The 50 Hottest Redheads of All Time

Peep the sexiest gingers in existence.

Complex Original

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Think about Julianne Moore and the physical qualities she possesses. She's a redheaded Oscar-winning actress who's aging remarkably to the point where she can still film steamy nude scenes that we don't feel uncomfortable watching. But believe it or not, the famous fiery beauty wasn't always a fan of her now-classic appearance, namely her red hair. In fact, Moore even recently released the third installment of her children's book series, Freckleface Strawberry, about a girl insecure about her looks. But clearly, as history has shown, she should never be ashamed of those gorgeous crimson locks. Take The 50 Hottest Redheads of All Time, for example. Gingers have been killing it. Continue to take a look at all of the red-haired babes the world has obsessed over for years.

Geri Halliwell

Profession: Pop Star
Age: 39
From culinary and health perspectives, ginger is one of the most beneficial spices out there. And we'd say the same for Ginger Spice. She may not have had the frame of Mel B. or the tomboy appeal of Sporty, but Geri Halliwell managed both the baby-chub cutie and the ripped stunner looks with equal aplomb. Plus, hey, dirty talk just sounds so good with a British accent.

Lauren Ambrose

Profession: Actress
Age: 33
Best known for her role as Claire Fisher on the critically-acclaimed HBO drama Six Feet Under (as well as her stint in Torchwood), Lauren is often mistakenly thought to be the same age as her 17-year-old character from the show due to the youthful charm that she has been able to retain and maintain. A 33-year-old that looks 17? We need one of those (as opposed to the 33s that look 47 and the 13s that look 17 we usually pull).

Karen Elson

Profession: Model
Age: 23

Elson began modeling at an early age but it wasn’t until British Vogue dubbed her the “Red Queen” that people really learned to fully appreciate the red headed goddess. She an international modeling superstar who also has some designs for shoe company, Nine West, to be released this fall.

Danneel Harris

Profession: Actress/Gymnast
Age: 32

Hopefully you remember Danneel Harris from Harold and Kumar II, and not from her stint on One Tree Hill (not because she was bad in that show, more because you just shouldn't be watching that shit). Did you know she's also a gymnast? Flexible!

Debra Messing

Profession: Actress
Age: 43
Messing became a star on TV's Will & Grace, playing Grace Adler, a single woman who shares an Upper West Side apartment with the guy she dated in college before he came out of the closet. With her energy and zaniness, she always reminded us of Lucille Ball, only if husband Desi Arnaz announced his arrival by saying, "Luuucy, I'm home...osexual!"

Felicia Day

Profession: Actress
Age 32

What makes Felicia Day so awesome? Is it the fact that she’s very easy on the eyes? Is it also that not only does she have the beauty but the brains to match with that as well, considering that she’s also a writer for the popular web series, The Guild? Or how about, she’s also a true gamer? Did you say “all of the above”? We concur.

Melinda Clarke

Profession: Actress
Age: 42
Clarke has a lot of memorable—albeit short-lived—roles on TV shows including Entourage, but she'll always be Julie Cooper from The O.C. to us. In that role, just like Julius Caesar, she came, she saw, she conquered. Except it was more like she lied, she cheated, and she slept her way to the top. Hey, whatever works.

Suzy Parker

Profession: Model
Age deceased

Suzy Parker was the original red headed model. While many ads featured her red tresses to showcase their latest products she also inspired the Beatles to name a song after her (even if it was unreleased). She was the signature face of Coco Chanel, the first model to earn $100,000 per year, and Vogue called her the face of the confident, post-war American woman.

Jane Seymour

Profession: Actress
Age: 60
 Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman? Nah, get your head out of the '90s, son, we're talking "Solitaire," the psychic who loses her powers when her hymen gets busted in the James Bond classic Live and Let Die (not to mention a certain 1987 Ayboy-play pictorial). Not that we would be opposed to a little high country backwoods "medicine" either.

Tina Louise

Profession: Actress
Age: 77

Tina Louise made a character out of her fiery red hair when she stared in Gilligan’s Island as Ginger, the red headed movie beauty. While she was afraid that the role would typecast her (as what? A sexy red head? Done.), she is recognized as a pop culture phenomina of exactly what men want.

Cheryl Cole

Profession: Singer
Age: 28
Where to begin with this reality TV star, footballer's ex-wife and BRIT award-winning Girls Aloud singer? The fact that she collaborated with Will.i.am on her chart topping solo 3 Words? Or that she has a tramp stamp and saucy leg tattoo? Or how about the fact that she was once charged with racially aggravated assault (later lessened to just aggravated assault) alleging that she punched a bathroom attendant while calling her a "Caribbean jigaboo"? (ed: WHAT??!!) Whatever the case, let's end with the fact that she divorced her Chelsea left-back husband Ashley Cole for leaving no less than five other women on their backs. Yeeeeah, banana kick.

