Guides
Part of Five kinds of honour, with a walk of fame star as the example
Hollywood Walk of Fame: how selection and dedication years work, and how to verify a star
How the Hollywood Walk of Fame selects stars, what a sponsor pays, why selection and dedication years differ, and how to verify a Hollywood star.
A walk of fame directory by year answers two questions at once: who was honored, and when the honor became real. This one sets out named Hollywood classes from 1960 to 2024, the other walk-of-fame programs worth knowing, and the checks that separate a committee pick from a paid plaque.
What to take away
- The Hollywood Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, not by a fan vote or a studio.
- A star is not free. The sponsor pays for the terrazzo and brass, and the Chamber publishes the current figure.
- Induction is decided by a committee from applications filed once a year, with a fee attached to each one.
- Selection year and dedication year can sit a year or more apart.
- A star proves a committee selected the name, not that the person is the best in their field.
- Check any claimed star against the Chamber's own directory before you cite it.
- Other cities run their own walks. St. Louis has honored writers and musicians since 1988, Canada's Walk of Fame has run in Toronto since 1998, and Nashville's Music City Walk of Fame opened in 2006.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame by the numbers
The Walk holds more than 2,700 stars set into 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce administers it, and a committee picks each year's class from applications filed once a year.
Walk of Fame key figures
- 2,700+stars on the Walk
- 15blocks of Hollywood Boulevard
- 3blocks of Vine Street
- $75,000reported star sponsorship
- $250non-refundable application fee
The sponsor pays for the star itself. Sponsorship of a Hollywood star has been reported at about $75,000 in recent years, paid once the committee selects the name. The application fee is $250, non-refundable, filed with the nomination each year.
How the Hollywood Walk of Fame directory is organized
The Walk groups honorees into five categories: motion pictures, television, recording, radio, and live theater and performance. A name appears under one category, chosen at nomination.
Selection year vs dedication year
- Selection yearcommittee votes the name in
- Gapsponsor payment and ceremony arranged
- Dedication yearstar laid and unveiled
Two dates matter, and they are not the same. The selection year is when the committee voted the name in. The dedication year is when the star was laid and unveiled, which can lag a year or more while the sponsor's payment and the ceremony are arranged.
For a working performer, that gap is the useful part of the record. It separates when the honor was earned from when it became public.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame directory, by year
Each row carries the year the Chamber lists for the star and the category the name was inducted under.
Hollywood Walk of Fame directory
| Year | Inductee | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Joanne Woodward | Motion pictures |
| 1960 | Olive Borden | Motion pictures |
| 1960 | Ronald Colman | Motion pictures |
| 1960 | Louise Fazenda | Motion pictures |
| 1960 | Preston Foster | Motion pictures |
| 1960 | Burt Lancaster | Motion pictures |
| 1960 | Edward Sedgwick | Motion pictures |
| 1960 | Ernest Torrence | Motion pictures |
| 1984 | Michael Jackson | Recording |
| 2017 | Mark Hamill | Motion pictures |
| 2017 | Eva Longoria | Television |
| 2018 | Zoe Saldana | Motion pictures |
| 2018 | RuPaul | Television |
| 2019 | Lupita Nyong'o | Motion pictures |
| 2019 | Cedric the Entertainer | Television |
| 2020 | Octavia Spencer | Motion pictures |
| 2020 | Andy Cohen | Television |
| 2021 | Carrie Fisher | Motion pictures |
| 2021 | Kelly Clarkson | Recording |
| 2022 | Michael B. Jordan | Motion pictures |
| 2022 | Jean Smart | Television |
| 2023 | Michelle Yeoh | Motion pictures |
| 2023 | Uma Thurman | Motion pictures |
| 2024 | Chadwick Boseman | Motion pictures |
| 2024 | Sheryl Lee Ralph | Television |
Joanne Woodward's star, unveiled on February 9, 1960, was the first one laid. The 1960 batch ran to eight names, and four of them, Olive Borden, Ronald Colman, Edward Sedgwick and Ernest Torrence, had died before their stars were set. Chadwick Boseman, listed in 2024, died in 2020.
The Chamber's directory at walkoffame.com carries the rest, searchable by name or by year, and prints each star's block address on Hollywood Boulevard or Vine Street. The overview of the walk of fame program explains how a class is assembled; the walk of fame listing is the index format for browsing it.
