Good looks and controversy helps get you on the B list
The B list is dominated by some of the busiest and most boldest identities in the country. They are often great strategists. They know, better than most the imperative of dressing the part. PLAY: CAN YOU PICK A B-LISTER
- Ultimate A-listers and those who wish they were
- A-list: Australia’s most bankable household names
- C list: Celebrity big names now but not for long
- The desperate stars who are on the celebrity D list
The B list is dominated by some of the busiest and most boldest identities in the country.
Jimmy Barnes, Bindi and Bob Irwin, Ellyse Perry, Justin Hemmes, Bob Hawke — these are people who often project an air of accessibility, even though, in reality, the reverse may be true.
B-listers are often great strategists. They know, better than most, the value of an A list contact, the merit of attaching themselves to an important cause, the power of a strong media relationship and the imperative of dressing the part.
They know they’re nothing without their fans, their clients, their customers. They’ve tasted the rewards hard work can bring and know popularity is fleeting.
Being enigmatic, good-looking and controversial can propel you onto the B list.
Being Hot-Right-Now almost certainly does — but only hard work keeps there.
Gregarious and professionally driven, a B-lister will weigh up the value of an invitation before declining it. They know where and when to be seen, and with whom.
The greatest social obstacle for most B-listers is a loaded social diary as they have many balls in the air but always make time for the critical events.
ISLA FISHER & SACHA BARON COHEN
Sixteen years after being introduced at a Sydney party, Australian actress Fisher and British actor/comedian/writer/producer Baron Cohen look as unlikely a love match today as they did when first the giggly soapie-star-turned-romcom-queen met in-demand performer best known for his controversial satirical characters Borat and Ali G. Fisher has said Baron Cohen is her “polar opposite”.
REBEL WILSON
She’s known for her offbeat, self-effacing sense of humour and has said it was her acapella rendition of Lady Gaga’s Edge Of Glory with “body percussion” (rhythmic slapping of self) that helped win her most famous role in the Pitch Perfect films — a huge leap forward for a one-time cameo cast member of SBS’s Fat Pizza. In 2017 Wilson won a historic defamation payout from Bauer Media, publishers of The Australian Women’s Weekly and Woman’s Day magazines, for $4,500,000 in 2017, which was later reduced to $600,000 on appeal.
JOEL EDGERTON & CHRISTINE CENTENERA
Blacktown-born Edgerton got his start on TV drama The Secret Life Of Us before he made the leap to film. He won acclaim in 2010 as “Baz” Brown in Animal Kingdom. The role won him his second AACTA and opened the door to Hollywood. This year, following the release of Boy Erased, which he directed, he has been linked to Adelaide-raised Vogue Australia fashion director Centenera, who for the past couple of years has been acting as a consultant to Kanye West.
SIA FURLER
The much-parodied wigged one has come a long way from her Adelaide acid jazz singer roots. Almost 20 years, six albums and a clutch of impressive US songwriting collaborations later, she broke through in the United States at age 39 with the bizarrely brilliant clip for Chandelier, one of the most parodied hit singles in recent times.
5SOS
Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin must be huge overseas because Australian fans are mocking their adopted American (and British) accents. Three-time ARIA winners and US chart-toppers.
JIMMY BARNES
Everyone’s favourite fair dinkum Scottish-born rock god has a new literary audience with his smash hit memoirs Working Class Boy, later adapted to film, and Working Class Man. These have inspired a unique speaking tour that has rekindled the nation’s love affair with the hard-living, still-partying Barnesy.
DANIEL JOHNS
The Newcastle-born boy wonder of Silverchair has turned into a tortured artiste. His battles with depression, anorexia, reactive arthritis and admitted self-medication with alcohol have enhanced his rock ‘n’ roll image, although perhaps not as much as a new hit single might, after an 11-year drought.
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN
Our Livvie is simply one of our most loved and admired singers and actresses. her role in Grease is legendary and her list of hit songs is enormous. She has also been at the top of the entertainment game for an astonishing five decades. She is now in her third battle with cancer — but she’s one of the great survivors.
