Who are the luckiest people in show business?

Flo form the progressive commercials

Many nepo babies come to mind, of course; are we leaving them out on this thread?

How about Jennifer Tilly, whose divorce settlement with Sam Simon has given her a % of Simpsons residuals since 1991?

Amy Irving

Priscilla Presley

Why are people so obsessed with so-called "nepo babies." Yes, there are relatives of famous people who get their chance(s) because that relationship. But they don't have any staying power if they aren't any good. There will always be people in life who get a leg-up. The worst nepo babies in the world are those who get legacy admissions to Ivy League schools.

Why carry that load? Let it go.

R6 - In terms of luck, they are lucky. I just want to know if they are going to be fair game on this thread about luck. (I'd rather they not be; it's been played out.)

I’d say luck is getting paid ridiculous amounts for relatively little work.

I recently learned that That catch me outside how bout that brat from Dr Phil is worth in the realm of 75million dollars. that was depressing

Julia Roberts belongs on this list. She did not have much struggle as a fledgling actress; she was getting work at 19, filmed Mystic Pizza at 20, then got Steel Magnolias and Pretty Woman right after.

Show business is a hard gig. Just getting discovered means you're the luckiest person in the business.

R9: She got very lucky considering her non-existent talent and sex appeal. Her brother was an established actor and may or may not have been a factor in her breaking into the business with relatively little struggle.

The Kardashians

Timothee Chalamet. He’s not even 30 yet and he’s getting star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Jonah Hill

Keanu Reeves. He may be nice, but my god he can’t act.

R14 Not the grossest. The luckiest.

Jennifer Hudson for the Oscar alone. Lucky in show business, not lucky in life...

Jamie Lee Curtis. Ugly tranny bitch.

I hate the term Nepo Baby too - especially when it comes to Hollywood which has always promoted from within. If you go back through history, some of our best actors, best performances, our biggest lauded stars are "repo babies." Liza Minelli, Michael Douglas and Isabella Rossellini come to mind.

Adam Sandler

South Park creators - although I do think they're both talented. That show is still on. (Trey Parker brought a lot of musical score / lyric talent as evidenced by The Book of Mormon).

All because they made a cartoon Christmas greeting for a Hollywood executive.

The Simpsons voice actors, while lucky, were mainly working actors for a long time and happened to star on The Tracey Ullmann show. Massive stroke of luck for them.

R11 - Yes. She admits that Eric helped her in the beginning. She moved to NYC the day after she graduated high school and all three siblings lived together for a while.

Ryan Seacrest has worked hard for his success. I give him credit. He has talent.

Um, what is it?

R22 - I don't think that lasted for very long though. She was living on her own in NY with roommates. Her and Eric are what - 11-12 years apart? By the time Julia was starting kindergarten, Eric was out of the house I would think.

Julia had 'it' - sparkle, charisma, laugh. It's just there - you can't buy it and it's hard to develop it. I don't think she's lucky at all - she has the special something. That's not luck. And she put in a lot of work at her parent's acting school and other parts.

R19 = Lewis Pullman.

R23 = Ryan Seacrest.

R25 = Danny Moder.

R25 - I think both things can be true. She definitely has "it"...but she was lucky to have gotten the projects she did so young (whether Eric helped or not).

My point is that, as was said upthread, showbiz is a hard gig and just getting "discovered" IS lucky. I'm sure there are many, many would-be stars who also have "it" but for whatever reason(s), luck was not on their side.

R29 - to luck out with one role is one thing, but to have decades of hit films is another feat altogether. Yes - luck was on her side with Steel Magnolias and Pretty Woman - but she kept going on a run of big hits, which is really difficult and rare.

I think anyone who gets a role on a long term show is incredibly lucky. The relatively unattractive supporting guys on The Big Bang Theory made huge bucks - and they're not exactly the normal industry types.

Yes, they than cry about being typecast - whatever. You became famous and made more money than you'll ever need. If you love acting, go back and do local theater and stuff.

Cynthia Nixon.

The young, super cute twink actors who only "work" once a year (if at that)... all the while constantly traveling the world, partying it up, living the good life...

R31, Cynthia has been acting since she was a kid. I remember her from Little Darlings when she still had her natural blonde hair. Tatum O'neal and Kristy McNichol were the stars of that film yet where are they now? She's a talented actress who has carved out a great career.

