Beauties of the Year 2024: PEOPLE's Beautiful Issue

2024 Beauties of the year; emma stone, da'vine joy — Photo:
Alexi Lubomirski / AUGUST (2)

Whether they're winning Oscars (Emma Stone and Da'Vine Joy Randolph) or conquering the court (Caitlin Clark), our roundup of the awesome women who inspired us this year proves that beauty comes in many forms. Read on for the stars who staged incredible comebacks, set records, excelled in their fields and were just downright radiant, inside and out.

01 of 20

Emily Blunt

After making the awards season rounds with her latest movie, Oppenheimer, which won Best Picture at the 2024 Oscars, the actress, 41, takes the lead in the new blockbuster The Fall Guy opposite Ryan Gosling. “I don’t know if I’ve had much time to let it sink in,” Blunt says of her success. “I feel very happy, like peaceful, happy.”

02 of 20

Emma Stone

The 35-year-old star’s Oscar-winning portrayal of a young woman brought back to life in Poor Things helped shift her perspective. “I think I fell so madly in love with her . . . that I just wanted to live her life or at least try to live up to her standards,” said Stone of the daring role. “She is in love with being alive. I find that very inspiring.”

03 of 20

Ariana Grande

The singer, 30, had no plans to release new music until after this November’s eagerly awaited premiere of the movie Wicked (in which she stars as Glinda), but last year’s Hollywood strikes left her with extra time. Working on her sixth No. 1 album, Eternal Sunshine, proved easier than she thought: “It all just kind of started pouring out.”

04 of 20

Julianne Moore

The Oscar winner had audiences buzzing about her Netflix film May December, but The Hunger Games remains a favorite for her kids Caleb, 26, and Liv, 22. “I picked [the book] up and was like, ‘This is amazing,’ ” Moore, 63, now starring in the Starz series Mary & George, told PEOPLE. “It might have been the only thing my kids ever cared about that I was in.”

05 of 20

Jodie Foster

With 55 years in Hollywood on her résumé, the True Detective: Night Country lead, 61, embraces aging. “The day I turned 60 was one of the best days of my life,” the Oscar winner has said. “I was happy and content, and I wasn’t competing with my old self.”

06 of 20

Annette Bening

“I think a lot of people want to stay challenged as they grow older,” the actress, 65, who earned an Oscar nod for portraying distance swimmer Diana Nyad in Nyad, has said. “Not just in work, but in life and in relationships and in what Sarah Rafferty they might do day-to-day.”

07 of 20

Sydney Sweeney

The Anything but You and Immaculate star, 26, doesn’t have much spare time. But when she does, she enjoys restoring classic cars, hoping to “inspire girls to try things that might not be what they were told is for girls,” she says.

08 of 20

Lindsay Lohan

The actress, 37, has returned to the spotlight— with 2022’s Falling for Christmas and this year’s rom-com Irish Wish — and she couldn’t be happier in her offscreen life, having welcomed son Luai with husband Bader Shammas in 2023. “I want to take [him] on an adventure,” she told PEOPLE.

09 of 20

Kristen Stewart

The actress, 34, wasn’t just focused on her lines while filming the thriller Love Lies Bleeding — she was fine-tuning her body as well. “I was doing secret little push-ups in my trailer,” she said. “I really love yoga, but I kickbox primarily with my trainer, who is the only man that could tell me to drop and give him 20 and not have a problem.”

10 of 20

Da'Vine Joy Randolph

Acting wasn’t a given for The Holdovers Oscar winner, 37, who trained to become an opera singer. But after switching college majors, Randolph found her true calling. And the profession also has its perks: “I get to wear beautiful gowns,” she told PEOPLE. “I’m a fashion girl. I love the details.”

11 of 20

Caitlin Clark

2024 Beauties of the year; — Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty

The 22-year-old’s mastery of the game drew 24 million viewers to watch her Iowa Hawkeyes in the women’s NCAA championship game—topping the viewership for the men’s final for the first time in history. Next she’ll play pro with the Indiana Fever: “My expectation is to be one of the best players in the world one day.”

12 of 20

Lily Gladstone

Beauty lies in compassion,” says the Killers of the Flower Moon Oscar nominee. “It’s in radical forgiveness.” The actress, 37, stars in Hulu’s Under the Bridge and the drama Fancy Dance, hitting theaters in June.

13 of 20

Ashley Park

The Emily in Paris actress, 32, is riding high after turns in Only Murders in the Building and Mean Girls: “Someone said, ‘Is this a dream come true?’ And I was like, ‘Of course! But it’s not even a dream that I ever thought to have.’ ”

14 of 20

Ambika Mod

Mod, 28, didn’t see herself as a romantic lead until her breakout role in the hit Netflix series One Day. It’s a sweet irony for the actress. “I’m very cynical about that kind of stuff,” she said. “About romance, love and relationships.”

15 of 20

Sarah Rafferty

Rafferty, who starred on Suits from 2011 to 2019, admits she was “gobsmacked” by the surge of interest in the series since it landed on Netflix last summer. “Knowing this thing that we worked on for 10 years is providing escape or connection for people, I’ll take it,” says the actress, 51, who now stars in Netflix’s My Life With the Walter Boys.

16 of 20

Rebecca Ferguson

The Swedish actress, 40, brought the action in Mission Impossible 7 last summer and again in this year’s Dune sequel and Apple TV+’s Silo. Ferguson harnesses her own kind of power for her roles. “I don’t identify as strong,” she has explained. “I speak my mind, I listen, I learn, and I want my characters to do the same.”

17 of 20

Kali Reis

The professional boxer and actress, 37, told PEOPLE that her True Detective: Night Country costar Jodie Foster helped her realize the importance of not taking things too seriously. “Pick the things you care about,” Reis said. “[Know] where to apply your energy.”

18 of 20

Ayo Edebiri

The Bear star, 28, swept awards season, picking up Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG and Critics Choice awards for playing a chef in the FX dramedy. She hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time in February, and this summer she’ll lend her voice to Inside Out 2. “I’ve been so fortunate to have all these things open up for me,” she said. “I love what I do.”

19 of 20

Keri Russell

“People would always recognize [me], and then you always feel more watched,” the Emmy-nominated star of The Diplomat, 48, has said of the pitfalls of fame. “[But now] I go, ‘Oh, that’s part of me. You know, I get nervous and it’s okay.’ ”

20 of 20

Reneé Rapp

2024 Beauties of the year; renee rapp — Molly Matalon / AUGUST

The Mean Girls and The Sex Lives of College Girls star, 24, who released her debut album, Snow Angel, last year, credits her mom for fueling her self-confidence. “If I felt badly about my body, my mother would make me sing ‘Bootylicious,’ ” she said. “And it was everything to me.”