ELLYSE PERRY
All-round athlete Perry was an emerging superstar in both cricket and soccer — representing her country in both sports. She has focused on cricket and has been a key part in a side that is now ranked number one in the world in all forms of the game. She is also a record-breaking inspiration for young players of both sexes.
TIM CAHILL
Australia’s leading international goalscorer and the man regarded by some as the greatest Socceroo of all time. Sadly his retirement looks to have come too late to save the premium designer sportswear fashion label, Cahill+, which he launched in China in 2016.
JOHNATHAN THURSTON
Indigenous league player who has won it all. He’s a four-time Dally M Medallist, premiership winner, State Of Origin champion and a champion of Australia. He’s even owner of the best laugh in sport. Thurston retired this year with a blockbuster biography and it is widely regarded as only a matter of time before he is made into an Immortal.
IAN THORPE
Olympic swimming superstar with five gold medals who won our hearts at the Sydney gamed. Since his retirement he has tried his hand as a television anchor working for Channel 7, Foxtel and the ABC, most recently as a commentator at the 2018 Invictus Games. He is now out and proud and celebrating his personal evolution with what looks suspiciously like a new nose.
GAI WATERHOUSE
She’s been leaping effortlessly over gender barriers in racing since she started as a trainer in 1992. She cites one of her personal career highlights as when Queen Elizabeth asked her to train the royal galloper Carlton House at Randwick in 2014. Waterhouse has been named by the Australian Trust as an Australian Living Treasure.
LLEYTON AND BEC HEWITT
Retired professional tennis player and former world number 1 Hewitt persuaded Home and Away actress Cartwright to put her career on hold for him when they married in 2005. After three children and a couple of international relocations — initially to a new training base in the Bahamas, then back to Melbourne — the pair remain a captivating couple whose marriage has withstood sustained and focused attacks by the nation’s most hysterical gossip magazines.
TONI COLLETTE
She made her name in Muriel’s Wedding and her movie career includes gems such as About A Boy and Little Miss Sunshine. Yet it is Collette’s work on American and British television that many find most riveting. From the brilliant United States Of Tara to this year’s Wanderlust — about a married therapist with a wandering eye. Collette, who is married to drummer Dave Galafassi, said her husband cried when he saw Wanderlust. He rated it as her best work to date.
GUY PEARCE
Pearce first graced our screens in Neighbours before moving into film. He has had memorable roles in LA Confidential, Memento, The Hurt Locker and The King’s Speech but it’s on the small screen that his talent currently shines in shows Mildred Pierce, Jack Irish and 2019’s The Innocents. When asked by interviewer Andrew Denton for his thoughts on what defined an A-list actor, Pearce rated himself a “C”. We don’t agree. You get a B from us, Guy.
SIMON BAKER
Considered TV’s Mr Sexy, Baker’s breakout role on soap E Street propelled him to TV stardom firstly as The Guardian and then as The Mentalist. He has also turned his hand to film (The Devil Wears Prada and, more recently, starring and directing the evocative Breath, based on Tim Winton’s novel). The charming and charismatic actor may have cracked the big time in the US but to us looks happiest on an Australian beach with his kids around him.
ASHER KEDDIE
Keddie, a beauty who shuns publicity in favour of lying low with her artist husband Vincent Fantauzzo, proved herself an actress to watch with roles in Love My Way, Underbelly and Rush. But she finally hit pay dirt with her starring role in Offspring, landing a swag of Logies from 2011.
JACKIE WEAVER
She has been a star of Australian TV since the 1960s but 2010’s Animal Kingdom opened the door to Hollywood. With two Oscar nominations, five films in post-production and two TV series underway, Weaver is 71 and still going strong. Her five marriages (twice to Derryn Hinch), show Weaver clearly has a terrific sense of humour.
ROSE BYRNE
Byrne has acted consistently since age 15, including such Aussie 1990s stalwarts as Heartbreak High and Wildside. In America she is known for the TV series Damages, as well as playing Professor X’s love interest Moira in the more cent X-Men films. But she is perhaps best known for her appearance in the 2011 film Bridesmaids, which showcased her talent as a
comedian.
DANNII MINOGUE
Kylie Minogue’s little sister Dannii first found fame on family variety show Young Talent Time, following in her sibling’s soapy footsteps later as an actress on Home and Away. Best known today to a new generation as a judge on The X Factor, both local and UK series, and Australia’s Got Talent.
