Hollywood's most sincere-seeming celebs

The celebrity industrial complex is many things, but genuine it is not. With so much money at stake—a recent study of troubled pop star Britney Spears pegged her value to the economy at between $110 million and $120 million, and she doesn't even sing anymore—it's difficult to accept the things celebrities say or do at face value, no matter how legitimate a reason they offer up. But everyone has that one famous person who, despite how cynical publicist denials and staged paparazzi shots and canned interview responses have made us, we consider to be the real deal. Ours is actually Matt Damon—he's always shied away from spotlight, he doesn't open his mouth unless he has to, and, when he does, it seems like he's given thought to what he's saying.

In this spirit, we asked a bunch of people who they considered to be the most genuine celebrity—that is, the one individual they thought exuded authenticity in how they conduct themselves. The anti–Paris Hilton, if you will. Not surprisingly, the man who received the most votes was George Clooney (our boy Damon actually placed second). On the female side, the squeaky clean Jennifer Garner led the pack, followed by Jennifer Aniston. Below, our list of the 50 most genuine celebrities, in alphabetical order.

Jennifer Aniston: "The combination of the Brad Pitt breakup and the Oprah gabfest and the crying in Vanity Fair have all made her appear very vulnerable. And it doesn't seem like an act or a publicity ploy."

Judd Apatow: "He's been fired from enough places for not compromising his integrity that I know that, especially now, with an amazing track record and the ability to do basically whatever he wants, he would have even less reason to compromise."

Alec Baldwin: "You know he's an asshole, but he's hilarious. Even when he chewed out his preteen daughter, you got the sense that he clearly cared."

Dave Chappelle: "The guy walked out on a $50 million contract because he didn't feel his comedy was honest anymore. How many other people would do that?"

Don Cheadle: "Some guys just have an effortless charm that makes them seem like they are totally in control in all situations. Cheadle has it on camera. And I bet he has it off camera, too."

George Clooney: "I feel like he doesn't put up with the magazine machine the way that most people do. He may actually be as cool as the dominant alpha male he plays. He's got an old-school air about him. Plus, that Darfur shit is for real."

Zooey Deschanel: "She's like Chloë Sevigny before Chloë was Chloë, except she's way better. She has that quirky indie appeal that seems authentic."

Matt Damon: "He didn't marry a celebrity and he's always awkward and withdrawn on talk shows, which means he's a normal person. There's this great bit about him in a GQ story where he is taking a piss and the interviewer writes about how loud it is because Damon really isn't giving him anything else to work with. He seems entirely unconcerned with the trappings of fame."

Daniel Day-Lewis: "His body of work is proof enough that he is singularly interested in acting as a craft. There's just no way you're gonna see him in Meet the Parents just to make a quick buck."

Johnny Depp: "He doesn't seem to compromise much, and he's a really fucking good actor. He puts the lie to the myth that you can't be a big star in Hollywood without being a big Us Weekly red-carpet celebrity."

Janice Dickinson: "Yes, she's a total bitch. But I don't think she's playing the part just for the cameras. There's an honesty to her that's very likable, even if she herself isn't."

Robert Downey, Jr.: "He's very 'this is who I am, take it or leave it.' You never see him doing bullshit publicity tours or interviews. His really doesn't seem to care what other people think or say about him."

Danny Glover: "There's something in his voice that makes me believe everything he says."

Katherine Heigl: "She has that charming 'real girl' quality that you can't fake. It's almost impossible not to like her, even in unlikable roles, like the character she played in Knocked Up."

Roger Federer: "You know inside he thinks he's better than everyone in every aspect of his life. And he's absolutely right in thinking that. Yet he's outwardly extraordinarily modest and very down-to-earth."

Ben Folds: "I saw him perform at Central Park once and he said, 'The only reason I exist is because kids with tons of disposable income are into my music.' Of course, I was like, 'Ouch. I'm just a kid with disposable income.' It take someone pretty sincere to insult his fans like that."

Michael J. Fox: "That rarest of child star who never quite let fame go to his head. I think Parkinson's has shown him to be a genuine person in that he doesn't seem to have changed personalities from before and after."

Jennifer Garner: "I don't think she's much of an actress, but she is so real in interviews. She seems like she's just really into her kids and her family and maintaining a low profile, and not really caught up in the Hollywood shuffle."

Paul Giamatti: "He's in that Philip Seymour Hoffman vein where his lack of attractiveness automatically validates him as 'real.' He's gotten as far as he has because he's talented, not because he looks good. And that makes him seem like the genuine article."

Ryan Gosling: "Even in schmaltzy fare like The Notebook, he has a realness that really shines through. Usually, it's hard to take really attractive individuals at face value. But Gosling somehow pulls it off."

Steve Guttenberg: "He lived in the Palisades when I was growing up. Everyone said great things about him, how nice he was. I've met him a few times recently and he seems like a very solid dude. Also, Police Academy was a total classic."

