The Most Beautiful Women Of All Time

For her turn in 12 Years a Slave, Nyong’o won the 2013 Best Supporting Actress Oscar becoming the first African actress to win the award and the first Kenyan actress to win an Oscar of any kind. It also happened to catapult her to the top of every magazine in the world’s ‘best-dressed’ and ‘most beautiful’ lists, where she has remained ever since.

The actress and band front-woman who inherited her father Lenny’s swagger and musical talent, Zoë Kravitz recently appeared in the hit show Big Little Lies to widespread acclaim. She can also crochet, which is nice.

Harry Potter’s best friend, millionaire, actor, philanthropist, gender equality advocate and global book club founder (cool, hey?), there aren’t many boxes that 27-year-old Brit Emma Watson hasn’t ticked.

The original blonde bombshell, ‘B.B.’ was an actress, model and one of the biggest sex symbols of the 50s and 60s before becoming an animal rights activist and – somewhat regrettably – a convicted race hate inciter in her later years.

“I don’t understand why people see me as beautiful” the British actress – regarded as one of the greatest screen icons of all time – apparently used to tell her son, leading to the obvious question: what hope is there for any of the rest of us?

Oscar-winning actress and Harvard University graduate, Natalie Portman is someone with talent to burn who also happens to be one of the great beauties of the modern celebrity era. Oh, and she’s also a promising director now. Expect her to cure cancer around 2035.

2008’s Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire was an over-rated film in all but one respect: it launched the career of Freida Pinto. A darling of fashion magazines ever since, she is also considered in her home country as “arguably the biggest global star from India.”