^ But enough about Peter Thiel's concubines

Most of the kid actors from The Brady Bunch, The Waltons, and Little House

Ellen Pompeo

R35 Why are they so lucky? Because they get to go to fan conventions for the rest of their lives?

That pumpkin face Bush daughter who hosts the morning news show.

R37, yeah, and few of them turned out to be good adult actors so they get to coast off being cast in a hit show just because they were young, cute, kids

Kristin Davis. God, what a terrible actress.

Most of the 90210 gang, especially Brian Austin Green and Iain Ziering

R33 - yes - plus Cynthia has 4 Tony noms and 2 wins. She has known SJP since she was a kid and worked with her on a couple of projects when they were younger.

It's Kristin Davis who lucked into that role. I vaguely remember her in latter seasons of Melrose Place, but that's it.

Of all 4, Kristin Davis had the weakest resume. Kim Cattrall had been in a lot before SATC as well.

R35 - The Brady Bunch kid actors were hired before there was such a thing as "residuals." They got screwed.

They get to coast off their fame even though none of them did anything of note after the show ended

I wonder how R44 thinks a Brady Bunch former child actor really lives? It's not like they're living in the Hollywood Hills.

Ashton Kutcher. Specially on film.

If his comedy films were awful, it was even worse when he tried to make his crossover as a serious-dramatic actor.

In 1983, Brooke Shields playfully jumped into a swimming pool while live miked yet was not electrocuted. This formulated my personal conservation of luck philosophy.

Anyone who has starred in the continuum has of X-men movie universe: looking at you Hugh Jackman.

R45, Eve Plumb bought a home in Malibu for $55K when she was just 11 years old, while working on The Brady Bunch. She sold in 2016 for $3.9M. (See the video below.) The moral of the story? You have no idea if they invested well or not.

Jonah Hill. Fat fuck was Oscar nominated TWICE. Talk about lucky...

Tiffany Hadish

Mindy Kaling

Sarah Silverman

I came also to say The South Park guys, like r21.

BrendaD

Courtney Thorne Smith. Started getting work almost right out of high school and had steady tv gigs for over 25 years.

R29 - I agree with you mostly, except that to me, those who have "it" would generally have successful careers. "It" is pretty subjective, and I know if I ask who has "it" but didn't make it because of bad luck (barring death, disability, or disfigurement), you might list some people you think have it, and I'd might disagree. But your post is pretty thoughtful, so I wonder who has "it," but is just unlucky.

You're right about getting a chance in the industry is pretty lucky.

David Spade

Timothee Chalamet. Fugly as hell. Having an aunt and an uncle in the business definitely helped. After I think one-off Broadway gig and a handful of Homeland episodes, he somehow secured representation with the gay and powerful Brian Swardstrom of UTA. He then goes on to play gay in one movie and the rest is history. He got lucky for somebody so hideously unattractive.

Does Rachel Maddow count?

Keenan Thompson - amusing, but not funny or original. He has a nice smile - but somehow he's the longest performer on SNL history? WHY? He should have been cut a loooong time ago.

Add to that - fucking Lorne Michaels. Not a lot of previous experience, worked for Lily Tomlin's specials which got him known - and steals improv idea for a show. Bam - he's still fucking there 50 years later. Despite his questionable level of talent or even for selecting good performers.

Beyonce - no more talent than any random girl off the street

[quote] Keenan Thompson

He knows he couldn’t get a well-paying gig if he left. He’s staying for the money.

The main cast of Big Bang Theory.

Keenan is talented, but Keenan has something that's rare in entertainment. He's a team player and his very well-liked by his castmates and just about everyone else. Former SNL cast members all say the same thing: he makes sketches better with a throwaway line or a look. Being well-liked, and not an asshole, goes a long way in entertainment.

Clint Howard

Stephanie Courtney ( Flo from Progressive Insurance)

David Hoffman ( Doug of Liberty Mutual Insurance)

R64, have a glass of... T R A N Y A. We have many, many things to talk about

Ooops sorry R1...I skipped over your post.

Having Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as your parents.

You really think that Beyonce deserves to be singled out for not having talent...in a world that includes Britney Spears, Paula Abdul, Jessica Simpson, Avril Lavigne, and any number of pop tarts?

This is kind of turning into "random stars I don't like"

R57 - so, ugly as hell is your criterion for evaluating talent. Chalamet has been nominated for two Oscars, and will likely win one sometime in the future. He's talented. Bogart was pretty ugly, too.