Other walks of fame, by founding year
Hollywood dates to 1960. The programs below followed, each with its own city, year, and selection rules.
Other walks of fame
| Program | City | Founded | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis Walk of Fame | St. Louis, Missouri | 1988 | Brass stars set in the Delmar Loop sidewalk; inductees include Chuck Berry, Maya Angelou and Yogi Berra |
| Palm Springs Walk of Stars | Palm Springs, California | 1992 | More than 400 stars on downtown sidewalks; honorees include Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope |
| Canada's Walk of Fame | Toronto, Ontario | 1998 | Stars along King Street West; inductees include Wayne Gretzky and Celine Dion |
| Avenue of Stars | Hong Kong | 2004 | Handprints and plaques on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront honoring about 100 film workers; reopened in 2019 |
| Music City Walk of Fame | Nashville, Tennessee | 2006 | Medallions in Walk of Fame Park; inductees include Dolly Parton and Jimi Hendrix |
| Boulevard der Stars | Berlin, Germany | 2010 | More than 40 stars near Potsdamer Platz honoring German film and television |
Only the Hollywood Walk of Fame publishes a price for the star. The other programs list no fee for honorees, and their organizers raise the money instead.
How a Hollywood star compares with the Oscars
A Walk of Fame star is a civic and industry marker, decided by a Chamber committee. It is not a peer acting award. The distinction matters when you read a credit list and try to work out what the name proves.
A peer body such as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences votes its own results, and the encyclopedia article on the Academy Awards publishes those results year by year. That is a different kind of record from a star on a sidewalk.
The encyclopedia article on the Hollywood Walk of Fame covers the history and the geography. For the broader question of what an award does for a career, the guide to actor awards is the next read.
How to check a claimed star
Search the Chamber's directory, not the person's own page or a press release. A Chamber entry carries the name, the category, the block address and the year, so match all four against the claim.
If the name is not there, the claim is wrong. If it is there, note the year and the category, because a star in one category is often misreported as another.
The same discipline applies to any honor you are asked to verify, and the steps are set out in the notes on searching award records.
Pay-to-play awards compared with a Walk of Fame star
The commercial version of recognition has a recognizable shape. An unsolicited message says you have been selected. A category seems made to fit you. A deadline follows.
Below the congratulations sits a payment: an entry fee that guarantees an award, a gala ticket you must buy, a mandatory trophy purchase. A license to use a logo or a listing fee in a book of honorees works the same way.
Pay-to-play awards compared
- Selection you did not apply for, followed by an invoice.
- Categories so narrow that everyone can win one.
- No named judges and no published criteria.
- A trophy or plaque you are required to buy.
- Marketing rights sold as the real benefit.
A Walk of Fame star sits on the other side of that line. The sponsor pays a real cost for the physical star, but the committee makes the selection, and the Chamber publishes the rules.
The wider pattern of money flowing toward the seller of an opportunity is described in the notes on spotting representation that charges you upfront.
Common questions
Do awards affect casting?
Occasionally at the top of a cast, where a name helps finance or sell a project. For most working performers the effect is small compared with recent work and relationships. A star is a marker of a career, not a substitute for one.
Is a festival submission fee a scam?
Not in itself. Festivals have real costs and charge to process entries. Judge them by their programming history, their jury and whether their selections screen anywhere. A fee that buys an award rather than a consideration is a different thing.
Can you buy a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?
No. A sponsor pays the Chamber's fee, but the committee decides who is selected. The $250 application fee buys consideration, and most applications are not approved.
How many stars are on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?
More than 2,700, spread over 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street. The Chamber adds new stars in yearly batches, usually a couple of dozen.
Which walk of fame has the most stars?
Hollywood, with more than 2,700. Palm Springs lists more than 400, Hong Kong about 100, and Berlin more than 40.
Do the selection year and the dedication year match?
Not always. The committee votes a class in one year, and the star can be laid a year or more later, once the sponsor's payment and the ceremony are arranged.
How do I check whether an award exists at all?
Search the awarding body separately from the message you received, look for past recipients you can verify independently, and use the body's own records where they are published. For the Walk of Fame, that means the Chamber's directory.
Should I chase recognition early?
No. Recognition follows work that people saw. Time spent on submissions to obscure programs is time not spent on training, materials or contacts. Read the directory for context, not as a target to aim at.