Deborah Ann Woll

Profession: Actress
Age: 26
Even if she's not an Irish true blood (only half, but the good half we presume), this True Blood hottie is...um...hot. In that I-want-to-have-sex-with-a-half-Irish-vampire type of way.

Angelica Bridges

Profession: Actress
Age: 37
You may recognize Angelica from her roles in Mortal Kombat Conquest and Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding. Sike! If you're like us, you recognize her from her spread in Playboy's November 2001 (a sleeper classic!) issue, where she covered the magazine as a 27-year-old model/actress on the come-up. She hasn't been active in film since 2006, but being that she's probably getting child support payments from ex-husband Sheldon Souray, she can just sit back, be hot, and chill somewhere.

Nicole Kidman

Profession: Actress
Age: 44
Aside from a couple notable Ls (getting married to Tom Cruise; starring in Batman Forever) on her resume, Nic's actually done some classic films. We can rewatch Nine and Eyes Wide Shut to block out the pointless tabloid stories about her and husband Keith Urban's trips to the grocery store and erase the memory of her in Just Go With It.

Marcia Cross

Profession: Actress
Age: 49
When you're the hot redhead on Desperate Housewives, of course we're going to take notice. But when you were also a legendary TV character from the '90s version of Melrose Place—known for stealing babies and blowing up apartments—we're going to give props. Cross is a TV legend two times over, and those twos ain't bad either.

Lily Cole

Profession: Model/Actress
Age: 23
The young English model and emerging actress has taken Europe by storm—appearing in numerous high-end ad campaigns and posing nude for French Playboy and the Pirelli Calendar (Google you dumbass). If the sexiness and red hair doesn't get you, she graduated Cambridge University at the top of her class, and is reportedly worth upwards of $11 million. Face the facts: Ms. Cole > any college chick you've ever smashed.

Alicia Witt

Profession: Actress
Age: 36
Classically-trained pianists aren't usually this hot. A classically trained pianist/successful actress (most recently in Friday Night Lights) with a perfect rack, seductive brown eyes, and legs you fantasize about having wrapped around you? Well, that's a different story.

Christy Hemme

Profession: Model/Professional Wrestler
Age: 30
When the first page for a woman's Google Image search is chock full of fuck me eyes, NSFW poses, and halter top wrestling T-shirts, you know you have yourself a real classy broad. Oh wait, she's also a wrestler and a manager on a professional wrestling circuit? Call us baby, we got a double wide with your name on it.

Ann Margaret

Profession:
Age: 70

Starring alongside Hollywood legends such as Steve McQueen and Dick Van Dyke takes an extraordinary type of actress with impeccable beauty and charisma—someone like Ann-Margret. The Swedish-American actress rocked her roles in films such as Bye, Bye, Birdie and The Cincinnati Kid. Throughout her career, she’s collected five Golden Globe Awards including several Academy and Emmy award nominations. That’s what we’d like to call, a fine woman right there.

Bryce Dallas Howard

Profession: Actress
Age: 30
Sure the Howard Hollywood pedigree packs heavyweight heat with director Ron Howard at the helm but Bryce Dallas Howard, the milky-skinned vegan and M. Night Shyamalan's muse can't attribute her good looks to this particular gene pool. No disrespect to uncle Clint Howard, an excellent character actor, but it's not likely his "personality face" and spartan coif that got this flame-tressed lady in the water. You can oogle her more by watching 2011's The Help and 50/50.

Alyson Hannigan

Profession: Actress
Age: 37
We usually heart any girl that pleasures herself with her flute at band camp. But after watching Alyson work the pole as a stripper on How I Met Your Mother, we were completely sold. So, let's hope 2012's American Reunion will show Hannigan getting reacquainted with her horny band geek self.

Laura Leighton

Profession: Actress
Age: 43
Laura has a mile-long acting resume, but most of us remember her from the original Melrose Place. Sydney Andrews was the name, and she topped many most memorable characters lists in the '90s. Fortunately, ABC Family saw her MILF potential and cast the redhead as Hannah's mom Ashley Marin in the hit show Pretty Little Liars.

Kate Mara

Profession: Actress
Age: 28
We know, we know. You only saw Brokeback Mountain because "you always watch every Oscar nominated movie," but insecurity aside you had to have noticed the chicks in that movie. Kate Mara didn't get much shine there, but with Entourage, Iron Man 2, and American Horror Story under her name, we're sure she'll be banking as big as her sister Rooney Mara (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) sometime soon. Let's just hope she doesn't opt out for blonde when she does. Word to almost every other redheaded actress.

