'Politics is showbusiness for ugly people,' goes the old saying, but that maxim is being turned on its head by the current crop of Hollywood superstars.

Showbusiness, it seems, is now politics for the beautiful people.

If you have been following coverage of the Occupy Wall Street rally in New York, you might have spotted swarthy actor Mark Ruffalo roughing it among the hodgepodge of anti-capitalist protestors in lower Manhattan.

Ruffalo took time out from shooting his role as the Hulk in the forthcoming 'The Avengers' movie to drum up support for another protest, against the construction of a contentious oil pipeline from Canada to the US Gulf Coast.

He implored those present to join him in chaining themselves together outside the White House in resistance against the plan.

At the same time, 'Love Actually' star Bill Nighy was popping over to the G20 meeting in Cannes to make the case to Obama, Sarkozy and Merkel for a 'Robin Hood' tax on the wealthy financial sector that would be redistributed to poorer sectors of society.

In recent weeks, you might also have caught 'Sex and the City' star Kristin Davis breaking down on BBC television as she recounted the harrowing details of her trip to the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya.

Meanwhile, Scarlett Johansson, acting in her capacity as an Oxfam ambassador, also reported on conditions in the Kenya camps.

All the while, Hugh Grant continues to front a high-profile campaign for all those people -- celebrity and otherwise -- affected by phone hacking, as Alec Baldwin mulls quitting showbiz to run as Mayor of New York in 2013, in between blogging his thoughts on Obama's economic policies on 'The Huffington Post'.

Gone are the days, apparently, when thespians would simply collect their multi-million dollar paycheques and then concentrate all their energies on indulging their pampered, extravagant lifestyles, perhaps wearing the odd tokenistic ribbon at an awards ceremony in support of some vague charity.

Now, it's all about 'actorvism', and some of the biggest names in Hollywood are all jostling one another out of the way to be at the front of the 'worthy cause' line.

At the risk of sounding cynical, embracing good causes is a savvy move for today's Tinseltown elite.

It's probably a reaction to the dire global economic situation, but Hollywood stars have seemed to grasp that, in a recessionary era where ostentatious wealth is increasingly under fire, it's smart PR for the highly paid elite -- definite members of the derided 'one percent' -- to be seen to be living humble lives, even if they're really not.

The late Elizabeth Taylor was a pioneering actorvist, committing huge time and resources to HIV and Aids research long before it was a 'fashionable' cause for Hollywood types, haranguing politicians on Capitol Hill for funding and compassion, and even going so far as to publicly upbraid then US president George Bush Snr at an event in Amsterdam in 1992.

"I don't think Bush even knows how to spell 'Aids'," she remarked.

Of modern movie stars, George Clooney has been one of the most high-profile actors to take up humanitarian causes.

In 2006, he travelled to Chad and Sudan along with his journalist father Nick to a make a documentary about the plight of Darfur refugees.

He also wrote an open letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel imploring the EU to take action in Darfur, and addressed the United Nations Security Council on the topic.

Indeed, the cast of the 'Ocean's 11' franchise are market leaders when it comes to trumpeting worthy causes. Matt Damon co-founded H2O Africa (now Water.org) to provide wells and clean water to impoverished communities in Africa.

Meanwhile, Damon's pal Brad Pitt co-founded 'Not on Our Watch' in 2007, with the aim of generating publicity, press and money to aid international crises.

He also donated $1m, along with partner Angelina Jolie, to his own Make It Right Foundation to rebuild affordable homes in New Orleans for those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

No slouch in the charity department either, Jolie has spent a decade as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, visiting trouble spots all over the world such as Cambodia (where she adopted her first child), Sierra Leone, Darfur, Chad, Libya, Pakistan and Iraq.

Like Liz Taylor before her, Jolie has also taken her campaigning on the international refugee crisis to the US Congress, and even spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Elsewhere, Sharon Stone has been a major backer of the American Foundation for AIDs Research (amfAR) for almost 20 years, becoming global fundraising chairman in 2007, serving as host and celebrity auctioneer at fundraisers, and donating her own money towards children's Aids research.

Gunning for the title of Hollywood's most committed environmentalist is Leonardo DiCaprio, soon to be seen on screen playing CIA chief J Edgar Hoover in a Clint Eastwood biopic of the same name.

Not content with installing solar panels in his home, driving a hybrid car and eschewing private jets for charter flights -- sure, don't we all do that? -- DiCaprio is pals with Nobel laureate eco-warrior Al Gore, and is on the board of trustees for Global Green USA and the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

He shot a series of ads for Tag Heuer watches to raise money for the NRDC, and also co-produced, narrated and directed the global warming documentary 'The 11th Hour' to raise awareness of green issues.

The actor has also bought an island in Belize that he intends to turn into an eco-haven, donated cash to save the Russian tiger and even funded the Leonardo DiCaprio Computer Center at the LA Public Library in his deprived childhood neighbourhood.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is the preferred charity of more than one actorvist.

'Baywatch' star Pamela Anderson has stripped down for the organisation in its 'I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur' campaign, throwing in a stint posing naked with other protesters in the window of Stella McCartney's London store for good measure.

Pammie also starred in a saucy advert as an airport security guard, stripping down those passengers wearing animal products.

'Absolutely Fabulous' star Joanna Lumley is another notable actorvist, most famously on behalf of the right to settlement in the UK for Nepalese Gurkhas who have spent more than four years in the British army.

Comedian Ben Stiller is another big-time actorvist, and not just in his fictional role in the movie 'Zoolander', where his himbo model character founded The Derek Zoolander Centre for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too.

Stiller fronted a Bulgari campaign for Save the Children to provide education to kids in war-ravaged countries.

He also travelled on education missions to Uganda and Haiti, and in 2009 organised 'Stillerstrong' -- a headband parody of cyclist Lance Armstrong's 'Livestrong' wristband campaign -- in order to raise funds for earthquake-afflicted Haiti.

Of course, trying to do -- or appear to do -- the right thing can go horribly wrong for those stars who don't do their research first.

Take the recent example of double-Oscar-winner Hilary Swank, who doubtless thought she was providing a boost to a conflict-ravaged nation -- not to mention her own bank balance -- when she agreed to travel to Chechnya last month to appear at a birthday event for the country's controversial leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.

It proved to be a disastrous decision, drawing a damning rebuff from the Human Rights Watch group, prompting Swank to apologise profusely, donate her fee to charity and to sack her manager and PR team for committing her to the event without first doing a proper background check on Kadyrov.

But amid such earnest philanthropy, it's good to know that some actors have retained a sense of humour about their cause-trumpeting, and how that might be perceived by the public.

There's currently a great sketch on the comedy website 'Funny or Die', where stars such as Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Matt Damon, Kevin Spacey and the usually humourless Sean Penn convene a special meeting of the 'Celebrity Division' of Bill Clinton's Foundation.

The stars are tasked with brainstorming new initiatives for the organisation, but can only come up with the likes of a 'Global Breathing Initiative', where everyone in the world holds their breath for a minute everyday in a bid to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

If nothing else, the skit is a salient reminder to actorvists that some clever laughs always help the do-gooder medicine go down.

- Declan Cashin

Originally published in