Chris Rock

This Brooklyn-bred comic with the oversize smile was just a teen when he started doing stand-up. Stints on Saturday Night Live and (briefly) In Living Color raised his profile but it was his HBO specials, eponymous talk show and frequent hosting gigs that turned him into a star. Although Rock frequently appears on the big screen, he has fared better as a supporting player than as a lead. In fact, 2003's Head of State, which he wrote, directed and starred in, is depressingly tame. By 2005, the edgy comedian was so popular that he was invited to host one of Hollywood's most staid events, the Oscars. (Although he kept things PG, he has yet to be invited back.) That same year, he debuted Everybody Hates Chris, a family-friendly sitcom loosely based on his upbringing, which he narrates in his unmistakable cadence.