There are just too many things wrong with Transformers: Dark of the Moon that they can actually be desensitizing, especially when the entire Internet is filled with nothing but loathing for it. So, for the sake of positivity, which my shrink says I need loads of, I’m listing the things that I actually DID LIKE about the movie, terrible filmmaking notwithstanding.

For those fortunate enough not to have seen the latest (and thankfully, THE LAST) Transformers movie yet but are still planning to go, some SPOILERS AHEAD.

1. Alan Tudyk

Sci-fi TV and Joss Whedon fave Tudyk plays John Turturro’s effete assistant Dutch, who for the briefest of moments channels his character Alpha from the now-cancelled series Dollhouse and transforms into a badass.

2. People are actually getting offed onscreen

Sure, there were some deaths in the first two movies, but this is actually the first time you see people actually bite it, when they get vaporized instantly a la War of the Worlds as Decepticons hit them with direct fire.

3. Rosie Huntington-Whitely

A supermodel with the acting talent of the runway she regularly sashays on, she is, for me, actually hotter than Megan Fox. Kinda reminds me of a young Cameron Diaz in The Mask.

4. The special effects. Duh.

5. Ken Jeong

Whether he’s playing a medieval live action RPG king or a naked Chinese gangster locked in a car trunk, Jeong will always be a hoot, even when his few minutes in this movie ended when he was shoved by a Decepticon through an office window and onto the pavement a few hundred or so feet below.

6. Patrick Dempsey as a bad guy

And a really bad bad guy at that, because McDreamy’s selling everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, out to the Decepticons.

7. That random wind-blown newspaper that smacked Patrick Dempsey right in the face as he was monologuing.

8. The chance for a nap

This movie was extremely DULL in certain stretches that I actually found myself catching much-needed zzzs inside the theater.

How about you? Got anything nice to say about DOTM?

Image sources

io9 OveRoll MamaPop WetPaint

Almost every single pro sports team has its own group of cheerleaders. Over the years, a number of its members have gone on to become famous. Some of the ten listed below have become familiar faces, while some are outright household names.

1. Paula Abdul

She is without doubt the most successful former professional sports cheerleader of all time. Before she sold more than 50 million albums despite being not much of a singer, and sat as the mumbling and perpetually drunk/stoned judge of American Idol for eight seasons, she was a Laker Girl, and was even its head choreographer for years.

2. Teri Hatcher

If you’ve wondering where Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher got those moves she does in Tango and Cash, here’s your answer: She was a member of the San Francisco 49ers cheering squad. Before that, she shook her pom-poms for her high school, and was even named most likely to become a Solid Gold Dancer. She didn’t of course, but instead became a solid gold TV star.

3. Sarah Shahi

Amid a disappointing season, Sarah Shahi gave Dallas Cowboys fans something to cheer about. From 1999-2000, she was a member of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, arguably the best known of all NFL cheerleading squads. She appeared on the cover of the DCC’s calendar before moving to Hollywood, where she eventually became one of the most beautiful faces on television today. She starred in the now-defunct NBC drama series Life, and is currently playing the lead in Fairly Legal, a legal drama airing on the USA Network.

4. Charisma Carpenter

Before she made jaws drop as Sunnydale High’s resident shallow cheerleader Cordelia Chase in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charisma Carpenter was a cheerleader for the San Diego Chargers in 1991, just before she moved to Los Angeles to embark on a Hollywood career.

5. Trista Sutter

Trista Sutter holds some sort of record in the history of reality TV for starring in the first seasons of both The Bachelor and its companion show, The Bachelorette. Known as Trista Rehn then, she was one of the final two contestants of the former, while she was chosen as the star of the latter. In both shows, it was very apparent that she had one hot body, obviously honed by her stint as a Miami Heat Dancer. Her televised wedding to The Bachelorette winner Ryan Sutter drew more than 26 million viewers, one of the biggest audiences for a reality TV show.

6. Stacy Keibler

Pro wrestling fans have long worshipped Stacy Keibler for her unusually long legs. Pro football fans from Baltimore, however, have had first crack at those lovely gams as she pepped them up as a member of the Baltimore Ravens Cheerleaders.

