20 Actors Who Have Said No To Nudity, Whether For One Role Or Their Whole Career

    These actors have decided nudity is a no-no.

    Angela Andaloro
    by Angela Andaloro

    BuzzFeed Contributor

    Nudity in television and film is more common than ever before. That doesn't mean just anyone will do it, however.

    Nickelodeon / Via giphy.com

    Many of today's actors have very specific rules around filming nude scenes or sex scenes. If they're going to consent, there's a certain amount of comfortability and safety required.

    MTV / Via giphy.com

    Others see nudity as a no-go no matter what the circumstances. These celebrities have opened up about where they stand when it comes to getting naked on camera.

    Grammys / Via giphy.com

    1. Julia Roberts doesn't see the artistic value in getting naked.

    Julia Roberts smiling during a talk show appearance in 2010
    Cbs Photo Archive / CBS via Getty Images

    "I wouldn’t do nudity in a film," she revealed. " For me, personally...to act with my clothes on is a performance. To act with my clothes off is a documentary."

    2. Chris Pratt was a stripper once, but he keeps his body to himself these days.

    Chris Pratt at a premiere in a zip-up jacket smiling in 2021
    Frazer Harrison / FilmMagic / Getty Images

    Chris Pratt had a wild past, but after finding religion, he's changed his ways. Not only will Pratt not do a nude scene, but he also won't do any kind of sex scene.

    3. Anna Kendrick isn't opposed to sex scenes, but she draws the line at nudity.

    Anna Kendrick posing at a premiere in 2021
    Rob Kim / Getty Images

    "My personal feelings on nudity — that I’m not really interested in nudity for me — stayed the same. I’ve never had a problem with simulated sex scenes — that feels like it’s about the character, whereas I only get one body, so nudity is more about me," she reasoned.

    4. Sarah Jessica Parker was the only Sex and the City cast member who said no to nudity.

    Sarah Jessica Parker smiling on "Watch What Happens Live"
    Bravo / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

    Sarah doesn't even like the idea of a body double, she recently revealed.

    "I've just always had a no-nudity clause. I'm a modest person," she explained. "You couldn't pay me enough to have someone pretend they were me doing a nude scene. No body doubles — that's part of my contract."

    5. Mila Kunis will get as risque as side boob, but that's it.

    Mila Kunis filming a movie in New York City in 2021
    Mega / GC Images / Getty Images

    Mila told Allure that she went as far as she would in 2011's Friends with Benefits. "I showed side boob. I don't need to show ass," she said. "You get one or the other. You don't need both."

    6. Ricky Gervais doesn't think anyone wants or needs to see it all.

    Ricky Gervais making a face at the camera while clutching a National Television Award in his hand
    Ian West - Pa Images / PA Images via Getty Images

    "There's no chance of me doing it," Ricky said. "No way. Absolutely no way."

    7. Jessica Alba said nudity isn't doing anything for the movies she's in.

    Jessica Alba at Baby2Baby Gala in November 2021 smiling widely in a black cutout dress
    Steve Granitz / WireImage / Getty Images

    Jessica Alba had some pretty sound reasons for why she says no to nudity. "I don't want my grandparents to see my boobs. That's it," she told Glamour.

    "It would be weird at Christmas. And, I mean, really, if you look at the movies I have done, getting naked would never 'elevate' the picture."

    8. Megan Fox worries about her kids possibly seeing it one day.

    Megan Fox smiling slightly at the 2022 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game
    Jim Poorten / NBAE via Getty Images

    "There are some good projects I’ve read that are with talented people, talented directors, but the things the women are required to do in the movie are things I can’t have my sons ever know or see," Megan said of on-screen nudity.

    "It’s up to the mother to determine what she thinks her children can handle seeing or not. I don’t think my children should ever see me doing some of that stuff. I don’t think my boys could handle that."

    9. Rachel Bilson said she's almost lost out on roles over nudity.

    Rachel Bilson at a Disney event on May 2018
    Jesse Grant / Getty Images

    Rachel Bilson took her stance on nudity in a Playboy interview of all things. "Movies can be sexy or sexual without showing things," she told the magazine. 

    “It’s almost a deal-breaker. The movie was rated R, and they like to put in nudity wherever they can, but I’m pretty strong-willed and believe it can be avoided.”

    10. Samuel L. Jackson wouldn't mind a body double if necessary.

    Getty Images / Getty Images for SCAD

    In the many roles that Samuel L. Jackson has taken on over the years, he's never had to get naked and doesn't plan on starting now.

    "I might ask for a dick double," he joked on Howard Stern's Sirius XM show. "I don't know if it's formidable enough. My aura's so big, I don't know if my dick is big enough to fill my aura."

    11. Sarah Michelle Gellar may have decided against nudity after feeling uncomfortable with what she was asked of during her Buffy years.

    Sarah Michelle Gellar has bangs and smiles in a sweater while wearing many necklaces
    Steve Granitz / FilmMagic / Getty Images

    Sarah Michelle Gellar has spoken about regret and discomfort with certain scenes in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In 2005, rumors indicated Sarah's representatives let casting agents know that she wouldn't do nudity under any circumstances.

    12. Allison Williams was the only Girls castmate who didn't get naked.

    Allison Williams in a ponytail laughing in an interview at a film festival
    Medianews Group / MediaNews Group via Getty Images

    Allison Williams decided early on she wouldn't be getting naked in Girls, no matter how frequently her cast mates were. "I just wanted to give Marnie almost all of myself. But there were things that felt like they should be mine and felt like they should always be mine," she told ABC.

