Celebrity
A celebrity (or celeb) is a person, such as Tiger Woods, Brittany Murphy, or Javier Vazquez, who is famous in a society or culture.
A celebrity receives media attention and usually has an extroverted personality. There are a variety of ways and means that people use to become celebrities, from their profession, appearances in the mass media, beauty or even by complete accident or infamy. Instant celebrity is the term that is used when someone becomes a celebrity in a very short period of time. In some places, someone that somehow achieves a small amount of transient fame through hype or mass media, is stereotyped as a B-grade celebrity. Andy Warhol famously said that in the future everyone will have 15 minutes of fame. Andy Warhol had one and a half hours of fame. Often the stereotype extends to someone that falls short of mainstream or persistent fame but seeks to extend or exploit it. In the 21st Century, the insatiable public fascination for celebrities and appetite for celebrity gossip has seen the rise of the gossip columnist, tabloid, paparazzi and celebrity blogging.
The rise of international celebrities in acting and popular music is due in large part to the massive scope and scale of the media industries, enabling celebrities to be viewed more often and in more places.