An A-list actor is a major
movie star, or one of the most
bankable
In the film industry, a bankable star is an actor (movie star) "capable of guaranteeing box-office success simply by showing up in a movie." The bankability of an actor includes their films' box office track record, professional demeanor, and othe ...
actors in a
film industry
The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post ...
.
The A-list is part of a larger guide called ''The Hot List'', which ranks the bankability of 1,400 movie actors worldwide, and has become an industry-standard guide in Hollywood. American entertainment journalist
James Ulmer
James "Blood" Ulmer (born February 8, 1940) is an American jazz, free funk and blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer plays a Gibson Byrdland guitar. His guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging". His singing has been called "ragg ...
, the guide's creator, has also developed a version including directors, the ''Hot List of Directors''. The Ulmer scale categorizes the lists into A+, A, B+, B, C, and D listings.
Popular usage
In popular usage outside the film industry, an A-list
celebrity
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...
is any person with an admired or desirable social status. Even
socialite
A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having traditio ...
s with popular press coverage and elite associations have been termed as A-list celebrities. Similarly, less popular persons and current teen idols are referred to as B-list celebrities – and the ones with lesser fame as C-list ones. In the year 2000, ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' interpreted a C-list celebrity as "that guy (or sometimes that girl), the easy-to-remember but hard-to-name
character actor
A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to b ...
".
The D-list is for a person whose celebrity is so obscure that they are generally only known for appearances as celebrities on
panel game show
A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on ''The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...
s and
reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
. In the late 20th century, D-listers were largely ignored by the entertainment news industry; for example,
Paul Lynde, by this point in his career best known for being on the daytime game show ''
Hollywood Squares'', went largely unnoticed by the
supermarket tabloids, and his homosexuality (which would have drawn attention for bigger celebrities) went largely unreported.
Kathy Griffin
Kathleen Mary Griffin (born November 4, 1960) is an American comedian and actress who has starred in television comedy specials and has released comedy albums. In 2007 and 2008, Griffin won Primetime Emmy Awards for her reality show '' Kathy ...
, an American comedian who became widely known for her frequent appearances on such programs, used the term in a tongue-in-cheek manner for her 2005 TV special ''
The D-List'' and her 2005 TV series ''
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List''. The term "D-list" is derived from the lowest rating used for the Ulmer scale. Other successive letters of the alphabet beyond D, as in the terms ''E-list'' and ''Z-list'', are sometimes used for exaggeration or comic effect but effectively have the same meaning as ''D-list''.
See also
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B movies (Hollywood Golden Age)
The B movie, whose roots trace to the silent film era, was a significant contributor to Hollywood's Golden Age of the 1930s and 1940s. As the Hollywood studios made the transition to sound film in the late 1920s, many independent exhibitors began ...
*
Famous for being famous
''Famous for being famous'' is a term for someone who attains celebrity status for no clearly identifiable reason (as opposed to fame based on achievement, skill, or talent) and appears to generate their own fame, or someone who achieves fame thr ...
*
Leading lady
*
Leading man
*
Superstar
References
{{reflist, 2
Celebrity
Cinema of the United States
Film and video terminology