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.

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EMILY WEI RALES
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MASSIMILIANO GIONI
CLIPS SPLIT
Photography by CLIPS SPLIT

TOMMY DORFMAN

ACTOR

After rocketing to prominence with roles in 13 Reasons Why and Jeremy O. Harris’s play Daddy, the actor channeled her momentum into writing and directing this fall’s I Wish You All the Best. This spring, Dorfman took the stage as the star of Becoming Eve off-Broadway, and in May, is releasing a memoir about navigating her transition and addiction.

WHAT’S ONE BOOK, WORK OF ART, OR FILM THAT GOT YOU THROUGH AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE? Sally Mann’s book Hold Still shifted the way I think about creating art, the impact of family on my work, and developing my own voice as an artist on- and off-stage and screen. I remember reading this book shortly after graduating from college—feeling lost in the world and in my body, lacking a clear focus on what my future could be—and feeling eased by her prose and wisdom.

WHO DO YOU CALL THE MOST? My mother, who always answers. I don’t know how I would survive without her humor, love, and compassion. She always has sage advice, and if I catch her in the evening, I get the great pleasure of listening to her stories from the day—moments mundane and familiar but told with wit and whimsy.

"I have been described as delusional, but I think that’s because most people fear their potential, and I want to challenge myself to take the most risks in this lifetime."

WHAT QUESTION DO YOU ASK YOURSELF MOST OFTEN WHILE YOU’RE MAKING WORK? Why am I doing this? What is the purpose of this particular opportunity? What can I learn from the people I’m working alongside? How do I hope this work will change me?

IF YOU COULD ATTRIBUTE YOUR SUCCESS TO A SINGLE QUALITY, WHAT WOULD IT BE? I’m not afraid to fail, which often means I try a million things and 99 percent of them don’t see the light of day. I have been described as delusional, but I think that’s because most people fear their potential, and I want to challenge myself to take the most risks in this lifetime.

Next
EMILY WEI RALES
 Next
MASSIMILIANO GIONI