Is the meaning of "starlet" changing?

Cafe Society
1

Until recently, I thought a starlet was an young actress who was becoming known and just barely beginning to make it, but not a global celebrity. She’d not be known for her abilities as a Thespian, but for her looks and for being seen at such and such night spots with so-and-so. She’d be paying for the rent and groceries with her acting income, but not be rolling in cash. The sense of ‘starlet’ was not ‘very young but successful’, but more like a ‘little or lesser star’.

Now, however, I hear the word used for the likes of Katie Holmes, Lindsay Lohan, and Jessica Simpson, actresses who are hugely successful, hounded by paparazzi, and rolling in millions–but not the sort of people that students applying to the Performing Arts High School in New York, or the UCLA Film School cite as their inspiration.

Has anyone else noticed this? Or has the word always included the latter-day type of starlet?

2

Lots of views, so I’ll bump it once.

3

I always thought “starlet” meant the girl who was so dumb, she slept with the writer! :smiley:

4

As one Hollywood mogul or another once said, the definition of “starlet” is “any woman under 30 not actively employed at a brothel.”

So yeah, the definition’s changed since then.

5

I agree that many people seem to have forgotten what the word means. Not long ago, I read an article in which a thirtysomething actress with at least one oscar nomination and a substantial career was referred to as a “starlet.” To me, that’s like a professional athlete whose been active for ten years still being called a “rookie.”