrated performance.
This film received almost universal praise from the
critics. Both it and its young female star have
received numerous awards and nominations from various
societies of critics, with Bel's nominations
encompassing a wide range of achievement, including:
"Most Promising Performer" (Chicago Film Critics),
"Best Actress" (Detroit Film Critics, K.C. Film
Critics and Gotham Award), "Pauline Kael Breakout
Award" (Florida Film Critics), "Best Female Lead"
(Independent Spirit Awards), and "Best Lead Actress"
(Indiewire).
Yeah, that, and she's very naked.
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| 13t |
Keri
Russell in "The Americans"
season three,
episodes three, seven and eleven
For the second year in a row, Keri
has graced us with excellent, clear views of her
beautiful backside, thus earning a spot on the list. I
believe she might win it if she turned around.
My only question is "Why did she wait so long?" She
will be 40 in March. Where was this daring when she
was 25?
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| 13t |
Dianna Agron in Bare
4.7 at IMDb, 33%
positive reviews
Most of us were surprised to see
Dianna do a topless scene, given the relatively
family-friendly nature of her TV series, "Glee."
All I can say is "Keep up the good work."
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12
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Olivia
Chenery in Legacy
4.3 at IMDb, no
positive reviews
My
vote counts the same as everyone else's, so I don't
get to influence the selection as much as I'd like,
but this is the scene I voted for.
She didn't place very high because nobody really knows
who she is, very few people saw the movie, and those
who saw it generally despised it. I understand all
that, but I loved her work anyway.
Her multiple nude scenes are funny; she's gorgeous;
she's totally naked; and there are plenty of
lightbulbs nearby.
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| 11 |
Sarah Hay in "Flesh
and Bone"
episodes one,
two, three and six
This is a TV series about the
competitive world of ballet, and Sarah is a real-life
ballerina.
I've been to a few ballets here and there, and I don't
remember seeing many dancers with that kind of chest.
I would think she might face balance problems and back
strain - but then again a don't know jack straws about
ballet. The only Tutu I know anything about is a South
African Bishop.
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| 10 |
Emily
Kinney in "Masters of Sex"
season three,
episodes nine and ten
I am not able to
explain the presence of the Emily Kinney scenes in the
top ten.
My best guess is that Emily is a star of the cult hit
"The Walking Dead," and the fans of that show were
really stoked to see her take off her top.
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9
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Rosabell Laurenti
Sellers in "Game of Thrones"
season five,
episode seven
Speaking of cult hits, "Game of
Thrones" is one that is capable of driving a topless
woman to a prominent spot on the list. Sellers is a
real fox with a great figure, but this scene is too
brief, too dark and has too little exposure to be a
top ten finisher.
Then again, I know even less than Jon Snow, and he
knows nothing.
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8
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Sarah Silverman in I Smile Back
5.9 at IMDb, 54%
positive reviews
There are two accomplished comic
performers who made the top ten this year in dramatic
roles. Sarah has been a popular stand-up and sketch
comic, as you probably know, and is now carving out a
niche as a serious actress.
Back in 2012 she took the very top spot on the list
with her full-frontal exposure in Take This Waltz, and
she returned to the list with this daring role which
required topless exposure and an anal sex scene.
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7
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Dakota
Johnson in 50 Shades of Grey
4.1 at IMDb, 25%
positive reviews
This was both one of
the best nude scenes of the year and one of the most
disappointing. Given the nature of the source
material, we could have expected, and in fact were
expecting, much more female nudity.
What stood in our way is the target market for this
film. The passionate admirers of this book, and
therefore the likely purchasers of movie tickets, are
women, meaning that major female nudity would have
created at best minimal potential for additional
sales, and may even have kept women from the box
office if the nudity had been too explicit.
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6
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Kristen Wiig in Welcome to Me
5.9 at IMDb, 72% positive
reviews
I will admit right now that I had a
skeptical attitude toward this movie. I didn't doubt
that Wiig can act, because her type of comedy always
has consisted of deadpan caricatures of common female
archetypes, often women who are excessively
self-absorbed. In essence, her comic performances were
always dramatic acting with an overlay of hyperbole.
All she needed to do to become a good dramatic actress
was to take down the hyperbole to the normal range.
This role was right in her wheelhouse, and she did
fine, as I expected.
What surprised me was that the 40-ish performer went
all the way with the nudity and looked absolutely
great naked. Not just good, or good for her age, but
great.
I tip my hat.
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5
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Eliza Coupe in
"Casual"
episodes six and
seven
Eliza Coupe falls into the same
category as her fellow top-ten finishers Emily Kinney,
Sasha Alexander and Charisma Carpenter - long time TV
stars who have never gotten naked on camera
before. Eliza spent two years on "Scrubs" just
as the show's popularity was winding down. When that
series was cancelled, she then put in three years on
"Happy Endings."
Those five years developed a substantial appetite for
the nudity she finally delivered on "Casual."
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4
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Charisma
Carpenter in Bound
3.4 at IMDb, 11%
positive reviews
It has been a long time since she
played Cordelia Chase on "Buffy," and most people had
despaired of ever seeing her naked. Then, amazingly,
after dodging nudity throughout her career, she chose
age 44 to strip down for kinky bondage scenes in a
poorly regarded cheapie film, kind of a grade-Z
knockoff of 50 Shades.
So she got her paycheck
And we got to see her naked.
No objections.
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3
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Sasha
Alexander in "Shameless"
season five,
episodes nine and eleven
I propose a toast to either Rizzoli
or Isles finally getting naked! I know she's one of
the two - the one who isn't Angie Harmon. Like
Charisma Carpenter, she waited until her 40s to get
naked on screen.
Her family is Serbian and her real name is Suzana S.
Drobnjaković. No wonder she uses a stage name.
Trivia: her mother-in-law is Sophia Loren.
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2
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Ruby Rose in "Orange is the
New Black"
season three,
episode nine
A 29-year-old Aussie, Ruby is
probably better know for everything else in her life
but acting. She's a model, DJ, recording artist, TV
presenter and former MTV VJ. Her accomplishments in
those fields, substantial though they may be, are
often outweighed by the public's fascination with her
gender fluidity, bipolar disorder and tattoos.
All that adds up to the fact that she was the
fifth most searched person on Google in 2015,
just below Donald Trump and just above Charlie Sheen.
Trump and Sheen? That is some heavy-duty pop culture
awareness right there! It's no wonder she was the top
TV performer in our poll.
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1
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Alicia Vikander in
Ex Machina
7.7 at IMDb, 92%
positive reviews
The slim Swedish actress is
probably the breakthrough performer of 2015, and that
has little or nothing to do with her nudity, as great
as that is.
In December, just before this poll began, The
Telegraph wrote that she's now " the
actress to watch" because of her acting ability
and obvious popularity with casting directors. I'm
certainly ready to watch her - especially if she
continues to dress like she does to the right.
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