Hollywood is full of beautiful people. All the most famous actors and actresses we know look so perfect that it's almost superhumen.
Take a look at this list of gorgeous celebs who were deemed "too ugly" for Hollywood at the start of their career. Thank god they didn't take it close to heart and persevered.
If you ever wondered how Reese Witherspoon channeled Elle Woods' courage and conviction in Legally Blonde, it might have come from past experience. Yep, even this Southern belle was told her looks couldn't cut it in Hollywood.
"You have to be focused and tough because it takes a tenacious personality to deal with rejection," Witherspoon told the Daily Mail in 2011. "When I first came here (to LA), all I heard was, 'No, not rightnot tall enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough.'"
How'd she get through it? By simply not giving a you-know-what. "I didn't really care about their opinions," she admitted. "I'm stubborn." Well, thank God for that.
A 2012 profile for The New York Times revealed that Kat Dennings was told to fix just about everything about her look when she was starting out in the business: "tighten up your teeth, dye your hair, lose weight, get a tan," were just some of the recommendations she heard. Dennings proved as stubborn as her character on 2 Broke Girls and didn't change a thing. She's now making millions, as is.
She encouraged young girls all over the world by unapologetically playing the unpopular girl on Glee. It seems Lea Michele may have been able to relate to her character's struggles because at age 13, a Hollywood manager told her she needed a nose job as soon as possible. "Obviously, I didn't get it done," Michele told talk show host Chelsea Handler in 2014. As for the manager? "Wherever she is, she can go f herself," she said.
She's the most Oscar-nominated actor of all time, but there was a time when Meryl Streep couldn't turn every head in the room. On The Graham Norton Show, the star of Sophie's Choice recalled a 1976 audition for King Kong. Producer Dino De Laurentiis asked his son in Italian, "Why did you bring me this ugly thing?" Sassy Streep responded back, in perfect Italian, "I'm sorry I'm not pretty enough to be in King Kong."
Believe it or not, Kate Winslet, an Oscar-winning actress, who's been nominated 9 times, was shamed as a teenager when auditioning for roles. She wouldn't get the roles because she was called "too fat". Not only is that extremely rude, but also, could be detrimental to one's self-esteem, especially to a teenager. However, Kate just kept trying and eventually she showed everyone what a beautiful and talented actress she really is.
Sarah Jessica Parker will forever be known as fashionista love columnist Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City, but even with a well established acting career, Parker has continued to endure harsh criticism about her looks. Maxim even named her its "Unsexiest Woman Alive" in 2008, which makes us think someone should definitely publish an "Unsexiest Maxim Employees" list.
Jennifer is so talented, beautiful and downright hilarious when it comes to her sense of humor. She's everything we imagine a perfect girl should be. It's not a secret that millions of teenage girls and women look up to her now. She has a "no bullshit" attitude when it comes to comments about her appearance. Yet, when the first Hunger Games movie came out she was basically criticized for being "too fat". Not in those exact words of course, but she was told she wasn't the right size and didn't look hungry enough for the role.
When you think back to all the beautiful actresses from the '80s and '90s, one person who continually comes to mind is Winona Ryder, but even she had a rough time landing parts in Hollywood, especially when she was starting out.
"I remember one time in particular. I was in the middle of auditioning, and I was mid-sentence when the casting director said, 'Listen, kid. You should not be an actress. You are not pretty enough. You should go back to wherever you came from and you should go to school. You don't have it,'" she told Interview magazine. "She was very bluntI honestly think that she thought she was doing me a favor."
Ryder said the casting director's words would have crushed her had it not been for her parents. "I was around 15 or 16 [when it happened]," she said. "But it's funnyand this is a testament to my parents and how they raised meI wasn't crushed. They had always instilled in me that it was way cooler to be an individual and to be unique and that you don't want to blend in."
Lena Dunham is way too busy enjoying her success and taking over Hollywood to care about what anyone says about her. But we all remember that when Girls first came out everyone criticized her and said that the show was unrealistic. All because the male co-stars she chose were deemed "too hot" for her and "someone like Lena could never possibly score someone as hot as them".