[quote]he somehow secured representation with the gay and powerful Brian Swardstrom of UTA.

Clearly, someone is a better judge of talent than you. What does Swardstrom's sexuality have to do with representing Chalamet. You sound like you're alleging it was a casting couch situation. Any evidence, or are you just a jealous, nasty little queen?

R70, remember your blood pressure.

Threads like this rarely work here because people use them to vent about actors they don't like.

R71 this thread doesn't work because OP wasn't clear about which type of luck we're talking about, hence the responses being all over the fucking place.

If by lucky we mean "successful showbiz career practically fell into their laps," then I'll go with Jennifer Lawrence:

-born in a small Bumfuck town in KENTUCKY of all places

-zero connections to the industry

-wasn't even pursuing a career in acting when she was discovered

-supposedly scouted on the streets at age 14 by a talent agent during a family vacation in NYC

-pretty, but not extraordinarily so (she's no Ava Gardner or Lana Turner)

-was actually granted stardom after fucking repulsive ogre Harvey, unlike the countless other women he just used and discarded

Jennifer Lopez. Who did she fuck and suck to get where she is?

Jennifer Aniston.

Talentless cunt with a brilliant publicist, at least until she started looking like late-stage Ginger Rogers.

Harrison Ford did carpentry for George Lucas who put him into American Graffiti. Then he did the same for Copppola and got a part in The Conversation. Then George Lucas was looking for actors for Star Wars and...whaddaya know?

R70 is Chalamet.

Ditto Jennifer Aniston. No talent and nothing to look at.

Pretty good example r75. Talent + looks + luck. I remember old pictures of him shirtless as a contractor. Beautiful man.

But so many with similar credentials never got the chance.

Ahem, Hilary Swank basically tripped over the two most tragic masculine butch characters ever put to film which only her testosterone filled body could play and won TWO fucking Oscars.

Harrison Ford also was lucky to have been able to parlay his pot-dealing hustle so successfully into A+ (for a while) status on screen.

Lucky, me? Only in love.

My career, of course, was propelled by the engine of talent, darling!

Here we go again. R72, she wasn't "granted stardom." She had already bagged X-Men, the lead in Hunger Games and had an Academy Award nom for Winter's Bone. That asshole and the industry didn't "grant her" a damn thing.

r69 She was the first name that came to mind, but we can lump in all those others you named as well (maybe not Avril Lavigne, since at least she can read/play music).

My post was not at all a 'stars you don't like' - you seem oddly bent out of shape about Beyonce. I responded genuinely to my opinion as it relates to "Who are the luckiest people in show business?"

I hope you'll heal.

Beyonce can probably read music, too, so what's your point?

r84 Are you unable to read?

r84 "Beyonce can probably read music, too" HAHAH, like Britney, she probably can't even read an elementary picture book.

Any actor who manages to stay on a soap opera for a long time is very lucky. Not to disparage anyone’s talent, because I think they work very hard, but any actor who has a steady job for ten or twenty years or more is very, very lucky indeed

At least Jennifer Aniston was able to parlay her Friends fame into a movie career

If I had to single out one of the Friends for being really lucky it would be Matt LeBlanc

Matt Dillon was discovered sitting outside his high school when he was 14 when they were scouting locations for the movie Over The Edge. They took one look at that beautiful face and made him a star.

At least that's how the story goes. Can you imagine you're a freshman in high school, just minding your own business, and someone walks up to you and hands you fame and fortune?

If that isn't lucky then I don't know what is.

Forget Vanna- what about Sajak? He'd have been a forgotten 80s standup comic without this gig.

Tony Danza

That ugly little thing who played Betsy on As The World Turns had a decent run.

R31 = Kim Cattrall.

[quote] [R31], Cynthia has been acting since she was a kid. I remember her from Little Darlings when she still had her natural blonde hair. Tatum O'neal and Kristy McNichol were the stars of that film yet where are they now? She's a talented actress who has carved out a great career.

Do you think Cynthia and Kristy ever lezzed out once they were of age and acknowledged their deep, burning yet forbidden love of pussy? Which one wore the strap on? They’re both very bossy and butch. I bet they’d love it.

Not that I would care. No, siree, Bob. I’m so busy chasing dick I hardly have time to change my lacy and very feminine French-cut, crotchless panties between banging hot guys.

