Top 10 Actors Who Have Done the Most Adult Scenes

Sex scenes occur within movies for a number of reasons. Some are completely gratuitous, while others are either central to the plot or serve to inform us about a character’s behavior or moral compass. Leonardo DiCaprio’s work to this end has largely fallen within the latter, whether by underlining a character’s recklessness, as in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” or emphasizing real love and desire, a la “Titanic.” DiCaprio’s intimate scenes usually feel natural to his characters’ motivations and largely eschew any feelings of sleaze or exploitation. In other words: they just sort of make sense.

Julianne Moore is another performer whose acting chops never come into question, no matter how many sex scenes she’s performed over the years. Moore appeared in horror flicks such as “Tales From the Darkside: The Movie” and experienced on-screen nudity early on with the Madonna vehicle, “Body of Evidence.” Whereas those early experiences served primarily to focus upon Moore’s natural beauty, her performance in something like Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights” delivers far more than mere titillation. Instead, her characterization of Amber Waves, an adult film actress, is nuanced and her sensual scene has considerable pathos. As a result, Julianne Moore’s racy scene filmography feels nicely balanced between the prurient and the tasteful.

Traditionally there has been a greater acceptance of female frontal nudity than of male frontal nudity in films. In recent years, that has changed somewhat, resulting in a more level playing field with regards to these levels of nudity in film. Ben Affleck was ahead of the curve, in a way, when it comes to spearheading (pun intended) this sentiment. Affleck famously went full frontal in 2014’s “Gone Girl,” and he has been included in some steamy goings-on in other films as well. They may not have featured Ben going Full Monty in quite the same way, but that hasn’t meant they weren’t hot anyway.

A young Mark Wahlberg felt very comfortable showing off his physique while performing as “Marky Mark.” And while not explicit, the memorable roller coaster love scene in “Fear” was more intense than it seemed it would be from the script. But fast forward to a married, adult Mark Wahlberg in 2013, and the actor actually refused to shoot a graphic scene, on the grounds that it would make his wife upset and uncomfortable. Of course, the actor has engaged in more than enough of this sort of content over the years, including one played for laughs with comedian Iliza Shlesinger for the Netflix film “Spenser: Confidential.”

Here’s a question: which type of movie more often contains spicy scenes: mainstream films or independent films? It’s difficult to say, but there’s no denying that big-budget Hollywood blockbusters have historically included such scenes. This is often in an effort to cast the widest net with regards to audience attention, and this means that many capital “S” movie stars like Tom Cruise have a surprising amount of provocative scenes on their resumes. Cruise has gotten down in everything from “American Made” and “Top Gun” to “Risky Business” and “Eyes Wide Shut.” None of these scenes have hurt his bankability or reputation, and he’s remained Tom Friggin’ Cruise throughout it all.

There’s no dancing around the subject of gender bias in Hollywood sex scenes when it comes to Sharon Stone, whose career encompasses many high-profile and downright iconic steamy scenes. Of course, the acting ability of Stone, like the aforementioned Julianne Moore, should never come into question. Additionally, Stone’s screen presence during these sex scenes transcends mere titillation to, and we use this phrase once again, “feel natural” with regards to her legacy. The actress has been vocal in recent years about the inappropriate demands asked of her. We’re glad that the backstage politics of Hollywood harassment has come to light, but it should never have been allowed to happen in the first place.

There’s a reason why a shirtless Brad Pitt in his mid-50s appearing in 2019’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” garnered the same reaction as a shirtless Brad Pitt in his 20s filming “Thelma & Louise.” He’s just an incredibly handsome and hot fella, perhaps one of Hollywood’s most appealing leading men. As a result, Pitt has appeared in more than his fair share of lusty scenes. They’ve varied wildly in tone over the years, just as Pitt’s filmography has featured him playing everyone from Achilles to the personification of sexy death in “Meet Joe Black.” Pitt’s on-screen antics don’t seem to have slowed down, either, with 2022’s “Babylon” truly pushing the envelope with an excessive amount of mainstream nudity.

The on-screen sex life of Robert Pattinson has certainly graduated big time from the rather innocent, romance-novel sequences he performed in the “Twilight” franchise. Indeed, Pattinson’s levels of amorousness actually became rather infamous for the multiple roles where Pattinson didn’t even possess an on-screen partner. That’s right, the actor filmed sequences of self-pleasure in no less than four films, including 2019’s “The Lighthouse.” That takes a certain amount of courage, and we salute him for venturing where few actors willingly go. And of course, that doesn’t mean that Pattinson shies away from intimate scenes with others as well.

Jake Gyllenhaal is one of those actors that can shine with almost any sort of material. It doesn’t matter if he’s performing in genre fare or arthouse material, the man is one of Hollywood’s most reliable thespians. As a result, there aren’t too many skeletons in the man’s closet…well, apart from maybe “Bubble Boy.” And “Prince of Persia.” ANYWAY, Gyllenhaal has shot memorable racy scenes for films like “Love and Other Drugs,” “The Good Girl” and “Brokeback Mountain,” three very different films where the actor plays three very different characters. Through it all, Jake Gyllenhaal’s reputation as an A-list talent remains secure.

Speaking of “reputations,” Keanu Reeves has long been known to be rather reclusive when it comes to revealing too much about his private life. That said, the actor’s extensive steamy scene resume is anything BUT private, with approximately twelve confirmed such scenes at the time of this writing. They range from the comedic (like “Feeling Minnesota”) to the disturbing, a la 1986’s cult classic, “River’s Edge.” Reeves has also opened up about one particularly challenging sequence he shot for the Eli Roth 2015 remake of “Death Game.” Roth’s version, titled “Knock Knock,” featured the director’s then-wife Lorenza Izzo and star Reeves getting it on…under Roth’s supervision, of course. Awk-ward.