All-star

This article is about the sports and entertainment industry term. For other uses, see All-star (disambiguation).

All-star (also stylized as All-Star) is a term designating an individual as having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. It can also be used for a group of individuals, who are popular in certain areas.

Sports

Main article: All-star game

"All-star" as a sports term refers to individual players named to an "all-star" roster or team representing the top performers during and before the end of a season in a given sport, or to a list of top participants who played in individual sports such as golf and bowling. Events limited to such honorees are referred to as "all-star games" or events.

In American team sports the premier all-star games are the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, NBA All-Star Game, Pro Bowl, NHL All-Star Game, and the MLS All-Star Game. Many all-star teams, such as collegiate "all-conference" and All-America squads, are recognitions of performance only, without the connotation of those selected ever being teammates in a game.

In gaelic games, the term "all-stars" refers to the GAA GPA All Stars Awards. These awards involve picking a fantasy team consisting of the top players in each position in the various sports (Gaelic football, Ladies' Gaelic football, hurling, rounders and camogie).

Entertainment

Cinema

The term all-star also used in films, often used as a form of publicity gimmick to promote the cast of a movie in which a number of high-profile actors appear, sometimes merely in cameo roles. Well-recognized examples of movies with all-star casts include Grand Hotel (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Tales of Manhattan (1942), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Ocean's 11 (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), The Longest Day (1962), How the West Was Won (1963), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), The V.I.P.s (1963), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), The Oscar (1966), Hotel (1967), Casino Royale (1967), Airport (1970, and its three sequels), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Earthquake (1974), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Towering Inferno (1974), A Bridge Too Far (1977), The Swarm (1978), JFK (1991), Short Cuts (1993), Pulp Fiction (1994), Heat (1995), Mars Attacks! (1996), The Thin Red Line (1998), Magnolia (1999), Rat Race (2001), Ocean's Eleven (2001, and its two sequels), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001, and its two sequels), Dogville (2003), Love Actually (2003), Sin City (2005), Bobby (2006), Valentine's Day (2010), The Expendables (2010, and its two sequels), New Year's Eve (2011), What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012), Movie 43 (2013), This Is the End (2013), The Butler (2013), Nymphomaniac (2013) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).

Television

In television, there are a number of groups who could be considered All-Stars. Many reality competition shows produce All-Star editions, which feature notable and particularly talented contestants of past regular seasons. The reality game show Survivor, has had several editions where the some of or all of the cast that is featured are "All Stars". The Amazing Race has had 3 all-stars editions. Other all star editions include Bad Girls All-Star Battle and America's Next Top Model (cycle 17), Charm School.

Another use for "All Star" contestants is to appear on other reality competition programs (especially if the shows are on the same network). This is especially previlent on CBS's three reality competition programs, The Amazing Race, Survivor and Big Brother.

The 1990 TV special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue features a number of notable cartoon characters (among them Bugs Bunny, The Smurfs and Winnie the Pooh) convincing a boy not to use drugs.

See also

• Ensemble cast