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{{Short description|Group of people all having a high level of performance in their field}}
{{about|the sports and entertainment industry term}}
{{refimprove|date=December 2013}}
An '''all-star''' team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field.  Originating in sports, it has since drifted into [[vernacular]] and has been borrowed heavily by the [[entertainment industry]].
==Sports==
{{Main|All-star game}}
"All-star" as a sports term refers to individual players named to an "all-star" roster or team representing the top performers (members of such a team were ''all [[wikt:star|star]]s'' from other teams) during and before the end of a season in a given sport, or to a list of top participants who played in individual sports such as [[golf]] and [[bowling]]. Events limited to such honorees are referred to as "all-star games" or events.
In American team sports the premier all-star games are the [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game]], [[NBA All-Star Game]] (basketball), [[Pro Bowl]] (football), [[NHL All-Star Game]] (hockey), and [[MLS All-Star Game]] (soccer). Many all-star teams, such as collegiate "all-conference" and [[All-America]] squads, are recognitions of performance only, without the connotation of those selected ever being teammates in a game.  The closest college sports come to an "All-star" game is the annual [[Senior Bowl]] which pits the best senior [[College Football]] players in the country against one another.  These players generally go on to be drafted in the [[NFL Draft]] in April.
In [[gaelic games]], the term "all-stars" refers to the [[GAA GPA All Stars Awards]]. These awards involve picking a fantasy team consisting of the top players in each position in the various sports ([[List of All Stars Awards winners (football)|Gaelic football]], [[Ladies' Gaelic football All Stars Awards|Ladies' Gaelic football]], [[List of All Stars Awards winners (hurling)|hurling]], [[Rounders All Stars Awards|rounders]] and [[Camogie All Stars Awards|camogie]]).
==Entertainment==
===Cinema===
The term "all star" is also used in films, often used as a form of [[publicity]] [[gimmick]] to promote the cast of a movie in which a number of high-profile actors appear, sometimes merely in [[cameo appearance|cameo]] roles.<ref>{{cite web | title = Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey head all-star cast in 'The Butler' |publisher= Boston Herald| url = http://bostonherald.com/entertainment/movies/movie_reviews/2013/08/forest_whitaker_and_oprah_winfrey_head_all_star_cast_in |date=August 16, 2013| access-date = 2013-08-23}}</ref> An archetype is the 1956 version of ''[[Around the World in 80 Days (1956 film)|Around the World in 80 Days]]''.
===Television===
In a similar vein to sporting events, some [[reality television]] franchises (such as ''[[Dancing with the Stars (American TV series)|Dancing with the Stars]],<ref>{{cite web |author=Published Monday, Aug 13 2012, 13:36 BST |date=2012-07-25 |title='Dancing with the Stars All-Stars': Professional partners confirmed - Dancing with the Stars News - Reality TV |url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/s92/dancingwiththestars/news/a399081/dancing-with-the-stars-all-stars-professional-partners-confirmed.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825050901/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/s92/dancingwiththestars/news/a399081/dancing-with-the-stars-all-stars-professional-partners-confirmed.html |archive-date=2012-08-25 |access-date=2012-08-15 |publisher=Digital Spy}}</ref>'' ''[[Survivor (franchise)|Survivor]]'' ,''<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Ross |first=Dalton |date=February 4, 2020 |title=Jeff Probst on the biggest get for Survivor: Winners at War |url=https://ew.com/tv/2020/02/04/survivor-jeff-probst-winners-at-war-amber-rob-parvati/ |access-date=March 30, 2020 |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite magazine |last=Ross |first=Dalton |date=January 18, 2020 |title=Survivor: Winners at War will feature all classic challenges from the past |url=https://ew.com/tv/2020/01/18/survivor-winners-at-war-challenges-john-kirhoffer-chris-marchand/ |access-date=January 23, 2020 |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]}}</ref>'' and ''[[RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars|RuPaul's