List-master Forbes is trying something new for 2009. For the first time, it asked entertainment industry members to take the Forbes Star Currency survey [1] and used the results to rank Hollywood's elite in terms of their business appeal. More than 1,400 actors were rated on their ability to attract financing, whether their involvement guarantees the project will make it to theaters, box office results, and how their involvement played into rights deals for things like DVD or pay/free TV.
The first-ever survey concluded that Will Smith is the most valuable actor (without coincident, he was also the top earning actor in 2008 [2]). In fact, Smith was the only actor to receive a perfect 10 score. Rick Alvarez, Wayans brothers producing partner, told Forbes, "Will Smith is unique in that he is one of a very few people who is a draw purely on name alone. It almost doesn't matter what genre. The name alone creates a confidence with the audience that they're going to get something that's entertaining whether it's action, comedy, drama."
Will Smith's number one is followed by a four-way tie for second place: Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Angelina Jolie, and Brad Pitt are equally valuable to the entertainment industry. To see the rest of the list, .
- Tom Hanks
- George Clooney
- Denzel Washington
- Matt Damon
- Jack Nicholson
- Julia Roberts
- Adam Sandler
- Tom Cruise
- Russell Crowe
- Will Ferrell
- Meryl Streep
- Robert De Niro
- Ben Stiller
- Jim Carrey
- Clint Eastwood
Source [3]