The 15 Hottest Teachers in Movies

Image via Complex Original

Movies always make school seem more exciting than it is by casting hot actresses as the types of teachers that simply don't exist in real life. Case in point: Christina Hendricks in the drama Detachment, out this Friday. Of course, this isn't the first time Hollywood has provoked our after-school fantasies. Movies have been teasing us with fictional teachers whom we'd be honored to spend detention with for years. Continue reading to check out our picks for The 15 Hottest Teachers in Movies.

DREW BARRYMORE

Movie: Donnie Darko (2001)
It’s hard to keep kids interested in a high school English class, especially when one student sees a seven foot demonic bunny that tells him the world will be ending soon. These are the problems that the sexy but stone-faced Karen Pomeroy, played by Drew Barrymore, faces every day in the classroom.

OLIVIA WILLIAMS

Movie: Rushmore (1998)
It’s understandable why Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) would go to such extremes to cut out the competition for his teacher, played by Olivia Williams. As Rosemary Cross, she's intelligent, graceful and irresistibly charming to both the students and teachers at Rushmore. 

HILARY SWANK

Movie: Freedom Writers (2007)
There are two key differences between Dangerous Minds and Freedom Writers: The latter is based on a true story and Hilary Swank’s character Erin Gruwell doesn’t try to “fit in” with her minority students by exchanging her shoulder-padded blazer for a Greaser jacket. Swank’s solidarity with her power suit (and matching pearls) make her curiously sexy in this flick.

EMBETH DAVIDTZ

Movie: Matilda (1996)
Miss Honey is the idyllic teacher and it’s difficult not to find her charming. Not only is she never perturbed by her students, but her sundress is always perfectly pressed and there’s always flowers on her desk to brighten up the day, despite the fact that there’s a batshit crazy principal (who also happens to be her aunt) terrorizing the school.

CATE BLANCHETT

Movie: Notes on a Scandal (2006)
The attractiveness of Cate Blanchett’s Sheba Hart in Notes on a Scandal is beyond schoolboy crushes. After her affair with a student is discovered, another teacher (Judi Dench) uses the fact as blackmail to encourage Sheba to drop the student and be with her instead.

OLIVIA D'ABO

Movie: The Big Green (1995)
How could we not have felt a strange attraction to her? D’abo as Ms. Montgomery has a funny and peculiarly sexy accent (British, in mature terms) and she thought to engage her class by making them play soccer, not with stupid trivia games. Back then, nothing could top the idea of perpetual recess with a pretty girl.

TINA FEY

Movie: Mean Girls (2004)
Tina Fey as Ms. Norbury is what we like to call “academic sexy.” She’s got the necessary thick-rimmed glasses and cashmere sweater, the quick wit to call kids out on their bullshit and a genuine interest in teaching multiplication to her students (so much so that she even leads “The Mathletes” in after school competition).

TIA CARRERE

Movie: My Teacher's Wife (1999)
This movie could have easily been taken from the daydreams of the average high school guy wasting 45 minutes in calculus class. There’s no better way to get back at your jerk of a math teacher than to sleep with his hot wife; even better when it’s Tia Carrere, as Vicky, the math genius who’ll also tutor you to pass.

CHRISTINA HENDRICKS

Movie: Detachment (2012)
We already feel a comfortable sense of proximity to Hendricks, even as the frustrated New York public school teacher, Ms. Sarah Madison. She’s no longer stuck in the '60s as Mad Men’s Joan Holloway. The modern role makes her otherwise dreamlike character seem a lot more attainable.

MICHELLE PFEIFFER

Movie: Dangerous Minds (1995)
Despite the fact that Dangerous Minds makes our list of The 50 Most Racist Movies, Pfeiffer as the film’s leather jacket-wearing, karate-chopping white savior protagonist Ms. LouAnn Johnson is a lot more appealing than any of the old-timey teachers we had growing up.

CAMERON DIAZ

Movie: Bad Teacher (2011)
The title is an understatement when it comes to middle school instructor Ms. Elizabeth Halsey (Diaz). Not only does she snooze at her desk all day and make her students watch movies, she also has a stash of pot, liquor and pills in her drawer. Her sole motivation for teaching is earning enough money for breast implants. We’re willing to overlook her lack of professional qualifications for some eye candy and an easy A.

FAMKE JANSSEN

Movie: The Faculty (1998)
Typically, we’d be game for anything that can transform an unbearably shy and prudish teacher into a self-actualized bombshell, but if that means having to implant a deadly parasitic alien in the woman, as is this case with Janssen’s character Ms. Elizabeth Burke, we’ll stick to squirming in our seats. Besides, we can appreciate Burke’s pre-alien homicidal cat lady look.

PAULA PATTON

Movie: Precious (2009)
The beautiful Paula Patton’s character, Ms. Blu Rain, has a sweet, empathetic demeanor and enough inspirational speeches up her sleeve to make you show up to class on time every day.

BROOKLYN DECKER

Movie: Just Go With It (2011)
Brooklyn Decker played Palmer, a sixth grade math teacher who happens to look like she models swimsuits for Sports Illustrated as a side gig. With that said, if teaching was Decker's actual job, all the boys in her class would have full beards by elementary school graduation from their raging hormones.

BRIDGETTE WILSON

Movie: Billy Madison (1995)
Ms. Veronica Vaughn meets every criteria on our “Hot Teacher” checklist: young enough to not be our mom, sexiness bursting out of the requisite pencil skirt and spring blouse uniform, and willing to reward us with a striptease after every correct answer during an at-home tutoring session.