BINDI AND ROBERT IRWIN
Brother and sister duo Bindi and “Bob” Irwin were born and raised in the spotlight, appearing on dad Steve’s television show The Crocodile Hunter Diaries before his untimely death in 2006. The wildlife warriors, now 20 and 14, are dedicated animal conservationists who grew up in front of the camera under the watchful eye of mother Terri. Their new Animal Planet series, Crikey! It’s The Irwins, premiered in October and the US is deeply in love with the young Aussies.
REBECCA GIBNEY
TV’s golden girl Rebecca Gibney has been a fixture on our screens since the 1980s and has hardly been out of work since appearing in TV dramas including Halifax f.p., Stingers, Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door and more recently Wanted. The nation loved her best as Julie Rafter in the series Packed To The Rafters, for which she won a Gold Logie in 2009.
RICHARD ROXBURGH
His most famous character, Cleaver Greene of the ABC TV series Rake, is the envy of men across the nation. Roxburgh, meanwhile, has fans the world over. Married to TV chef Silvia Colloca, Roxburgh is always in demand. His character Rake is said to be based on controversial Sydney criminal barrister Charles Waterstreet, who has a “co-creator” credit on the show but, Roxburgh has said, contributed just one idea for one episode of the first series following a meeting.
PORTIA DE ROSSI
She made her name standing semi-naked in a pond alongside Elle Macpherson and Kate Fischer in the Australian movie Sirens. After Sirens, de Rossi headed to the US and found fame on the TV series Ally McBeal, as well as in the brilliant Arrested Development. Yet de Rossi remains an B-lister today for one reason. Her world-famous wife is TV talk show queen Ellen DeGeneres. De Rossi recently announced her retirement at age 45.
ERICA PACKER
Former model and ex-wife of billionaire James Packer, Erica moved to the US following the marriage breakdown in 2013. It did little to dampen media interest in her and the couple’s three young children. Erica’s love life has only become more intriguing since the couple’s split and she’s been linked to Orlando Bloom, Seal and now Cuban artist Enrique Martinez Celaya, who proposed to Erica in Paris last month (SUBS NOV).
FRANCESCA PACKER-BARHAM
The daughter of philanthropist Gretel Packer and her first husband British financier Nick Barham, glamour-loving heiress “Chessie”, 23, has come of age, built a social media following and hired a publicist. Since 2017 she’s been studying interior design at a prestigious $50,000-a-year school in the UK.
MARTIN GRANT
One of just three Australian labels in a century (along with Ellery and Collette Dinnigan) to be granted official recognition by the Fédération Française de la Couture du Prêt-à-Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode, the body controlling Paris Fashion Week. The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, recently wore his designs, reigniting interest in the Paris-based designer whose garments are favoured by A-listers including Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Emma Stone and Blake Lively.
DION LEE
After launching his first event MBFWA show in 2009, Lee went from 23-year-old creative kid to Australian fashion wunderkind. Best known for his “technical but sensual” and “complex but minimal” threads, Lee has experienced a stratospheric rise in the industry thanks to his game-changing sartorial vision.
DAVID GYNGELL & LEILA MCKINNON
Former CEO of Nine Entertainment Group turned Byron Bay brewer, Gyngell and his Nine News personality spouse are considered Australian entertainment royalty thanks to his father — the legendary TV executive Bruce Gyngell — having been the first man on Australian television. Since becoming a mother, McKinnon’s appearances on TV have become sporadic. It seems she’s found something more rewarding to do.
JOHN & AMBER SYMOND
The Aussie Home Loans founder and serial rich lister who, in recent years, sold his Aussie Home Loans to Commonwealth Bank for $300 million-plus. Married to statuesque socialite Amber McDonald-Keating, former daughter-in-law of ex-prime minister Paul Keating, since 2016. Symond shed around 30 kilos as he set about courting his new wife. Since then, the loved-up Symond has put it all back on while enjoying his retirement and the wealth he’s accumulated.