Laura Prepon

Profession: Actress
 Age: 31
She played Donna Pinciotti on That '70s Show, and her beautiful red hair, parted down the middle, went perfectly with her spunky character. She posed for Maxim twice, once sporting her natural hair color and more recently in blond, highlighting an interesting phenomenon that other redheads should note: red, for some reason, makes her twos look much larger.

Amy Adams

Profession: Actress
Age: 37
Pale is the new tan, and when it comes to having a powdery-white complexion, Amy Adams is the definition of. Her resume used to include more demure roles like Ella Enchanted and Doubt, but she stole the spotlight in The Fighter thanks to her shes-not-the-hottest-redhead-but-theres-something-about-her-that-makes-me-want-to-smash good looks.

Jessica Chastain

Profession: Actress
Age: 30

Undoubtedly, Hollywood films have been lacking in sultry redheads. Thanks to Jessica Chastain who starred in The Help, Tree of Life and The Debt this year, we can let go of our nostalgia for Nicole Kidman’s career in the 1990s and look to Chastain to provide us with the fiery appeal we’d be looking for.

Julia Roberts

Profession: Actress
Age: 43
Julia Roberts has a couple trifey traits: she's dated a slew of Hollywood actors and stole her current cameraman hubby on the set of The Mexican (talk about turning the tables) while he was still married. But the fact that her net worth is in the $150 million dollar range and she looks damn good for being 40-plus makes her the rare pretty woman that you could turn from a ho into a housewife.

Isla Fisher

Profession: Actress/Author
Age: 35
We first took notice of Fisher when she played a "stage-five clinger" in Wedding Crashers, but she was actually a published author before she became famous. Nowadays, Fisher is not only a hot redhead but also one of the few women we find both hot and funny. Although Fisher must like funny guys herself since she had Borat's baby.

Geena Davis

Profession: Actress
Age: 55
Is she a natural redhead? No, she's not. But she's six feet tall, was a member of MENSA, and played one of the most badass chicks ever in The Long Kiss Goodnight, in which she told bad guys to suck her dick and somehow managed to make it sound appealing. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Rose McGowan

Profession: Actress
Age: 38
That which we call a Rose by any other name would smell as sweet...although maybe not after being with ex-boyfriend Marilyn Manson for three-plus years and revealing that she grew up in a cult.

Amanda Righetti

Profession: Actress
 Age: 28
Righetti sauce? Why yes, how did you know, are you a...Mentalist? Ok, enough of that, but do you think Amanda's turn on the CBS psychic crime procedural has given her mind reading capabilities? If so, we want her to know that cherries and strawberries are totally interchangeable in our fantasies.

Lauren Holly

Profession: Actress
Age: 47
Besides loving her natural red locks, we loved seeing Holly's all-natural ass in Dumb & Dumber, all the way back in '94. She was married to Jim Carrey (for less than a year), which seems to confirm the "crazy redhead" stereotype.

Susan Sarandon

Profession: Actress
Age: 65
If her twos aren't the GOAT, they're certainly in the discussion. They've even spawned new contenders to the throne. Queen!

Jenny Lewis

Profession: Singer
Age: 35
Lewis, who you might recognize as the singer of Rilo Kiley, first showed off her red headed abilities in a short lived 80’s sitcom, playing the grandchild of Lucille Ball in Life With Lucy. Now you can maybe catch a glimpse of her performing with her boyfriend in their band, Jenny & Johnny. I know, why did I bring up the “boyfriend” fact?

Rita Hayworth

Profession: Actress
Age: deceased

Hayworth was one of the 1940’s biggest stars, which is a shame she didn’t grace the planet a bit later when most of the films were in full blown color so we could fully appreciate her red headed sex appeal. She’s a redhead that will down in history as a “bombshell”, literally, as her likeness was placed on the first nuclear test bomb after WWII.

Kate Winslet

Profession: Actress
Age: 36
We've been fans of Kate Winslet('s body) since Titanic. Sure, she's gone blond and brunette since, but she played a stuck up ("But I like to smash poor dudes with creative sides") redhead who posed in the buff in James Cameron's iceberg epic (score) and we're pretty sure the curtains matched the pretentious carpet for that scene (double score).

Joss Stone

Profession: Singer
Age: 24
In 2006, the multi-platinum selling English songstress made The Sun Times' Rich List with a salary of six million pounds. Despite her success, the hippie-esque hottie still remembers to contribute to charities ranging from the fight against global warming to distress in Darfur. Most of the time all we want from women is brains, but in Joss's case we'll take her Mind, Body, and Soul.

