Celebrities by the Los Angeles Times in 2011

In “Hugo,” Martin Scorsese’s 3-D fable about a boy who lives inside the clocks at a 1930s Paris train station, Ben Kingsley plays real-life cinema pioneer Georges Melies, a magician turned filmmaker.  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Charlize Theron sought out director Jason Reitman to gain her challenging role in “Young Adult,” a black comedy written by Reitman’s “Juno” collaborator Diablo Cody.

Until two years ago, Guy Ritchie was known only to a select cinema buff crowd for his stylish, low-budget British gangster movies. He burst into the mainstream by directing Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in the 2009 megahit “Sherlock Holmes.” Now he’s back, directing the sequel “A Game of Shadows.”  (Ricardo DeAratanha /Los Angeles Times)

Quick, funny and offbeat, Judy Greer is a natural for the supporting roles she’s played in romantic comedies. But the actress gets a chance to show her depth opposite George Clooney in Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants.”  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Kirsten Dunst took home the lead actress prize when Lars von Trier’s apocalyptic meditation on depression, “Melancholia,” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Mary J. Blige’s new album “My Life II ... The Journey Continues (Act 1),” a sequel to 1994’s “My Life,” the classic that catapulted her to R&B stardom.  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Felicity Jones stars in “Like Crazy,” a modest relationship drama from director Drake Doremus that has garnered awards for the film and its star.  (Carolyn Cole /Los Angeles Times)

Cast members of the hit comedy “Bridesmaids,” from left, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, Wendy McLendon-Covey and Melissa McCarthy.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Illeana Douglas, known for her roles in Allison Anders’ “Grace of My Heart” and Martin Scorsese’s “Cape Fear,” stars in “Easy to Assemble,” a Web series for IKEA, the Swedish furniture retailer.   (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

“My Week With Marilyn” star Michelle Williams prepared by immersing herself in all things Marilyn Monroe.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Leonardo DiCaprio investigated the FBI director for ‘J. Edgar’ and found him fascinating and frustrating  (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

Martin Scorsese, the director behind “Raging Bull” and “The Departed,” changes gears with the child-friendly 3-D film “Hugo.”  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

In “Descendants,” her first feature film, Shailene Woodley of TV’s “The Secret Life of an American Teenager” wows critics and her director.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

British actor Henry Cavill first takes on Theseus in “Immortals” -- and next Superman in “Man of Steel.”  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

“The Help’s” Octavia Spencer has gone from relative anonymity to life-changing “overdrive” after the movie’s blockbuster success.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

The Canadian rapper-singer Drake has taken a decidedly low-key approach to rolling out his new disc, “Take Care.”  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Veteran actress Viola Davis worked to give her role in “The Help” dignity.  (Genaro Molina /Los Angeles Times)

Leonardo DiCaprio, center, and Armie Hammer with Clint Eastwood, right. Eastwood directs DiCaprio and Hammer in the new film “J. Edgar.”  (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

An Oscar nominee for “Little Miss Sunshine,” Abigail Breslin is a teen with father issues in “Janie Jones.”  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Viewers are seeing a different side of Colin Hanks on Showtime’s “Dexter.”  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Grown-up love and fatherhood informed Cameron Crowe’s new film “We Bought a Zoo.”  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times))

Which star should Ryan Gosling promote more for a lead actor Oscar -- a campaign manager in “The Ides of March” or a stunt/getaway driver in “Drive”?  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Patton Oswalt meets an acting challenge head-on in Jason Reitman’s “Young Adult.”  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Zachary Quinto photographed in Los Angeles. Quinto is best known for his roles as Spock in the 2009 movie “Star Trek” and the emotionless villain in “Heroes.” Quinto stars in and produces “Margin Call,” a thiller about the 2008 Wall Street meltdown. This is the first film made by Quinto’s production company, “Before the Door, “ which he runs alongside two friends from Carnegie Mellon.

