Given the launch of our September issue supermodel cover and the fast approaching fashion month, you can’t blame us for having models on our minds. They’re everywhere: strutting down the runways, zipping from one show to the next on the street, and all over our Instagram feeds. As if that weren’t enough, you can also find them on a big screen near you.
From leading ladies to campy cameos, models continue to play integral parts in some of the most memorable films of our time. Here, in honor of those who have dabbled in showbiz, we take a look at 20 of our favorite models in movies.
Emily Ratajkowski in Gone Girl
Before she was one of the hottest models of her generation (and, not to mention, a podcaster and author), EmRata made her mark on the silver screen as Ben Affleck’s college mistress Andie Fitzgerald in 2014’s Gone Girl. Since then, she’s taken roles in We Are Your Friends, Entourage, and I Feel Pretty—although early fans will remember her turn as Gibby’s girlfriend, Tasha, in iCarly.
Kaia Gerber (second from right) will star as Brittany, a popular cheerleader who joins a queer fight club, in summer 2023’s satirical high school sex comedy Bottoms.
Lauren Hutton’s most notable role was in American Gigolo alongside Richard Gere. But the model hasn’t slowed down since. Her most recent cameo was in Amy Schumer’s 2018 movie I Feel Pretty.
Campbell makes a cameo as Helen, the CFO of Lily LeClaire. The model, pictured here with Michelle Williams, interviews Amy Schumer’s character Renee for a receptionist job.
Courtesy Everett Collection
Kate Upton in The Other Woman
In her first big movie role, Kate Upton is introduced to viewers by running down a beach in slow motion clad in a barely-there bikini. Since then, Upton starred alongside Alexandra Daddario in 2017’s The Layover.
What would this list be without Gisele? The supermodel took the unexpected route in the 2006 film, playing the Runway “clacker” Serena. Bündchen admitted that she was hesitant about the movie when she first was offered the part, saying, “I’m not gonna play a model, I do that every day.”
Brooklyn Decker in What to Expect When You’re Expecting
Decker showed off her comedic chops as Skyler, Dennis Quaid’s much-younger trophy wife, in this movie adaptation of the pregnancy manual. Decker, whose first big onscreen role was in the Adam Sandler comedy Just Go with It, also had a noteworthy part on Grace and Frankie.
In a major departure from her previous role in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Huntington-Whiteley joined the cast of 2015’s highly acclaimed Mad Max: Fury Road as The Splendid Angharad.
Way before Jennifer Lawrence played Mystique in X-Men: First Class, the honor—and blue body paint—went to Rebecca Romijn. Since then, Romijn has kept up her acting career as a series regular in Star Trek: Strange New World.
Devon Aoki joined the first of many The Fast and The Furious sequels as Suki. While her character didn’t carry on in the franchise, Suki’s hot pink convertible and colorful wardrobe live on in our hearts nearly 20 years later.
Cole’s otherworldly looks sparkled in this dreamlike tale of a traveling theater troupe, which was also the last movie to feature a performance by the late Heath Ledger.
In perhaps the most unlikely pairing in movie history, Macpherson plays the wife of a billionaire (Anthony Hopkins) who may or may not be cheating on him with her fashion-photographer friend (Alec Baldwin).
While Tyra Banks made her mark in reality TV, who could forget her quintessential performance in Life Size, in which she starred alongside a young Lindsay Lohan? She reprised her role in 2018 for the sequel.
Another model-turned-Bond Girl, Bach did a turn as Russian spy Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me. After the movie, however, she told People that 007 was “a chauvinist pig who uses girls to shield him against bullets.”
Courtesy Everett Collection
Cara Delevingne in Paper Towns
In addition to her successful modeling career, Delevingne has carved out quite an impressive acting resume. She nabbed the role of Margo Roth Spiegelman in the adaptation of John Green’s Paper Towns. More recently, she’s had an arc on Only Murders in the Building.
Jovovich made her acting comeback as the alien Leeloo in The Fifth Element. Having since developed a robust acting career, her other most famous roles are in Zoolander and the Resident Evil franchise.
The world learned HoYeon Jung’s name thanks to her role as Kang Sae-byeok in Squid Game. But the model has previous TV experience, participating in a season of Korea’s Next Top Model, in which she was the runner-up.