1. Actress Amber Tamblyn, for refusing to be typecast. The former Joan of Arcadia star has signed on to co-star with Sarah Michelle Gellar in the supernatural curse thriller The Grudge 2, which will start filming next month in Tokyo, Japan.
2. Rapper and Four Brothers star Andre ‘3000’ Benjamin, for trying something different. The Outkast singer is collaborating with TLC singer Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins and SpongeBob SquarePants narrator Tom Kenny to create a new cartoon show loosely based on Benjamin’s life for the Cartoon Network.
3. Star Trek actor William Shatner, for supporting the underdogs. Shatner will host the inaugural Golden Groundhog Awards on Feb. 2 to honor the best underground movie of 2005.
4. Former eBay president Jeff Skoll, for putting his fortunes to good use. Skoll, who is worth an estimated $3.5 billion, left eBay to create Participant Productions and make socially-conscious films, including 2005’s North Country, Good Night, And Good Luck and the documentary Murderball.
5. Family entertainment giant Walt Disney Co, for recognizing aptitude. Disney agreed to a $7.4 billion deal to buy Pixar Animation Studios in an all-stock transaction, bringing its chief executive (and head of Apple), Steve Jobs, onto its board.
6. Good Charlotte rocker Joel Madden, for immeasurable sugariness. Madden, who will make his big-screen debut in gritty drama Valley of the Damned, said he will turn to girlfriend Hilary Duff for acting advice.
7. The low budget indie film Little Miss Sunshine, for perseverance. The first official hit film at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Sunshine sparked a heated bidding war Saturday before selling for a record $10.5 million.
8. Supermodel Tyra Banks’ self-titled show, for filling the colossal void left by Ricki Lake. Banks’ talk show has been a hit in syndication among Fox Television affiliates and just got picked up for a second season.
9. Virgin mogul Sir Richard Branson, for his persuasiveness. Branson convinced super waif Kate Moss she should set the record straight on her turbulent year by penning an autobiography: Moss signed a $1.8 million deal for the rights to her memoirs.
10. Actress Gwyneth Paltrow, for her candor. Paltrow, who recently signed on to become a spokesmodel for cosmetics giant Estee Lauder, said she did it because she was desperate for cash. “I basically stopped making money from acting in 2002,” the star said. “All the things I’ve done since then have been things I’ve really wanted to do and I have not made money from them.”
