By Lacey Rose

By our count, there are 1,011 billionaires in the world, but thanks to media exposure, if not overexposure, some are far more recognizable than others.

They're the celebrity billionaires-more than rich, they're rich and famous-among the most well-known people on the planet.

Others may be wealthier or more influential atop the worlds of technology, media, fashion and finance, but these 10 not only reap billions from their holdings but also shape our tastes-what we wear, watch, read, invest in and, increasingly, how we communicate with each other.

The Teen Titan

On this last point no one trumps teen titan turned household name Mark Zuckerberg. With the exploding interest in Facebook, the former Harvard student is now a billionaire (net worth US billion) and one of the most recognisable people among millions of social-media obsessed Americans, who have put his company at the cent of their daily lives.

In Pictures: The Celebrity Billionaires

Expect his profile to grow now that Hollywood has taken interest. David Fincher (Seven, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) is directing a film starring Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake about the early days at the company.

Apple founder and media favorite Steve Jobs (net worth US.5 billion) is even more influential and well-known. While fellow technology titans like Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison (US billion) and Michael Dell (US.5 billion) may be worth far more, Jobs is unquestionably the face of Silicon Valley.

Groundbreaking Technology

A lifetime creating groundbreaking consumer technology products is part of the reason, but he's also the best showman in the business. Earlier this year he somehow turned the release of a tablet computer free of any radical computing advances into a media event that garnered front-page headlines around the world.

This kind of bewitching star power is ripe for parody. A comedy series inspired by a fictional Steve Jobs blog and follow-up book written by former Forbes staffer Dan Lyons is being developed for pay cable channel Epix.

Oprah Winfrey doesn't need anymore media hype-and may actually profit from less. Over the last 25 years Winfrey turned her syndicated talk show into America's town square and built a US.4 billion fortune along the way. The upcoming season will be the last for Winfrey's eponymous talk show, an announcement that brought the Queen of All Media to tears late last year. While spin-offs from Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil and Rachael Ray will continue, Winfrey has her eyes set on something bigger: the Oprah Winfrey Network, a cable network jointly owned by Discovery Communications poised to bow in January 2011.

Universal Appeal

Steven Spielberg (US billion) has a similar story of universal appeal. For two generations he has been Hollywood's pre-eminent storyteller, the man behind a library of seminal films including Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Jurassic Park and Schindler's List. Recent moves, including the release a fourth installment of Indiana Jones (the movie grossed US million globally) and a US.5 billion agreement with India's Reliance ADA Group to start a new film company, added still more fame and fortune.

Another storyteller, Harry Potter creator Joanne (J.K.) Rowling (US billion), is expecting a big 2010: Universal Studios will open its "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" in Orlando and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1 will debut in theaters (Part II is due out in 2011). Potter films have grossed more than US billion, and the books have been translated into 65 languages. Her personal story is nearly as magical as the fiction she writes: While a single mother living on welfare in Edinburgh, Scotland, she completed the first story of the teenage wizard in 1997. A year later her first Harry Potter adventure was published in the U.S. and became a literary sensation.

Ralph Lauren (US.6 billion) has had a magical year as well. The tailored tastemaker has defied the chill in retail. He opened stores in China as U.S. and European sales slowed. Sales exceeded US billion, and the value of shares in Polo Ralph Lauren doubled during past year. The Bronx native worked his first job at Brooks Brothers, leaving business school to design ties for Beau Brummel in 1967. Later that year he launched Polo later with US,000 and sold 28% of the company to Goldman Sachs in 1994 for US million. Three years later the company went public and Lauren became not only fashionable but also very wealthy.

The Unlikely Billionaire

Perhaps the most unlikely Celebrity Billionaire is 79-year-old Warren Buffett. While he's long been known on Wall Street as the rumpled "Oracle of Omaha," his fame increased considerably during the last two years as everyone from the president to everyday 401(k) holders tuned in to hear his fireside chats on the imploding economy.

Savvy, high-profile moves, including his decision to plow US billion into Goldman Sachs and another US billion into General Electric amid 2008's market collapse, were seen by the media and investors as glimmers of optimism in a dark time. He was just chasing a sale.

"We've put a lot of money to work during the chaos of the last two years," he wrote in this year's annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. "When it's raining gold, reach for a bucket, not a thimble." Works for him. With a net worth of US billion, Buffett is the third richest man in the world, thanks to surging Berkshire Hathaway shares, up US billion over the last 12 months.