MARILYN MONROE
No other Hollywood actress is anywhere near iconic as Marilyn Monroe, who has left a huge mark in the industry and beyond. She was a factory worker during the Second World War, but things changed for her when David Conover discovered her in 1945. It did not take much time before she made it big as a pin-up girl. Thanks to her success, it was not hard for her to land contracts with Columbia Pictures and 20th Century Fox as an actress. In 1950, she went back to modeling but kept acting anyway. By 1953, she was already considered one of the hottest women in show business. You can thank How to Marry a Millionaire, Niagara, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes for that. On top of that, her centerfold and cover features in magazines made her even more famous than she already was.
MARILYN MONROE
HALLE BERRY
Before Halle Berry became the excellent actress that she is, she was a model first and foremost. In the ‘80s, she joined a couple of beauty contests. She was the 1986 Miss Ohio USA and even finished first runner-up in Miss USA. In New York City, she pursued a modeling career but got sidetracked by acting. Her debut role was in a TV show called Living Dolls. In the ‘90s, she saw a lot of success by starring in Introducing Dorothy Dandrige. She earned an Academy Award nomination for this role, which was a historical feat since no other African American actress has done that prior. Her success only grew in the 2000s when she worked on the X-Men movies and Monster’s Ball. Thanks to the latter, she made history once more by being the first woman of color to receive an Academy Award. She has not modeled in a while, but we can’t deny that she is still a beauty.
HALLE BERRY
