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From Sharon Stone’s real first flash to Dakota Johnson’s headline-making strip, here’s the naked truth behind the most unforgettable, and sometimes surprising, nude debuts by Hollywood's boldest leading ladies. Just when you think you know an actress’s limits, she leaps into the deep end, sometimes, literally. But those steamy, career-altering nude scenes we all remember? Often, they weren’t the first time these stars bared it all on screen. Here are seven major actresses who turned heads and rewrote their careers, and discovered the nude debuts you probably missed.
Believe it or not, Sharon Stone’s first nude scene wasn’t the notorious, leg-crossing moment in “Basic Instinct.” Her debut was back in “Irreconcilable Differences,” where she briefly emerges topless from a pool, not remotely sexual, and completely below the radar. All that changed with “Basic Instinct.” Her cool confidence as Catherine Tramell, plus that now-legendary, uncross-and-recross moment, sparked controversy, career upheaval, and endless analysis. It was the role (and flash) that made her a movie icon, even though she’d already quietly bared all years before.
Elizabeth Berkley’s jump from wholesome “Saved by the Bell” teen to naked Las Vegas bombshell remains one of showbiz’s most dramatic pivots. Unlike some others on this list, Berkley’s first true nude performance and her most infamous nude scene are one and the same: “Showgirls.” She dove into the infamous NC-17 movie headfirst (and sometimes completely naked) with fearless abandon, giving us lap dances, wild pool sex, and endless topless energy.
Think Nicole Kidman’s first nude scene was opposite Tom Cruise in the surreal, sexy “Eyes Wide Shut”? Think again! As a teen in Australia, Kidman had blink-and-you’ll-miss-it topless moments in “BMX Bandits” and “Bush Christmas.” But “Eyes Wide Shut” was her global nude coming-out party; the lush, mysterious film showed Kidman as a fully formed star, comfortable in her own skin and fearless in front of the camera.
It’s easy to remember Halle Berry’s emotionally raw, Oscar-winning sex scene in “Monster’s Ball” as her big nude debut. But she actually shed her clothes on screen a decade earlier, in “The Last Boy Scout,” playing a doomed stripper in a brief, topless sequence. “Monster’s Ball,” though, was a totally different ballgame, nakedness as emotional as it was physical. That scene with Billy Bob Thornton was so vulnerable (and explicit) that it sent shockwaves through the industry and cemented Berry’s reputation as both a serious talent and a fearless risk-taker.
Before her fully nude, break-the-internet performance as supermodel Gia Carangi, a young Angelina Jolie flashed a little skin as a punk-hacker in, you guessed it, “Hackers.” Her brief topless moment is hardly what you’d call iconic, but it was her true on-screen nude debut. In “Gia,” Jolie dialed up both artistry and explicitness, going all-in for a role that was both sexually uninhibited and deeply tragic.
Years before “Paint me like one of your French girls” became a global catchphrase, Kate Winslet’s real on-screen nude debut was in the gritty British drama “Jude.” She played a tragic lover and appeared fully nude in scenes that were all about realism, not glam. Of course, “Titanic’s” steamy portrait scene (and that foggy car) turned her into a ‘90s icon, and she later revisited much more explicit territory in “The Reader,” earning Oscar gold.
Here, the myth matches reality. Dakota Johnson went from virtual unknown to international provocateur with her first and most talked-about nude scenes in “Fifty Shades of Grey.” As Anastasia Steele, Johnson spends plenty of time naked, tied up, or somewhere in between. Her willingness to embrace all the shades of sex in this buzzy adaptation kicked off a trilogy and put her at the center of one of the most discussed nude debuts of the 2010s.
In Hollywood, the first flash of skin is rarely the one people remember. But each of these stars took bold leaps at very different points in their careers, sometimes quietly, sometimes in a blaze of risky, career-changing glory.
All images here are courtesy of Mr. Skin.
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