My Own 50 Most Beautiful People List

People Magazine recently issued its annual 50 Most Beautiful People list, topped this year by Christina Applegate. She's a great pick, but after seeing some of the other celebrities who charted, I decided to make my own list. A lot of their picks seem to depend on who has been in the news lately (or who happens to be standing in whatever firehouse or frisbee golf tournament People has decided to feature that year). If that rule applies, my list will definitely begin with this guy:

2009 MOST BEAUTIFUL (AND MOST RESILIENT)
Robert Downey, Jr., star of Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, and the upcoming Sherlock Holmes, looking quite mysterious and bad@$$ on the cover of Esquire magazine in March of '07, flanked by a very prophetic headline

The rest of my list follows. Rules:

• It is kind of governed by the Relevant Rule (as mentioned above). I'll try to do a mini-description so you don't have to Google everyone. Click on each name for a choice photo.
• I tried to stick to a No Beards rule, too (not a facial hair fan), but there are a few stubborn exceptions.
• I already broke my No Cigarettes rule (link above), so toss that one.
• My picks happen to be all Hollywood actors, not that I have anything against musicians (obviously), athletes, politicians, reality stars (okay, yeah, I do), or other public figures. I just couldn't think of any to add to this list. Except #51 at the end.

P.S. Why so serious, every person in every picture on this list?

MOST BEAUTIFUL RISING STARS
Freida Pinto, star of Slumdog Millionaire
Amy Adams, star of Enchanted and Doubt

MOST BEAUTIFUL COUPLES
Ellen DeGeneres & Portia de Rossi, television stars
Vanessa Hudgens & Zac Efron, stars of High School Musical films
David Duchovny & Téa Leoni, newly reunited stars of Californication and Ghost Town, respectively

MOST BEAUTIFUL ON-SCREEN COUPLES
Lee Pace & Anna Friel, stars of Pushing Daisies
James Roday & Dulé Hill, stars of Psych

MOST BEAUTIFUL JOKESTERS
John Krasinski, star of The Office
Kristen Wiig, star of SNL, Knocked Up, and Ghost Town
Bonnie Hunt, host of The Bonnie Hunt Show
Justin Bartha, star of The Hangover and the National Treasure films

MOST BEAUTIFUL INTERNATIONALS
Nicole Kidman, Australian (duh) star of Australia
Craig Ferguson, Scottish host of The Late Late Show
Ryan Reynolds, Canadian star of The Proposal
Anthony LaPaglia, Australian star of Without A Trace

MOST BEAUTIFUL CHILD/TEENAGE STARS ALL GROWN UP
Jason Bateman, star of Silver Spoons, then Arrested Development, Juno, and Hancock
Paul Rudd, star of Clueless, then Role Models, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Knocked Up
Alexis Bledel, star of Gilmore Girls and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, then...Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.
Johnny Depp, star of 21 Jump Street, then the Pirates of the Caribbean films and Sweeney Todd
John Cusack, star of Say Anything, then War, Inc. and Martian Child
Amber Tamblyn, star of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, then The Unusuals
Doug Savant, star of Melrose Place, then Desperate Housewives

MOST BEAUTIFUL KID
Abigail Breslin, 13-year-old star of My Sister's Keeper

MOST BEAUTIFUL HUGHS
Hugh Laurie, star of House
Hugh Grant, star of Music and Lyrics
Hugh Jackman, Oscar ceremony host, star of Wolverine

MOST BEAUTIFUL AARP CARDHOLDERS (they hand 'em out at 50)
Steve Martin, 63-year-old star of The Pink Panther films
Chris Noth, 54-year-old star of Sex and the City
Alan Rickman, 63-year-old star of the Harry Potter films
Meryl Streep, 60-year-old star of Mamma Mia!

MOST BEAUTIFUL POTTYMOUTH
Seth McFarlane, creator and star of Family Guy

MOST BEAUTIFUL DISNEY FANATIC WHO HAS NEVER BEEN IN A DISNEY MOVIE
John Stamos, collector of Dumbo The Flying Elephant ride vehicles (and star of ER)

MOST BEAUTIFUL ENTIRE CAST OF A TELEVISION SHOW
The Cast of Ugly Betty
America Ferrera [click to view her out of character look] (Betty)
Ana Ortiz (Hilda)
Ashley Jensen (Christina)
Becki Newton (Amanda)
Eric Mabius (Daniel)
Judith Light (Claire)
Mark Indelicato (Justin)
Michael Urie (Marc)
Tony Plana (Ignacio)
Vanessa Williams (Wilhelmina)
Honorable Mention (not pictured): Freddy Rodriguez, Christopher Gorham, and Sarah LaFleur

MOST BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF (my perennial favorites who never seem to be up to much)
Alan Cumming, star of X-Men 2 and Tin Man
Hal Sparks, television/reality show personality, star of Queer as Folk and Dude, Where's My Car?, doppelganger of Dashboard Confessional lead singer Chris Carrabba

Bonus Category:
MOST BEAUTIFUL HUSBAND ON EARTH (INCLUDING ROBERT DOWNEY, JR.)
Eric Brown