John Boyega, Adele and Emma Watson make Forbes list of successful Europeans under 30

The US magazine is known for making note of who’s who in the entertainment industry, but 2016 marks the first year it’s done so on this side of the Atlantic.

Boyega, Ridley, Adele and Watson pop up on the list of the 30 most influential Europeans in the entertainment industry, alongside Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), singers Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Florence Welch and FKA Twigz and rapper Little Simz.

Athlete Jessica Ennish-Hill and tennis champ Andy Murray also makes the cut.

Boyega, whose star has risen rapidly since The Force Awakens became the biggest film of all time, revealed that he decided to pursue his acting dreams when he realised he could “get paid for playing other people”.

He hopes nobody ever claps eyes on his first audition, though.

“I got a call telling me to come in to read in front of (director) JJ Abrams and Nina Gold, the casting director. My first audition was all over the place. Oh gosh, I hope they never reveal that first audition, I was so nervous”, he said.

“And then after that I was released into a whirlwind seven months of auditions, training, back-to-back meetings. I had to balance filming and secretly going to these auditions that I could tell nobody about, which was interesting. I didn’t really believe it would be anything substantial until I got closer to the location.”

Other stars named include Ireland's Saoirse Ronan, Hozier and Rory McIlroy, and Swedish YouTuber PewDiePi.