7. Kiana Tom

Former Oakland Raiderette Kiana Tom became famous for her ESPN fitness series, Kiana’s Flex Appeal. She continued to build on her reputation as a fitness guru by starring in other ESPN produced shows Kiana’s Too Fit 2 Quit, Summer Sizzle with Kiana & Hot Summer Nights with Kiana. She is also an actress, starring alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme in Universal Soldier: The Return.

8. Kristin Adams

Yet another Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader makes this list in the person of Kristin Adams née Holt. Her first shot at fame was in the first season of American Idol, where she was a semi-finalist. She later became a correspondent for the show, a job which would prove to be quite useful in her future endeavors. She blossomed into a good host, and G4 TV wasted no time in hiring her as host of Cheat!, a show where video game cheats and strategies are featured and discussed. She also currently co-hosts the USA Network show Character Fantasy.

9. Lisa Guerrero

Back when Los Angeles had two professional football teams, Lisa Guerrero was a cheerleader for the LA Rams, before the franchise moved to St. Louis. Currently one of the top sportscasters in the United States, she is most famous for her stint on The Best Damn Sports Show Period on Fox Sports. She’s also an actress, appearing in movies such as Batman Returns and Fire Down Below.

10. Bonnie-Jill Laflin

Bonnie-Jill Laflin was a cheerleader not just for one team of one sport, but for three different teams of two different sports. Before she became the NBA’s hottest, first ever and only female scout working for the Los Angeles Lakers front office, she was a cheerleader for the Golden State Warriors, the San Francisco 49ersand the Dallas Cowboys. Aside from currently holding a top position in one of professional sports’ most legendary franchises, she is also an actress, model and soon-to-be reality star, with a reality show based on her successful career in the male-dominated world of professional sports.

Image Sources

SuperiorPics NBA KianaVlog BeyondHollywood ManCaveSports BlackDcc

Like so many before them, these child actors from the 1990s shed their clothes and even did some nasty onscreen stuff to obliterate whatever memory people had of them as cute little children. And boy, did that work.

10. Lindsay Lohan

First known for: Playing twins in 1998’s The Parent Trap, made when she was 11.

Gone naked in: New York Magazine in 2008, not to mention countless lip and nip slips.

9. Leelee Sobieski

First known for: Being a skinny 15-year old in Jungle2Jungle, a 1997 Hollywood remake of a French film.

Gone naked in: the 2001 TV movie Uprising, and later in 2002’s L’Idole (The Idol).

8. Lacey Chabert

First known for: The Fox drama series Party of Five, where she played 11-year child prodigy Claudia Salinger

Gone naked in: 2002’s The Scoundrel’s Wife

7. Natalie Portman

First known for: playing a 12-year-old girl whose entire family gets murdered in Leon (The Professional).

Gone naked in: more like showcased her bare ass in Hotel Chevalier, from 2007.

6. Kirsten Dunst

First known for: her portrayal of a vicious vampire trapped in a 10-year-old’s body in Interview With the Vampire.

Gone naked in: Last year’s All Good Things.

5. Christina Ricci

First known for: playing Wednesday Addams to creepy perfection in two Addams Family films in the 1990s.

Gone naked in: 2001’s Prozac Nation, and even more so in Black Snake Moan from 2006.

4.Thora Birch

First known for: Playing the 10-year-old daughter of Jack Ryan, Harrison Ford’s character, in Patriot Games

Gone naked in: American Beauty, although she was still underage when she did it.

3. Madeline Zima

First known for: being the youngest of the Sheffield siblings in Fran Drescher’s 90s sitcom The Nanny.

Gone naked in: The Showtime comedy series Californication, where she f**ked and punched David Duchovny as an underage teenager.

2. Anna Paquin

First known for: Winning an Oscar at the age of 11 for her performance as the precocious daughter of Holly Hunter’s mute character in 1993’s The Piano.

Gone naked in: HBO’s vampire drama series True Blood. Multiple times. In really sexy sex scenes.

