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"Every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in."

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Will Smith As the second half of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Smith's career as a friendly, common sense-dispensing rapper took off. Things skyrocketed once he hit the small screen on The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. In movies, Smith became a certified superstar, starring in blockbusters such as Independence Day, Bad Boys and Enemy Of The State. His vivid portrayal of the iconic boxer Muhammad Ali in Ali brought Smith his first Best Actor Oscar nomination (he would again be nominated for The Pursuit Of Happyness). This summer, he's set to break box office records in Hancock.

Madonna She's the Material Girl, the hyper-ambitious queen of self-re-invention. Having sold millions of CDs and performed sold-out concerts around the world, Madonna could easily rest on her laurels. But acting has always held a special interest for her, and in her debut in Desperately Seeking Susan, Madonna stole the show. Since then, she's had a hit-and-miss film career, with roles in Dick Tracy, A League Of Their Own and The Next Best Thing. However, it was her remarkable performance as Eva Peron in the screen adaptation of the hugely successful Broadway musical Evita that brought Madonna a Golden Globe as Best Actress.

Courtney Love As the wife (and later widow) of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and leader of the band Hole, Love never failed to grab the spotlight. Small acting turns in the films Sid And Nancy and Straight To Hell caught director Milos Forman's eye. The celebrated helmer cast Love as Althea Flynt opposite Woody Harrelson in The People Vs. Larry Flynt - and a Golden Globe nomination followed. Next, Love starred alongside Jim Carrey in the Andy Kaufman biopic, Man On The Moon. The musician-actress will soon plunge back into murky waters, tackling the role of the late porn star Linda Lovelace.

Meat Loaf The king-sized rock superstar moved boatloads of albums with the operatic Bat Out Of Hell and its subsequent sequels. Similarly, the Loaf has made his presence felt with beefy roles in Rocky Horror Picture Show, Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny and Americathon. His shattering performance as a hug-requiring pre-op transsexual in David Fincher's Fight Club was a revelation, and proved to the world that there was more to Meat Loaf than Paradise By The Dashboard Light.

Kris Kristofferson The Rhodes scholar, hard drinker and folk-rock superstar penned early '70s hits like Me And Bobby McGee and Sunday Morning Coming Down. With his dark good looks and dangerous aura, he was a natural for films, turning in well-regarded performances in movies like Cisco Pike and The Last Movie. Playing the romantic lead opposite Barbra Streisand in the ill-fated remake of A Star Is Born almost nosedived his film career - and starring in the disastrous Heaven's Gate pretty much killed it dead. But Kristofferson rebounded with memorable turns in Lone Star and Blade. He even played a wise ol' grandpap in the family spooler Dreamer.

Mark Wahlberg Wahlberg caught the music bug from his New Kid On The Block brother (Donnie Wahlberg) and shot to superstardom as Marky Mark, he of the Funky Bunch, with his smash hit Good Vibrations. Cool dance moves and a rock-hard physique led to Calvin Klein underwear ads, and films soon beckoned. As Dick Diggler, the dim-witted porn star in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights, Wahlberg blew the screen apart. And in Martin Scorsese's Oscar triumph, The Departed, he gave a beguiling performance that netted an Oscar nomination. From executive producing hit TV shows (Entourage) to acting (he's got a half dozen projects in the hopper), one thing is clear: Wahlberg was born ready.

Steven Van Zandt The world loves a good second banana. Whether it's Jerry Lewis to Dean Martin, Abbot to Costello, or a bandanna-topped guitarist to rock icon Bruce Springsteen, it involves a magical kind of chemistry, the importance of which cannot be overstated. New Jersey's Steven Van Zandt was already a music Somebody when David Chase cast him as the Al Pacino-quoting Silvio Dante in the landmark cable series The Sopranos. By playing it straight, keeping his head down and knowing who his friends were, Van Zandt became a pop culture Somebody, and through 81 iconic episodes he had his say. His whacking of Adrianne ranks up there with the most shocking of all screen murders.

By Joe Bosso

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