10. Ashley Tisdale
This 22-year-old triple threat—she sings, dances, and acts—has been turning heads for more than a decade, with roles on 7th Heaven, Charmed, and Malcolm in the Middle. But her big break came when she was tapped to play spoiled teen queen Sharpay Evans in Disney’s High School Musical franchise after beating out a wrinkled dog (Sharpay—get it?) for the part. Ashley finally burns up the big screen when High School Musical 3: Senior Year hits theaters this fall.
9. Lohan
After a tumultuous year involving a car wreck and rehab, La Lohan had Hollywood wondering if she was worth the trouble. Then her Marilyn Monroe–channeling topless photo shoot nearly crashed the Internet. ’s official comeback includes starring roles in Dare to Love Me, a period drama set in Argentina, and Ye Olde Times, a comedy skewering Renaissance fairs. What range!
8. Christina Aguilera
Just when you thought the teeny pop star with the jumbo voice had morphed from her “Dirrty” phase into a less controversial, classic-glamour image, she unleashes a pregnant nude photo shoot on an unsuspecting public. Looking for a new fantasy? “I love to play doctor,” Christina told us. “I got my husband a doctor’s outfit and bag full of sex toys. I wore the naughty nurse outfit, of course.”
7. Eva Mendes
Denzel Washington won an Oscar for his performance in 2001’s Training Day, but Eva’s brief nude scene made her one of Hollywood’s most buzzed-about leading ladies. The L.A.-raised Cuban-American went on to star opposite Matt Damon in Stuck on You, Will Smith in Hitch, and Joaquin Phoenix in We Own the Night, and became the only woman ever to grace Maxim’s cover twice in one year (February and November 2007). Up next, a starring role in Frank Miller’s The Spirit, with Scarlett Johansson and fellow Maxim cover girl Jaime King.
6. Elisha Cuthbert
Thanks to roles in horror flicks House of Wax and Captivity, and on TV’s most addictive thrill ride, 24, Cuthbert gave up her right to attend horror/sci-fi conventions without an armed chaperone. A starring role in the upcoming remake of the Korean smash hit My Sassy Girl confirms that our May 2008 cover girl is hotter than a bowl of Kim chi.
5. Sarah Michelle Gellar
Her days of battling demons as Buffy may be behind her, but the sexiest vampire slayer this side of Van Helsing (kidding!) has never been hotter. Check out her sultry, hilarious turn as a porn star turned politician in Southland Tales or any of her three other projects out in 2008. Next on her plate? A big-screen reimagining of Alice in Wonderland, with SMG as a grown-up version of everyone’s favorite mushroom-munching scamp.
4. Eva Longoria Parker
We’d gladly mow her lawn, clear her gutters, and clean her pool with our tongues if it meant living next door to our favorite Desperate Housewife. Simply put, this Mexican-American former daytime soap siren is hotter than a truckload of jalapeños. Soon she’ll spice up the elementary-school-set comedy Lower Learning. In real life Eva had to backtrack from public comments that she was tutoring fiancé Tony Parker in bed. Apparently, the NBA star got over his shame, because they got married in 2007.
3. Jessica Biel
No stranger to the Hot 100, Jessica first caused our collective blood pressure to rise with her role as a distractingly sexy preacher’s daughter on the family-friendly series 7th Heaven. She’s since kicked off her goody two-shoes and become a major movie star—blame the six seconds of Jessica wearing undies in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry for its improbable $120 million box office haul. Now she’s set to star in what sounds like the greatest movie ever, Nailed, in which “a freak accident turns a small-town woman into a sexually adventurous bombshell.”
2. Scarlett Johansson
Perched high atop the A-list, this dangerously curvy bombshell (and possessor of Hollywood’s most luscious lips) has the acting chops to back up her mind-melting hotness. We’ve watched her in indie films (Lost in Translation, Match Point). We’ve watched her in chick flicks (The Nanny Diaries, The Other Boleyn Girl). Truth is, we’d rapturously watch her sort her recycling. But first we’ll be in line for her most guy-friendly project yet, the noirish, Frank Miller–directed The Spirit.
As Sports Illustrated’s 2008 Swimsuit Issue cover girl, Victoria’s Secret’s number one Angel (sorry, Gisele), and the crème de la crème of Maxim’s ninth annual Hot 100 list, Marisa Miller embodies the official return of the all-American supermodel. Not since Cindy Crawford ruled the catwalk has a pinup born and bred on U.S. soil so thoroughly captured the imagination of the American male. It must be strange living a life in which no man can formulate a coherent sentence in your presence. Oh, and if you really need one more reason to love her: Marisa humbly says of her career, “I get a kick out of it, but it would be stupid to let it go to my head. It’s modeling—I didn’t find the cure for cancer.”
