The stars who defied traditional beauty standards and embraced their ‘unconventional’ features or spoke out against criticism

In an industry often defined by rigid beauty standards, there's something refreshing about a celebrity who embraces their individualism.

Sure, we all love those extravagant red carpet fashion looks and dazzling jewellery moments.

But there's something powerful and inspiring when they prove true star power is about more than just a symmetrical face or a certain body type.

From stars who've defied conventional ideals to revealing stories of just how scrutinised women's appearances can be, let's celebrate those who know there's not one way to be beautiful, confident and empowered.

Stars who defied traditional beauty standards or have spoken out against unfair criticism

Barbra Streisand

She's one of the rare talents to have achieved the EGOT - winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony - but Barbra Streisand's generational talent still wasn't enough to silence the critics when it came to her looks.

Proving how unfair it can be for women, despite Barbra's enormous talent, some decided to focus on her nose.

In her memoir, My Name Is Barbra, she addressed the pressure she got about her nose in her career. She wrote, "I had already been told by several people that I should get a nose job and cap my teeth... I liked the bump on my nose, but should I consider a minor adjustment?"

Deciding against it as she didn't know what it could do to her voice, she added, "Once a doctor told me I had a deviated septum... maybe that’s why I sound the way I do. Besides, I liked long noses... the Italian actress Silvana Mangano had one, and everyone seemed to think she was beautiful."

Sarah Jessica Parker

Sarah Jessica Parker is strikingly beautiful and has proven time and time again she’s just as stylish and graceful as one of her most famous on-screen characters, Carrie Bradshaw. But while SJP has garnered legions of fans for her stunning looks and fashion, she’s also faced mockery for not fitting into a more conventional idea of beauty.

In a telling sign of the scrutiny women face, Sarah Jessica was named Maxim’s Unsexiest Woman in 2007.

In an episode of Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast, the icon addressed the attention her looks garnered over the years and how it affected her.

She said, "Discussions of my physical person were the hardest. Like, stuff that I couldn't change and wouldn't change and had never considered changing, or still even after hearing something that was like, 'What? Somebody would say that?' - even still, no interest in changing it."

Glenn Close

A powerful screen presence who brings a passionate energy to challenging roles like the obsessed stalker in Fatal Attraction, Glenn Close is one of the most revered screen stars of her generation with a look that is defiantly all her own.

Glenn opened up about her thoughts on aging and her changing appearance in an interview with Glamour.

Of getting older, she revealed, "Okay, I see; it’s happening. So I’m trying to come to the point that I just embrace my - what’s the word they use for it? Crepey skin? Is there a beauty in it? I try to think that maybe it looks like the sand after the tide has gone out. We are so brainwashed about skin. Certainly about women’s skin."

Tilda Swinton

The Chronicles of Narnia star Tilda Swinton is known for her androgynous style and almost otherworldly appearance. From playing with extreme hair colours and makeup effects to a unique fashion sense, Tilda has never buckled to fit in with a more conventional Hollywood style.

In a previous interview with W Magazine (per Softpedia), Tilda spoke of her own unique look, "I would rather be handsome for an hour than pretty for a week."

Sophia Loren

She's synonymous with Old Hollywood glamour, so it's almost hard to fathom that Sophia Loren ever faced pressure to change her looks.

But, at the start of her career, the Marriage Italian Style icon revealed she was often told to change her looks to fit in more.

In 2014, she told The Hollywood Reporter, "I always tried not to listen to these people. They were saying that my nose was too long and my mouth was too big. It didn't hurt me at all because when I believe in something, it's like war. It's a battle. But even Carlo [Ponti, my husband] said, 'You know the cameramen, they say that your nose is too long. Maybe you have to touch it a little bit.' And I said, 'Listen, I don't want to touch nothing on my face because I like my face. If I have to change my nose, I am going back to Pozzuoli.'"

Helen Mirren

Dame Helen Mirren started to push back against conventional ideas of aging, by refusing to cover up the white and grey in her hair and keeping her hair longer as she got older, when so many women are expected to cut theirs shorter.

"I think women were just so terrified of having white or grey hair because it immediately put them into a different category," the actress told People."And of course, you are in that age group. I’m sorry, but you are! So, why not just embrace it, go along with it and welcome it? Make it a positive thing as opposed to a negative thing."

