All-star (also, Allstar or All Star) is a term with meanings in both the worlds of sports and entertainment. In the entertainment sense, it is used to describe the cast of a movie in which most of the speaking parts, even relatively minor ones, are played by motion picture stars who are generally associated with leading or major supporting roles. Obviously this practice is limited to large-budget, "epic" pictures, an outstanding example of which would be the original 1962 motion picture version (NOT the later television version) of How the West Was Won.

"All-star" as a sports term can refer to an "all-star" team selected as the best players at particular postions in team sports, or a list of top participants in indvidual sports such as golf and automobile racing. Events limited to all-stars in the field of individual sports are referred to as "all-star events"; in team sports the premier all-star game was generally considered to be that of Major League Baseball until the fiasco resulting from the game ending in a tie in 2002; after this the rule was changed to give the winning league's team home field advantage in the World Series. The all-star games of the other major North American team sports are often derided by purists, mostly due to a perceived lack of effort by the players, especially on defense. Many all-star teams, such as collegiate "all-conference" or All-America teams, are named on a purely honorary basis with no intent of their ever performing together as a unit.

See also

• All-Star Game