JUSTIN HEMMES
Snake-hipped demi-billionaire bar tsar who picks up a new pub every other week. Manages to modelise discreetly. Trying in vain to find a $5+ million home for his ex-partner Kate Fowler and cherubic toddler daughters, who remain under his roof at Vaucluse almost a year after the couple split.
RYAN STOKES & CLAIRE CAMPBELL
Scion of Seven West tycoon Kerry, Ryan Stokes is MD and CEO of Seven Group Holdings though yet to make his own mark in business. The well-mannered Stokes Jr, who tested his father’s patience with his scandalous relationship with former Home and Away actress and party girl Jodi Gordon, is now expecting his first child with Queensland shoe emporium owner Campbell. The couple married in 2016.
JOHN SINGLETON
This ex-advertising industry boss turned media and property investor and racehorse owner historically loves a party. When his horse comes home he has been known to shout the public bar at Rose Hill. Has more luck with race horses than with women. He has six ex-wives, one of whom is rumoured to be chasing him for more money.
SOLOMON LEW
Leading businessman and rich lister whose Premier Investments bought 10 per cent of Myer last year and also owns Just Group and Smiggle. Following the end of his 45-year marriage to wife Rosie in 2014, the retailer took up with a 40-something blonde socialite Roza Prappas, who he married in LA last year. The couple like to entertain on board his superyacht Maridome.
LINDSAY FOX
Fox is non-executive chairman of one of Australia’s largest transport and logistics companies, Linfox, a company he founded in 1956. In declining health, Fox still loves to throw a party. When he turned 80 in 2015, he hosted 100 couples on board a chartered cruise ship, among them Gina Rinehart, property developer Lloyd Williams, Jeff Kennett and Andrew Forrest on the Mediterranean.
ALAN JOYCE
The CEO of Qantas, gay advocate Joyce is presiding over the national carrier as it celebrates the best result in its 98-year history with net profit up 15 per cent.
Rebecca Vallance Having only launched her eponymous label in 2011, Vallance has achieved accelerated success thanks to her designs being snapped up by celebrities including Karlie Kloss, Rachel McAdams and Chrissy Teigen. Now stocked globally in net-a-porter, revolve and Harrods, Vallance has a bigger following in the UK and Middle East than she does back home.
JOHN & JANETTE HOWARD
Following the replacement of Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister, retired PM John Howard has enjoyed something of a political revival, stepping in to steady the leaking Liberal ship under new PM Scott Morrison. The second-longest serving PM after Robert Menzies and still robust at 79, Howard and wife Janette are remembered for an era of political stability and for boldly implementing gun law reforms just six weeks into his prime ministership in 1996.
BOB HAWKE & BLANCHE D’ALPUGET
Now in declining health, Robert James Lee Hawke, the 23rd prime minister of Australia, hasn’t been seen in public since May after he was admitted to hospital with a case of what his family called the “wobbles”. Family later denied he’d had a stroke. At age 88, Hawke’s the oldest living retired PM and remains popular with the public partly to his boozing playboy antics during his political career. Author d’Alpuget, Hawke’s longtime lover, remains as fascinating now as she was three decades ago.
PAUL KEATING
Regularly angry retired PM Keating is never out of the headlines for long — whether he’s blasting deposed PM Malcolm Turnbull for failing to further the republican cause, attacking Nine’s plans to merge with Fairfax Media, trashing the coalition for contemplating giving first homeowners access to their superannuation, belting architects and developers over the head for a lack of vision or conjuring a plan to restore the original headland at Barangaroo. Devastatingly explosive and dapper.
KYM ELLERY
Quiet achiever Ellery swapped Sydney for Paris in 2016 and has been a star on the rise ever since. With her threads stocked in the US, UK, China and the Middle East, Ellery is one of Australia’s great international success stories, favoured by the likes of Rihanna and Emma Watson.
CARLA ZAMPATTI
Ageless, timeless and classic can be used to describe both the woman and the brand With her trademark sunglasses perched firmly on her face, Zampatti is considered the monarch of the Australian fashion industry and is an Australian icon.
LEE LIN CHIN
Beer-drinking chain-smoking longtime SBS newsreader who reinvented herself with the help of The Feed comedy writer Chris Leben in 2015 and launched a stunning campaign to win the Gold Logie in 2016. Now a marketing billboard.
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