# Highest combined looks-talent quotient **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445 "2009-12-16T03:32:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445/101 "2009-12-21T14:30:05Z")
My “Whose Line is it Anway” poll thread reminds me that damn good looking and talented definitely describes Wayne Brady. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445/102 "2009-12-21T17:30:27Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > There’s a difference between being charismatic and sexy and hot, and being good looking. Hugh Laurie might have a certain _je ne sais quoi_, but he’s not handsome. Nor can he act. He plays Hugh Laurie. Period. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445/103 "2009-12-21T19:44:05Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Nor can he act. He plays Hugh Laurie. Period. I feel the need to disagree with this; I think most people who watched “Black Adder” are astonished when they realize that the guy who played Prince George is the guy playing Gregory House now. They are two completely different characters, which leads me to think that Hugh Laurie can, indeed, act. ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445/104 "2009-12-21T21:12:57Z")
[Kate Winslett](http://img204.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=22882_55DRV2NMH9_KateWinslet-LA-Feb2009-2_122_592lo.jpg#). Goodness Gracious. (Safe to open at work – unless you get hypnotized easily). ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445/105 "2009-12-21T23:00:21Z")
> [@The\_Urban\_Spaceman](#): > > Milla’s three [Razzie nominations](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000170/awards) aren’t exactly a ringing endorsement of her acting credentials. I disagree generally, I think Milla has stepped up to every role she’s been in and has gone above and beyond in most roles. Keep in mind that there are some of her movies (like Ultraviolet) that the entire acting chops of the combined Steel Magnolias cast wouldn’t be able to save, it is disengenuous to call her a bad actress because of that. What she does _not_ have, though, is a critical filter for choosing significant roles–she’s the female Michael Caine. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445/106 "2009-12-22T01:12:36Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] I note that for two of the same performances for which she was given Razzie awards (The Fifth Element, Resident Evil), she was also awarded Best Actress awards (the Saturn award for performance in a science fiction film). [/QUOTE] Nitpick, Milla didn’t get a Razzie nom for **Resident Evil**. I have to admit that I was surprised. Maybe the Razzie people got so much guff for the **Fifth Element** nomination that they took another look at her. I don’t know. > [@GargoyleWB](#): > > I disagree generally, I think Milla has stepped up to every role she’s been in and has gone above and beyond in most roles. Keep in mind that there are some of her movies (like Ultraviolet) that the entire acting chops of the combined Steel Magnolias cast wouldn’t be able to save, it is disengenuous to call her a bad actress because of that. > > What she does _not_ have, though, is a critical filter for choosing significant roles–she’s the female Michael Caine. I think I disagree with that last line, in a way. Maybe she’s not offered scripts for “significant” roles and picks and chooses from what she is offered. Define significant anyway. She goes back and forth from big-budget action films to smaller, often indie films, such as **He Got Game, The Claim, Dummy, You Stupid Man, .45, No Good Deed, A Perfect Getaway** , good films that don’t get much attention. She models and makes the big action films so she can do what she wants the rest of the time. Her upcoming movies sound interesting. **Stone** with Robert DeNiro and Edward Norton, and directed by John Curran who made the beautiful and criminally underrated **The Painted Veil** ; **Keep Coming Back** where she (FANBOY ALERT!) plays a stripper, directed by William H. Macy; and **Faces In The Crowd** which is a thriller but with an interesting premise (“A horror-thriller centered on a woman living with “face-blindness” after surviving a serial killer’s attack. As she lives with her condition, one in which facial features change each time she loses sight of them, the killer closes in.”) Rumors have her doing a period intrigue movie with a Russian director, **The Winter Queen**. She’s got herself a great career (eclectic too, with her music and clothing line), a great life, a nice family (her daughter is adorable) and is very happy. What else does she have to do? And besides, if you’ve heard her talk about acting in those big movies, such as her recent Twittering while filming the next **Resident Evil** , she has a blast every time! She’s like a kid, absolutely delighted and having fun. She gets PAID to kick zombie ass and carry cool weaponry and be a person totally unlike who she is in real life. They _pay_ her to keep in shape and have fun! How cool is that? ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445/107 "2009-12-22T02:03:52Z")
Female-Charlize Theron. Male-Brad Pitt. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445/108 "2009-12-22T02:13:17Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Kim Basinger. Not always great, but when she hits she hits hard. So rating looks by 10, and talent by 10 My wife would agree. She uses Kim’s interview for flight attendant school in “Hard Country” as an example of really good, realistic acting. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445/109 "2009-12-22T14:16:50Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Nor can he act. He plays Hugh Laurie. Period. Excuse Me? Hugh Laurie was a freaking British song-and-dance man before House. Have you seen him in anything else? ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445/110 "2009-12-22T16:00:18Z")
Cheryl Ladd can act, can dance, and she’s a darned good vocalist. Okay, she’ll probably never win an Academy award, but she doesn’t land acting roles based on her looks alone. She’s also one of the best looking gals ever. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445/111 "2009-12-22T17:00:40Z")
How about Olivia Newton-John? I thought that she was a pretty good actress, in addition to being beautiful, and having great musical/ vocal talent. (I know that some of her movies were clunkers [“Xanadu”, especially], but that does not necessarily detract from her abilities.) ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445/112 "2009-12-23T01:05:27Z")
I’ll go for Jennifer Connelly 10/9, sh’es the female winner Halle could make me do unspeakable things but she is not the best actress 10/8 Sophia Loren: 10/7 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445/113 "2009-12-23T14:18:05Z")
What about theatre ladies Beb NeuwirthKristin Cheneworth, Idina Menzel, Jane Krakowski & Audra McDonald? All gorgeous, all supremely talented. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445/114 "2009-12-23T15:53:05Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I think I disagree with that last line, in a way. Maybe she’s not offered scripts…What else does she have to do? I agree with you totally but I think my point was missed. Like Michael Caine, she’s clearly in the envious zone of working for pleasure (and the steady paycheck). She has the freedom to choose roles, but doesn’t discriminate or put herself on a critical A-list pedestal when choosing (like, say, Angelina Jolie or Halle Berry). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-combined-looks-talent-quotient/521445.md?page=5)