Stars who love to strip!

To bare or not to bare - that's the eternal question facing Hollywood's biggest stars. It's easy to see why they come under such pressure from studios and producers - flesh on show generally equates to bums on seats, and money in the bank. Some red-hot youngsters demand no-nudity clauses as a matter of course, while some old hands are happy to let it all hang out, cellulite and all. Full frontal or fully buttoned, here's what the stars think about stripping for the cameras

All buttoned up

Britney Spears
Pop princess Britney has vowed never to bare all. Despite losing her squeaky-clean image with a series of lurid, well-documented love romps, and raunchy photo shoots that leave little to the imagination; 23-year-old Brit's bits remain very much undercover. She only agreed to do a love scene with co-star Anson Mount in her movie Crossroads if she could stay fully clothed. 'I would never go naked,' she says. 'If it was necessary for the character I would get a body double to do it. I just wouldn't feel comfortable being completely naked in front of people. That's totally against what I believe in.'

Beyonce Knowles
Bootylicious babe Beyonce has teased male fans with her skimpy stage outfits, but the 23-year-old is adamant she'll never go the full monty. 'Every photographer wants to be the first one who talks Beyonce out of her clothes,' she says. 'It's prestigious for him if I expose a nipple. People test you to see how far they can go. They exert pressure on me. If I had a dollar for every time that kind of guy says, 'You'll only get the cover if you take off your pants', I'd be a rich woman. When they make those kinds of demands, I leave. I want to be respected and remembered for my talent, not for my booty.'

Jennifer Aniston
'The sexy one' from Friends is so determined not to strip for the camera that she has a no-nudity clause written into her contracts. Despite topping countless sexiest woman polls worldwide, 36-year-old Jennifer has always kept her clothes very much on. An insider on the set of her movie The Good Girl said: 'A lot of people were making the assumption she wasn't happy stripping off because she is pregnant. But she said it was simply a matter of taste and she wasn't going that far.'

Jennifer Lopez
Having the most recognisable backside on the planet is one thing, but J-Lo, 35, is desperate for her breasts to remain strictly undercover. She says: 'I will never bare all on film. You can do love scenes that show skin, legs, whatever. But nudity is not for me.'


Scarlet Johannson
The 20-year-old beauty has a strict no-stripping rule, although she's not averse to a little titillation. For her breakthrough role in Lost in Translation, she was happy to get down to basics for director Sofia Coppola. 'I had quite a few scenes where I'm just sitting around the hotel room in my underwear,' she says. 'And it definitely makes a difference having a woman director. It'd be far more uncomfortable having a man direct those kinds of intimate scenes, I'm not sure I'd like it.'

Now you see it, now you don't

Paris Hilton
The 23-year-old hotels heiress claims she is sick of directors offering her parts on condition she reveals all - as she did unwittingly in the porn video unleashed on the world by her ex. The Simple Life star keeps her kit firmly on in her forthcoming movie, House Of Wax, and plans to keep it that way. 'I would never strip for a movie,' she says. 'People still keep asking me about the sex tape. I am really getting p*ssed off with it. I want to move on but it's really hard.'

Mena Suvari
After flaunting her teen innocence in American Pie, Mena Suvari captivated male moviegoers by baring all in American Beauty. But that was enough for the young actress, who, at 26, has now drawn a line under her naked film past. She says: 'The nudity was obviously important in that film because it was a symbolic stripping away of the character; I wasn't simply being provocative. Now I get asked to do nude scenes all the time, and that's just not me.'

Reese Witherspoon
Motherhood has left Reese determined to cover up - at the tender age of 28. The sexy star, who bared her pert breasts while starring as innocent teen Angela in Cruel Intentions reckons having two children leaves her in no position to bare all again. She says: 'I have cellulite. I have stretch marks. My breasts are not what they were before I breastfed two children. If I ever have to do a bikini scene, it will become a kaftan scene.'

Serial strippers

Angelina Jolie
Angelina is happy to admit she is no prude. The 29-year-old treated film fans to a full frontal shot in 1998 flick Gia and has bared her breasts in many other films, including box office smashes The Bone Collector and Alexander. 'Feeling ashamed about sex or nudity is a very sad thing because it's simply repressing a very important aspect of human nature and warping our way of dealing with our bodies and sexuality in general,' she says 'It's repressive and I've always felt that sex is one of the most liberating experiences we can have.'

Kate Winslet
After first stripping at 18 as a troubled youngster in Heavenly Creatures, Kate had to wait another five years for her biggest on-screen nude role, baring all to pose for Leonardo DiCaprio's 'life drawing' in Titanic. English rose Kate, now 29, has since had two children and seen her weight fluctuate. But after working hard to shed the pounds, she is happy to be seen in all her glory once again. 'I like exposing myself. There's not an awful lot that embarrasses me' she says. 'I'm the kind of actress that absolutely believes in exposing myself.'

Halle Berry
Halle's 'berries' got a double airing in 2001 as she starred in Swordfish and delivered an Oscar-winning performance in Monster's Ball. The 38-year-old later admitted that shots of her topless sunbathing in Swordfish were included for shock value. But she is happy to keep on flashing the flesh - as long as it suits the movie. She says: 'I won't say I would never do it again but I don't know. If another role affects me like Monster's Ball and I feel it's something the character would do - then I'll use my body in a way to best serve the character.'

