2012's EW Entertainers of the Year

01 of 17

Ben Affleck

A decade ago, no one would have predicted that the star of Pearl Harbor and Gigli would become one of the best directors in Hollywood. But Ben Affleck is living proof that there are, in fact, second acts in American lives. Affleck's first two outings behind the camera, 2007's Gone Baby Gone and 2010's The Town, were a promising one-two punch. But it was this season's Argo that cemented his stature as an A-list auteur. The stranger-than-fiction film (in which he also starred alongside John Goodman, Alan Arkin, and Bryan Cranston) wasn't just a nail-biting political thriller based on a declassified slice of CIA intrigue, it was the work of an artist (yes, artist) who refuses to be pigeonholed and bucks at being told what he can and cannot do. ''I can't handicap what people's expectations of me are going to be,'' says Affleck. ''I've just decided to have my own standards and work really hard. If I do a project for the right reasons and work as hard as I can, then I'm going to be happy.'' —Chris Nashawaty

02 of 17

Lena Dunham

This year, while the rest of you were slacking, Lena Dunham premiered her Emmy-nominated HBO comedy Girls, acted in Judd Apatow's latest film This is 40, and signed a book deal for more than $3.5 million. ''It's just been an embarrassment of riches,'' says the 26-year-old. In addition to these highlights, she says, ''The real amazing moments for me were getting to interview Nora Ephron about her movie This is My Life at the Brooklyn Academy of Music — that was an evening I'll never forget for my whole life — and getting to go to a test screening of This is 40. I kicked J.J. Abrams twice in the leg because I was so nervous.'' —Melissa Maerz

03 of 17

Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon is no stranger to success. After all, he's the man who made Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse, critically acclaimed TV shows that have inspired large, passionate fan communities that remain active and vibrant. (Should we also mention that he co-wrote the first Toy Story, created Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, and writes really awesome comic books in his spare time? Yes. And Done.) Yet 2012 saw Whedon go next level — and then a few levels higher — as the writer/director of Marvel Studios' The Avengers, the year's highest grossing movie, and at $623 million, the third highest grossing movie of all time. Surely this must feel like a different kind of success, yes? ''Not really,'' says Whedon. ''I can't even internalize and make sense of that kind of money. And believe me: I've tried.'' Perhaps he simply doesn't have time to be too impressed with himself. At the moment, Whedon is doing the following, all at once: Preparing the release plan for his low-fi adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, which premiered to enthusiastic response at the Toronto Film Festival last fall; overseeing post-production on another indie which he wrote and produced called In Your Eyes, which, like Ado, was made through his Bellwether Films production company; shooting the pilot for Marvel's spy-fi TV series S.H.I.E.L.D, which he'll exec produce should ABC send the show to series, and writing the script for 2015's The Avengers 2. This kind of work life is not unusual for a man who feels like he isn't living if he isn't telling stories. ''My life is actually so much more like it was, which was crazy busy,'' says Whedon. ''I'm not off attending crazy parties — but I intend to be. One day.'' —Jeff Jensen

04 of 17

Channing Tatum

What does it feel like for Channing Tatum to look back on the year that saw him vault to the A-list with back-to-back-to-back hits The Vow, 21 Jump Street, and Magic Mike? ''It's like a dream. Truly, like a dream,'' says the actor, 32, who likens shooting and promoting each of those films to ''bringing a child to that first day that it's going to walk. I've had a bunch of ''kids'' this year. And it just so happened that they all graduated high school. Wooo!'' —Adam Markovitz

05 of 17

Seth MacFarlane

Seth MacFarlane has been too busy making entertainment to consume much of it. With Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and American Dad still amusing — and occasionally alarming — TV viewers this year, he also wrote and directed the blockbuster movie Ted, even giving voice to the crass living teddy bear. Then he hosted Saturday Night Live, and...who knew he was also a song-and-dance man? Those skills helped him win the role of Oscar host, though he admits he has to catch up on his movie-watching homework. ''Hmm, what have I seen in the theater??'' he mused, trying to think of a 2012 favorite. ''What a great thing for an Oscar-host to say!'' —Anthony Breznican