Actor-singer-songwriter Tom Waits in Petaluma, Calif. Waits’ new album, “Bad As Me, “ came out Oct 17.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Anton Yelshin, photographed in New York, stars in the movie “Like Crazy” with Felicity Jones.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Rock band Janes Addiction poses in advance of its new album, “The Great Escape Artist,” at the Shangri-La hotel in Santa Monica. Lead singer Perry Farrell, left, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and newest member bassist Dave Sitek, formerly of TV on the Radio.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Comedic actor Rowan Atkinson knows zen and the art of comedy better than most and proves it once again in “Johnny English Reborn.” He was photographed in Beverly Hills.   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Director Pedro Almodovar directed actor Antonio Banderas in “The Skin I Live In.” Banderas plays a brilliant plastic surgeon, haunted by tragedies, who creates a type of synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Elizabeth Olsen stars in “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” directed by Sean Durkin. It is a cult-themed drama.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Singer-activist Harry Belafonte at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Belafonte’s film “Sing Your Song” premieres on HBO Oct. 17. The film chronicles the life and times of Belafonte, through his own words, eyewitness accounts, FBI files and archival footage and seeks to answer two profound questions about who we are, especially as artists and what meaning we find in our own commitments.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Dyan Cannon in her West Hollywood home. She has written a book about her difficult marriage to Cary Grant, who was the love of her life.The title of the book is “Dear Cary, My Life with Cary Grant.”   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Blink-182 members: guitarist-vocalist Tom DeLonge, left, drummer Travis Barker and bassist-vocalist Mark Hoppus backstage before their concert at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Blink-182 is about to release its first new album since reuniting in 2009, which followed an acrimonious breakup in 2005.   (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Mary Elizabeth Winstead at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles. She stars in the movie “The Thing,” which will open Oct. 14.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Steve Guttenberg at Sardi’s on Broadway in New York.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Singer-songwriter Ryan Adams in his Hollywood music studio in advance of a new album, “Ashes and Fire.”   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt deals with chemotherapy and a deteriorating relationship with his girlfriend in “50/50.”  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Former Disney teen star Demi Lovato is sporting a new, edgier look. She explores her public breakdown and recovery on her new album.

Felicia Day created and acts in “The Guild” and a new Web series, “Dragon Age: Redemption.”  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Thomas Jane returns for the third season of the HBO dramedy “Hung.” He stars as Ray Drecker, a struggling high school teacher and coach who deals with Detroit’s crumbling economy by branching out into prostitution.  (Anne Cusack/ Los Angeles Times)

Kelly Macdonald plays the Irish immigrant-turned-grande-dame Margaret Schroeder in HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.”   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Actor Taylor Lautner, 19, knows his new action movie “Abduction” could show the industry that he can carry a movie.   (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Emmy nominees, from left, Walton Goggins (“Justified”), Johnny Galecki (“The Big Bang Theory”), Michelle Forbes (“The Killing”) and Josh Charles (“The Good Wife”) photographed before The Times’ round table of first-time nominees, moderated by Times Television Critic Mary McNamara.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Actress Claire Danes takes the antihero role as a troubled CIA agent in the new television series, “Homeland,” an espionage thriller for Showtime.   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Animator, writer and director Mike Judge, creator of ‘90s animated series “Beavis and Butt-head,” is bringing the pair back to MTV this fall.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Legendary singer Tony Bennett, 85, is never far from the spotlight, and his new album, “Duets II,” shows there’s still plenty to sing about.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

As co-producer of her new CW series, “Ringer,” Sarah Michelle Gellar is taking control.   (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Gerard Butler in Beverly Hills for his role in the movie “Machine Gun Preacher.”   (Mariah Tauger/Los Angeles Times)

George Clooney and Grant Heslov co-wrote and produced “The Ides of March,” which Clooney directed and co-stars in.   (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Actress Bailee Madison at her Los Angeles area home,  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Denis Leary at the Casa Del Mar for about the series finale of “Rescue Me.”   (Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times)

Drake Doremus in New York. He directed “Like Crazy.”   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Country singer Glen Campbell at his home in Malibu. Campbell, who announced recently that he has Alzheimer’s disease, has finished his final studio album, “Ghost on the Canvas.”   (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Actress Emma Stone is in three movies this summer, including “The Help” and “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” and is promoting next summer’s “Spider-Man” reboot.   (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Actor Jeff Bridges has a new self-titled album continuing his own brand of country music that was sparked by his Academy Award-winning performance in the 2009 movie “Crazy Heart.”

J.K. Simmons on the set of the TNT show “The Closer” at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood. Simmons has starred in the movies “The Music Never Stopped,” “Juno,” “Extract,” “Burn After Reading,” and the Spider-Man movies. On the smaller screen, he has appeared in “Law and Order” and the HBO series “Oz.” And in commercials he is the voice of the yellow M&M.   (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

In “The Help,” Viola Davis stars as Aibileen Clark, a world-weary character who carries the weight of history in her every move.   (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Jim Sturgess at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Sturgess, the versatile star of the romance “One Day,” is the subject of a profile focusing on how he added warmth to an ostensibly unsympathetic and caddish character.   (Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times)

Octavia Spencer plays Minny Jackson, a sharp-tongued maid with an abusive husband, in “The Help.”  (Robert Gauthier /Los Angeles Times)

Jessica Chastain, seen opposite Brad Pitt in Terrence Malick‘s “The Tree of Life” this spring, plays Celia Foote, an unpolished woman who marries into wealth, in “The Help.”   (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Andy Serkis, the motion-capture actor who starred as Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and King Kong in Peter Jackson‘s “King Kong,” steps smoothly into the role of super-smart ape Caesar in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.”   (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

