Three British stars make the Hollywood A-list

Three British actors have had their places on Hollywood's A-list cemented by being asked to appear in a photograph of Tinseltown's leading males for the cover of Vanity Fair magazine. Jude Law, Hugh Grant and Ewan McGregor appear alongside Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson and Tom Hanks in a group portrait of 13 actors, called the "Kings of Hollywood".

The cover marks Vanity Fair's ninth annual Hollywood issue and is the latest in a series of such highly stylised group shots by Annie Leibovitz for the magazine; others have celebrated leading actresses and politicians.

Law, Grant and McGregor have all made it to the highest level by hard work and carefully choosing the kind of films that get them noticed. Law has worked with Steven Spielberg on AI: Artificial Intelligence, with Anthony Minghella on The Talented Mr Ripley and Sam Mendes on Road to Perdition. McGregor has graduated from his appearance in the drug-addled Trainspotting to the big-budget mass market Star Wars series.

Grant may be lucky to be there but his floppy-haired middle-class Englishman act in Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary and Two Weeks Notice, all of which feature leading American actresses as co-stars, has given him status in Hollywood, where they assume the Home Counties is the United Kingdom.

The remainder of the 13 are almost entirely predictable and, between them, account for 400 film credits and 28 Oscar awards and nominations. It is a heavyweight bunch, particularly if measured by their salaries.