I love cock so much.

Cock!

[quote] Keenan is talented

No. He isn’t.

[quote] Tiffany Hadish Mindy Kaling Sarah Silverman

Like a nightmare version of “Charlie’s Angels.”

The Willis sisters. They have their mother's beauty and their fathers talent.

Seth MacFarlane

If Rerun and Stepin Fetchit had a baby, it would be Kenan Thompson.

Billie Eilish. Fat, ugly, zero-talent, mumbling ass bitch with 9 Grammys and 2 Oscars.

Sarah Jessica Parker. She has gone far in show business for someone with a face that could stop a clock.

The Willis sisters should do a Hag Horror film as the three hideous daughters of one of Hollywood's most famous attractive pairings.

They're old enough now and it would be pretty scary without much need for makeup. The one with facial hair could use NEET on her face. And then be diabical and put it in her sisters' shampoo bottles.

It could be as legendary as Baby Jane.

It’s remarkable how all 3 of those girls are so ugly.

I don't mind her as an actress, but Sharon Stone got a lot of mileage out of Basic Instinct, which was her only real hit

R103, some months ago, one of his daughter's shaved her head for some reason or other. The end result was she looked exactly like Bruce. It's interesting how the father's genes sometimes become so predominant with female offspring. I just saw a photo of Ice T's little girl and she looks like his mini me. Same goes for Beyonce's daughter who favors Jay-Z. Then you have Whitney's daughter who looked just like her asshole father. Christy Brinkley and Billy Joel's daughter, pre-surgery looked more like Billy. It always seems to be the fate of the girls who have a beautiful mother and a less than classically handsome father. Such is life.

[quote] Flo form the progressive commercials

She was just at the “Superman” premiere tonight.

Terrific gig and a household name. Love her!

Sofia Coppola

It's funny reading all of the mentions for Flo. When I see her commercials, I think the same as you, that she really lucked out with that role. Of course, I also think she made the character popular which may not have been the case with another actress in the part so she's largely responsible for the character's longevity. I think she brings in $2M a year. Not bad for booking a commercial spot.

Talk show (and now podcast) sidekicks

A lot of "influencers" really lucked out

Shirley Holliman

Taylor Swift.

Rich-ass parents who groomed and bought their way through the system with a child that had middle of the road talent and the face of SJP.

The equivalent of a Disney Channel star. Nashville Barbie.

Sign of the times. Pop is dead.

Ashton Kutcher had quite a career who someone who couldn't act and was generally annoying to watch on screen. It's over now, thank God.

Nepo Babies

Taylor Swift

George Clooney - soap opera hack and not even that good looking.

Beyonce - overrated hack and no great beauty.

Jennifer Love Hewitt

R104, she also got an Oscar nomination for “Casino.”

The kid on Two And a Half Men. One of the worst actors ever on TV and retired with gazillions in the bank

Okay, r117 wins!

Justin Timberlake.

He's nothing but a Michael Jackson imitator with luck.

Kate Capshaw & Rita Wilson

tinsletown queen bees by marriage

People who need people in show biz

Wrong R104. Casino!

Casino wasn't really a hit

Sir Richard Starkey.

It was quite the scandal when Ringo Starr was hired to replace Beatles' drummer (and fan favorite) Pete Best, but what luck!

Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson

Ringo is a great drummer. Also the most accomplished mid Han of the group when he joined The Beatles.

Musician not mid han ^

Watson yes, Radcliff no - he’s very good in the HP movies.

[quote]She was living on her own in NY with roommates. Her and Eric are what - 11-12 years apart?

Oh dear, R25

The Simpsons voice actors aren’t lucky. They have a unique talent and curated distinct characters using this talent. They were instrumental in the show being a success.

Vanna does indeed fit this bill, not even trying to diss. Imagine being hired for your pretty looks and end up becoming the number one game show in America and all you have to do is stand pretty in gowns, only having to touch some mafuckin consonants and vowels.

R1 How is that luck. Can you imagine anyone else but her playing Flo. Also the producers of Mad Men wouldn’t make her character a regular.

January Jones.

Vin Deisel The Rock, guys with no discernable talent who are now multi millionaires for grinding out one POS after another.

R125 is JK Rowling.

Vin Diesel for sure.

Rupert Grint was luckier than Emma Watson or Daniel Radcliffe