“Mad Men” finally gave Jon Hamm a showcase for his cool strength. And this season shook it up.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Steve Carell, left, and Ryan Gosling play polar opposites in the new comedy “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Rachel Weisz‘s latest film, “The Whistleblower,” is a true-to-life tale of a U.N. monitor in Bosnia who exposes a sex trafficking ring.   (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Actor, screenwriter, producer and director Zach Braff at his Manhattan apartment with his dog Roscoe.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

“I couldn’t rhyme. I wasn’t a rapper. So I made this movie,” director John Singleton says of 1991’s “Boyz N the Hood.”   (Genaro Molina /Los Angeles Times)

Former “Friends” star Lisa Kudrow says portraying such a grating character on “Web Therapy” is a risk.   (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Chris Evans, star of “Captain America: The First Avenger,” had his doubts about playing the iconic superhero.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Patrick Dempsey plays a bad guy in the Michael Bay-directed movie, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” which is the third chapter of the film franchise.   (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Rachel Zoe is a stylist, reality TV star, designer and mom.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Alexander Skarsgard, who stars in HBO’s “True Blood,” has two movies still due this year, “Straw Dogs” and “Melancholia.”   (Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times)

Mary McDonnell’s TNT show “The Closer” is in its final season, but there are spin-off plans for her character.   (enaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Charlie Day, one of the stars of the TV show “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” takes his acting to the big screen in “Horrible Bosses.”   (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Shia LaBeouf, star of the successful “Transformers” franchise, has been acting steadily since he was 13.   (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Parker Posey joins the new second season of Showtime’s “The Big C.”   (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)

Sam Trammell is ready for family changes with his “True Blood” character and in real life.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Telemundo has submitted Kate del Castillo for an Emmy nomination. The “La Reina del Sur” star has also done English-language series including “Weeds.”   (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Simon Pegg recounts his rise from daydreaming boy to Hollywood actor in his memoir, “Nerd Do Well.”   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Actress Cameron Diaz stars in the summer comedy “Bad Teacher” as a foul-mouthed teacher ill-suited to her job.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Kate Winslet could be an Emmy contender for her portrayal of “Mildred Pearce” on the HBO miniseries.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Actress Elisabeth Moss, who plays Peggy Olson on “Mad Men,” sees her character’s generation on the way up on the AMC series set in the ‘60s.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

In “Green Lantern,” Ryan Reynolds stars as Hal Jordan, a cocky test pilot who is pulled into a cosmic struggle between good and evil when he is selected as the first human to serve in the Green Lantern Corps.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Singer and actor Marc Anthony reprises his role as Detective Nick Renata on the third season of the TNT drama “Hawthorne.”  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

After roles in “Tron: Legacy” and “Midnight in Paris,” Michael Sheen stars in “Beautiful Boy” as the father of a college student who died committing a bloody campus shooting.  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Amy Poehler produces and stars in “Parks and Recreation.” She also has two young children with her husband, Will Arnett.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Actor Morgan Freeman received an AFI Life Achievement award in June.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Padma Lakshmi’s show “Top Chef” is among those that celebrate artistry more than delight in failure.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

On the Showtime series “Shameless,” William H. Macy is Frank, the drunken and largely shiftless papa to a clutch of kids who survive largely by their own wits.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Kevin Bacon stars in the new movie “X-Men: First Class.”  (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)

Paris Hilton at her home. She has a new TV show, “The World According to Paris.”  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Paul Bettany stars in the new action movie “Priest”, which is set in an alternative realm where crusading heroes must combat a vampire menace. The English actor seems to have a knack for toggling between popcorn movies and dramatic fare.  (Kirk McKoy/Los Angeles Times)

“Desperate Housewives” actress Eva Longoria at her restaurant “Beso” in Hollywood. She has a second career as a doyenne of restaurants in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.  (Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times)

Mireille Enos stars in AMC’s new series, “The Killing,” and had a featured role on “Big Love.” She also received a Tony nod for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Australian actor Chris Hemsworth stars in the new film “Thor,” which borrows from ancient Norse myth and from the pages of Marvel Comic.  (Anne Cusack /Los Angeles Times)

Director and Academy Award-winning actress Jodie Foster directed and stars in “The Beaver” opposite Mel Gibson.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Actor Michael Keaton is being honored in a retrospective of his work at the American Cinematheque.  (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

Actress Rita Wilson is one of the stars in the Shakespeare Festival/LA presents the 20th Annual Simply Shakespeare adaptation of “The Comedy of Errors.”  (Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times)

Actor Christian Slater is starring in the Fox series “Breaking In.”  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)