A Look Back at the Most Iconic Bond Girls Then And Now

James Bond has been a beloved cultural icon for decades, but let’s face it – as much as we enjoy the action scenes, gorgeous settings, and fancy cars, perhaps what makes the Bond movies even more interesting are the strong, powerful, and extraordinarily beautiful female characters commonly referred to as the “Bond Girls.”

Halle Berry began her career in the 1980s as a model and beauty pageant contestant. Her first big break in acting came in 1992 when she starred in the romantic comedy Boomerang alongside Eddie Murphy. By the 2000s, Berry had become one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood.

Swedish-born Britt Ekland was already an established actress when she landed the role of Mary Goodnight in the 1974 James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun. She starred in numerous other movies during her heyday in the 1970s and 1980s. Beginning in the 1990s, her acting work had become limited to stage productions, one-off roles, and brief appearances on reality TV shows.

Swedish actress Maud Adams brought a Scandinavian flair to the Bond franchise not just once but twice when she played two different Bond girls in two James Bond movies. In 1974, she played Andrea Anders in The Man with the Golden Gun. In 1983, she played the character the film was named after, Octopussy.

Ursula Andress is a Swiss actress who became one of the first Bond girls, playing the role of Honey Ryder in Dr. No (1962). Andress is best remembered for the scene in which she emerges from the Caribbean Sea in a white bikini sporting a large knife on her hip.

Denise Richards starred in many notable movies over the years, including Starship Troopers (1997) and Wild Things (1998), as well as in TV shows like Seinfeld (1993) and Melrose Place (1996). However, fans of the James Bond movies would probably best remember her for her role as Christmas Jones in The World is Not Enough (1999).

Lana Wood played the opportunistic Plenty O’Toole in the 1971 James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever. Wood’s acting career began in the early 1960s, appearing in various movies and soap operas. She is the younger sister of actress Natalie Wood, who passed away under mysterious circumstances in 1981.

While Rosamund Pike may look familiar to many people now, she was a little-known actress when she played Miranda Frost in the 2002 James Bond movie Die Another Day. This role earned her the Empire Award for Best Newcomer and would pave the way for a highly-successful career in Hollywood.

Jane Seymour is an American-British actress who made her screen debut as an extra in the 1969 musical comedy Oh! What a Lovely War. Not long after, she landed leading roles in movies and TV shows. In 1973, she played Solitaire in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die.

English actress Honor Blackman played the outrageously-named Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964). Blackman made her film debut in the 1947 British drama movie Fame Is the Spur. In the early 1960s, Blackman began practicing judo, which helped her prepare for her roles in the espionage TV series The Avengers (1962-1964) and Goldfinger.

American model Barbara Bach’s acting career began in Italy in 1968 when she played Nausicaa in L’Odissea. She also appeared in other Italian movies before she was cast as the Russian spy Anya Amasova in the 1977 James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me.

Daniela Bianchi is an Italian model and actress who played Tatiana Romanova in From Russia with Love (1963). Her acting career began in 1958 when she appeared as an extra in the French drama movie In Case of Adversity. In 1960, she was the first runner-up in the Miss Universe pageant held in Miami Beach, Florida.

Shirley Eaton was already a well-known actress and singing star in the UK before landing the role of Jill Masterson in Goldfinger (1964). Despite her brief appearance in the movie, the role became her most memorable to date. That same year, she appeared on the cover of Life magazine covered in gold paint, a reference to her character in the movie.

Grace Jones was born in Jamaica in 1948 and moved to the US with her family when she was 13. She began her modeling career shortly afterward, then embarked on a music career in 1977. She made her first mainstream movie appearance in 1984 when she starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas in Conan the Destroyer.

Sophie Marceau is a French actress who first rose to prominence in the early 1980s. Her role in La Boum (1980) and its 1982 sequel would lead to a string of roles in other highly-successful French movies like L’Etudiante (1988), Fanfan (1993), and Revenge of the Musketeers (1994).

English actress Diana Rigg landed the role of Countess Tracy di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Her character is best remembered for being the only Bond girl to ever marry James Bond.

Jill St. John, born Jill Arlyn Oppenheim, is a former actress best known for her role as Tiffany Case, the first American Bond girl, in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). St. John, who started out as a child actress, made her major studio film debut in 1958 when she starred in Summer Love alongside John Saxon.

Lois Chiles was a student at Finch College in New York when she caught the attention of a Glamour editor who was looking for a young woman to feature on the magazine’s cover. Chiles landed the job and eventually had a successful modeling career, which then led to an acting career. In 1979, she played Dr. Holly Goodhead in the James Bond movie Moonraker.

