Time Says Roberts, Penn, Lee Are Tops

ByABC News
July 2, 2001, 6:15 PM

July 2 -- Newly single box-office queen and Oscar winner Julia Roberts has been named America's Best Movie Star, by Time magazine, an honor, the magazine is quick to point out, that doesn't necessarily mean she's also America's Best Actress

The magazine, in its first-ever America's Best series, named Sean Penn, a two-time Oscar nominee, America's Best Actor, with a tribute written by his Colors director, Dennis Hopper, who calls him a "stand-up guy" and a "man's man."

For the distinction of Best Director, the magazine looked to Taiwan-born Ang Lee, whose Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won the Best Foreign Film Oscar this year and also became the highest-grossing foreign film in United States history.Lee was given the nod not only for the epic Tiger, but for his work on movies such as Sense and Sensibility and The Ice Storm.

"This soft-spoken gent is proving again what's always been true: that American cinema is nourished by the artistry of foreigners," Time said in its article on the director, who has lived for more than 20 years in the United States.

Other bests include Chris Rock (Best Comedian), The Daily Show's Jon Stewart (Best Talk Show Host) and Philip Roth (Best Novelist.)