Who Should Be Among This Year's Picks for the TIME 100?

ZIYI ZHANG The star of Memoirs of a Geisha has broken down barriers for Chinese actors. I hope Ang Lee is on the list. Because of him, Chinese filmmaking will be better recognized by the U.S. film industry. He has made his fellow Chinese extremely proud. I would also include Wang Yung-ching, a Taiwanese businessman who is donating hearing implants to the children of China this year, and Professor Han Demin, the head of Beijing's Tongren Hospital, because of his charity fund-raising efforts.

JEFFREY SACHS Enemy of poverty, friend of Bono, he wrote the book on how to help the world's poor. I nominate biologist Edward O. Wilson, who has uncovered hidden laws of biology, charted the interconnections of knowledge, plumbed the sources of human nature and held a lantern aloft to warn the world of the risks of man-made environmental catastrophe. If humankind finds a way to live in peace together, in harmony with nature, he will have played a unique role in that deliverance.

WANGARI MAATHAI The Kenyan M.P., an environmentalist, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. I propose Liberia's Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first elected female head of state. The choice is an inspiration, especially for girls, who can believe that one day they can make it. Her election lifts a cloud. I'd also select Costa Rica's President, Oscar Arias Sánchez, who has pursued peace in his region, and Burmese opposition leader and jailed dissident Aung San Suu Kyi, who is not breaking under pressure the rest of us will never have to face.

MELISSA ETHERIDGE She has won two Grammys and endless admiration for her battle against cancer. My No. 1 nomination is Al Gore, our nation's subconscious, who has quietly and steadily brought the most important issue--global warming--into our consciousness. I'd also include Stephen Colbert, for his ability to inject humor into the horrible situation the world is in. He takes what Jon Stewart has done to another level. I sleep better at night knowing that someone else thinks things are just as insane as I do.