Drag Race]]'')''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-02-24 |title=RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 6 Moves to Paramount+, Along With Road Rules Reboot and The Challenge: All Stars |url=https://tvline.com/2021/02/24/drag-race-all-stars-6-paramount-plus-road-rules-challenge/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225041640/https://tvline.com/2021/02/24/drag-race-all-stars-6-paramount-plus-road-rules-challenge/ |archive-date=2021-02-25 |access-date=2021-02-25 |website=TVLine}}</ref>'' have held all star seasons   featuring notable contestants from previous seasons, such as champions, contestants popular among viewers, and notable contestants from international versions of the [[TV format|franchise]]. These can include entire seasons where the alumni compete against each other, or a spin-off competition with a different format. One such example—''[[Survivor: Winners at War]]''—was intended to celebrate the 40th season of the [[Survivor (American TV series)|U.S. version]], and featured 20 winners from past seasons competing for a cash prize of $2,000,000. Most of its challenges were also reprised from the seasons that the cast members had originally competed in.''<ref name=":0" /><ref name="two_million2">{{Cite magazine |last=Ross |first=Dalton |date=December 18, 2019 |title=Jeff Probst shares intel on Survivor: Winners at War |url=https://ew.com/tv/2019/12/18/survivor-winners-at-war-jeff-probst-season-40/ |access-date=December 20, 2019 |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]}}</ref>''
Sometimes, all-star [[Crossover (fiction)|crossovers]] may be organized between contestants of multiple reality formats; the [[MTV]] series ''[[The Challenge (TV series)|The Challenge]]'' was originally a competition spin-off of its reality shows ''[[The Real World (TV series)|The Real World]]'' and ''[[Road Rules]]'', but later seasons began to increasingly include alumni from other popular reality series such as ''[[The Amazing Race (American TV series)|The Amazing Race]]'', ''[[Big Brother (American TV series)|Big Brother]]'', ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', and ''Survivor''.<ref name="avclub">{{cite web |last1=Alston |first1=Joshua |date=September 14, 2015 |title=How MTV's The Challenge became one of TV's most riveting workplace dramas |url=https://www.avclub.com/how-mtv-s-the-challenge-became-one-of-tv-s-most-rivetin-1798284279 |access-date=May 21, 2022 |website=The A.V. Club |language=en-us}}</ref><ref name="buzzfeed">{{cite web |last1=Wieselman |first1=Jarett |date=October 6, 2016 |title=The Most Influential Reality Show In TV History |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/jarettwieselman/real-world-road-rules-challenge-oral-history |access-date=May 21, 2022 |website=[[BuzzFeed]] |language=en}}</ref>
=== Music ===
"All-stars" in music terms is referred to record labels or a music genre's top musical artists. An example of this includes the single "[[Pow 2011]]" by [[Lethal Bizzle]] in which all the featured artists are credited as "[[Grime (music genre)|Grime]] All-Stars". Sometimes, labels organize such all-star sessions to release dedicated albums. Examples of this case are the collective [[This Mortal Coil]] under the [[4AD]] label, or the [[Roadrunner United]] sessions by [[Roadrunner Records]]. The term is not equivalent to [[Supergroup (music)|supergroup]], which refers to a group made of already established musicians from other popular bands or with a successful solo career.
===Comics===
The [[All Star DC Comics]] was an [[imprint (trade name)|imprint]] of ongoing [[American comic book]] titles published by [[DC Comics]] that ran from 2005 to 2008.  DC has published two titles under the All-Star banner, featuring [[Batman]] and [[Superman]]. The premise of the imprint was to partner DC Comics' top tier characters with the most popular and acclaimed writers and artists.
==See also==
* [[Ensemble cast]]
* [[Supergroup (music)]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* {{cite web | title = All Star Ensemble Casts|publisher= Hollywood.com|author=Daniel Hubschman| url = http://www.hollywood.com/news/movies/7755925/all-star-ensemble-casts?page=all|date=Feb 14, 2011}}
[[Category:Sports terminology]]
[[Category:Film and video terminology]]
[[Category:Musical terminology]]