In the last 50 years, the social importance of stars has steadily grown, to the point that stars have now become key role models who strongly influence people's behaviours. This book considers the connections between the three main media (cinema, television and the web) and each of the three phases into which the history of stardom can be divided. The first phase can largely be credited with the creation and codification of contemporary stardom, while the second is linked to the spread of television, which weakened the Hollywood stardom model and gradually transformed the figure of the star, making it more intimate and familiar. In the last of these phases, we have many 'outsiders' (personalities from a variety of professional domains and experiences) who are able to achieve considerable social visibility thanks to their skilful use of the web.