Skip to content

Top Navigation

EW.com EW.com
    • All TV
    • TV Reviews
    • TV Reunions
    • Recaps
    • What to Watch
    • Animated
    • Comedy
    • Crime
    • Drama
    • Family
    • Horror
    • Reality
    • Sci-fi
    • Thriller
    • All Movies
    • Movie Reviews
    • Trailers
    • Film Festivals
    • Movie Reunions
    • Movie Previews
    • All Music
    • Music Reviews
    • All What to Watch
    • What to Watch Podcast Episodes
    • TV Reviews
    • Movie Reviews
    • All BINGE
    • EW's Binge Podcast Episodes
    • Recaps
    • Survivor
    • This is Us
    • RuPaul's Drag Race
    • Stranger Things
    • The Boys
    • The Blacklist
    • The Walking Dead
    • Better Call Saul
    • All The Awardist
    • The Awardist Podcast Episodes
    • Oscars
    • Emmys
    • Golden Globes
    • SAG Awards
    • Grammys
    • Tony Awards
    • All Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Author Interviews
    • All Theater
    • Theater Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • Gaming
    • All Events
    • Comic-Con
  • Celebrity
  • Streaming

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletter
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe

Explore EW.com

EW.com EW.com
  • Explore

    Explore

    • Comic-Con 2022: Stars strike a pose in EW's photo studio

      Comic-Con 2022: Stars strike a pose in EW's photo studio

      From the casts of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever  and The Walking Dead  to Chris Pine and Regé Jean-Page, see who dropped by EW's Comic-Con headquarters at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego. Read More
    • Power players: Inside The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

      Power players: Inside The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

      Go behind the scenes of Amazon Prime Video’s ambitious fantasy epic, which hopes to introduce J.R.R. Tolkien to a new generation. Read More
    • Biggest bombshells in unsealed Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard court docs: Erectile dysfunction, nude photos, and Marilyn Manson

      Biggest bombshells in unsealed Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard court docs: Erectile dysfunction, nude photos, and Marilyn Manson

      Just when you thought there couldn't possibly be more to learn about the high-profile defamation trial, more than 6,000 pages of court docs were released over the weekend. Read More
  • TV

    TV

    See All TV
    • TV Reviews
    • TV Reunions
    • Recaps
    • What to Watch
    • Animated
    • Comedy
    • Crime
    • Drama
    • Family
    • Horror
    • Reality
    • Sci-fi
    • Thriller
  • Movies

    Movies

    See All Movies
    • Movie Reviews
    • Trailers
    • Film Festivals
    • Movie Reunions
    • Movie Previews
  • Music

    Music

    See All Music
    • Music Reviews
  • What to Watch

    What to Watch

    See All What to Watch
    • What to Watch Podcast Episodes
    • TV Reviews
    • Movie Reviews
  • BINGE

    BINGE

    See All BINGE
    • EW's Binge Podcast Episodes
    • Recaps
    • Survivor
    • This is Us
    • RuPaul's Drag Race
    • Stranger Things
    • The Boys
    • The Blacklist
    • The Walking Dead
    • Better Call Saul
  • The Awardist

    The Awardist

    See All The Awardist
    • The Awardist Podcast Episodes
    • Oscars
    • Emmys
    • Golden Globes
    • SAG Awards
    • Grammys
    • Tony Awards
  • Books

    Books

    See All Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Author Interviews
  • Theater

    Theater

    See All Theater
    • Theater Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • Gaming
  • Events

    Events

    See All Events
    • Comic-Con
  • Celebrity
  • Streaming

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletter
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Gallery
  3. 15 Entertainers of the 2000s

15 Entertainers of the 2000s

Johnny Depp, Beyonce, Tina Fey, and more crazy talented people who thrilled us and kickstarted the century
By EW Staff Updated December 03, 2009 at 09:00 PM EST
Skip gallery slides
FB

1 of 15

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp | When the decade began, Johnny Depp was Hollywood's very own Saint Jude, patron saint of cinematic lost causes. For every middling hit on his oddball…
Credit: BRIGITTE LACOMBE FOR EW

