Minka Kelly Is Named the Sexiest Woman Alive: So, What Is "Sexy"?

What makes a woman truly sexy? The criteria are up for debate, but what we do know is that Minka Kelly stands out. She's Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive of 2010.

So what makes Minka so sexy? Yes, the former Friday Night Lights star is gorgeous, but it's the way she does things. Things all of us do, like growing up, tackling a career, and getting older. It seems that the way a woman plays her cards - rather than simply which cards she's been dealt - is what truly makes her sexy. (Check out last year's Sexiest Woman Alive.)

Related: The Sexiest Women Alive... from Every Country on Earth


What Is Sexy: Staying Positive
Growing up, Minka didn't have much. She was raised by a single mom and they moved a lot. They had very little money. Resourcefulness and love got them through some rough years.

"My mom lived a fast life," she says now. "It was all about what we could do to have fun with nothing. She - for most of my life, she was a dancer. An exotic dancer. She was a stripper. Um, so she would come home at like three, four o'clock in the morning, and sometimes she would have a really great night, and so she would wake me up in the middle of the night and we'd go to Ralphs and go grocery shopping. And that was so much fun. We'd have the whole grocery store to ourselves, and we would have a blast and buy a hundred dollars in groceries. And it was just the best day ever. The best day."

Related: Funny Jokes from Minka and More Beautiful Women

What Is Sexy: Loving Yourself the Way You Are

Minka got the job working as a scrub nurse after high school in Los Angeles. On a test shoot for a modeling agency, the makeup person, a former Playboy Playmate, approached Minka with an idea. She said she wanted to manage Minka and turn her into a Playmate of the Year. Minka was nineteen. The woman got her a job answering phones at a surgeon's office, the idea being that Minka would work enough hours to get free breast implants. The procedure was already on the calendar when Minka decided she liked herself the way she was and called it off. Her manager had her fired from answering phones - but Minka, having gotten to know the scrub nurses in the office, asked about becoming one. She went to school for a year and became a surgeon's assistant.

But her acting career is a whole other story. Find out how she got her break.

What Is Sexy: Aging with Confidence

Growing older is one thing. But aging with confidence? Some would say it's a total turn-on. Minka is newly 30, a big birthday, we point out.

"It is a big one, and I love it. I think it's the most exciting birthday I think I've ever had. I'm so excited to be a woman. Done with the twenties. I'm confident - confident in my skin, and I'm cool with my flaws and all that stuff. It just feels nice to be at peace with yourself. I think my thirtieth birthday gave me permission to have all that. The twenties were a pain in the ass - figuring it all out. What am I doing? Where do I go?"

And when we ask what's in store for her thirties, she responds, "I don't know. And I'm glad I don't know."

Related: More Sexy Women We Love

What do you think makes a woman sexy?

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Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.