Ali Larter

Biography: Equal parts seductive, smart and headstrong, Larter started out as a model before getting her big acting break in an unlikely place: Esquire. As the magazine's fake cover girl — a fictional, up-and-coming starlet named Allegra Coleman — Larter gained lots of real attention, even after she was revealed as a hoax. Soon she was booking guest spots on TV shows and in 1999 she made an auspicious film debut as an ambitious, whipped-cream-wearing cheerleader in Varsity Blues. A string of supporting roles followed — she was the brain in the Final Destination series, the ex in Drive Me Crazy and the exercise guru on trial for murder in Legally Blonde. But in 2006, the small screen afforded Larter her best part to date, as a single mother/stripper with a very dark side on the superhero drama Heroes. She continued her tough-girl act when she joined the Resident Evil franchise in 2007 with Resident Evil: Extinction, later reprising her role in 2010's Resident Evil: Afterlife.