06 of 17

Anne Hathaway

First the femme fatale Catwoman, then the fallen woman Fantine. This summer, she was the intense and in-control cat burglar who gave Batman a literal run for his money in The Dark Knight Rises, and soon she'll be seen as the tragic mother singing the mournful ''I Dreamed a Dream'' in Les Misérables, a role for which many consider her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar frontrunner. Plus, she tied the knot with Adam Shulman, an actor who runs a jewelry company, in September. ''It was weird to finish with this [Catwoman] who was so big, and then I went straight into Fantine, and that required so much concentration. And then to come out of it and be planning a clandestine wedding?,'' she says with a laugh. ''It's daunting!'' —Anthony Breznican

07 of 17

Gillian Flynn

Former EW TV critic Gillian Flynn's first two novels, Sharp Objects and Dark Places, received strong critical attention and garnered a not-too-shabby niche following, but her career unexpectedly skyrocketed with this year's thriller of the summer Gone Girl. The unexpected twists, wickedly smart writing, and dark themes of a marriage skidding off the rails not only inspired excellent word-of-mouth among readers, but it made a fan of Reese Witherspoon, who's producing the film version. Flynn can't pinpoint exactly why her third novel was the one that turned her into an A-list author — an author who gets high-fives from Meryl Streep backstage at The View. ''It's just this weird, freaky, magic moment,'' she says. —Stephan Lee

08 of 17

Julian Fellowes, Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey writer Julian Fellowes (center, with stars Michelle Dockery and Dan Stevens) continued to set ratings records (and rake in awards), with season two of his acclaimed period drama, which debuted in the the U.S. on PBS's Masterpiece earlier this year. ''I hoped it would be successful in America,'' says Fellowes, about the recognition he's received this past year. ''But of course I didn't expect for it to become a kind of cult in the end. It has been extraordinary.'' —Nuzhat Naoreen

09 of 17

Key & Peele

Sure, presidential props are cool for Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, but the Mad TV vets have another way of measuring the runaway success of their hilarious Comedy Central series. As Peele tells us, ''In our first season, if someone saw one of us walking down the street, they'd say, 'Hey, it's Key and Peele!''' But like the show itself, fans have upped their game this year. ''Now I have people coming up to me and going, 'Hey, Peele!' That's a huge step. They know the difference between us now!'' —Ray Rahman

10 of 17

Homeland cast

No show this year had people buzzing about it the next morning like the second season of Showtime's Emmy-winning hit Homeland. The twisty saga of unstable CIA agent Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) and her love affair with reluctant terrorist/congressman Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) advanced with breathless speed this season and shocking twists. ''I think that's part of the talent of this writing room is that they're not afraid to kill the sacred cow,'' says Lewis. ''They're prepared to be bold in their storytelling. Who knows if they've got any more story up their sleeves but it's been a thrilling ride!'' —Tim Stack

11 of 17

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

2012 brought a quadruple dose of JGL to the screen. First came The Dark Knight Rises, then the bike-messenger thriller Premium Rush, then his impressive Bruce Willis simulation in the time-travel mind-bender Looper, and finally his somber turn as the president's war-ready son in Lincoln. ''They all came out close to each other, but I didn't make them close to each other,'' he says. ''It's sort of coincidental that two years of work ended up coming to movie theaters in the span of five months. I just do 'em one at a time.'' Meanwhile, he directed his first feature, the indie dramedy Don Jon's Addiction (coming next year), and continued his work with the crowdsourcing entertainment site hitRECord.com, which just released its Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 2. —Anthony Breznican

