Oprah Winfrey Tops The Hollywood Reporter’s 17th Annual Women in Entertainment Power 100 List

Oprah Winfrey Tops The Hollywood Reporter’s 17th Annual Women in Entertainment: Power 100 List; Disney’s Anne Sweeney Comes in at Number Two and Sony’s Amy Pascal Claims the Third Spot

Oprah Winfrey, Harpo, Inc. Chairman has been named the most powerful woman in entertainment on The Hollywood Reporter’s 17th annual Women in Entertainment: Power 100 special issue, honoring the top 100 women in the motion picture and television industries. The announcement was made at The Hollywood Reporter’s annual breakfast that took place this morning at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

“The decision to place Oprah at the top of the list was based on her dizzying array of Oprah-branded media and her immense cultural influence,” said Hollywood Reporter Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Guider. “Today’s most powerful woman in entertainment might just be the most influential woman in America.”

Winfrey is the most notable shift on the list, moving up from 2007’s number six spot. Of last year’s top ten, nine are making their third or greater consecutive appearance, with Mary Parent the only newcomer, making her first appearance on the list. The group is rounded out by: Anne Sweeney, Disney Media Networks Co-chairman (No. 2), Amy Pascal, Chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group; Co-chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment (No. 3), Nancy Tellem, President, CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group (No. 4), Stacey Snider, Co-chairman and CEO, DreamWorks SKG (No. 5), Bonnie Hammer, President, USA Network and Sci Fi Channel (No. 6), Judy McGrath, Chairman and CEO, MTV Networks (No. 7), Mary Parent. Chairperson Worldwide Motion Picture Group MGM (No. 8), Dana Walden, Chairman 20th Century Fox Television (No. 9), Nina Tassler, President, CBS Entertainment (No. 10). The complete list can be found at www.thr.com.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Power 100 list draws from a diverse group of creative and executive talent. A team of editors and reporters perform field research and cull through hundreds of submissions to determine who makes the final list. While ability to greenlight content (or access to that person) remains the most important criterion, The Hollywood Reporter team also examines each woman’s position in her company, how many people report to her and how much money she controls when determining the rankings.

As in the past, this year’s issue also ranked the Top 10 actresses by salary. Though the industry has seen prices drop for both male and female stars, there are still a handful of actresses, some relative newcomers, who can command multiple millions to make a picture. Last year’s No. 2, Angelina Jolie, claimed the top spot from top earner Reese Witherspoon. Julia Roberts claimed No. 2, even after a long absence from the screen, earning $15 million-plus for “Duplicity.” Reese Witherspoon and Cameron Diaz are No.’s 3 and 4 respectively, while screen-novice Katherine Heigl made her first appearance on the list at No. 5.

For the 17th year, the annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast is presented and sponsored by Lifetime Networks, which includes Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Network, the top two channels for women. In addition to Lifetime, this year’s breakfast was held in association with Mikimoto, which commissioned this year’s design of the Leadership award, a work of art by Adrienne Lee entitled “The Gateway,” that was presented to Close. Teleflora is also a participating sponsor. Spanx is the Gifting room sponsor.

This year’s program included a much-anticipated Q&A with Winfrey, Pascal and Sweeney, moderated by Guider and Oscar-nominated actress Sigourney Weaver was a featured speaker. The event began at 8am with a champagne reception sponsored by American Women in Radio & Television, a welcome from Lifetime Networks President & CEO Andrea Wong followed by Lansing’s presentation of the Leadership Award to Close, and remarks by Weaver followed by the Q&A panel.

About The Hollywood Reporter

Now in its 79th year, The Hollywood Reporter covers the business of global entertainment via a network of media outlets. They include the print daily and weekly editions, the web site, various electronic-media offerings, and high-profile events such as the annual Key Art Awards and Women in Entertainment. The Reporter’s team of journalists and news editors numbers more than 60, with representatives in most of the world’s major cities. The first Hollywood-based daily trade newspaper covering the entertainment industry, it began publishing September 3, 1930.

The Hollywood Reporter is published by Nielsen Business Media, part of The Nielsen Company, a global information and media company.

About Lifetime

Lifetime is the leader in women’s television and one of the top-rated basic cable television networks. A diverse, multi-media company, Lifetime is committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families. Lifetime Television, Lifetime Movie Network, Lifetime Real Women and Lifetime Digital (including myLifetime.com) are part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a 50/50 joint venture of Hearst Corporation and The Walt Disney Company.

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