Busy Bodies

Part-time Governator, full-time Terminator: California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger during a town hall-style meeting in Oakland in October. Photo Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

There was a time, not at all long ago, when actors merely acted and singers simply sang. Occasionally, actors sang and singers acted, but for the most part, entertainers stuck to their chosen trade (that is, unless a prematurely shortened career forced them to become insurance salesmen).

That sort of single-mindedness seems almost quaint now. If you’ve got a movie, most people assume you’re also recording an album, penning a memoir, designing a clothing line and minting your own scent. What’s most impressive about this phenomenon isn’t the fact that celebs are able to extend their brand name across multiple platforms — it’s that they have the time to do it. While the day still has only 24 hours this new breed of celeb never seems overextended.

The most recent example is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who announced last week that he will star in Terminator 4 — while he’s still governor of California. Running the most populous U.S. state and the world’s fifth-largest economy seemed like more than enough work for pols like Pete Wilson and Gray Davis, but apparently, it leaves Arnie with plenty of downtime.

They used to call James Brown the hardest-working man in showbiz, but the Godfather of Soul ain’t got nothin’ on these hustlers.

BONO

Titles: rock musician; AIDS activist; debt relief advocate; serious contender for president of the World Bank; hotel co-owner; co-owner (with wife Ali Hewson) of Edun clothing line
Where you might find him in any given week: pressing flesh with world leaders; touring a Third World garment factory; lecturing reporters on debt relief; writing and recording songs in a studio; explicating said songs to rapt music journalists
Familial duties: helping raise four (!) kids
Plus… U2 is always on tour

DIDDY

Titles: rapper; record producer; label honcho; clothing designer; restaurateur (Justin’s); film actor; Broadway thesp; reality-show producer (Making the Band II); voting advocate; manufacturer of custom automobile rims (Sean John Wheels)
Where you might find him in any given week: on a talk show explaining his latest name change; planning his next lavish party; sitting in a plush office, contemplating his next multimedia merger
Family commitments: hanging with his son, Justin
Plus… he has to set aside time every day to peer into a mirror… to work on his flagging self-esteem, of course

HILARY DUFF

Titles: actor; pop singer; clothing designer (Stuff by Duff); animal rights activist; international spokesperson for Kids With a Cause, a charity supporting impoverished youth; student
Where you might find her in any given week: on stage; on MTV’s Total Request Live; making a cameo on some network TV series; at, like, the mall; walking one or all of her six dogs
Family commitments: she always makes time for mom, dad and sis Haylie
Plus… she’s taking college classes online

JAY-Z

Titles: rapper; president, CEO, Def Jam Recordings; founder/owner, Roc-A-Fella, which includes Roc-A-Fella Records, Roc-A-Fella Films and Rocawear clothing line, and also distributes Armadale vodka; part owner, New Jersey Nets NBA team; co-owner of New York sports bar (The 40/40 Club)
Where you might find him in any given week: his Def Jam office; a recording studio; courtside at a Nets game
Familial duties: none… unless you consider spending time with bombshell girlfriend Beyoncé Knowles a “duty”
Plus… he helped design a custom line of Reebok sneakers

J-LO

Titles: singer; actor; dancer; model; creator of Glow and Still perfumes; creator of JLO and Sweetface clothing lines; president of film company (Nuyorican Productions); restaurateur (Madre’s)
Where you might find her in any given week: attending this or that film premiere/awards show/fashion benefit; pouting into a camera for one reason or another; reaming out a well-intentioned minion over the temperature of her latte; explaining to some journalist that she’s “very grounded”
Family commitments: finding face-time with her current hubby (this week: singer Marc Anthony)
Plus… we suspect she occasionally goes shopping

Andre Mayer writes about the arts for CBC.ca.