Everyone had a crush on these 13 actresses in the 2000s

Anyone who watched movies or TV in the 2000s probably had a poster of these women pinned to their wall or talked about them way too seriously at lunch.

The Dark Angel breakout

Jessica Alba was already receiving a lot of attention before she appeared in superhero movies. She was Max Guevara on Dark Angel, for example, and the role earned Alba a Golden Globe nomination in 2001. But then 2005 happened. 

That was the year she appeared as Nancy Callahan in Sin City and Sue Storm in Fantastic Four. Both major roles, both in the same year. These roles catapulted Alba into major star status, and it felt like she dominated 2005.

The Transformers arrival

There was no need for Megan Fox to do ten movies to become one of the biggest names of the decade. No, one was enough. She played Mikaela Banes in 2007’s Transformers, opposite Shia LaBeouf, and then returned two years later for Revenge of the Fallen.

The first movie made over $700 million alone worldwide, and the sequel had a massive opening of its own. Fox had a major role in both films, so it’s no wonder that people noticed her. She was really a standout actress during the 2000s. She still is.

From 24 to the movies

Everyone remembers Elisha Cuthbert as the woman from The Girl Next Door, but there was a time before that. She spent years getting into trouble as Kim Bauer on 24, and she joined the hit Fox series alongside Kiefer Sutherland. The movies changed things, though.

Cuthbert took on roles in Old School and Love Actually before taking the lead role as Danielle in 2004’s The Girl Next Door. It was a role that stuck around in pop culture for a long time, and it’s not hard to see why. She’s just that talented.

Two very different 2004 roles

Regina George and Allie Hamilton are two very different roles. Rachel McAdams played them in exactly the same year. Yes, in 2004, moving from the terrifyingly confident queen bee of Mean Girls to the romantic lead in The Notebook.

That wasn’t all, though. She did Wedding Crashers and The Family Stone later in the decade, proving that she was more than a simple one-trick pony. You couldn’t avoid McAdams during the decade.

Leaving the Camden house

Jessica Biel spent years playing Mary Camden on 7th Heaven, so she was pretty familiar to TV audiences. Then she started showing up in blockbusters. Biel took the lead in 2003’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, which opened at No. 1 with $29.1 million. 

She then fought vampires a year later as Abigail Whistler in Blade: Trinity. It was quite a big jump from the Camden family living room, and throughout the 2000s, her career bounced around a lot. That was part of the fun, honestly.

The quieter movie star

Scarlett Johansson’s 2000s fame came long before she was known for her Marvel roles. She starred opposite Bill Murray in 2003’s Lost in Translation, and the movie received four Academy Award nominations. She also appeared in Girl with a Pearl Earring in the same year.

Match Point came in 2005, and Vicky Cristina Barcelona was in 2008. Johansson was a long way from the capes and explosions that she’d later become known for. But still, the 2000s were a decade where she featured in a lot of movies people kept talking about.

Lara Croft takes over

It’s not like Angelina Jolie was unknown when the 2000s began. She had already bagged an Oscar for Girl, Interrupted, after all, but her role as video game legend Lara Croft made her a different kind of famous. She played the adventurer in 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

Then she teamed up with future husband Brad Pitt in Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2005. The movie opened with more than $51 million in the U.S. and Canada. This was a decade when it seemed like there was absolutely nothing that Jolie couldn’t do.

Pirates, football, and Austen

When you look at Keira Knightley’s early 2000s résumé, it looks a little strange. She got her big break from Bend It Like Beckham, and then she became Elizabeth Swann in 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. 

That wasn’t her only character named Elizabeth, though. She went on to play Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice two years later, and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She did it all in her early twenties, if you can believe that.

An Oscar and a Bond movie

Every project seemed bigger than the one before it for Halle Berry. She started the 2000s as Storm in X-Men, and then she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Monster’s Ball. She just kept going. 

That role actually ended up breaking records, as Berry became the first Black woman to win the Best Actress Oscar. Next came her role as Jinx Johnson opposite Pierce Brosnan in 2002’s Die Another Day. She went right back to Storm after Bond for X2 in 2003 and X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006.

Mary Jane had three movies

Kirsten Dunst was practically inseparable from the character of Mary Jane Watson during the 2000s. Yes, she played Peter Parker’s love interest opposite Tobey Maguire in all three of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies. 

But those weren’t her only roles in the decade. Far from it. Dunst also appeared in Mona Lisa Smile, Wimbledon, and Elizabethtown. She dabbled in history, too, by playing Marie Antoinette in Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film of the same name, showing off how much range she truly has.

Hitch found his match

Eva Mendes had already appeared in Training Day, but Hitch put her right in the middle of a major romantic comedy. She played gossip columnist Sara Melas opposite Will Smith’s supposedly smooth dating expert.

She was also busy in other movies during the decade, including roles in 2 Fast 2 Furious and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. We also can’t forget her roles in Ghost Rider and We Own the Night. In the 2000s, Mendes covered a lot of ground and was proud to do so.

Wisteria Lane’s glamorous neighbor

By the time Desperate Housewives started in 2004, everyone was talking about Eva Longoria. She played Gabrielle Solis on the hit show, a former model with a very messy life. Longoria stayed for all eight seasons, and the series won the Golden Globe for Best Television Series.

She received her own Golden Globe nomination in 2006. Wisteria Lane was everywhere for a while during the 2000s, and Longoria was right at the front of it. It’s no surprise, really, because she’s absolutely stunning.

Buffy meets Daphne

Sarah Michelle Gellar seemed to belong to two totally different worlds during the 2000s. One minute, she was Buffy Summers on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the next, she was Daphne in the live-action movie Scooby-Doo.

Gellar received a Golden Globe nomination in 2001 for Buffy. She appeared in Scooby-Doo with Freddie Prinze Jr., Matthew Lillard, and Linda Cardellini, later returning for the 2004 sequel, too. Vampires on TV and haunted amusement parks at the movies. It doesn’t get more 2000s than that.

Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.

15 celebrities that faded away into obscurity and practically nobody noticed

Hollywood is full of dramatic downfalls, but some celebrities disappear so quietly that nobody notices until years later.

15 celebrities that faded away into obscurity and practically nobody noticed