Chart: Canada's 15 Most Powerful Stars
Contrary to the conspiracy theory, Canadian actors may not be taking over Hollywood, but they certainly carry serious clout — as our Celebrity Power List, a ranking of Canadian actors who have pull in Hollywood, certainly shows. How do you measure power? We looked at four factors, ranked equally: salary, press clippings, television appearances and number of hits on Google.com. Salaries are conservatively estimated, based on reported numbers or comparable reported figures, and the success of previous projects that feature the actor. In the case of TV actors, salaries are estimated for the upcoming season; for movie actors, they're estimated for upcoming films. All other measures are for the one-year period ended on Aug. 16, 2005.
1. Pamela Anderson
Salary rank 7 | TV appearances rank 3
Web hits rank 1 | Press clippings rank 2
The lady is on top. As the most powerful actor on the Celebrity Power List, Pamela Anderson trumps some of the highest-paid performers in Hollywood. The native of Ladysmith, B.C., who got her TV start in the early 1990s as Lisa, the Tool Time girl, on ABC's Home Improvement, came home to the sitcom world last April as party-girl-turned-bookstore-employee on the new Fox comedy Stacked. The show, for which we've conservatively estimated a baseline salary of US$300,000 per episode (her publicist wouldn't comment on the matter), will return to TV screens in November for a second season. Even if you think the 11-time Playboy cover girl's success has to do less with innate talent than with her, ahem, acquired assets, it's undeniable that Anderson has smartly parlayed early momentum into major pull. Whether you're talking about her acting work, her books (she's co-written two novels; the first, Star, hit the New York Times bestseller list last August and stayed there for two weeks) or her role as a spokesperson for both People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and Viva Glam V lipstick — cosmetic company MAC's AIDS fundraising product — she hits the jackpot with nearly everything she touches. And, oh yeah, you can buy underwear signed by her on eBay.
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