Stars Who Bare It All On Television

Sometimes the small screen gets as steamy as anything in the theaters and these bold actors don't mind bringing the sexy to the story.

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Alexander Skarsgard got True Blood fans all hot and bothered when he doffed all of his clothes during the Season 6 finale of the HBO drama, but he's not the first star to get naked on the small screen. From Homeland to Game of Thrones to Girls, check out the actors and actresses who've gone nude in the name of cable TV art.

1. Alexander Skarsgard

True Blood has never skimped on the nudity, but fans got an extra special treat during the Season 6 finale in the form of a naked Alexander Skarsgard. The scene involved Skarsgard's vampire character Eric reading a book naked in the snow in Sweden when his magical faerie blood wore off and he started to burn, so he jumped up off of his lounge chair. Naked. As in nude. As in with no clothing on whatsoever. It was pretty epic.

2. Lake Bell

Actress Lake Bell has been in provocatively titled movies such as No Strings Attached and A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, but her only nude scene so far has been in the HBO show How to Make It in America.

3. The Cast of 'Girls'

Lena Dunham's Hannah character gets naked on pretty much every other episode of the HBO comedy, but Jemima Kirke, Allison Williams, and Zosia Mamet (Jessa, Marnie, and Shoshanna) have all appeared in various states of undress on Girls.

4. Paz de la Huerta

Boardwalk Empire showrunners didn't waste any time in getting Paz de la Huerta out of her clothes. The New York-born actress showed up naked in the first episode and even her character's pregnancy didn't put an end to the nude scenes.

5. Charlotte Ross

Charlotte Ross' televised nudity was far more controversial than any other instance on this list. That's because it happened during primetime hours on network television. In a 2003 episode of NYPD Blue called "Nude Awakening," Charlotte's naked backside was shown as she stepped into the shower. The FCC fined every ABC affiliate that carried the program, but the fine was later revoked in court.

6. Thomas Jane

No one on this list has a better reason than Thomas Jane for stripping off episode after episode. He played a male prostitute on the HBO show Hung, which starred Jane as a gym teacher who finds turning tricks to be far more lucrative. 

7. Lucy Lawless

Spartacus: Blood and Sand picked up a lot of early press simply by jam-packing episodes with ridiculously graphic sex and violence. Lucy Lawless was one of the many men and women who went full frontal on the show. Still, she defended the show's nudity. "This is not soft porn," she said. "It's a bloody good yarn, and you want to be on board."

8. Elisabeth Moss

While Elisabeth Moss doesn't exactly bare it all on Mad Men, she's walked the line a few times. Most memorably she stripped off for a naked brainstorming session with Sterling Draper Art Director Stan Rizzo. Thanks to the strategic placement of a typewriter, the show was still fit to air on basic cable.

9. Emilia Clarke

Emilia Clarke developed an eager fan following almost overnight upon being cast as Daenerys Targaryen on HBO's Game of Thrones. The first season ended in spectacular fashion as three newborn dragons crawled over a naked Daenerys after she emerged from her husband's funeral pyre unscathed.

10. Carla Gallo

Carla Gallo is no stranger to nude scenes. The actress played a frequently topless burlesque dancer on Carnivale and later an enthusiastic lover on Californication.

11. Anna Paquin

Anna Paquin's True Blood initial nude scenes came a little easier since she first filmed them alongside her husband, Stephen Moyer, who played her vampire lover on the show. She told People: "Obviously, if you're already with that person then you're not having to sort of get over the 'Wow, I'm naked with someone that I don't even know the middle name of!'"

12. Joe Manganiello

Since werewolves tend to ruin their clothes when they transform, True Blood writers have the perfect excuse to throw nude scenes Joe Manganiello's way. The hulking 6'5" actor plays lovesick werewolf Alcide on the series, and he also took off his clothes on the big screen in the male stripper movie Magic Mike.

13. Julie Benz

Before meeting her ultra-grim fate on Dexter, Julie Benz played the titular character's wife. Of course being on the skin-happy Showtime drama meant doing a few nude scenes along the way.

14. Tamsin Egerton

Tamsin Egerton clearly thought a lot about her nude scenes in Camelot. She once said: "I don’t think any actors love taking their clothes off on film, unless you’re an exhibitionist, which I’m certainly not. ... As an actress, it’s all about reality, and I’m not a prude. I’m not someone who judges other people for taking their clothes off for roles. I’m not going to show everything, but nudity here or there doesn’t faze me."

15. Morena Baccarin

Joss Whedon fans will remember Morena Baccarin from her time on Firefly, but on the Showtime series Homeland, she's worked in far less clothing.

16. Mary-Louise Parker

Mary-Louise Parker's role as the smoking hot mom/pot dealer on Weeds involved a handful of nude scenes. She only regrets one bathtub scene she thought was simply gratuitous. "I didn't think I needed to be naked. I fought with the director about it, and now I am bitter. I knew it was going to be on the Internet: 'Mary Louise shows off her big nipples.' I wish I hadn't done that. I was goaded into it."

17. Emmanuelle Chriqui

The premium cable channels have taken the period drama genre and filled it with sex and violence in shows like Game of Thrones, The Tudors, Rome and The Borgias. Emmanuelle Chriqui went nude for the latter even though on the notoriously sexy Entourage she kept her clothes (mostly) on.

18. Malin Akerman

Malin Akerman, no stranger to movie nude scenes either, has shown off her birthday suit on Entourage and in the underrated (and under-watched) Lisa Kudrow series The Comeback.

19. Alfie Allen

Game of Thrones is all about equal opportunity nudity, so fans were treated to plenty of full-frontal from the male side of the cast. British heartthrob Alfie Allen plays the petulant Theon Greyjoy, a role which has found him pantsless on at least a couple of occasions.