Carole Bouquet is a French model and actress who has appeared in at least 60 movies since her acting debut in 1977. In 1981, Bouquet became a Bond girl when she joined the cast of For Your Eyes Only, playing the role of Melina Havelock.

Tanya Roberts was born in the Bronx, New York before relocating to Canada with her mother, and then moving back to New York City to pursue a modeling career. She then played various off-Broadway roles before making her movie debut in 1975. Her big break came in 1980 when she was cast as Julie Rogers in the hit TV series Charlie’s Angels.

Maryam d’Abo was born in London and raised in Paris and Geneva. At age 18, d’Abo, an aspiring actress, enrolled at the Drama Centre London, a drama school, but left after one term to make her movie debut in a low-budget science fiction horror movie. She later had other roles in various TV shows and movies before getting cast as Kara Milovy in the 1987 James Bond movie The Living Daylights.

Carey Lowell was born in Huntington, New York but spent her childhood living in countries like Libya, France, and the Netherlands. She attended the University of Colorado at Boulder for a year before dropping out to pursue a career in modeling.

Izabella Scorupco is a Polish-born Swedish-American actress who is best remembered for her role as Natalya Simonova in the 1995 James Bond movie GoldenEye. Scorupco previously worked as a model, appearing on the cover of Vogue in the late 1980s.

Famke Janssen was born in the Netherlands and moved to the US in 1984 to work as a model. She retired from modeling in the early 1990s and transitioned to acting. In 1995, she played femme fatale Xenia Onatopp in the James Bond movie GoldenEye.

French actress Eva Green began her career in theatre before making her movie debut in the 2003 romantic drama The Dreamers. She received international recognition for her portrayal of Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem in Kingdom of Heaven (2005). In 2006, she played Vesper Lynd in the James Bond movie Casino Royale. This role earned her the BAFTA Rising Star Award.

Luciana Paluzzi was born in 1937 in Rome, Italy. Unlike many of the women on this list, Paluzzi had a number of impressive roles in other movies before joining the Bond franchise. In 1965, she landed the role of SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe in Thunderball.

E. Gayson was the Bond girl who started it all. She starred in the first two Bond movies, Dr. No (1962) and From Russia With Love (1963), playing the role of Sylvia Trench, Bond’s love interest. Gayson was originally set to play the role of Miss Monneypenny, M’s secretary, but she ended up switching roles with Lois Maxwell, who was initially cast as Trench.

Teri Hatcher started acting in the 1980s, but her big break came in 1993 when she appeared in a much-discussed episode of Seinfeld. She then starred in the ABC TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman from 1993 to 1997. After that, she landed the role of Paris Carver in the 1997 James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies.

French actress Claudine Auger, born Claudine Oger, played Dominique “Domino” Derval in the 1965 Bond movie Thunderball. Before making her movie debut, Auger earned the title of Miss France Monde and was the first runner-up in the 1958 Miss World pageant held in London.

Akiko Wakabayashi is a Japanese actress best-known in the English-speaking world for her role as Aki in the 1967 James Bond movie You Only Live Twice. Before this, Wakabayashi appeared in several Toho Studio monster movies in her native Japan, such as King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964).

In 1973, actress and former Playboy Bunny Gloria Hendry made history when she became the first African-American woman to become romantically involved with James Bond. She played the tough, no-holds-barred junior CIA agent Rosie Carver in Live and Let Die.

Corinne Cléry is a French actress who played Corinne Dufour in the 1979 James Bond movie Moonraker. Cléry, born Corinne Piccolo, began her acting career in the 1960s. She already had a thriving career in Europe when she joined the Bond franchise, appearing in several successful movies and TV shows.

Lynn-Holly Johnson is a former figure skater who won the silver medal at the novice level of the US Figure Skating Championships in 1974. She then transitioned into acting, making her movie debut in Ice Castles (1978). She was nominated for a “Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress” for her role in the movie.

Alison Doody was born in Dublin, Ireland. She attended Mount Anville Secondary School, an all-girls post-primary school near Dublin, where she developed her love for the arts. Doody worked as a model before making her movie debut in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill, where she played Jenny Flex.

Like many women on this list, Talisa Soto got her first big break in acting when she was cast as Bond girl Lupe Lamora in Licence to Kill (1989). Before that, Soto worked as a model, appearing on the cover of magazines like Elle, Glamour, and Mademoiselle.

Serena Scott Thomas is an English actress best known for her portrayal of Princess Diana in the 1993 TV mini-series Diana: Her True Story. That same year, she played the lead in the TV movie Harnessing Peacocks. In 1999, she played Dr. Molly Warmflash in the James Bond movie The World is Not Enough.