    She explained she refused to sign the nudity waiver, and HBO thought she'd eventually cave, but she didn't. By Season 2, they realized she wouldn't do it. "Maybe part of it, too, was growing up with a parent in the public eye and being aware of the fact that…I didn’t want to give my future hypothetical children another avenue by which to be made fun of,” she joked. 

    “I just didn’t want to give them another thing to have to deal with — is people showing up to school with old Google images of their naked mom. It just didn’t feel like me.”

    13. Keira Knightley has decided she will no longer consider nude scenes for male directors after becoming a mother in 2015.

    Keira Knightley in a belted dress posing at an event
    Dave J Hogan / Dave J Hogan / Getty Images

    "I don’t have an absolute ban, but I kind of do with men. It’s partly vanity, and also it’s the male gaze," she told the Chanel Connects podcast. She understands where sex fits in certain narratives but doesn't feel she needs to be the one to portray it. 

    "You can use somebody else. Because I’m too vain, and the body has had two children now, and I’d just rather not stand in front of a group of men naked."

    "If I was making a story that was about that journey of motherhood and body [acceptance], I feel like, I’m sorry, but that would have to be with a female filmmaker. If it was about motherhood, about how extraordinary that body is, about how suddenly you’re looking at this body that you’ve got to know and is your own and it’s seen in a completely different way and it’s changed in ways which are unfathomable to you before you become a mother, then yeah, I would totally be up for exploring that with a woman who would understand that. But I feel very uncomfortable now trying to portray the male gaze.”

    14. Jessica Simpson says no potential professional accolades will get her to change her mind about nudity.

    Jessica Simpson sitting on a couch in a long-sleeved dress with a bouquet of sunflowers in front of her on "The Kelly Clarkson Show"
    Nbc / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

    Jessica Simpson has done her share of acting and found that many feel a nude scene can help get awards buzz. She knew from the jump she wanted no parts.

    "I already have a whole other world of business out there, so acting for me will be very, very selective from here on out. But I will never do nudity," she told Allure. 

    "I don't care how dark and intellectual the role could be, you know? I don't care if I frickin' get an Oscar for it; I'm not going to do it. Those accolades mean nothing to me ... I don't think people deserve to see what's underneath my clothing. "

    15. Neal McDonough was fired from ABC's Scoundrels for refusing sex scenes.

    Neal McDonough on an "Arrow" panel at Comic Con in late 2021
    Chelsea Guglielmino / Getty Images

    Neal won't so much as kiss another woman out of respect for his wife, which hasn't always gone over well with creatives.

    "It was a horrible situation for me. After that, I couldn’t get a job because everybody thought I was this religious zealot," Neal told Closer Weekly. 

    "I am very religious. I put God and family first, and me second. That’s what I live by. It was hard for a few years. Then [Band of Brothers producer] Graham Yost called me and said, 'Hey, I want you to be the bad guy on Justified.' I knew that was my shot back at the title."

    16. Ashley Benson says no to any nudity she feels is gratuitous.

    Ashley Benson wearing a v -cut shoulderless shirt with heavy eye makeup at an event in 2021
    Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images

    Ashley Benson explained that every actor has to find the line they draw when it comes to nudity and sex scenes. She found that while filming Spring Breakers. 

    "I make it clear that I have a line. Everyone tries to push you, and it's easy to get talked into doing those things. I'll just walk off-set: 'If that's the way it's going to be, then you can do it without me.' But not everyone realizes they can do that," she explained to Cosmopolitan.

    "I never want to do nudity, that's gratuitous. Girls look so much better in lingerie or a tee shirt and leave the rest up to the imagination."

    17. Rebel Wilson won't consider nudity for a comedy.

    Rebel Wilson in a long-sleeve dress with long wavy hair smiling and waving at the 2021 AACTA Awards
    James D. Morgan / Getty Images

    Rebel Wilson shared that they wanted full-frontal nudity while she was filming The Brothers Grimsby. "We write in the contract, specifically, 'No nudity.' They got in another girl — this larger burlesque dancer from South Africa — to be a nude double," she told Marie Claire UK. 

    "And they got her to do all this stuff. Sacha [Baron Cohen, the movie's writer and star] would go, 'See, she looks good.' I'm like, 'I'm not doing it. I don't care what you say.'"

    That said, Rebel said she would consider it for a more serious role. 

    18. Jennifer Garner says, "the world deserves better."

    Jennifer Garner looking to the side and smiling at a 2021 event
    Kevin Winter / Getty Images for The Hollywood Reporter

    Jennifer Garner isn't cool with stripping down, especially not as a mom. "I will not be taking it all off!" she said. 

    "No thank you. The world deserves better. Not interested."

    19. Mandy Moore just thinks there are better ways to be sexy.

    Mandy Moore in a v-neck dress and her hair in a low bun at the 2021 MTV Movie and TV Awards
    Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images for MTV/ViacomCBS

    "It would be completely uncomfortable to walk down the street and know that the person passing by had seen me without my clothes on," Mandy told USA Today. "I've turned down several roles where the producers or directors or writers wouldn't budge on that point."

    "I'm not saying that it's wrong for someone else to do them, but I think there's a way to be feminine and sexy without posing half-naked."

    20. Kristen Bell won't give the men of the internet what they want.

    Kristen Bell smiling at an event in 2021 with a bob haircut
    Axelle / FilmMagic / Getty Images

    Kristen Bell says she'll get herself into shape for a lingerie scene, but she draws the line at nudity.

    "I kicked my buns and abs sets into high gear when I knew I'd have to be in my bra and underwear on House of Lies," she told Women's Health. 

    "But I don't show my crack! All the Mr. Skins of the world are like, 'Ooh, Kristen gets naked!' I'm like, 'Dream on!'"

    What actors shouldn't have gotten naked for a scene? Which should have? Interested to hear what you think in the comments!