28. Nancy Utley

"The movie has got to be the No. 1 thing a person wants to do at any given time," says Utley. "More than TV, errands, anything. It's staggering how difficult it is." Yet with successful campaigns for films like 2007's "Juno," 2006's "Little Miss Sunshine" and "The Last King of Scotland," and 2004's "Napoleon Dynamite," she makes it look easy. Having spent 14 years at big Fox, Utley left to head marketing at Searchlight in 1999, and she was promoted to COO in 2006. She's now in the middle of campaigns for two awards contenders, "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Wrestler," and next year she has the biopics "Amelia," starring Hilary Swank as aviation pioneer Amelia Earhardt, and "Notorious," about the life of Notorious B.I.G. At home, Utley is happy doing needlepoint, walking with her three dogs -- or puttering in the kitchen. "I love cooking," she says, "because unlike in the film business, if you simply follow the directions you're guaranteed an outcome."