What makes an a lister

Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger are the co-hosts of a podcast called Who? Rita Ora. Blac Chyna. Colton Haynes. Bella Thorne. But to ignore Whos, or pretend to be above them, is to miss out on the cultural conversation of the moment: We are living, increasingly, in a Who universe.

These people, the sorta famous, have always been with us. They used to be known as C-through-Z-list celebrities. But today, everything has changed. Whos can only ever be a little bit famous; there is something charming about that, like a homespun version of celebrity. It takes hard work and an unslakable thirst to become a Who. Whos have been raised on celebrity culture, and they reflect its values back at us in their deep desire for fame and their performance of it. Whodom was enabled by social media: Our new, post-Facebook internet allows the fame game to be played on a weirdly level field.

Stories of actors struggling to make it in Hollywood, the kind of all-or-nothing narrative you see in movies like La La Land, have been made obsolete. You can now get famous, or at least sort of famous, by creating a popular blog, YouTube channel, or Instagram account.

Former cast members of reality-TV shows have been able to extend their shelf life by amassing a following on the social-media platform of their choice. And we sat there, on our phones, waiting to click through. Even the most popular stars realized they could keep in touch with their fans by creating their own highly curated social channels. Kim Kardashian, the patron saint of Whos striving for more, though, is actually a Them.

And over the past few years, Thems have become more elusive, because inaccessibility connotes power. And to be a fan of a Who is to participate in a special kind of fandom: You can feel closer than ever to your idol thanks to social media and feel extra-special for connecting with someone nobody else seems to be recognizing.

Loving Wholebrities is like being part of an exclusive club. A-list actors are those whose names are still so relevant and famous and still making box office hits that they do not need to audition for parts and often have parts expressly written for them. In order to remain on the A-list, an actor must take mostly starring roles, do well at the box office, get good press, and remain relevant to current audiences. In general A-list celebrities are those whom you recognize easily as they have starred in many movies and played the main role.

B-listers are those who have not had recent hits but are still very well-known and have fans and followings. They often include teen idols and people who used to play starring roles but now play supporting roles due to age or lack of relevancy.

Read through to see our countdown on the top B-list celebrities. She started acting at the age of four. Aquarius celebrity Elizabeth is one of the most popular and upcoming b-list celebrities. Gwendoline Christie the British actress is one of the most famous British actors in Hollywood. She is one of the best B-list actresses on the verge of making it to the A-list. She has featured in many blockbuster movies and TV series.

Scottish actor James McAvoy is one of the most promising upcoming B-list celebrities of He take the 21 spot in our top list of B-list celebrities of Buttler takes the 20 spot in our list of B-list celebrities.

He is actually one of the celebrities on the brink of making into the A-list. Aidan Gillen is an Irish actor. He made his acting debut as Jason Ioane on the syndicated action drama series Baywatch: Hawaii — , which was followed by him portraying Ronon Dex on the Syfy science fiction series Stargate Atlantis — , Khal Drogo in the first two seasons of the HBO fantasy drama series Game of Thrones — She studied at the Drama Centre London, appearing in a number of stage productions.

Her television debut was a guest appearance in an episode of the BBC One medical soap opera Doctors in In , after graduating from the Drama Centre London, Emilia got her first film role in the television movie Triassic Attack In , her breakthrough role came in when she replaced fellow newcomer Tamzin Merchant on Game of Thrones after the filming of the original pilot episode.

He has also starred in several biographical films, portraying military officer Edward Brittain in the drama Testament of Youth , a psychopath in the crime thriller Legend , the titular ski-jumper in the sports film Eddie the Eagle , and singer Elton John in the musical Rocketman , the latter of which earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor — Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

He has English, German, and Scottish ancestry. Jensen grew up in Richardson, Texas, together with his older brother, Joshua, and a younger sister. Millie Bobby Brown born 19 February [1] is an English actress and producer. A new definition from a year old article of The Sydney Morning Herald. The phrase has been tossed around so much it's lost some of its meaning. It started off as a bit of industry jargon, which studios and financiers used to consider whether they should cast someone in a project.

If you want to get a list of A-Lister, you can visit Hollywood Reporter. The terms " A-list " and " Bankable star " are intricately related, and basically revolve around how much profit an actor's role in a movie can bring in for a studio. The term "A-list" has become an industry standard in Hollywood and is part of a larger guide called "James Ulmer's Hot List", in which he defines an actor's starpower as a measurement of:.

Contemporary lists get updated independently from publication to publication, but a good example, The Hollywood Reporter , updates its A-list annually, polling agents and studio executives, to rank actors accordingly. For more info specifically about James Ulmer's The Hot List scale for actors, consult this page on his website.

During his prime, a movie Jim Carrey was in would be automatically considered a hit. Same for Adam Sandler. Vin diesels limitation I believe comes from most of his success has been with the fast and furious movies that have such a large cast of prominent actor and actresses the success of the movies can't be attributed solely to him.

B list actors are ones that have some notable success but are cast in supporting roles and rarely in a main role. When they are cast in a main role it's usually in a movie that supports a certain niche or cult following. Bruce Campbell is a good example of this. He has been in many tv shows and a good number of movies, he has moderate success but is not a big name star. But Evil Dead has a cult following and he is known for it. I always thought of an "A-list" movie star as someone that is extremely popular a broad cross section of the population knows their name.

This influences their status as "bankable" stars because having their name attached to the movie will draw people to watch the film that might have not watched it otherwise. This additional draw is the "bankability" of the star, and relies on people recognizing the name weak as well as whether they recall enjoying this actors films in the past strong.

I would also say that A-list status and bankability aren't always hand-in-hand even though they are very related. One handy heuristic I'd offer for bankability is if the movie is being described among your peers as "the new " then that actor is probably a bankable star for your peer.

The fact that the movie is described as a certain actor's film means that actor is bankable in direct relation to the number of people talk favorably about it in those terms. For example Scarlett Johansson by box office take is in the top 10 highest grossing stars by box office take. This clearly gives her A-list status because many people know her name due to the success of her movies , but I don't know if I would consider her as bankable as Tom Cruise.

This is because I have heard many people talk about "the new Tom Cruise movie", but I've never heard someone say they were excited about "the new Scarlett Johansson movie". I know the presence bankability of a certain star does influence my decision to watch a movie or not. For example I saw the movie Hot Pursuit for rent a while ago and I decided to rent it because I've enjoyed several Reese Witherspoon movies in the past.

As it turns out I hated the movie, so now I'll be more careful about renting a movie based on her presence in the future. This is why actors need to balance accepting any role that comes their way to earn money and stay on the public's radar with avoiding movies that are likely to flop. To bring this back to my example Reese Witherspoon definitely earned money with her starring role in Hot Pursuit but her bankability suffered with me.

That doesn't compromise her A-list status though. Vin Diesel is an A-list actor. He banked globally. A-list actors educate about the talents of an American all around the world. Jim Carey can be in it too, his role is top secret, but important to note Vin Diesel is a more relevant A list actor than Jim in We have to reconsider how the entertainment industry categorizes talent, and people should be compensated for their showcases of talent; representative of an American skill set of theater appreciation.

Not complete mockery of what is a douchebag in America. He would agree to it. I can fix this by being in a movie with him. Jim Carey so desperately wants to be taken seriously before he dies. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.

Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. What makes an actor an A-lister Ask Question. Asked 5 years ago. Active 1 year, 1 month ago. Viewed 16k times. Please do not flag as opinion based. I'm looking for facts. In that thread someone mentioned, that Vin Diesel is not an A-list actor because he is