12 of 17

Kerry Washington

''At the beginning of this year, I had no idea how busy I'd be,'' says Kerry Washington, who went from playing a woman in the antebellum South kidnapped into slavery in the upcoming Django Unchained to reprising her role as Olivia Pope, one of the most powerful women in D.C., in the second season of ABC's Scandal. ''I had the opportunity to do some time traveling, playing these women living on two different sides of history.'' —Keith Staskiewicz

13 of 17

Jennifer Lawrence

What can't Jennifer Lawrence do? In 2012, she swung gracefully from franchises (The Hunger Games and X-Men: First Class), then back to her indie roots in Silver Linings Playbook. In a very big year, full of performances mixed with equal parts tenderness and balls, she treasures one moment most of all. After Silver Linings earned a standing ovation at its Toronto Film Festival world premiere, she saw her parents backstage. ''My dad had tears in his eyes,'' she says, ''and I've never seen my dad with tears in his eyes, ever. My mom was crying too. That was probably the one moment I allowed myself to feel proud. Okay, mommy and daddy are happy.'' —Karen Valby

14 of 17

Good Morning America cast

This was the year that Good Morning America finally emerged out from under Today's shadow to became the go-to place for morning show junkies. It's now firmly ensconced in first place, even as its most rabid fans wait impatiently for the return of co-anchor Robin Roberts — who has been on extended leave for a bone marrow transplant. Says host George Stephanopoulos, ''It's just been so heartening to see how much love there is for her out there in the country, how she has inspired so many who are going through tough times on their own.'' As for the show's success this year, ''We knew for a while that things were clicking. I thought that on TV things are more like an ocean liner — it's hard to turn — so I thought it would take some time before we caught on around the country,'' he adds. ''So it was a surprise when all of a sudden it just flipped. And once it flipped, it stayed flipped! You never know until it's there.'' —Lynette Rice

15 of 17

New Girl cast

It takes an ensemble to raise a comedy child, and, in 2012, we witnessed the true blossoming of New Girl. Launched on the shoulders of Zooey Deschanel, who stars as kooky Jess, the Fox comedy soon became a Friend-ly affair, with the rise of Max Greenfield's wanna-be lothario Schmidt, Jake Johnson's grouchy Nick, and Lamorne Morris' commonsensical Winston. (Let's not forget about Hannah Simone's formidable model Cece — Schmidt certainly can't.) ''In classic comedy combinations, usually you have somebody who can play straight and somebody who's more of a clown, but [our] whole cast can do some version of everything,'' says Deschanel. ''You can mix and match everyone and find something interesting, which is cool.'' —Dan Snierson

16 of 17

E L James

An unlikely heroine of the book-publishing business in both print and electronic form, and an equally unlikely goddess in the erotic lives of millions of women (and their grateful partners), the woman known around the world as E L James was a nice fortysomething wife and mother of two boys when she began writing fan fiction inspired by her love of The Twilight Saga. Hot fan fiction. Yet while the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy delights in describing fifty shades of sexytime, back in London, James is still gobsmacked by the hullabaloo: ''Extraordinary and scary and fascinating and fun and a hell of a ride,'' she says, with understatement. —Lisa Schwarzbaum

17 of 17

fun.

Before the gold-selling Some Nights (with its chart topper ''We Are Young''), there were flame outs. Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost, and Jack Antonoff built fun. in 2008 from the scraps of three other bands, and when the time came to make their second record, the trio found themselves at a crossroads. Would they lose themselves in the joy of hedonistic melodic exuberance or make their most deeply personal album yet, knowing that opportunity was finite? Forever restless, fun. did both, grafting heartbreaking first-person narratives onto gloriously effervescent pop-rock. The rest has been gravy, savored in between the hustle of touring and promotion. ''I think I knew our lives were changing when I finally got to go home,'' says Dost. ''I was driving around Detroit, and 'We Are Young' was on two different stations at the same time. To hear it in my own car in my home town was really perfect.'' —Kyle Anderson