Nikki Cox

Profession: Actress
Age: 33
We love Cox! Especially red-headed Cox! In fact, we love Cox so much, that if we married Cox (which we'd totally do), and if we were named Mohr (as Nikki Cox's husband, Jay Mohr, is), and if we had our name changed to add the surname of the Cox we married (which he did, in 2008), we'd definitely add her name after ours. (Which he didn't. Seriously, "Jon Ferguson Cox Mohr"? And you call yourself a comedian?)

Faye Reagan

Profession: Porn Star/Model
 Age: 23
You may know her from her work for Dov, or you may know her from arthouse cinema like Belladonna's Cock Pigs. Either way, you've noticed the slim, milky Las Vegas native, whose stage name is clearly meant as a sly wink to the president who popularized the messiness known as "trickle-down economics." Or maybe not. What?! She's a redhead who makes porn. Take it or leave it, demando.

Molly Ringwald

Profession: Actress
Age: 43
Her glory days starring in some of John Hughes' classics (Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club) are long gone, but Molly is a bona fide Hollywood icon for her two roles encompassing the gamut of the '80s teenage red-head experience (the awkward Sam from SC and the stuck up Claire from BC). Just avoid her mom'd out recent pictures and her current role in The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and you'll be aiiiite.

Jessica Rabbit

Profession: Singer at the Ink and Paint Club
Age: Unknown
Who said there's no such thing as white girls with ass? To quote Roger himself: "P-p-p-p-please!"

Gillian Anderson

Profession: Actress
 Age: 43
Agent Dana Scully was a teenage punk rocker who lost her virginity at age 13 and was voted "Most Bizarre," "Class Clown," "Most Likely to Go Bald," and "Most Likely to Be Arrested" by her high school classmates in Grand Rapids, MI. Holy adolescent angst Batman, with teen years like those, no wonder homegirl was a little p-noid about aliens.

Emma Stone

Profession: Actress
Age: 22
For the star of Easy A and Crazy, Stupid Love, comedy comes naturally. Red hair, however, does not. Born blonde and dyed brunette, she went red at director Judd Apatow's insistence. Fortunately for her, it makes her look super-good.

Rihanna

Profession: Singer
Age 23

Yeah, she's not a natural redhead, and neither are a lot of the hotties on this list, but damn, RiRi has killed the color just as well as anyone. Short, long, it doesn't matter. Like every one of her eye-catching hairstyles, it was gone after one album cycle, but we'll never forget that moment when the Bajan beauty went ginger.

Evan Rachel Wood

Profession: Actress
Age: 24
Wood, a tremendously talented actress who's best known for her roles in Across the Universe, The Wrestler, Mildred Pierce and True Blood, makes us feel a little uneasy. Maybe it's because the bisexual beauty was home-schooled, or because she was formerly engaged to Marilyn Manson. But it's definitely not because we fell for her when we saw her in Thirteen playing a drug- and sex-crazed 13-year-old.

Angie Everhart

Profession: Model/Actress
 Age: 42
This statuesque '90s dime blazed up five memorable issues of Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue and became the first-ever redhead model to appear on the cover of Glamour, all before embarking on a delightfully trashy acting career that gave us classics like Tales From The Crypt: Bordello of Blood.

Julianne Moore

Profession: Actress
Age: 50
This Scottish actress first started catching eyes on As the World Turns, winning a Daytime Emmy back in '88. Nearly a decade later, she steamed up the big screen in Boogie Nights as porn star Amber Waves. Think she doesn't have it anymore at 40-plus? Peep her nude scene in 2010's The Kids Are All Right and recalibrate your thinking dipshit.

Lindsay Lohan

Profession: Actress/Model/Pop Singer
Age: 25
We first spotted the natural redhead in Disney remake flicks, but after her performance in Mean Girls (and becoming legal), she entered the Hollywood icon stratosphere, with nude photoshoots, rehab, DUIs, a mental breakdown, and lesbian love with Samantha Ronson. We've got 10-1 odds on a successful comeback; 2-1 (plus a pre-order at Busted Benny's Bust-Off Bazaar) on a sex tape.

Cintia Dicker

Profession: Model
Age: 25

Red heads don’t have to be your “type” in order for you to think model Cintia Decker is gorgeous. Basically, if you don’t think she’s a sexy ginger then you don’t have a pulse. Are you not convinced? Maybe you should check out her work for Victoria’s Secret or her topless shoot for Marie Claire.

Christina Hendricks

Profession: Actress
 Age: 36
Google helps you out when searching "Christina Hendricks," suggesting that you'd like the Mad Men actress' measurements or maybe her cup size. This is because Google is a genius. Apparently this Christina person is on some show where dudes wear hats and drink a bunch and BASICALLY WHO CARES. It's all about her sumptuous shock of scarlet and monumental mammaries just throbbing to be motorboated. *SPBBRRRRBBBBBPPPPPPP!!!!* Winner winner ginger dinner.