A History of Famous Women Who've Imitated Marilyn Monroe

Year: 1985
Madonna has channeled Monroe on several occassions. The pop star most famously paid homage in her video for “Material Girl." She even wore the same dress and gloves that Marilyn wore in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Year: 1996
Mira played Monroe in the HBO original movie Norma Jean & Marilyn. While it was a commercial success, and Sorvino was a doppelganger for Monroe, fans were angry about the many inaccuracies of the film. For instance, Monroe didn’t receive extensive plastic surgery, as depicted in the film, and she and Jane Russell never stuck their breasts in the cement at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Year: 1998
Mariah Carey is another pop star obsessed with Marilyn. Carey’s imitation of Monroe’s famed performance for the troops in Korea for her music video “I Still Believe” is minuscule compared to other acts of fandom. She’s such a big fan that she purchased Monroe’s old baby grand piano for $600,000 and named her daughter Monroe.

Year: 2000
On top of posing for several photoshoots inspired by the late actress, Charlize Theron has also starred as Monroe in a SNL skit (where Jimmy Fallon played Joe DiMaggio), and even costarred with Monroe herself. We know, that's technically impossible, but the two stars were edited together with CGI in an ad for Dior’s J’adore.

Year: 2000
Although she admitted her fear of singing live, famed model Rachel Hunter donned the persona of the Marilyn Monroe to help her for British reality competition, Celebrity Stars In Their Eyes (a show in which stars impersonate other stars). Hunter asked for her segment to be deleted if it aired in her native New Zealand, so if friends and family want to see her as the original blond bombshell, they might have to get a passport.

Year: 2005
Anna Nicole Smith tried to embody Marilyn Monroe throughout her whole career. The two were compared numerous times: the baby voice, the “dumb blond” persona, the fact that Monroe was the first to pose for Playboy and Smith found her fame as a centerfold, and the fact that Smith even rented Monroe’s old house in Hollywood. Ironically, they both died of a drug overdose; Monroe at 36 and Smith at 39.

Year: 2006
Xtina is so taken with the tragic starlet that she often mimics her platinum blond hair and red lipstick, in addition to her curvy figure. The album cover for Aguilera's Back to Basics was inspired by one of Monroe’s old photos.

Year: 2008
Megan Fox admires Monroe but says that she has never tried to emulate her, despite tattooing Monroe’s face on her arm. The two have a lot in common: their sex appeal is undeniable and they were encouraged to use it to become famous. Monroe had to battle typecasting throughout her career, and Fox faces the same challenge. She's revealed that Monroe was the first person she saw on television, “literally moments after [she] was born.”

Year: 2008
Britney and Marilyn share one glaring similarity: a life in the spotlight that highlights their troubles. Spears feels such an affinity towards the movie star that she requires a collection of Monroe’s DVDs at every hotel she goes to. In addition to emulating Monroe in the Esquire photoshoot above, she's also admitted to visiting Monroe’s grave in L.A. quite often. She even bought a plot near Monroe’s so she can rest by her for all eternity.

Year: 2010
Last year for George Lopez’s birthday, his friend J.Lo threw on a blond wig and sequin dress to serenade him with Monroe’s notorious “Happy Birthday” ode. When the screen goes black and white, you can almost confuse the sexy Latina with the Hollywood legend.

Year: 2010
Despite her thin frame, Hilton accurately impersonated Marilyn for the launch of her fragrance “Tease.” The heiress likened herself to Monroe so much that she went as far as saying, “There’s nobody in the world like me. I think every decade has an iconic blond-like Marilyn Monroe or Princess Diana-and right now, I’m that icon.”

Year: 2011
Johansson claims she wasn’t attempting to imitate Marilyn in her Dolce & Gabbana campaign, but people still drew the conclusion. “I love Marilyn. I think she was incredibly beautiful and a very underrated actress. I am a curvy woman who is blond, and perhaps we are both comfortable in our femininity, but I think that is as far as the comparison goes," Scarlett said.

Year: 2011
Continuing the trend of Marilyn Monroe biopics, Watts is set to play the ultimate sex symbol in Blonde. According to the director, the British actress’s version of Monroe will highlight “Norma Jean as a central figure in a fairytale; an orphan child lost in the woods of Hollywood, being consumed by that great icon of the twentieth century.”

Year: 2011
Critics agree that Michelle Williams perfectly embodies Marilyn Monroe in her upcoming film My Week with Marilyn. To perfect her role, Williams tried to keep the character close while the cameras weren’t rolling. The usually quiet and introverted Williams stayed in character between takes, using Marilyn’s voice and her walk around the set. Some days, she maintained the happy and outgoing Monroe while other days she channeled the tortured artist.

Years: 2008, 2011
Six weeks before Monroe’s passing, she was infamously photographed tipsy on champagne and nude. Lohan was honored to relive those specific images of the “original tabloid queen” for New York magazine. Lohan will again channel Monroe in her first ever Playboy spread. On top of expressing her admiration in photoshoots, Lindsay named her leggings line 6126, a nod to Monroe’s birthday, June 1, 1926, and dedicated two tattoos to her.