1. Shawna Waldron

First known for: playing “Icebox”, the 12-year-old tomboy daughter of Rick Moranis’ character in the 1994 family movie Little Giants. Also played the First Daughter in The American President opposite Michael Douglas.

Gone naked in: The straight to DVD sequel Poison Ivy: The Secret Society.

Why she’s no. 1: Because unlike the other girls on this list, her naked performance got the closest to being soft porn. Wait. It IS soft porn!

But while I loved the show, there a number of things about it that left me scratching my head even when I’m dandruff free.  As the show comes to an end next month after eight seasons, it’s only fitting that I list them, 24 of them to be exact. These will at least remind me not to miss the show so much when its trademark ticking goes silent and its digital clock finally winds down,  for good.

1. Jack Bauer’s cell phones have batteries that need no recharging whatsoever, not even after long / multiple calls or heavy media transmissions.

2. Jack Bauer doesn’t eat or drink.

3. Jack Bauer never takes a whizz.

4. Its habit of leaving the fate of certain important characters hanging in the air, like season 2 presidential advisor Lynne Kresge, season 4 terrorist spawn Behrooz Araz, Day 6 president Wayne Palmer,  and Martha Logan’s aide Evelyn Martin and his young daughter from season 5.

5. David Palmer is the second biggest jerk (next to Charles Logan) to ever become president, ordering a subordinate to kill himself because a terrorist asked him for it.

6. They killed off Michelle Dessler just when she was starting to show some skin. She was rockin’ pink spaghetti straps the morning she was blown to kingdom come, for chrissakes.

7. Speaking of hot women on the show, they just did what is probably the worst case of coitus interruptus on TV, with Renee Walker getting offed seconds after getting off with Jack Bauer.

8. They hand out immunity deals like they were lollipops to any hardcore terrorist who promises to “sing”, never mind if the guy killed a couple thousand Americans just a few hours ago.

9. Until recently, nobody, except for Chloe and a few other characters, ever believes or listens to Jack until it’s too late.

10. You’d think that Jack Bauer, who was imprisoned and tortured in China for almost two years before being  retrieved by the American government in time for Day 6, would at least show some signs of being traumatized by the ordeal. Instead, he got back into super agent mode in no time at all. But then again, HE IS Jack Bauer. Chuck Norris has nothing on this guy.

11. Kim Bauer, the aforementioned stupid daughter, became an analyst at CTU.

12. Dennis Hopper as main season 1 bad guy Victor Drazen.

13. Heroin is one of the toughest drugs to kick, but Jack easily shrugged it off. Then again, see no. 10.

14. Tony Almeida making like Jesus Christ.

15. Tony Almeida becoming a villain, a hero, then a villain again in less than 24 hrs.

16. The White House assault and hostage situation staged by an African commando team.

17. Graem Bauer. Not that the actor was doing a bad job, but because he looked and talked just like an ex-boss of mine, and made me wanna punch a hole through his face and my TV every single time he appears onscreen with that dang Bluetooth.

18. David and Sherry Palmer are fairly good looking, which is why the fact that they produced a son who looks like Keith makes us question everything we’ve been taught about genetics.

19. Pilots are so good they could land big ass planes on narrow strips of road.

20. The ease at which enemies could plant moles inside the supposedly COUNTER-Terrorist Unit.

21. In season 8, everybody, from ex-cons to bounty hunters, seems to know where CTU is and are even allowed inside the premises.

22. Jack Bauer being able to do undercover work despite having his face plastered all over TV screens during the Senate hearings in season 7.

23. The charisma-challenged Wayne Palmer became president.

24. Jack’s “I give you my word”, which he breaks more often than he keeps, unintentionally or otherwise.

Now let me remind you of the cliché that goes, “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”. This is a highly subjective list, so if you wanna complain about my choices, or feel that your favorites were unfairly left out, feel free to hit the comments. And the list is completely random, so no complaints about ranking because the numbers aren’t exactly indicative of rank.

