Who are your favorite actors, singers, instrumental wizards? In our end-of-the year email survey of reportedly the most knowledgeable folks in Ladue, Frontenac and environs, you dropped many names.

From the area's best-known rapper and some Hollywood stars to a few up-and-comers you'll be able one day to say you knew "back when," what follow are your picks for top performers in and around Ladue-Frontenac Patch.

Ranking them was comparing apples and oranges. So, once we'd winnowed down submissions to 10, we drew out of a hat.

The envelope—slips of paper, I mean—please…

Mark and Burke Moses.  

Oh, the make-believe messes the Moses boys have made. Mark Moses played the cowardly lieutenant in the grim 1986 Vietnam-era drama Platoon. And younger sib Burke, a Parkway West grad, was the first Gaston, the muscle-bound creep who vies for Belle's affections, in the stage musical Beauty And The Beast on Broadway. Mark most recently got killed off on Desperate Housewives, ending his run as literal lady-killer Paul Young. Once bitten by the acting bug, younger sister Julie appeared in a feature film. Twice shy, she's now a cable-TV executive.

George Hickenlooper. The late Hickenlooper, known best for his documentary work, started filmmaking at Saint Louis U. High and rose to fame with Hearts Of Darkness, about the making of Apocalypse Now. Hickenlooper's swan song Casino Jack, the Kevin Spacey vehicle about disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, opens Jan. 7, 2011 at Landmark Plaza Frontenac.

Curt Landes. Known as "Gaptoof", obvious during his frequent smiles, whether playing for a dinner party with a sitting U.S. president as honored guest, jamming with local heavyweights including the Soulard Blues Band, or tickling the ivories during a more sedate set of standards as a duo or trio at Plaza Frontenac. Just wrapping up his busiest time of year, largely playing for private parties in and around Ladue and Frontenac, Landes will perform during the day Dec. 31 in The Plaza's centre court, where you'll be able to hear him frequently in 2011.

Asher Benrubi. You've known him, maybe even loved him, not the least for his inimitable gravelly voice: Broadcasting icon Smash can be heard alongside J.C. Corcoran on KTRS (550 AM) from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays. Many listeners crave Classic Rock introduced by a man who's been there, done that—and still does, as leader of The Smash Band, sought-after for parties and receptions but never too big to play for a worthy cause.

Chris O'Donnell. O'Donnell's parents settled in St. Louis after raising seven kids, the youngest of whom is most famous recently for his role as G. Callen in NCIS: Los Angeles. His oeuvre is deep in television and feature films, among them a Golden Globe turn in Scent Of A Woman and as Robin in Batman Forever, which he does not rank highly on his resume. Friends most recently saw O'Donnell a few weeks ago, when he was in town for the funeral of his father, William O'Donnell Sr.

Jon Hamm. Hamm has so inhabited the character he plays in Mad Men, the Emmy-winning AMC drama about a 1960s ad agency, that even some of his John Burroughs classmates might slip up and call him Don Draper. But he's not the self-absorbed, scandal-plagued character he plays in Men (9 p.m. Sundays). After attending Mizzou on a theater scholarship, he returned to teach at Burroughs and proved that if he has "it" himself, he knows how to impart "it": Ellie Kemper, who plays Erin on The Office, was his student.

Nelly. Observers say that he and his entourage, including chanteuse and main squeeze Ashanti, might spend more time at Plaza Frontenac than all current and former Cardinals and their wives, combined. Perhaps the genre's most popular performer at the turn of the Millennium, this singing rapper came back with his strongest album since Nellyville, featuring one of 2010's biggest iTunes singles, "Just a Dream". This U-City native and sometime West County resident has labored long and hard for his bling.

Peter Martin. With strong roots in The Big Easy jazz scene, this U-City boy is an accomplished pianist, producer, arranger and composer who has traveled the world with players from Diane Reeves to Wynton Marsalis. Martin's recent performance at The Sheldon was nonpareil. He returns Feb. 10, 2011.

Jason Gusdorf. In a performance at John Burroughs of Dracula, the play derived from Bram Stoker's opus, this young actor made any and all bloodsuckers from the Twilight saga seem like wannabes, oh-so 2000 and late. In the lead role as The Count, he was funny, alluring and every "bite" the leading man in a production that would have stood on its own with many staged by area professional companies.

Lola van Ella. Burlesque, the resurgent risqué art form, has been called stripping's more refined big sister. Josephine Baker, a famed St. Louisan of color, was an early performer. Modern vaudeville extravaganzas staged throughout The Lou feature singing, dancing showgirls, fire eaters, acrobats—and acrobatics. None has the gymnastic flair or stage presence of van Ella, the creatively clad diva who is our very own reincarnation of Gypsy Rose Lee. An all-ages show is at Off Broadway on Jan. 7, 2011.