There’s nothing like a woman who knows how to command a room. Well, make that a classroom. Maybe it’s the sexy, smart-girl appeal. Maybe it’s the power that comes with wielding a red pen. Or maybe it’s the way they wear those just-to-the-knee skirts and then cross their legs at their desks (come on, you know exactly what I’m talking about). No matter what the reason, there’s just something about teachers. An intriguing mix of sexy and innocent, not to mention that irresistible quality of being unattainable (at least if you’re one of their students), teachers have been attracting students, fellow teachers, and television and film audiences for decades.
Here’s a look at some of the sexiest teachers in entertainment history.
1 Jennifer Beals on The L Word
Nothing made me happier than when Jennifer Beals became an art history lecturer and Dean at the fictional “California University” on The L Word. Just watching her pace between rows of desks and control a slide projector was enough to get me going. But it turned out I wasn’t the only one watching Professor Porter’s every move. Sexy teaching assistant Nadia took notice of her hot Prof from day one and proceeded to flirt with her over the course of their working relationship. While Bette attempted to avoid the entanglement by scolding Nadia for her advances, she eventually gave in during a particularly steamy ride home from school.
2 Diane Gaidry in Loving Annabelle
Talk about playing innocent. When Diane Gaidry portrayed girls’ boarding school teacher Simone Bradley in Katherine Brooks’ lesbian film Loving Annabelle, she coyly managed to stave off her student Annabelle’s (played by actress Erin Kelly) bold advances ‘til the bitter end. But, you have to admit, when we finally did see her naughty side, all that repression made her that much hotter.
3 Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal
Her affair with an underage student may have been creepy, and her fellow teacher’s obsession with her was maybe even creepier, but regardless of how unsavory the storyline was, Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal still managed to be sexy in that perfectly subtle way that teachers so often are. All the secrecy and scandal surrounding her character Sheba’s life intrigued not only the audience, but her older mentor at the school, Barbara (played by Judi Dench) as well. What is perhaps most fascinating is the twisted, stalker obsession Barbara has with Sheba over the course of the film. So typically lesbian to want what you can’t have, and then, in the process of trying to get it, go completely insane.
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4 Tina Fey in Mean Girls
Rockin’ her infamous specs, Tin Fey played nerdy-yet-hot math teacher Ms. Norbury opposite now-lesbian Lindsay Lohan in the film Mean Girls in 2004. A self-proclaimed “super-nerd” in real life as well, her combination of smart humor and quick wit in the film surely made the role easy for her to relate to. Perhaps that also has something to do with the fact that Fey, Saturday Night Live’s first female head-writer, also wrote the Mean Girls script and therefore designed Ms. Norbury herself.
5 Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds
Ok, can I just preface this one by asking: When is Michelle Pfeiffer not sexy?
But anyway, as an ex-marine turned inspirational inner-city teacher, Pfeiffer was particularly appealing in Dangerous Minds. Portraying the real-life story of LouAnne Johnson, Pfeiffer turns a classroom of disruptive, difficult students into innovative, students eager to learn. I don’t know about you, but I’m willing to learn absolutely anything Michelle Pfeiffer wants to teach me.
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6 Julia Roberts in Mona Lisa Smile
Oh, Julia Roberts. Not only is she a teacher in Mona Lisa Smile, she’s an ultra-liberal teacher at an ultra-conservative all-girls school. It doesn’t get much better than that. Despite the less-than-sexy costumes, Roberts captured our hearts in this one as she attempted to challenge her students to think outside the imposed values of their school and their society. Recognizing their potential, she pushed them in the film to become more than the wives and mothers they were planning to be. Unconventional and free-spirited, Roberts almost made me wish I had gone to Wellesley.
7Julie Bowen on Ed
Not much about the show Ed on NBC was particularly memorable, except for maybe the role of high school English teacher Carol Vessey, played by Julie Bowen. Though she may be more recognizable for her Neutrogena commercials today, Bowen’s turn as Carol Vessey is by far my favorite of her roles. Oh, and remember what I said before about teachers wearing those just-to-the-knee skirts and then crossing their legs at their desks? Yeah, go watch an episode of Ed.