Nicole Kidman
Back in 1986, Nicole made a notable start to her 'nude' career in Aussie movie Windrider, in which she spends a good eight minutes in the buff. And she's kept up the flesh count ever since, from full frontal in Billy Bathgate, to naked glimpses in love scenes with her then husband Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut. She also famously stripped for a London stage production of The Blue Room. Kidman, 37, is super relaxed about screen nudity, and insists on doing her own nude scenes (she has declined body doubles). `I have a boy's body,' she says. 'I wish I had more curves, like J-Lo. But I will consider any nude scene if the script warrants it.'

Penelope Cruz
Despite getting her breasts out in low-budget Spanish film A Tale of Ham and Passion at the tender age of 18, Penelope, now 30, waited a further eight years before treating fans to another viewing with then-lover Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky. 'For eight years I never did a love scene because I didn't feel ready,' she says. 'Many people laughed about me and said, 'What are you going to do if you always say no to doing these kinds of things?'. Then I started to feel more comfortable, more mature, and I didn't have a problem with those kinds of scenes... I think of the human body as a beautiful thing, an artwork. We shouldn't worry about nudity or sex as being bad or taboo.'

Cate Blanchett
Curvy Cate, 35, is so comfortable with her body that she claims she has no qualms with showing off what she has to offer. Although she is still waiting for her first nude scenes, the Australian actress happily admits she is open to offers. 'I'm not uptight about my body. We all have the same body parts. We all have sex in the nude, so what should we care about taking our clothes off for a sex scene in a movie?' She continues 'As an actress, you leave yourself far more naked emotionally than you ever can get physically.'

Eva Mendes
The 30-year-old Cuban stunner is so happy to go nude in front of the camera that she even strolls round set in the buff. After baring her breasts during gritty cop drama Training Day, Mendes admitted she had been parading about nude off camera as well as on it. 'When I accept to do scenes where I appear naked, it's part of my craft, it's part of playing a character - and amazingly, in real life men and women do appear nude from time to time!' she says. 'When we were shooting the love scene in Training Day, I spent several days nude on the set. It felt perfectly normal. It's only in American films that women keep their underwear on when they're making love.'

Keira Knightley
The 19-year old Pirates of the Caribbean star bared her breasts as rebellious private schoolgirl Frankie Almond-Smith in British film The Hole. Despite not treating her male fans to any nudity since, she has refused to rule it out. 'I don't have a problem with nudity in films. I'm not saying that I'd strip off at every opportunity and run around screaming,' she says. 'Sometimes it can be very beautiful and it gets a point across in a very powerful way. But I don't think I'd feel particularly comfortable spreading my legs and wearing a very small bikini for a lads' mag.' She adds: 'In Hollywood you have to be strong and confident about your body shape.'

Charlize Theron
Despite stripping in eight of her films, the South African beauty says she will only take her clothes off if she is comfortable with the director. 'I always have it in my clause that if I see the film and I don't think it's appropriate or if I feel somebody is trying to take advantage of me, I can pull it. I like having that trust with the director.' Charlize, 29, first bared all in 2 Days In The Valley. Speaking of what made her take the role in the 1996 flick, she said: 'I was aware of the nudity the first time I read the script, and it never bothered me. It didn't feel like, 'Hey cool, let's just put some sex in the script!'

...and the 'Free-Willy' brigade

George Clooney
At 43, it seems hard to believe the Hollywood hunk has only ever stripped off once, for science fiction movie Solaris in 2002. Especially since George is quite open to the idea. 'It's not a problem if it's for the right reasons,' he says. Of his naked writhings with Natascha McElhone in Solaris, where his bare rear is fully visible, he said: 'If my ass helps the film, I don't have a problem with it.'

Ewan McGregor
The 33-year-old Star Wars hunk has been known to get his light sabre out on many occasions. He was shown passed out on a bed, stark naked in Brit flick Trainspotting and followed up with another nude scene in recent box office flop Down With Love. 'I do seem to have been naked in quite a few films,' he says. 'I don't know why, it just seems to be the kind of role I get. It doesn't bother me, in fact it can be fun at times. Lying around naked with a beautiful woman is not a big problem for me, even if it is only for a film.'

Tom Hanks
Despite having received scores of offers, Philadelphia star Hanks, 48, refuses to get his kit off in a movie - because it's not a pretty sight. 'I don't want to see anybody doing that on screen,' he says. 'By and large in movies there's no place for it. I'm the last guy you're going to want to cast in some big passionate clinch kind of thing. When James Garner was asked the same question, I heard him say, 'Oh no, I don't do horror movies', which is kind of like me.'

Brad Pitt
Unlike his ex-wife, Pitt, 41, has no qualms about doing nude scenes - and he even begged director Wolfgang Petersen to include one in the historical blockbuster Troy. Petersen revealed: 'Brad basically said, 'Let me have a nude scene', and this is not a man known for taking his clothes off. He said to me, 'I worked eight months to get this body. It's part of the story.'' And Pitt even claimed Jennifer Aniston was happy for him to bare all. He said: 'I like being nude. Apparently, you know, the Greeks were naked all the time. And my wife's all for it.'

Will Smith
Serial world-saver Smith had no problem with shooting a full-frontal shower scene for I, Robot - but the censors did. Producers were forced to order expensive digital reworking of the scene for the movie to be released in America. Smith, 36, explains: 'It's interesting, because America is the only place it was a really big deal. Actually, the scene in this movie was full frontal nudity, but they had to digitally remove it.

Colin Farrell
Shots of the Irish hunk's privates were cut from A Home At The End Of The World because producers feared the size (he's blessed with generous proportions) would be too distracting for viewers. But 28-year-old Farrell was surprisingly modest when he was grilled in interviews. 'Let me tell you, it ain't nothing to write home about,' he said. 'It's nothing, man! I walk to a door and you see my penis and I walk out of the shot. It's dark and it's three seconds long.'