>> Best Local Celebrity

Best Local Celebrity

Creative Loafing has been presenting Atlantaâ€™s Best People, Places and Events since 1972. These are some of the past winners for this category:

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Jon Waterhouse

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

3-Way Tie: 2Chainz, Killer Mike & Katie Hughes

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2018
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2018 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick

Luis Sandoval

Luis Sandoval is a force, that’s why we asked him to participate in Best of Atlanta. Cheerful, generous, and inextricably linked to good times in Atlanta. He’s the type of person you want to hug every time you see him - and he?ll probably hug back!

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2018
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2018 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Readers Pick

Donald Glover

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2017
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2017 » Cityscapes » Readers Pick

Romeo Cologne

www.facebook.com/romeocologne

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2016
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2016 » CityScape » Readers Pick

Baton Bob

batonbob.weebly.com

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2015
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2015 » Cityscape » Readers Pick

Baton Bob

batonbob.weebly.com

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2015
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2015 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick

Omar “Chilly”

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2014
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2014 » Cityscape » Readers Pick

Baton Bob

batonbob.weebly.com

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2013
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2013 » After Dark » Critics Pick

2 Chainz

We love to hate 2 Chainz’s seemingly comedic lyrics: “She got a big booty, so I call her Big Booty.” But we’re not joking when we say 2 Chainz is inescapable right now. Since his chart-topping, Grammy-nominated 2012 debut album, Based on a T.R.U. Story, it’s been almost impossible to avoid hearing the “2 CHAIIINZ!!” war cry on the radio. At this point, he’s repping Atlanta through sheer cultural pervasiveness. The deluxe edition of his new album, B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time, comes with a cookbook. Here’s hoping he gets a Food Network show in the near future. He’s different, yeah, he’s different. www.2chainz.com. less...

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2013
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2013 » Cityscape » Readers Pick

NeNe Leakes

www.twitter.com/NeNeLeakes

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2013
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2013 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick

“Rectify”

After winning the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2001 with “The Accountant,” Ray McKinnon and Walton Goggins became Georgia’s answer to Ben and Matt, parlaying their success into careers in front of the camera. McKinnon staked his claim on the big screen in 2009’s The Blind Side and 2012’s Mud and on television with memorable roles on HBO’s “Deadwood” and FX’s “Sons of Anarchy.” This year, McKinnon was back behind the camera - and back in Georgia - as creator and executive producer of the critically acclaimed Sundance channel original series “Rectify,” which manages a slow, reflective pace that’s rarely seen on mainstream television. www.sundancechannel.com/series/rectify. less...

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2013
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2013 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick

James Ponsoldt

James Ponsoldt shot his 2013 film starring Miles Teller, The Spectacular Now, in his hometown of Athens, Ga. Now that the film is receiving rave reviews, Ponsoldt is headed on to a spectacular future. The filmmaker cut his teeth as the writer/director of intimate indie features such as Off the Black and Smashed. Currently, he’s not only slated to direct the Hillary biopic Rodham, but he’s also been tapped to adapt Pippin and Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock (novelist Matthew Quick’s follow-up to The Silver Linings Playbook) for the Weinstein Company. He’s also committed to write and direct Julianna Baggott’s dystopian teen novel Pure for Fox 2000. We expect he’ll bring that eloquent and self-confident touch that made Spectacular so memorable to all that work. www.twitter.com/jamesponsoldt. less...

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2012
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2012 » Cityscape » Readers Pick

Usher

www.usherworld.com

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2011
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2011 » Cityscape » Readers Pick

Usher

www.ushernow.com

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2010
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2010 » Cityscape » Critics Pick

Kevin Gillespie’s beard

What’s red and bushy, has fancy W Hotel parties thrown in its honor, can be spotted at local joints including Morelli’s Ice Cream and the “Ghetto” Kroger and boasts nearly 8,000 Facebook fans? That would be KEVIN GILLESPIE’S BEARD. Kevin Gillespie might be a “Top Chef” finalist and James Beard semifinalist who can create a transcendent meal as easily with pork belly and veal chop as with a bundle of farm-fresh veggies, but it’s his Yukon Cornelius-inspired facial hair that’s earned him the national fame he deserves. Oh, and if you’re angling for a KGB sighting, your best bet is the dining room at Woodfire Grill. The best tables offer an unobstructed view of the open kitchen - and the chef’s lustrous beard.

Editor’s note: This blurb has been modified to correctly reflect Gillespie’s recognition from the James Beard Foundation.

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Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2010
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2010 » Cityscape » Readers Pick

Ludacris

Runner-up: Usher

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2010
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2010 » Cityscape » Readers Pick

T.I. and Tiny

Runner-up: Arthur and Stephanie Blank

www.blankfoundation.org

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2009
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2009 » Cityscape » Readers Pick

Jane Fonda

Runner-up
Elton John

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2009
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2009 » Cityscape » Readers Pick

Jane Fonda

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Cityscape » Readers Pick

Ludacris

www.myspace.com/ludacris

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2007
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2007 » Cityscape » Readers Pick

Baton Bob

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2007
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2007 » Cityscape » Readers Pick

Baton Bob

Best Local Celebrity BOA Award Winner

Year » 2006
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2006 » Cityscape » Critics Pick

Cee-Lo

This time last year, CEE-LO was another B-level celebrity known as much for his role as the indulgent father on MTV&#146;s &#147;My Super Sweet 16&#148; and his songwriting (&#147;Don&#146;t Cha&#148; by the Pussycat Dolls) as for his music. Then, he released St. Elsewhere, the album he&#146;d spent more than a year working on with Danger Mouse. Collectively known as Gnarls Barkley, they produced the song of the summer, &#147;Crazy,&#148; which sounds like Sly and the Family Stone jettisoned into 2006. The song hit the top of the charts in the U.K. before it was even officially released. It did the same in the United States once it was released here. &#147;Crazy,&#148; with its haunting lyrics and Cee-Lo&#146;s soaring voice on the chorus, finally launched him into major league stardom. Ain&#146;t that crazy? less...