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8 Hilary Swank in Freedom Writers
Having seen her as a female to male transgender character in Boys Don’t Cry, and then as a professional boxer in Million Dollar Baby, her turn as a fiercely devoted and inspirational high school teacher in Freedom Writers only rounds out Hilary Swank’s list of fascinating on-screen roles. As she slowly moves from being an outcast in her own classroom to being a respected and pivotal figure in her students’ lives, Hilary Swank’s intelligence, charm, and perseverance in the film make her as attractive as she is inspiring.
9 Laura Breckenridge on Gossip Girl
Naturally, TV’s guilty pleasure cult phenomenon boasts its own feisty classroom commander. The impossibly youthful looking Laura Breckenridge plays Ms. Carr on Gossip Girl, a high school teacher who has a reputation for getting a little too cozy with her students. Now, on the show, she is accused of having an inappropriate relationship (read: hot, sexy affair) with her male student Dan Humphrey, but nothing’s stopping us from pretending it was really with Blair (Leighton Meester) or Serena (Blake Lively), right?
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10 Diane Keaton in Looking for Mr. Goodbar
More than thirty years ago, Diane Keaton took on the role of Theresa Dunn in Looking for Mr. Goodbar. So much for teachers having a reputation for being sweet and innocent. Schoolteacher by day, nearly masochistic sex fiend by night, a very young Keaton gets herself mixed up in all kinds of trouble in this dark drama about a woman living two lives. Despite the darkness, Keaton’s ‘realness’ in the film make her sexy and appealing.
11 Mädchen Amick on Dawson’s Creek
As hot film studies substitute teacher Nicole Kennedy, Mädchen Amick’s recurring role on the second season of Dawson’s Creek caught the attention of her on-screen students (ahem, Pacey) and the real-life audience of the show as well. Perhaps most fitting is that recently, Amick was featured on Gossip Girl as the cougar crush of Nate Archibald. Ah, teachers and cougars, is there anything better?
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12 Famke Janssen and Salma Hayek in The Faculty
Playing a teacher and a school nurse, respectively, Famke Janssen and Salma Hayek play two members of the staff at a very peculiar school in the science fiction film The Faculty. Though admittedly creepy, it is hard to deny Janssen and Hayek’s sex appeal – even if they are playing host to an alien parasite.
13 Bridgette Wilson in Billy Madison
Veronica Vaughn, played by blonde bombshell Bridgette Wilson, is possibly the hottest third grade teacher a kid could ask for. Adam Sandler got to be just that kid in Billy Madison, only he wasn’t exactly a kid anymore. As he climbs the ranks through elementary school, it becomes clear that the only thing he really wants to score is his teacher. And we can’t blame him. She’s sweet, she’s not as innocent as she looks, she’s a total tease – what’s not to love?
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14 Elizabeth Berkley in Student Seduction
That’s right, before Berkley played Jennifer Beal’s former flame on The L Word (and yes, after her schoolgirl days as Jessie Spano on Saved by the Bell), she was a sultry, student-seducing chemistry teacher in the 2003 made-for-tv-movie Student Seduction. Ok, as it turns out, Berkley doesn’t actually seduce her student in the film, she gets accused of doing it. But still, as a lab-coat wearing chemistry buff, Berkley manages to turn up the sex appeal even while attempting to defend her reputation and save her marriage.
15 Jennie Garth on 90210
Jennie Garth, also known as ‘Kelly Taylor’ is back, and this time she is the guidance counselor at West Beverly Hills High. Having spent nearly a decade on the original Beverly Hills, 90210, her role in the spin-off marks a full-circle moment in Garth’s career. Over the years, her character has gone from being a dramatic teenager to an established adult – and nothing is sexier than a girl who is suddenly all grown up.
16 Suzanne Pleshette in The Birds
(At the behest of SheWired's film nerd Senior Editor Tracy E. Gilchrist, Suzanne appears as a bonus Hot for Teacher)
With her raspy, smoker’s voice, the well-placed cigarette and her questionable transgressvive past, Suzanne Pleshette’s doomed schoolteacher Annie Hayworth, in Hitchcock’s 1963 horror masterpiece The Birds, has become a lesbian camp classic. First appearing as Tippi Hedren’s Melanie Daniels’ rival and later as her ally, Pleshette’s Hayworth is mysterious and sexy with definite lesbian undertones. Never has a raven-haired schoolteacher looked so smokin’ as Pleshette saving a class of elementary school students away from a killer flock of birds.
