Broadway Stars Parker, Rudd and Close Among EW's 2007 "Entertainers of the Year" | Playbill

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News Broadway Stars Parker, Rudd and Close Among EW's 2007 "Entertainers of the Year" The silver screen's Sweeney Todd and Link Larkin as well as stage stars Mary-Louise Parker, Paul Rudd and Glenn Close are among Entertain Weekly's "Entertainers of the Year."

The Nov. 30 issue spotlights "The Top 25 Entertainers of the Year," who the magazine claims were "the extraordinary talents who lit up 2007." The top prize went to "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling.

Stars of the movie versions of musicals were aplenty on the list: Johnny Depp (the forthcoming "Sweeney Todd" and this year's "Pirates of the Caribbean" third installment) was named among the "Most Popular." Gerard Butler (2005's "The Phantom of the Opera," seen in the 2007 film "300") was filed under "Most Buzzed About." And, Zac Efron ("Hairspray" and "High School Musical 2") led "Prodigies." (Looking ahead, Amanda Seyfried — who will be featured in the Mamma Mia! movie — made the "8 to Watch in '08" up-and-comers.)

Stage vets Paul Rudd (Three Days of Rain, The Shape of Things) — as part of the "Apatow Gang" (headed by writer-director-producer Judd Apatow) — and Vanessa Williams (Into the Woods, Kiss of the Spider Woman) were listed among "Class Clowns" for their comedic turns in the film "Knocked Up" and television's "Ugly Betty," respectively.

Part of the "Valedictorians" section, stage and screen actresses Glenn Close (Sunset Boulevard), Mary-Louise Parker (Proof), Kyra Sedgwick (Ah, Wilderness!) and Holly Hunter (Crimes of the Heart) were combined as "Cable Queens." The cable network series' leading ladies earned acclaim for their TV turns on FX's "Damages" (Close), Showtime's "Weeds" (Parker) and TNT's "The Closer" (Sedgwick) and "Saving Grace" (Hunter).

Also noted among the breakouts for 2007 were the casts of "The Simpsons," "Mad Men" and "The Sopranos" — which all notably feature stars of the stage, including Hank Azaria (The Farnsworth Invention, Spamalot), John Slattery (Rabbit Hole, Betrayal) and James Gandolfini (A Streetcar Named Desire), among others. For the complete list, visit EW on the web at ew.com.

 
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