1. Georgia Jones

2. Ashlyn Rae

3. Ellie Idol

4. Faye Reagan

5. Lacie Heart

6. Lexi Belle

7. Mindy Vega

8. Sarah Blake

9. Sunny Leone

10. Tori Black

11. Danielle of FTV

12. Jayme Langford

13. Brooke Lee Adams

14. Raven Alexis

15. Ashlynn Brooke

16. Bree Olson

17. Sasha Grey

18. Stoya

19. Candace Cage

20. Jenni Lee

Here’s a list of 19 porn stars who have college or higher degrees tucked under their belt. If you know of any more similarly-educated porn stars, please don’t hesitate to send them in through your comments.

1. Tera Patrick – BS in Biology and an AAS degree in nursing from Boise State University.

2. Gen Padova – A UCLA graduate, with Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Biochemistry and a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts.

3. Calli Cox – Has a degree in middle level education from Eastern Illinois University, and was teaching 8th grade English before getting into porn.

4. TJ Hart – Graduated with a triple major in psychology, sociology and art, with a minor in early childhood education from the University of Colorado. She was also member of the 1988 US Olympic swim team.

5. Ron Jeremy – Used to be a teacher, making good use of his bachelor’s degree in education and theatre and a master’s degree in special education from Queens College in New York.

6. Nina Hartley – Graduated magna cum laude from San Francisco State University’s nursing school, and is a registered nurse.

7. Juli Ashton – A Colorado State University graduate, with a degree in Spanish and History. She subsequently taught Spanish at a junior high school before she caught the porn bug

8. Joanna Angel – has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature with a minor in Film Studies from Rutgers University.

9. Audrey Hollander – Graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a degree in Elementary Education.

10. Lexington Steele – Earned a double degree in History and African-American studies from Syracuse University.

11. Bobbi Starr – Holds a music degree from San Jose State University. She is currently a pre-med student, aiming to become a gynecologist.

12. Laurie Wallace – Not only did she graduate summa cum laude with a double major in German and political science from Loyola College in Maryland, she also attended law school at George Washington University.

13. Lisa Sparxxx – This pornstar who holds a world record for having sex with 919 men in the space of a day has a Master of Arts degree in Multimedia with a minor in Business from the University of Kentucky.

14. Mika Tan – She studied at the San Diego State University en route to a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and an Associate’s degree in Psychology.

15. Dave Cummings – Currently laying claim to the title “oldest active male pornstar”, Cummings has both a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and a Masters Degree in Public Administration. To top it of, he also used to be a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army.

16. Shy Love – A certified public accountant, having earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in accounting.

17. Careena Collins – Graduated with a law degree

18. Selena Silver – finished university with a degree in Marine Science

19. Mandingo – has a Bachelor of Arts in Communications.

Image sources

StandUpUGA XStarsNews XCitement MommyGotboobs TWVDivas IAFD Nerve LukeIsBack JewishJournal A2ZPornstar GameLink AbsoluteVM18

By the way, no Britney here. It goes without saying that she’s in a league all by herself as far as celebrity upskirts go. If there’s a Celebrity Upskirt Hall of Fame, Britney would no doubt be the first-ever inductee. And if these women who have given us the top ten celebrity upskirt pictures of 2008 carry on like this in the coming years, they’re guaranteed a place in it too.

Warning: possibly NSFW

1.  Leelee Sobieski

Any memories you might have of sweet Leelee in “Jungle 2 Jungle” surely will have dissipated by now at the sight of that pink thong.

2. Audrina Patridge

Audrina may be constantly labeled as that “boring” one from “The Hills”. We dare you say the same thing about this upskirt of hers, or the countless bikini pictures or those “leaked” naked pics that are all over the Internet.

3. Emma Watson

Now we know that when J.K Rowling described Hermione Granger as having “bushy brown hair’, she wasn’t just talking about the ones up north. Endless “Hairy Potter” jokes have been made about this Emma Watson upskirt, and rightfully so.

4. Pamela Anderson

We understand that the better part of the world’s 6.7 billion people have seen Pamela much more naked than this, so what’s the big deal with a Pamela upskirt? Honestly, we don’t know, the same way we don’t know why she keeps getting treated like she’s hot when she’s nothing but scary these days.