When the decade began, Johnny Depp was Hollywood's very own Saint Jude, patron saint of cinematic lost causes. For every middling hit on his oddball resume, there was a misfire. Then something happened. It's easy to look at 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and conclude that Depp had finally sold his soul. But anyone who's seen his lunatic turn as Capt. Jack Sparrow knows better. It's one of those without-a-net performances, so singular and subversive that it's hard to believe he got away with it. Depp received his first-ever Oscar nomination for Pirates. And just to show that it was no fluke, he was nominated again for his tear-jerking turn in 2004's Finding Neverland. Then, in 2008, he was nominated a third time for Sweeney Todd. —Chris Nashawaty

1 of 15

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 15

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Beyoncé

Beyonce Knowles | Looking back over the past decade — a span in which she's stepped away from Destiny's Child to become a megasuccessful solo artist, landed her…
Credit: Don Flood/Corbis Outline

Looking back over the past decade — a span in which she's stepped away from Destiny's Child to become a megasuccessful solo artist, landed her first leading film roles, married the planet's biggest hip-hop star — Beyoncé, 28, cherishes one memory above all others: the night she sang the Etta James classic ''At Last'' at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball in Washington, D.C., last January. ''I don't usually watch my performances, but I have looked at this one over and over,'' the 10-time Grammy winner tells EW. ''I just want to relive that moment. It was history and it was really magical.'' For millions of fans around the world, those words could describe practically any time Beyoncé enters the spotlight. She's the ultimate diva: a superhuman force of nature, casting powerful spells with her high notes and hip shakes. —Simon Vozick-Levinson

2 of 15

3 of 15

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling | As 1999 came to a close, J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter were already household names — as long as those households contained literate children with…
Credit: David Cheskin/PA Wire

As 1999 came to a close, J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter were already household names — as long as those households contained literate children with a voracious appetite for fantasy fiction. In 2000, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire — the fourth book in the British author's seven-book cycle — ignited a global pop phenomenon that got the attention of all readers, young and young at heart. By 2007, the planet was both eagerly anticipating and deeply dreading the release of the final Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. When it finally arrived, it became clear that Rowling had nailed one of the decade's greatest artistic achievements: finishing not just bloody well, but brilliantly. —Jeff Jensen

3 of 15

Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

4 of 15

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell | As the most obnoxious, biting, and — let's face it — correct judge on the talent-show phenomenon American Idol , the British music exec has…
Credit: Colin Bell/Corbis Outline

As the most obnoxious, biting, and — let's face it — correct judge on the talent-show phenomenon American Idol, the British music exec has spent the last seven years dishing out analogies (''It sounded like cats jumping off the Empire State Building'') that are hilariously dead-on. And doing that — in front of tens of millions of Idol addicts — not only allowed him to sign future pop heavyweights (Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry) but also helped make him a mogul. But at heart, he'll always be our favorite unscripted truth-teller. —Dave Karger

4 of 15

Advertisement

5 of 15

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Tina Fey

Tina Fey | We want to live inside Tina Fey's brain. From her seven-year stint as Saturday Night Live 's first female head writer to her creation of…
Credit: BRIGITTE LACOMBE FOR EW

We want to live inside Tina Fey's brain. From her seven-year stint as Saturday Night Live's first female head writer to her creation of the reliably zany 30 Rock, the 39-year-old has graciously invited America into her uniquely loopy, ferociously smart, unapologetically female psyche. It's a place where high school movies are a blast (as in her script for 2004's Mean Girls), where ''bitch is the new black'' (her passionate defense of Hillary Clinton on a 2008 SNL), and where one deft comment can puncture a national campaign (Fey's impersonation of Sarah Palin — including the phrase ''I can see Russia from my house,'' which Palin never uttered — redefined the 2008 vice presidential candidate). —Jennifer Armstrong

5 of 15

6 of 15

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake | He began the decade as ''just'' a member of the hugely successful boy band *NSYNC and ends it as one of the most versatile and…
Credit: Smallz & Raskind/Contour

He began the decade as ''just'' a member of the hugely successful boy band *NSYNC and ends it as one of the most versatile and beloved entertainers in the world . ''I take my work very seriously,'' says the singer-actor, 28. ''I just don't take myself seriously at all.'' Few A-listers would have had the comedy cojones to put their ''D--- in a Box,'' as Timberlake famously did while hosting Saturday Night Live — and surely none would have been as hilarious doing it. But his pop-star day job is no joke to him, as evidenced by his two solo albums, 2002's Justified and 2006's FutureSex/LoveSounds, the latter of which featured the groovesomely lubricious ''SexyBack.'' —Clark Collis

