15 Entertainers of the 2000s

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.