Woody Harrelson: "I smoked a joint with him when I was 19 in Europe. But the funny thing was, as I was traveling around, I kept meeting other cliché Euro backpackers who had also just smoked a joint with Woody. Everyone had the same thing to say about him—that he was a solid, no-pretenses type of guy."

Anne Hathaway: "For some reason I really believe that she's just a nice dork who happens to be lovely and funny. Even though her banker boyfriend is a bit of a douche."

Philip Seymour Hoffman: "I see him around the city all the time, and each time he looks to be the same: An average, schlumpy guy who wants nothing more than to be left alone to make really good movies."

Samuel L. Jackson: "He's a ridiculous character whose own brand of street cred is so over-the-top that it has somehow become infallible. He's sipped so much of his own Kool-Aid that you can no longer distinguish between Sam Jackson the actor and Sam Jackson the person. What you see is what you get, which is the definition of genuine."

Val Kilmer: "For one, he has a tree house. No joke. He's also constantly called the actor of his generation by other actors, yet he still finds it possible to pick lots of bad roles (as well as some good ones). Other 'actors of their generations,' on the other hand, act once every 10 years and knock it out of the park each time. I think there's something human in that."

Ludacris: "All of his raps are jokes that he seems to be in on. It's hard to find fault with someone when they are as unabashedly honest about wanting to get paid and laid as Ludacris."

Courtney Love: "I genuinely think that she believes everything that comes out of her mouth. Druggies always tell the truth about everything, except drugs."

Bill Murray: "His characters all have a world-weary cynicism to them that you know Murray has himself. He's very real, even when he's being a dick."

Kimora Lee Simmons: "Admittedly, almost everything that comes out of her mouth is harebrained. Yet I really do think that she actually means what she says."

Julianne Moore: "I just get the sense that she would be a really great person to share a pot of tea with."

Randy Moss: "Three words: 'Straight cash, homey.' In an era in which the majority of athletes speak in platitudes, at least the man is honest about why he plays football."

Conan O'Brien: "Unlike Jay Leno, whose act is totally put on, O'Brien has a humbleness to him that at times is so honest that it's actually uncomfortable to watch. But it's nonetheless endearing."

Natalie Portman: "Even though it's pretty clear that she's smarter and more attractive than 99.9 percent of the population, she seems like she wouldn't lord it over you. If you asked her where she went to college, she would definite say, 'Outside Boston,' but not in that obnoxious way."

Paul Rudd: "I like that he lets himself go sometimes, like when he was chubby in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. It's refreshing in an actor."

Trent Reznor: "He seems to have a pretty legit fuck-you attitude to the establishment. He even dumped his label and decided to start distributing independently, which is rare in the rock world."

Susan Sarandon: "She's obviously not out promoting her now-saggy breasts. She's too old and passé to be an advocate for anything other than what she actually believes in."

Julia Stiles: "I actually ran into her once and we had a 10-minute conversation about Shakespeare. She is totally nice and normal, and is that rare young female celebrity who actually has her head on straight."

Jon Stewart: "His outrage comes off as genuine outrage, and not some Fox News–esque attempt at pandering for ratings."

Uma Thurman: "In every single interview she's ever done, I always come away with the feeling that she's literate, intelligent, and actually concerned with choosing interesting roles rather than starring in crappy romantic comedies."

Ivanka Trump: "Yes, she's a Trump. But she is actually incredibly gracious in person. I met her once and she was like, "I love your dress!" I just blurted out, "It's from Forever 21," and she was like, "Really? OMG, that's so cool, I'm going to go get it." We had a four-minute conversation about it."

Jeff Tweedy: "I just detect a total lack of pretense when I read interviews with him. He has a candor and earnestness that make his statements seem genuine and funny as opposed to canned."

Liv Tyler: "She seems to have turned out very normal despite being Steven Tyler's daughter."

Joaquin Phoenix: "I think he's genuinely the asshole he comes off as in interviews. He's just being totally honest."

Gwyneth Paltrow: "She doesn't say much publicly, which is exactly why I trust her."

Meryl Streep: "An actual actress in the truest sense—one who doesn't intentionally obscure her humanity for the cameras, but plugs further into it to portray the rest of us."

Rufus Wainwright: "He talks honestly and openly about his pubescent meth addiction. I'm sure he is probably honest and open about most other things, too."

Kate Winslet: "She has the British, dry, no-bullshit thing going. She is outside the Hollywood orbit. She doesn't even allow magazines into her house because she doesn't want her children to go 'rexy."

Paul Westerberg: "He seems to actively undermine his own potential for fame. Or at least did with the Replacements."

Reese Witherspoon: "She seems really authentic and natural. I've heard that she's difficult to work with actually makes me like her more, since it shows that she's not concerned with the frivolity of the whole industry. And she dumped Ryan Phillippe's cheating ass."