6 of 15

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

7 of 15

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Peter Jackson

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Peter Jackson | In the fall of 2001, Peter Jackson was a little-known director who'd persuaded New Line to entrust him with $300 million to do what was…
Credit: Matt Mueller

In the fall of 2001, Peter Jackson was a little-known director who'd persuaded New Line to entrust him with $300 million to do what was plainly impossible with Lord of the Rings: shoot three movies at once, please hardcore fans of a revered trilogy, bring a creature named Gollum to life, and make fantasy a contender at both the box office and the Oscars. He did it all. —Jeff Giles

7 of 15

Advertisement
Advertisement

8 of 15

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey | Oprah Winfrey has created a veritable Oprah-verse through her taste and branding. She recently announced plans to end her daytime talk show — after an…
Credit: Dylan Martinez/Reuters/Corbis

Oprah Winfrey has created a veritable Oprah-verse through her taste and branding. She recently announced plans to end her daytime talk show — after an extraordinary 25-year run — in 2011 and focus on her own network, appropriately titled OWN. Winfrey, 55, is long past needing a day job anyway. Her dominion now includes movies (Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire), publishing (O: The Oprah Magazine), theater (The Color Purple musical), radio (Sirius XM?s Oprah Radio channel), politics (hello, President Obama!), and education (the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa). —Tim Stack

8 of 15

Advertisement

9 of 15

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Sarah Jessica Parker and the women of Sex and the City

Sarah Jessica Parker, Sex and the City | In the 11 years since Carrie Bradshaw first donned that pink tutu, Sex and the City has gone from being the frothy cable show that…
Credit: James White/Corbis Outline

In the 11 years since Carrie Bradshaw first donned that pink tutu, Sex and the City has gone from being the frothy cable show that made cosmos the cocktail of choice to one of the mightiest brands in entertainment history. Over the course of six celebrated seasons on HBO, followed by a blockbuster big-screen adaptation (whose sequel hits theaters May 2010), Sex and the City found the funny, the poignant, and the outrageous in the lives of four Manhattan heroines who talked freely about dreams, hopes, and especially sex. ''My feeling is, there was a voice that needed to be heard, and it was the single-girls-are-not-lepers voice,'' says Michael Patrick King, who exec-produced the series (originally created by Darren Star) and wrote and directed both movies.'' —Missy Schwartz

9 of 15

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

10 of 15

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

John Lasseter

John Lasseter | Simply put, there has never been a filmmaking body in the history of Hollywood that has been as creatively and commercially successful as Pixar. This…
Credit: MATT HOYLE FOR EW

Simply put, there has never been a filmmaking body in the history of Hollywood that has been as creatively and commercially successful as Pixar. This decade alone, the company's seven feature films have been nominated for 25 Oscars and have pulled in $4.1 billion worldwide. At the heart of it all is John Lasseter, Pixar's founding creative force and the chief creative officer for both Pixar and Disney animation. ''Every Pixar movie at one time was the worst motion picture ever made,'' Lasseter, 52, insists. His team's formula for getting it right ensures that's not how they end up. —Adam B. Vary

10 of 15

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

11 of 15

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Will Smith

Will Smith | When this decade began, Smith was coming off a rare box office disappointment, Wild Wild West , a film he chose over playing Neo in…
Credit: Will Smith/Corbis Outline

When this decade began, Smith was coming off a rare box office disappointment, Wild Wild West, a film he chose over playing Neo in The Matrix. But instead of looking backward, Smith attacked virtually every genre he could find — with stunning results. First up: drama. His roles in Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness earned him two Oscar nominations. Smith also made it okay for men to see romantic comedies by playing a dashing dating consultant in 2005's Hitch, which became the third-highest-grossing rom-com of the decade. Then he clobbered sci-fi in 2007's I Am Legend, a tense survivor story that soared at the box office solely because of Smith's mesmerizing performance — and his rapport with his character's beloved German shepherd. —Nicole Sperling