5. Sharon Stone

This is one clear-cut case of life imitating art, Sharon reenacting her “Basic Instinct” character Catherine Tramell’s infamous beaver scene. No beaver here though, and we’re thankful for that.

6. Nicole Scherzinger

Pussycat Doll shows off her own pussycat doll for the whole world to see. Somene’s getting desperate to sell “solo” albums.

7. Blake Lively

This upskirt from the Gossip Girl star is not much of an upskirt, really, but those legs revealed by her skirt kinda riding up are just so luscious they deserve a place here, with or without anything nastier to gossip about.

8. Victoria Silvstedt

Just like Pamela, Victoria Silvstedt is no stranger to spreading her legs for the camera to get a little more attention than usual.  So thinking that this upskirt was accidental is out of the question.

9. Kate Walsh

Someone blew some wind up Kate Walsh’s ass, and it’s not a pretty sight.

10. Jennifer Aniston

We can tell by this picture that Jennifer was trying to prevent a nipple slip with her left arm. Thankfully, her right hand is holding her purse, and wasn’t able to do anything to deny us an upskirt shot.

Image Sources

HollywoodTuna The Blemish EgoTastic TheGrumpiest SuperficialDiva TheHollywoodGossip JustJared CelebritySmackBlog

Warning: possibly NSFW

1. Karina Smirnoff

Thanks a lot, Mario Lopez for practicing dance lifts with your girlfriend and Dancing With The Stars partner in the water and giving us this nipple slip in the process.

2. Whitney Port

If this is Whitney Port’s way of drawing attention away from way more famous The Hills co-star Lauren Conrad, then she’s succeeded. She’s cuter than Conrad anyway.

3. Bai Ling

A serial nipple flasher, this is only one of the number of Bai Ling nipple slips we’ve had this year. But if you look closely\, it looks more like a Bai Ling pencil eraser slip than anything else.

4. Monica Bellucci

Sure, we’ve seen Monica Bellucci without a stitch on many times in the past. But she’s just so gorgeous that even something as trivial as a Monica Bellucci nipple slip is more than enough to make us happy.

5. Amy Smart

Amy Smart is another serial nipple exhibitionist. This time, her nipple said hello while she was kicking some guy’s ass on the set of the movie Crank 2.

6. Shauna Sand

Shauna Sand probably has the most disgusting nipples on the planet, but that didn’t stop this former Playboy Playmate from foisting it upon us.  And just like when we find ourselves near the scene of an accident, we just can’t look away at the train wreck this formerly hot woman has become.

7. Blake Lively

In this picture, Blake Lively seems to be hiding from the paparazzi and does her best to cover her face. Fortunately, the Gossip Girl star’s surprisingly big nipple isn’t as pap-camera-shy as she is.

8. AnnaLynne McCord

For someone who rightfully belongs in our list of celebrities with small boobs and flat chests that we love, AnnaLynne McCord seems to have boobs that play peekabo with paparazzi a little too often, like the time she was shooting this running scene for 90210.

9. Hayden Panettiere

We’re not really sure if this qualifies as a Hayden Panettiere nipple slip, but because we all want to see this barely legal Heroes star give us some nip action, we’re willing to use a little imagination and see some Hayden boobage through the water. Lucky dog.

10. Lily Allen

We’ve seen Lily Allen out of her clothes a little too many times this year, but we’re not complaining. Not when she goes beyond a mere nipple slip to a full boob slip.

11. Kate Moss

Was there ever a year that we didn’t see Kate Moss’ nipple? Didn’t think so.

12. Mischa Barton

Will there ever be a time we wouldn’t see Mischa Barton flashing her nipple all over the place while drunk?

13. Salma Hayek

Thank heavens for traditional costumes that make women’s breasts pop out, like this Bavarian dirndl Salma Hayek wore as a guest in a popular German talk and variety show.

14. Katy Perry

This is just a half a nipple slip from Katy Perry, but at least we now have an idea how awesome this singer’s cans are. And we got an upskirt shot to boot!

