Over the past month, we canvassed 118 culture creators about the year in movies, TV, music, books, and various other entertaining miscellany that flitted across their screens. As it turns out, a survey of the last 12 months in culture doubles as a pretty handy survey of what mattered in 2015.
Respondents: Paula Abdul, Desiree Akhavan, Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Laurie Anderson, Darren Aronofsky, Sean Baker, Jason Biggs, Andy Borowitz, Leon Bridges, Billy Brown, Ellen Burstyn, Steve Carell, Jonas Carpignano, Josh Charles, Tracee Chimo, Ciara, Bill Clegg, Glenn Close, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Mike Colter, Gerry Conway, Terry Crews, Sloane Crosley, Michael Cudlitz, Rory Culkin, Chris Cuomo, Lea DeLaria, Matt Dillon, Edie Falco, Julian Fellowes, Jack Ferver, Angela Flournoy, Inara George, Kathie Lee Gifford, Kat Graham, Frankie Grande, Ari Graynor, Gael Greene, James Grissom, Lauren Groff, Mariska Hargitay, Todd Haynes, Marielle Heller, Caroline Hirsch, Hozier, Colin Jost, Victoria Justice, Thomas Kail, Elizabeth Karlsen, Ellie Kemper, Taran Killam, Jemima Kirke, Nick Kroll, Ricki Lake, Amy Landecker, Hamish Linklater, Tove Lo, John Magaro, Rami Malek, Mozhan Marnò, Andrea Martin, J.R. Martinez, Adam McKay, Kate McKinnon, Carrie-Anne Moss, Oren Moverman, Bobby Moynihan, John Oliver, Steve Orlando, Hayley Orrantia, Grace Parra, Sarah Paulson, Justin Peck, Bernadette Peters, Jay Pharoah, Brad Pitt, Bill Pohlad, Parker Posey, Bel Powley, Andrew Rannells, Norman Reedus, Krysten Ritter, AnnaSophia Robb, Chris Rock, Jon Ronson, Melissa Rosenberg, Emmy Rossum, Seth Rudetsky, Keri Russell, Bob Saget, Nick Sandow, Christiane Seidel, Michael Shannon, Miriam Shor, David Simon, Cory Michael Smith, Michael Strahan, Emma Straub, Cecily Strong, George Takei, Holly Taylor, Robin Lord Taylor, Julie Taymor, Justin Theroux, Wil Traval, Kathleen Turner, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael Urie, Christine Vachon, Holly Walker, Charlie Weber, Liza Weil, Larry Wilmore, Nicole Clemens Wilmott, Finn Wittrock, Hanya Yanagihara, Francesco Yates, David Zaslav.
Reporting by Samuel Anderson, Heather Buckley, Lisa Butterworth, Adrienne Gaffney, Ericka Goodman, Boris Kachka, Claire Landsbaum, Katie Levingston, Bennett Marcus, Vicki Salemi, Heather Schwedel, Renata Sellitti, Jamie Sharpe, Jonathan Shia, Jennifer Vineyard, Kat Ward.
*This article appears in the December 14, 2015 issue of New York Magazine.
