ACTING TALENT IN THE 21st CENTURY: LOOKING GOOD ON A MAGAZINE COVER

Hollywood's exploitive nature was what triggered Sir Ben Kingsley, the Academy Award winning actor to recently speak out.
"Some young people are told they are actors and they're not,'' Kingsley said at press conference in July."It's unfair to exploit a young person who may look good on a magazine cover and tell them they can be in movies, then make it happen for them when they can't do it."You're lifting their expectations so high and then pulling the rug when the audience gives them a collective thumbs down.''However, Kingsley's warning appears to have fallen on deaf ears in Tinsel Town. As the entertainment industry continues to splinter due to fewer films being made, shrinking record sales, fragmenting television audiences and the rise of online, in turn, young celebrities are becoming part of a rapidly disposable star system.If the ascent of young stars was ever in doubt, Forbes Magazine recently confirmed a new invasion of under 25-year-olds had successfully become some of the current highest earners in Hollywood.

-Daily Telegraph
August 24 2008