N o w - H o l l y w o o d . b l o g s p o t .c o m

Let's face it: Christina Applegate is not the most beautiful person in the world.

But the Samantha Who? star might have the most inspiring story of any celebrity this year, making her an easy choice for People to include atop its annual 100 Most Beautiful list.

The actress was diagnosed with breast cancer last March. She underwent a double mastectomy, followed by reconstructive surgery. While crediting her boyfriend, Dutch bass player Martyn Lenoble, for making her feel so pretty, Applegate joked about the silver lining to her procedure.

"I don't have to wear a bra! They don't hang down to my knees like they did before. And the gals look good in tank tops."

Who else did People cite as seriously having it going on?

There's the obvious (Angelina Jolie, Zac Efron, Robert Pattinson), the underrated (Freida Pinto, Julianne Hough) and the really, really thin (a quartet of 90210 actresses). We've got a healthy sampling of sexiness below.