A person can become a celebrity by a variety of ways: profession-based, highly viewed appearances in mass media. Each celebrity has its own field (or fields).

There are many fields of activities common for most or all celebrities. Many of the wealthier-class celebrities are socialites, philanthropists whilst lower-class celebrities, like: Actresses, Musicians still spend a big part of their time participating in social activities, entertaining & being entertained.

A person that becomes famous in a short period of time is referred to as an "instant celebrity". Instant celebrities are usually formed after some shocking or interesting news/information on them. A good example is Nadya Suleman, on January 26, 2010 she gave birth to 8 babies (which is very rare). The news came as a shocking and interesting information and she became an instant celebrity. She then used and increased her fame by posing on magazine covers, giving interviews and guest appearing in shows.

Each region and society has its own celebrity system. The usual celebrities present in all regions and cultures are the film celebrities(including: Actors, Actresses, Directors, etc.), TV Presenters, Models, Singers, and other.

There are particular cases in which a celebrity is very popular in its own country and unknown abroad and other times a celebrity might also be known in its own country and also in other countries.

Celebrities are sometimes globally accepted and have great authority. They are frequently used in political campaigns, fund raising, charity events, or sustaining any cause or idea. Because of their apparent power over fans, they must count every word and see to it that they dont say anything offensive to any society/culture, group or individual.

Local celebrities can be considered more like a household name than national celebrities and may receive attention same to a national celebrity but only on the scale of that particular region.

Celebrities are frequently categorized by media-commentators as A-List, B-List, C-List, D-List or the Z-List. The celebrities in each of these lists have many characteristics in common. Although its very hard to measure a celebrity's fame and also very difficult to place people within one bracket.

Some celebrities are known (famous) only within a niche and the majority of the celebrities in that specific niche won't be known by people not interested in the subject. Although most of the most top celebrities in each niche is usually known even among people that don't follow the subject. Example: even people that don't have or use a computer know Bill Gates (he is the famous computer wiz that founded Microsoft), Albert Einstein is the genius scientist that created the theory of general relativity, people interested in classical music might know Ludwig Van Beethoven and people interested in opera will most likely have heard of Luciano Pavarotti or Andrea Bocelli.

Celebrities by family are persons that become famous by having widely known ancestors, known nationally or even internationally. Most of the time these families are known for their wealth and their influence.

Andy Warhol invented the concept of "15 minutes of fame". In his image, anyone in the 21st century can become a famous celebrity just by being at the right place at the right time. Most of the people that fall under this category are te havenots donots, nobodies turned into somebodies just based on some shocking, ridiculous, scandalous or otherwise interesting things they do. Some of these celebrities are the average people appearing with famous celebrities and gain interest and media attention just by showing up in a photo with a famous person.