Emma Thompson

An award-winning writer and actress, Emma Thompson is a true national treasure - but she has been candid about some of the criticism she's faced over the years.

"I have never conformed to the shape or look of someone they might want to see naked," she told The Times.

Acknowledging the pressure to want to be more in line with Hollywood's ideals of beauty, she added, "To be truly honest, I will never ever be happy with my body. It will never happen. I was brainwashed too early on. I cannot undo those neural pathways."

Cate Blanchett

Many would consider Cate Blanchett to be a classic Hollywood leading lady - including her stunning looks. But the Oscar winner herself would disagree.

"I'm peculiar-looking, I think," she previously said to the Hollywood Reporter.

However, there's no pity-party here. Cate finds the strength in what she calls her unique looks. "I think it's lucky as an actor that you can sometimes look decent-looking, and then you can also look strange and, dare I say, ugly. I think that's good as an actor."

Frances McDormand

She's tied with Meryl Streep as the actress with the second-most Oscar wins of all time, but Frances McDormand has spoken about how her less-than-conventional looks prevented her Hollywood film career from taking off until later on.

Speaking to The New York Times about how her looks were perceived in the industry and how it led to her niche of playing unconventional women on screen, she shared, "I was too old, too young, too fat, too thin, too tall, too short, too blond, too dark - but at some point they’re going to need the other. So I’d get really good at being the other."

Aimee Lou Wood

From Netflix's Sex Education to a star-turn in The White Lotus, Aimee Lou Wood has rocketed to being one of the bright new names to watch in the industry.

But despite all the acclaim for her work, many tend to focus in on her front teeth.

In a 2020 Stylist interview, she opened up on what the attention her teeth get does to her. She said, "I had it in my brain that I'm not conventionally looking enough and that's a mental barrier I've had to overcome..."

But, she added, "I'm getting hundreds of messages from people going, ‘Oh my god, you've got teeth like mine. Now I go to school and people think I'm cool because I look like Aimee.'"

Diane Keaton

If there's one person who has proven that one can do things their own unconventional way and still be a viable Hollywood icon, it's Diane Keaton.

From the very beginning of her career, with roles in films like Annie Hall, Diane has done her own thing, from her androgynous fashion, quirky ensembles and putting personality above trends.

Debra Messing

While Will & Grace star Debra Messing was filming A Walk in the Clouds, the director allegedly wanted her to get a nose job.

In 2017, she opened up on the horrible encounter with Elle, revealing, "I'd never been on a film before. I was doing a love scene with Keanu Reeves. We started filming and the very famous director screamed, 'Cut' and said, 'How quickly can we get a plastic surgeon in here? Her nose is ruining my movie.'"

Anjelica Huston

Anjelica Huston had Hollywood in her blood - her father was the acclaimed film director John Huston - and she swapped being a model for an actress early on in her career.

With a career spanning decades and an Oscar to her name, that was a wise decision, but Anjelica has revealed her prominent features and looks have sometimes been scrutinised.

In an interview with Allure, she has previously said, "I knew I didn't have the easiest face in the world. I heard my parents discuss that it was possible I wasn't going to be a beauty. There's nothing that gets you motivated like walking into a conversation like that! I had to self-invent a bit."

She also revealed the head of a modelling agency told her to get a nose job. "It was a terrible blow. I always had a capacity to believe I was beautiful, and then something like this would come along."

Kirsten Dunst

While Kirsten Dunst was filming one of the early Spider-Man movies in the 2000s, she revealed to The Independent that a producer drove her to a dentist without even telling her they were going there to "fix" her teeth.

Kirsten told the outlet she refused to get out of the car, adding, "I was like, 'Mmmmm, no, I like my teeth.'"

Jessica Chastain

Impossible to imagine looking at the striking beauty that is Jessica Chastain, but she was often convinced she had to change her looks to get more roles when her career was starting.

From criticising her appearance to people insisting she dye her trademark red hair, the Molly's Game star previously told The Telegraph (via The Daily Mail), "Only in the past five years have people been telling me I’m attractive. Before then, I wasn’t getting parts because people kept telling me I wasn’t pretty enough.