15. Emma De Caunes

No idea who Emma De Caunes is, but because of this wonderful nip slip, we’re willing to know more about this cute French actress, and give her a thumbs-up as well.

Image sources

CelebVids PopCrunch AlbertaStars SpreadIt Egotastic TotallyCrap EasyDoesItUniversity HollywoodTuna FunDumper HotCelebsHome GutterUncensored TheSuperficial CeleBitchy IDLYITY

Still, while some Hollywood actors who can sing may sound better than any of the artists listed below, they could only dream of the multiplatinum sales these singers have achieved.

10. Ashlee Simpson

Who could ever forget her 2004 lip-syncing performance on Saturday Night Live and at the 2005 Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, where a crowd of 70,000 booed her off the stage? But while universally derided as having very little talent as a singer, Ashlee Simpson has sold more than 5 million albums worldwide, with her debut album “Autobigraphy” alone selling more than 3.5 million copies.

9. Miley Cyrus

The first time I bothered to listen to Miley Cyrus sing was during the 2008 installment of Idol Gives Back, and those two performances of hers made me wonder why the hell this 15-year-old has become so huge that mothers actually fake essays for their kids so they can score tickets to her show. Honestly, she’s way better at taking slutty pictures of herself than she is at singing.

Then again, my opinion doesn’t matter a whit: Cyrus has already sold more than 8.5 million albums worldwide as of January 2008.

8. Jessica Simpson

Although Jessica is considered the better singer in the Simpson family, that still isn’t saying much. Her screaming singing voice can give one migraines, especially when she’s trying to hit those high notes. Still, millions of people seem to love experiencing severe headaches because as of October 2008, 17.2 million of Jessica’s records have already been sold.

7. Avril Lavigne

Sometimes, we actually wish that Avril Lavigne is a real punk rocker as she claims to be, because in punk music, brilliant singing voices aren’t really a requirement. Sadly, she’s a pop singer, and as a pop singer, she royally sucks, 30 million albums sold worldwide notwithstanding. Her album tracks are oh-so-obviously peppered with layer upon layer of digital magic, and when she sings live, she makes the audience want to pop their own eardrums.

6. Jennifer Lopez

There’s no doubt that J.Lo can dance. But can she really sing? She can’t, of course, but that didn’t stop her from selling more than 48 million albums worldwide.

5. Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul is a lot of things, but a singer isn’t one of them. She’s one of those singers whose recordings need tons of digital manipulation to pass herself off as one. And she’s actually succeeded in making people think she can actually carry a tune, as she has sold more than 53 million records to date. Then there’s that little TV show called American Idol where she routinely judges other peoples’ singing talents.

4. Britney Spears

Britney Spears sounds like a cat on the verge of death when she’s singing, but people apparently find her style “sexy”, and continue to buy her records. Her debut album, “…Baby One More Time“, has already gone past the 25 million sales mark as of October 2008. All in all, she has sold an estimated 83 million records worldwide.

3. Janet Jackson

After selling over 100 million albums worldwide, Janet Jackson, who is like, 50, still sounds like a girl who has just discovered she has pubes whenever she sings. Her voice has remained teeny-weeny all these years she even manages to sound more girly-ish than her brother Michael Jackson. And that in itself is already quite a feat.

2. Cher

Cher is a good singer—that is, if she were a guy. Not only does she sing like a dude, she also has this way of producing that very masculine sound through the nose which makes her singing even scarier.  However, her voice didn’t scare buyers away, but instead drew them in, selling more than 180 million records in her over 40 years in the music business.

1. Madonna

The fact that Andrew Lloyd Webber had to transpose down many of the songs in his musical Evita to ensure that Madonna hits them right in the 1996 film version is a testament to the singing talent, or lack thereof, of the woman who has been labeled by Guinness World Records as the world’s most successful female recording artist of all time. Currently the richest woman in music, Madonna has sold more than 250 million records worldwide, and is still counting.

