When people are asked to name a best actress, they automatically think Meryl Streep, Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, or someone else of that ilk. And, why not? The big acting award shows have conditioned most of us into believing a great actress must be clothed. But, the art of acting is most powerful when it is naked, raw, and vulnerable.

Posted below is our inaugural list of the Five Hottest Nude-Acting Performances of the Year. They weren’t easy to choose, but our picks represent what we feel were 2014’s strongest nudefully performed roles. Don’t hesitate to chime in and debate our list, or toss around a couple of your own favorite nude-acting performances.

And… check out our 10 Sexiest Horror Films of 2014.

Enjoy!

5. PAZ DE LA HUERTA (NURSE 3D)

After being inexplicably snubbed by the Emmy people for her brilliant nude acting as gangster Nucky Thompson’s mistress on HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” Paz de la Huerta returned to wow audiences with a starring role in the Lionsgate psycho-sexual slasher Nurse 3D.

Huerta acts her ass off as Abby Russell, a day nurse with lesbian inklings who seduces and murders men by night. When she meets Danni, played by “30 Rock” stunner Katrina Bowden, she is understandably enamored and, naturally drugs her during a night of clubbing and date-rapes her.

Nurse 3D was, of course, panned by self-important critics and other ugly people, but Huerta is in fine form, capturing Abby’s dominant sex appeal and vulnerable emotional center using nothing but her shapely ass and perky boobs. Now, that’s talent.

4. JOEY FISHER (PARLOR)

British stunner Joey Fisher is no stranger to fans of lad magazines. The glamor model, known for her curvy figure and gloriously enormous breasts, has been an all-time favorite in the pages of periodicals Zoo and Nuts. But, none of that could prepare fans for Fisher’s nude acting debut in indie slasher Parlor.

Fisher plays Zala, a big-boobed stripper working in a Lithuanian nudie bar. There she meets and lap dances the hell out of a patron who tells her he must leave to find friends he fought with and abandoned while on their way to see an internationally renowned tattoo artist.

Eager to have her clit pierced, she latches on to the stranger on his journey to the parlor, unaware of the horrors that await. Fisher is awesome in the role, nailing the sweet seductiveness of her character at work in the titty bar and her bratty entitled queen bitch persona outside the club. Here’s hoping we see more of her in 2015!

3. EVA GREEN (SIN CITY: DAME TO KILL FOR, 300:RISE OF AN EMPIRE, PENNY DREADFUL)

No one flexed their nude acting muscle more this year than sexy French actress Eva Green. On the big screen, Green went full-frontal and back in Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City sequel A Dame to Kill For and topless in 300: Rise of an Empire, a sequel to Zack Snyder’s 300.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For found Green going nude throughout most of the film as emotionally unstable and conniving femme fatal Ava Lord. In 300: Rise of an Empire, she played vengeful navy commander Artemesia. Not only was she a tough cookie, she engages in an outrageous rough-and-tumble sex scene.

On the small screen, Green acts nude on the Showtime series “Penny Dreadful,” an origins drama mixing new characters with classic literary monsters and figures such as Dorian Grey, Van Helsing, and Dr. Frankenstein. Green plays Vanessa Ives, the show’s fearless, demon-fucking heroine.

2. SCARLETT JOHANSSON (UNDER THE SKIN)

Scarlett Johansson is a bona fide star, lauded for her performances in Hollywood blockbusters and acclaimed indie dramas alike. In 2014, she shocked the world when she made her nude acting debut in Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin.

An adaptation of Michel Faber’s debut novel, Under the Skin finds Johansson playing an alien disguised as a hot slut to seduce and trap the men of earth as food for her species. The film is (f)arthouse sci-fi complete with head-scratching imagery, but Johansson’s use of boobs, bush, and ass is undeniably powerful.

1. ALEXANDRA DADDARIO (TRUE DETECTIVE)

Fright fans have had their eyes glued to Alexandra Daddario since her gorgeous skinny, big-boobed frame fell into peril in Stevan Mena’s gruesome indie-slasher Bereavement and Lionsgate’s Texas Chainsaw. But as her popularity grew with the family/fantasy Percy Jackson franchise, the hopes of watching her nude act dwindled.

Then the unexpected happened. Daddario was tapped to play Detective Marty Hart’s (Woody Harrelson) mistress on the acclaimed HBO serial killer drama “True Detective.” The role called for Daddario to handcuff Woody’s character and strip completely nude, displaying not only her amazing breasts but—to everyone’s surprise—her bottom half as well!

Unlike Johansson’s nude turn in Under the Skin, Daddario’s full-frontal scene in “True Detective” is brightly lit, making it all the more enjoyable.