"People would tell me to dye my hair blonde when I first started auditioning. Funny how defined we are by how we present ourselves."

Jenna Ortega

Jenna Ortega has become a bright new face in Hollywood, starring in everything from the Scream movies to Netflix's Wednesday, but she has previously spoken about the difficulties she faced with people limiting her potential based on her Latina heritage and looks.

Of the differences she saw in herself and other young stars, she previously told Harper's Bazaar, "I wanted to dye my hair blonde so that I would look like Cinderella."

Ultimately, she decided to rally against these conventional standards.

"I thought, 'I don’t want other young girls to look up at the screen and feel like they have to change their appearance to be deemed beautiful or worthy I want all people of Latin descent to be able to see themselves on screen. I want to feel that I could open doors for other people."

Nia Vardalos

Writer and star of one of the highest-grossing rom-coms of all time, Nia Vardalos proved she belonged in the industry.

However, it was an uphill battle for the star, who, with her Greek heritage and looks, faced being told she wasn't "pretty enough."

She told Variety that her first agent told her she was "wasn’t pretty enough to be a leading lady and not fat enough to be a character actor. It hurt to be told that my ethnicity and my looks were the problem," she added.

America Ferrera

For many, their first introduction to America Ferrera was during her role as Betty Suarez in the Emmy-winning series, Ugly Betty. Exaggerated to make her look comically 'ugly', the actress herself faced plenty of scrutiny over her looks in other roles, like Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants.

Speaking to Elle about how she became something of a posterchild of a bigger body, America has said, "What’s so insane is, you go back and look, and I had a very average-size body. And so the idea that people were looking at me and saying, ‘That’s curvy’ is crazy. Not that I care, but it’s like, that’s insane that we thought that was so ground-breaking."

The Barbie star added, "I was Hollywood’s version of imperfect, which seems so ridiculous."

Winona Ryder

Winona Ryder was a child star who became a cool, rebellious indie darling throughout the late 80s and 90s.

And despite her effortlessly chic style and roles in movies like Beetlejuice and Girl, Interrupted, Winona was judged for her looks.

"I remember one time 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," she recalled to Interview magazine.

She continued he said, "'You should go back to wherever you came from and you should go to school. You don't have it.'"

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga has never shied away from doing things her own way, and it's lucky the plucky pop star and actress had this self-confidence. She revealed she faced pressure to tweak her looks from the very start of her career.

"Before my first single ever came out, it was suggested I get a nose job," she told The Mirror . "But I said, 'No. I love my Italian nose.'"

She actually used some of this pressure when she starred in 2018's remake of A Star is Born, having her character talk about feeling judged for her appearance as she shoots to fame.

Minnie Driver

Actress Minnie Driver revealed she almost lost out on one of her iconic roles in Good Will Hunting because she was judged on her appearance.

She shared that the producer - later confirmed to be Harvey Weinstein - thought that Minnie wasn't "hot enough", the star later called it the rudest thing anyone had said to her in Hollywood.

Fortunately, writers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, as well as director Gus Van Sant, fought for her to get the role, for which she was nominated for an Oscar.

Mindy Kaling

Mindy Kaling has previously told The Guardian that a TV network once offered her a sketch comedy show but told her she wasn't attractive enough to play the role of... herself.

Mindy would later star in her own series, The Mindy Project.

Vanessa Paradis

French model, singer and actress Vanessa Paradis landed her big break when she was just fourteen years old. In an interview with Harper's Bazaar, she recalled those early days, saying, "I was for sure not prepared for fame when it happened. But nobody pushed me to do it. I wanted to sing, to dance, to work."

Being famous from such a young age, one might expect the pressure could have got to her to conform. But in the same interview, she shared how being out of America helped her avoid any pressure.

"I don’t work in America, so I don’t feel the pressure." And as for her famous gap-tooth smile? She added, "Why would I fix them? I was born with them. I can spit water through them. They’re useful!"

Helena Bonham Carter

Helena Bonham Carter has solidified her reputation for being unconventional with her maximalist, quirky fashion and eccentric ensembles.

