We’re a third of the way through 2020. And since so much has already happened, I thought it’d be a good time to put together a list of the 10 Most Fascinating People of the Year So Far because…. who knows what things are going to be like another 8 months from now. And They Are:
JENNIFER ANISTON
In January, Aniston won a SAG Award for her performance on the dynamite AppleTV+ drama series “The Morning Show”. Backstage, a certain someone was watching her, and the two soon reunited. (More on him later.) Aniston will also, at some point, take part in that highly-anticipated, unscripted “Friends” reunion.
CHARLOTTE AWBERY
The year’s pop culture-related social media phenom so far is this British singer who randomly performed part of “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born” for a video. Vocals were definitely on point.
ANDREW CUOMO
I live in NY. The Governor has been on our TV screens every day for the past two months delivering the latest information and opinions on the Coronavirus outbreak. Unlike President Donald Trump, who went from TV star to elected official, Cuomo has taken the opposite route by going from elected official to TV star simply by being the Governor of NY.
MICHAEL DAVIES
If the name sounds familiar, that’s because he’s the longtime producer of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”, which recently returned in primetime on ABC with new host Jimmy Kimmel. All 9 episodes of the revival were filmed on March 14th and 15th, literally hours before the entire entertainment industry shut down, providing the network with hours of new content (spread out over a couple of months). Talk about cutting it close!
RICKY GERVAIS
The British comic actor returned as host of the Golden Globes for a fifth time, once again igniting controversy for his remarks towards celebrities and the entertainment industry as a whole. Here are a few things he said in his monologue before the true start of the COVID-19 outbreak:
“Remember: they’re just jokes. We’re all gonna die soon… and there’s no sequel.”
In talking about the Globes not doing an In Memoriam: “Maybe next year. Let’s see what happens!”
His next point: “No one goes to the cinema. Everyone’s watching Netflix!”
TOM HANKS & RITA WILSON
Hanks received the Cecil B. DeMille Award that night at the Globes. He then earned his first Oscar nomination in 19 years for his performance as Fred Rogers in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”. On the night of March 11th, Hanks and his wife, Wilson, announced on social media that they were diagnosed with COVID-19 in Australia. This was one of the key announcements that ushered-in the #CancelEverything firestorm. Thankfully, Hanks and Wilson have now recovered, becoming symbols of positivity and hope during this crisis. And Hanks even hosted the first “SNL At Home” show.
KEN JENNINGS
ABC kicked-off 2020 with a bang with “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All-Time”, a special event series of games hosted by Alex Trebek. Jennings faced-off against longtime game foe Brad Rutter and newer sensation James Holzhauer. Thanks to his amazing knowledge and buzzer skills, after just four nights, Jennings won $1 million and the title “Greatest of All-Time”.
BONG JOON-HO
On one of the final major, live network TV events before COVID-19 took over the airwaves, Joon-Ho won an incredible four Academy Awards for his Best Picture recipient “Parasite”. It’s the first foreign-language film to ever win Oscar’s top prize, and Joon-Ho ties the record with Walt Disney for most wins by a single person in one night.
And now, for the Most Fascinating Person of 2020 so far…
BRAD PITT
He won an Oscar in 2014 for co-producing “12 Years a Slave”, but one of the biggest movie stars on the planet had never won an acting Academy Award. That all changed when he started getting on an awards season roll, earning Golden Globe, Critics Choice, SAG and BAFTA wins for his work in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”. His speeches at the Globes and SAGs were some of the best in years, and photos of his reunion with Aniston backstage at the SAGs nearly broke the Internet.
Pitt finally won that acting Oscar on Feb. 9 (at the earliest Academy Awards ceremony ever). But his next venture proved to be even more fascinating. Pitt helped renovate a garage into a suite and makeup studio for his longtime makeup artist on the new HGTV series “Celebrity I.O.U.” Now, you’re probably thinking: “How in the world did Brad Pitt do an HGTV show?” But he was completely game for the reno (with the help of the Property Brothers), and the episode’s viewership nearly reached “A Very Brady Renovation” levels.
And most recently, following Dr. Anthony Fauci’s hope that Pitt would play him on “Saturday Night Live”, Pitt indeed did so on SNL’s second “At Home” episode – to rave reviews.