11 of 15

Advertisement
Advertisement

12 of 15

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

J.J. Abrams

J.J. Abrams | Putting his stamp on the century's first decade with defining entertainment like Alias , Lost , and Star Trek , Abrams, 43, has become a…
Credit: ART STREIBER FOR EW

Putting his stamp on the century's first decade with defining entertainment like Alias, Lost, and Star Trek, Abrams, 43, has become a Hollywood power player with ''next Spielberg'' buzz thanks to an uncanny knack for blending capture-the-imagination ideas, emotionally riveting drama, and relatable, memorable characters. Not bad for someone who admits, as he approached the close of the '90s, ''I felt I had lost my way as a writer.'' Ten years later? ''I feel happily lost right now.'' —Jeff Jensen

12 of 15

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

13 of 15

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs | The decade kicked off with him officially regaining control of the company he founded, and over the next 10 years, this visionary steered Apple through…
Credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage.com

The decade kicked off with him officially regaining control of the company he founded, and over the next 10 years, this visionary steered Apple through a veritable media revolution. He changed the way we consume music, TV, and movies and transformed the idea of a cell phone into a mobile fun house. Like no one else this decade, Steve Jobs, 54, got us all to think different. —Adam B. Vary

13 of 15

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

14 of 15

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep | Ask Meryl Streep, 60, to name her proudest professional moment of the past 10 years and she is adorably inept. ''Okay, let's locate ourselves. The…
Credit: BRIGITTE LACOMBE FOR EW

Ask Meryl Streep, 60, to name her proudest professional moment of the past 10 years and she is adorably inept. ''Okay, let's locate ourselves. The 2000s. Okay. Let me think.'' How about when she became the most nominated actor in Oscar history? Or when she emerged as a hugely bankable star? Streep nods politely. It's clear that our greatest living actress simply doesn't do self-aggrandizement. ''I don't know,'' she says, finally. ''When I was 45, I should have been washed up. But I did The Bridges of Madison County. The studio wanted someone 35, but Clint Eastwood said, 'No, no, I want her.' That was a big deal.'' She smiles. ''I look back on my entire career and realize I've been dependent on the kindness of strangers and friends and mentors. That was my luck.'' And ours. —Missy Schwartz

14 of 15

Advertisement
Advertisement

15 of 15

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Jon Stewart

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | America's most trusted newscaster works in a Manhattan studio near the Hustler Club. Indeed, Jon Stewart's house of newsy satire, The Daily Show , is…
Credit: JEFF RIEDEL FOR EW

America's most trusted newscaster works in a Manhattan studio near the Hustler Club. Indeed, Jon Stewart's house of newsy satire, The Daily Show, is on the same block as Larry Flynt's emporium of naughty skin. ''We're kissing cousins,'' says Stewart, 47, ''which was also the name of a great pictorial Larry Flynt ran in 1988.'' Yes, the fake news anchor does sometimes play the role of quip-proffering comedy ''monkey'' — but who can forget how famously he declined it during his contentious 2004 appearance on CNN's Crossfire? When considering the foibles of his ''real'' news counterparts, the two-time Oscar host works up a genuine outrage that, during his decade-long stint at The Daily Show, has turned it into far more than just a ''Weekend Update''-style yukfest. —Clark Collis

For expanded versions of these profiles of the Entertainers of the Decade and more Bests of the Decade, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on sale now.

15 of 15

Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By EW Staff

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Trending Videos
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 15 Johnny Depp
    2 of 15 Beyoncé
    3 of 15 J.K. Rowling
    4 of 15 Simon Cowell
    5 of 15 Tina Fey
    6 of 15 Justin Timberlake
    7 of 15 Peter Jackson
    8 of 15 Oprah Winfrey
    9 of 15 Sarah Jessica Parker and the women of Sex and the City
    10 of 15 John Lasseter
    11 of 15 Will Smith
    12 of 15 J.J. Abrams
    13 of 15 Steve Jobs
    14 of 15 Meryl Streep
    15 of 15 Jon Stewart

    Share & More

    Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message
    EW.com

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
    • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
    • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
    • Accolades this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    Meredith© Copyright 2022 Meredith Corporation. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright EW.com. All rights reserved. Printed from https://ew.com

    View image

    15 Entertainers of the 2000s
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.