CULTURED MAG: The CULT 100

Publishing is full of rankings, from power lists to best-dressed lists to under-40 lists. The CULT100 is different. There is just one criterion for inclusion—but it’s a high bar.

To qualify, a candidate must be actively shaping and changing our culture in real time. The people on this list represent five generations and hail from the worlds of food, publishing, art, fashion, activism, and entertainment. To put this group together, CULTURED‘s editors leveraged the full strength of our network, tapping artists, writers, and cultural leaders to tell us who they look to when they want to feel challenged, hopeful, and inspired.

Some members of the CULT100 are household names; others have been working behind the scenes to make possible the cultural encounters that stop us in our tracks. In a time of binary thinking, the creators featured in this year’s list are embracing contradiction, bouncing willfully between disciplines, and refusing to take no for an answer. They have guts, vision, and a potent cocktail of realism and optimism. None of them is shying away from the anxiety of our moment. Instead, they are thinking big, sharing generously, and embodying courage. The good news is, their work makes us all a little bit braver, too.

LIEV SCHREIBER

ACTOR & ACTIVIST

The Tony, Emmy, and Golden Globe–nominated actor and activist will appear in Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing this year, a deep dive into New York’s gritty underbelly.

WHAT IS YOUR TRADEMARK? Slavic fat pads and angular eyebrows.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SURPRISED YOURSELF IN YOUR PRACTICE? I don’t like to start a job unless I have an idea or an angle for my way into the character. Susanne Bier, the director on The Perfect Couple, told me something that really touched me. She said, “You know, sometimes you just have to jump.” I’m really glad I did. Trust, in many ways, is part of our job as artists. The mistakes that come from that are often the things that people relate to the most.

WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE, WHAT WERE YOU KNOWN FOR? I’ve had the nickname Huggy Buggy Pinchy Winchy since I was a baby. My brother gave it to me because I would pull the hair of anybody who put their face near my carriage.

"When I was very young and doing Glengarry Glen Ross, a guy sent me some socks. I thought that was kind of weird."

ARE PEOPLE EVER STARSTRUCK BY YOU? When I was very young and doing Glengarry Glen Ross, a guy sent me some socks. I thought that was kind of weird.

WHAT DO YOU WANT NEXT FOR YOURSELF ABOVE ALL ELSE? When things feel overwhelming and confusing, I always think of American values. I was in Florida recently raising money for BlueCheck, a charitable network that identifies, vets, and fast-tracks financial support to Ukrainian NGOs and aid initiatives. The conversation got kind of emotional, and a woman, clearly frustrated, said, “What do you want us to do?” The reason I’m involved with Ukraine is not because I’m Ukrainian—it’s because I’m American and I see it as an inherent American value, one that I’ve inherited, to make sure everyone feels welcome here in a way they might not be elsewhere. I have this incredible feeling of gratitude—for my grandparents and the generation of Americans who fought for the right to raise your children the way you want, to pray where you want, to express your gender and sexuality how you want. What I said to that woman was, “Reflect our values—with your partner, your neighbor, your dog, your kids.” There’s so much going on right now in our world, and one thing we can do is create change in our microcosms. I may not be negotiating with Macron, but how am I treating my family, my community?