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Best of 2012: Celebrities of the Year

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Jan 07, 2013 6:21 PM
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Barack Obama
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AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Barack Obama

He won an election. Can your fave say the same?! While handling affairs here and abroad, he also inspired about a gajillion memes. Surely, he's proud of that fact.


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Zooey Deschanel

She remained adorkable as always, but reigned some of the quirkiness in to really hit her stride on New Girl. Meanwhile, she had some of the best nail art in Hollywood.


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Katy Perry

She divorced Russell Brand, dated John Mayer, released a 3-D concert movie (Katy Perry: Part of Me) and continued dolling out chart-topping hits like, well, "Part of Me."


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Ben Affleck

He cemented himself as a surefire Oscar contender with Argo, which he both directed and starred in, and, personally, welcomed a son to the ever-growing Affleck-Garner brood.


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Claire Danes

She swept the Emmys' drama categories along with her Homeland costars, earning a Best Actress in a Drama award for herself. Meanwhile, her ugly cry remains on point.


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Harry Styles

He probably generated the most teenage girl freakouts of all his One Direction bandmates, but that's just a guesstimate. He certainly piqued Taylor Swift's interest though.


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Amanda Bynes

She managed to out-LiLo even Lindsay Lohan with her cross country, headline-grabbing antics. Cars, public bathrooms and paparazzi, you have been warned.


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Paul Hampartsoumian

Chris Hemsworth

He kicked some serious bad guy butt across two franchises: Taking on aliens as the viking god Thor in The Avengers and fairy tale foes in Snow White and the Huntsman.


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Emma Stone

She might possibly be the most liked actress, like ever, complimenting roles in The Amazing Spider-Man with adorable offscreen PDA with Spidey boyfriend Andrew Garfield.


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Nicki Minaj

She took her empire from music (releasing an album and EP) to TV (an E! special and American Idol) and frangrances too! And not once did any of her wigs look anything short of flawless.


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Jon Hamm

He might have been shutout at the Emmys (again), but he was the night's best looking loser. Would you expect anything else from Mad Men's dashing Don Draper?


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Miley Cyrus

She boosted Two and a Half Men to ratings gold with a single cameo, got engaged to fiancé Liam Hemsworth and may have gotten just a few hairs cut and colored. RIP Miley bun!


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Frank Ocean

He had everyone talking when he dropped an R&B bombshell about his sexuality (even Beyoncé wrote him a letter!) and released a masterpiece of an album, Channel Orange.


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Madonna

She found time to release an album (MDNA), go on a world tour and perform at the Super Bowl on breaks from her full time job: Apparently starting feuds with...everyone.


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Ryan Reynolds

He held his own going toe-to-toe with Denzel Washington in Safe House, but, even more impressive, he managed to lock down Blake Lively in holy matrimony.


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Jessica Biel

She dabbled in sci-fi action adventure with Total Recall then switched over to real life drama to star in Hitchcock, all before marrying longtime love Justin Timberlake.

NEXT GALLERY: The craziest stories of Summer 2012


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