Image sources

BiteUs KTimothy LemonPepper HollywoodGrind VirginMedia Jaunted TheHollywoodGossip Werz InsideSocal TimesSquareGossip

We’re pretty certain a lot of people who watch these shows have no idea their favorite American characters are actually played by non-Americans, what with their convincing American accents and everything. Here are some of them.

1. Hugh Laurie

For five seasons now, Hugh Laurie, an English actor from Oxford, has been playing the misanthropic medical genius Gregory House in the hit Fox drama House. With the utterly convincing American accent he uses on the show, not too many people are aware that he is everything but American. In any case, audiences love him, and the show’s producers obviously do too: Laurie has just been offered a new deal that would pay him $400,000 per episode, or more than $9 million a year, making him one of the biggest earners on TV today.

2. Julian McMahon

Before playing the womanizing plastic surgeon Dr. Christian Troy on FX Networks’ Nip/Tuck, Julian McMahon first charmed audiences as the demon Cole Turner in Charmed. Even then, few people knew that McMahon is from Sydney. Undeniable proof that he is Australian is the fact that his late father, Sir William McMahon, was Australia’s 20th Prime Minister.

3. Anthony LaPaglia

In a show whose top three characters are not Americans, Anthony LaPaglia is top dog. He plays FBI Agent Jack Malone on CBS’ Without A Trace, the only prime-time U.S. drama to have two Australians, LaPaglia and Poppy Montgomery, and a Brit, Oscar-nominated actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste playing Americans in the regular cast.

4. Damian Lewis

The fact that Damian Lewis is British could come as a big surprise to many people. After all, he was compelling as American World War II hero Richard Winters in the 2001 HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. Now he’s playing Charlie Crews, an LAPD detective who was wrongfully imprisoned for 12 years before being exonerated by DNA evidence in the NBC drama Life.

5. Colin Ferguson

OK, so Colin Ferguson, star of the quirky Sci-Fi channel series Eureka, just became an American citizen, but he also happens to be a Canadian citizen, having been born in Montreal, Quebec. He grew up in Hong Kong, England, Connecticut and Toronto, and also holds a British citizenship.

6. Lena Headey

Who would have imagined that Sarah Connor, a very American character from one of the biggest American film franchises of all time could be played by an Englishwoman? Lena Headey, whose strong and sexy turn in last year’s 300 gave us a respite from all that testosterone and those six-pack abs, has been doing pretty well as the star of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which airs on the Fox Network. And she’s doing it with a very good American accent, and without Linda Hamilton’s muscles.

7. Anna Paquin

Anna Paquin, who plays the mind-reading waitress Sookie Stackhouse in the new HBO drama True Blood, was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. When she was four, her parents moved to New Zealand, where her acting career began. And what an acting career it was, winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1993’s The Piano, her very first movie. She has since been known to younger audiences as Rogue in the X-Men trilogy of films. For True Blood, she has to put on a southern accent, as the series, which revolves around humans and vampires trying to co-exist, is set in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana.

8. Anna Torv

Australian actress Anna Torv is the lead star of Fringe, a new science fiction drama from J.J. Abrams which just began airing on Fox in September. She plays Olivia Dunham, an FBI Agent who has been tasked to investigate unexplained phenomena with an institutionalized scientist, brilliantly played by fellow Aussie actor John Noble. Not a few people have commented that Torv bears an uncanny facial resemblance to a top Australian actress, the Oscar-winning Cate Blanchett.

9. Jonny Lee Miller

Film buffs may remember Jonny Lee Miller as “Sick Boy” in the Ewan Macgregor starrer Trainspotting. While he played a Scottish junkie in that film, Miller, who also happens to be Angelina Jolie’s first husband, is actually English. He’s currently making waves as the star of the ABC comedy-drama Eli Stone, playing the eponymous character, a lawyer with a brain aneurysm that is causing hallucinations which could actually be visions of the future.

10. Simon Baker

A new CBS series, The Mentalist, has Australian actor Simon Baker in the lead as an extremely intelligent and observant detective. He had previously starred in The Guardian, another CBS drama series that ended in 2004.