Najwa Nimri

Sultry Spanish actress Najwa Nimri first came to fame as a singer/songwriter and quickly found her way into lead roles in some of Spanish cinema's sexiest exports in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In her mid-20s she formed the electro-indie pop band Najwajean with musician Carlos Jean. Since the group's debut she also released two solo records and appeared on a number of soundtracks while launching her acting career.

Nimri's screen debut came with "Salto al vacío," also Daniel Calparsoro's directorial debut, which looked at poor inner-city Spanish barrios. From there she won the part of the suicidal and murderous Nuria in the thriller "Open Your Eyes," a role that would be filled by Cameron Diaz in the United States remake, "Vanilla Sky."

This attention-grabbing performance next nabbed her the lead in Julio Medem's award-winning serendipitous romance "Lovers of the Arctic Circle." Nimri's performance won her a Goya nomination, a feat that she repeated in 2001 with her turn in Medem's island romp "Sex and Lucia."

These roles made her one of Spain's premiere sex symbols in the 2000s and she consistently found work, some of it less racy: she was in the corporate mind-game film "The Method" in 2005 and in British director Ken Loach's post-Iraq War drama, "Irish Road" in 2010.