Refusing to ever conform to a more polished look, a quote widely accredited to the Harry Potter star could sum up why she keeps dancing to her own off-kilter beat.

Widely cited as a quote from the actress, she reportedly said, "I think everything in life is art. What you do. How you dress. The way you love someone, and how you talk. Your smile and your personality. What you believe in, and all your dreams. The way you drink your tea. How you decorate your home."

Lea Michele

Broadway icon and Glee star Lea Michele has spoken candidly over the years of how she felt pressure to get a nose job when she was starting out in her career.

In one interview with Town & Country, Lea shared, "people would tell me to get nose jobs" and that she "wasn’t pretty enough for film and television."

Deciding against it, Lea has often credited another unconventional beauty for her decision - Barbra Streisand.

Of Barbra, who also famously never altered her nose, Lea described her as "an icon for me in my life."

Anya Taylor-Joy

Anya Taylor-Joy's unique looks led to her fascinating story of being discovered by a model scout.

She has previously told the Sunday Times Style Magazine how she was spotted while walking her dog by Harrods in London.

However, despite her striking appearance, Anya has previously said, "I have never and I don’t think I will ever think of myself as beautiful.

"I don’t think I’m beautiful enough to be in films...I just think I’m weird-looking."

Winnie Harlow

Winnie Harlow started out as a contestant on America's Next Top Model and has gone on to conquer the industry, walking in the Victoria's Secret Fashion show and fronting campaigns for the likes of Marc Jacobs and Fendi.

Winnie has vitiligo - a skin condition which causes patches due to the loss of melanin.

Refusing to let it define her, Winnie has previously stated, "I know people still want to hear that ugly-duckling-to-swan tale, but I’m going to change that. It’s time to make people’s differences the norm.

"It’s time to reflect the world as it truly is - made up of people with various skin tones, body types, abilities, and cultural backgrounds."

Jennifer Lopez

You know it's tough out there if someone like Jennifer Lopez has faced scrutiny and calls to conform in the past.

The singer/actress/dancer has previously revealed how she faced plenty of criticism for her curvier body in the past, and how she was told to try and lose weight to fit in with the standard.

"They kept telling me to lose weight," she told E!. "And I was a dancer and I was athletic and even my manager at the time, who I no longer work with was telling me, 'You need to lose weight. You need to be thinner.'"

Refusing, JLo added she said, "'No, I don't. If I lose any more weight, it won't be me.' You know what I mean?"

Gwendoline Christie

Gwendoline Christie, star of Game of Thrones, has revealed she faced a tough time breaking into the industry due to her height and stature.

"I’d been told, just simply because I was a tall woman with somewhat unusual looks, that I would probably never work on screen," the star of Netflix's Wednesday recalled in a Vogue video.

Of her breakout role in Game of Thrones, Gwendoline went on to state how it forced her to confront the things that had been used against her, saying, "I had to take my hair away. I had to acknowledge my height, my strength, my size, my androgyny and also my vulnerability."

Kat Dennings

Kat Dennings has starred in everything from sitcoms like 2 Broke Girls to Marvel blockbusters like Thor. But the star had previously told a 2012 profile in The New York Times that she was told to change everything about herself to try and fit in.

She shares she was told to "tighten up your teeth, dye your hair, lose weight, get a tan."

Meryl Streep

We're including this story because there's a delicious lesson to be learnt - especially if you were the producer who decided that *the* Meryl Streep wasn't pretty enough to star in their film.

While appearing on The Graham Norton Show, the three-time Oscar winner revealed a story from her early career days, when a producer asked his son in Italian, "Why did you bring me this ugly thing?"

Not realising Meryl could speak Italian, she snapped back, "I'm sorry I'm not pretty enough to be in King Kong."

We know who got the last laugh.

Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster has never fit the mould for the most stereotypical Hollywood leading lady, but that hasn't stopped her illustrious career. And as she's embraced getting older, the Panic Room star has spoken out about not following the trend of getting tweakments.

She told More magazine, "It’s not my thing. For me, it’s really a self-image thing. Like, I’d rather have somebody go, ‘Wow, that girl has a bad nose’ than, ‘Wow, that girl has a bad nose job.’ I’d rather have a comment about who I am than about something that identifies me as being ashamed of who I am."