40 under 40

21. Ryan Kavanaugh

Kavanaugh is one of the hottest names in Hollywood for good reason: He brings in cash -- and lots of it. As Wall Street has limped away from the movie-financing business, Kavanaugh has raised more than $10 billion for projects like The Social Network and Salt since opening his own shop, Relativity Media, in 2005. He uses data from every movie released in the past decade to determine a new project's risk. But "gut is always important," he says.

Music man: Kavanaugh sometimes plays guitar with close friend and Grammy Award winner Michael Bublé.

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Last updated October 14 2010: 1:25 PM ET