PEOPLE's 2012 World's Most Beautiful Woman BEYONCÉ KATY & ZOOEY AMY & ISLA LILY COLLINS MADELEINE STOWE CHRISTINA HENDRICK...

PEOPLE's 2012 World's Most Beautiful Woman

BEYONCÉ

KATY & ZOOEY

AMY & ISLA

LILY COLLINS

MADELEINE STOWE

CHRISTINA HENDRICKS

MICHELLE WILLIAMS

See Beyoncé like never before, plus a first look at the other A-listers who made the cut.

BEYONCÉ

Go behind the scenes of her PEOPLE photo shoot

At 30, PEOPLE's 2012 World's Most Beautiful Woman has many accomplishments on her résumé, including being a 16-time Grammy winner, an actress and a style and beauty icon. But none is more important than her newest role: playing mom to daughter Blue Ivy, whom she and husband of four years, Jay-Z, welcomed in January. "I feel more beautiful than I've ever felt because I've given birth," she says. "I have never felt so connected, never felt like I had such a sense of purpose on this earth."

SOFIA VERGARA

Sofia Vergara is unapologetic on the subject of her appearance. "I'm not ashamed. It has opened doors," the InStyle cover girl told the magazine in April. And now that she's about to celebrate a milestone birthday – she turns 40 in July – the Modern Family actress is both flattered and amused she's still considered a bombshell. "I am on these lists for 'best ass' or 'most beautiful' with women like Mila Kunis, who's, like, 20 years old," she says with a laugh. "I have a son that age!"

CHARLIZE THERON

"For the first eight years of my life, I didn't have front teeth," the South African beauty, 36, told W magazine. "I was pretty sick as an infant, and antibiotics rotted them. But then I started to take dance classes, and I eventually got some teeth." Fast forward through a successful modeling stint and an Oscar-winning acting career, and Theron is now tackling her most rewarding challenge – being mother to son Jackson, whom she adopted in 2012.

LILY COLLINS

With her ethereal good looks, singer Phil Collins's daughter was the obvious choice to play Snow White in Mirror Mirror, opposite Julia Roberts. But the budding actress, 23, didn't always appreciate her unique features. "It used to bother me – having bigger, fuller brows," she told Seventeen. "Now I embrace them. I've realized the quirky things that make you different are what make you beautiful."

MADELEINE STOWE

Go behind the scenes of her PEOPLE photo shoot

She left Hollywood over 12 years ago to raise a family but was lured back with a plum role on the ABC hit Revenge. "It's fun being noticed on the streets," says Stowe, whose combination of beauty and talent led to '90s box-office success in The Last of the Mohicans and Unlawful Entry. As for aging in Hollywood, the 53-year-old actress takes a philosophical approach: "My forehead moves! Some things, you have to let go."

CHRISTINA HENDRICKS

By now, the Mad Men star is used to having people openly discuss everything from her curves to her cup size. But the intense focus on her looks no longer fazes her. "I guess my mom raised me right. She was very celebratory of her body. I never heard her once say, 'I feel fat,'" she told Health in 2010. That body confidence helped Hendricks when she first started modeling in Italy and gained 15 pounds. Says the actress, "I felt beautiful, and I never tried to lose it, 'cause I loved it."

MICHELLE WILLIAMS

Williams earned an Oscar nod for her performance in My Week with Marilyn, a role that required the biggest physical transformation of her career. "The expectation to be beautiful always makes me feel ugly because I feel like I can’t live up to it," Williams told Vogue of playing the iconic film star. Already celebrated for her gamine good looks, Williams's metamorphosis into a sex symbol awed her costars, among them Kenneth Branagh, who said, “I’d look over and there is Michelle. Half an hour later, Marilyn has arrived."