Typing celebrities
Typing a celebrity (actor, author, artist, politician…) is difficult. Lists provided by Enneagram authors are worth looking at, they contain a few interesting examples but they cannot be considered as references. They are often done superficially and have a poor accuracy.
There exists good typing work by independent people often unheard of. A useful accurate typing can sometimes reach a good degree of consensus. Bjork is accurately typed as SX 9w1 by the community while her type is far from obvious.
The first time I saw somebody type a celebrity (Drew Barrymore as 7w6 which is correct) with good arguments, observing micro-expressions and body language, I was puzzled. I had no clue about how it was possible to see all this. I have seen the work of a few talented “typers”, for example typing David Lynch accurately as a 9 (a quite difficult one). Usually, perceptive typing works remain unseen by the public eye and buried in hidden places. The fact that Einstein is a 9w1 rather than a 5 is known by a few persons but it remains an underground knowledge.
Typing celebrities requires a specific work. Often, they are used as examples in a text to illustrate a certain type. This is fine for an introduction, but it is most often off target. Madonna becomes an example for the social 2 (ambition), then for the bossy control of an 8, then for the success seeking and image control of an individualistic 3w4. Michael Jackson becomes a 4, the sensitive one with a terrible childhood. People want to find illustrations of type 1 and pickup important reformers from History like Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King who look indeed 1ish (austere, noble, dignity). These examples are fine but still incorrect.
You cannot start by typing celebrities, it is impossible for a beginner. You must start by typing people in real life. For a long time, the type of celebrities should remain mysterious and out of reach. We cannot see what lies behind the public image easily. To type celebrities, you need to reach a level of comfort in typing that allows you to focus on the important elements, see the message between the lines in the most ordinary small talk. The micro-expressions, physical attitudes, the “light in the eyes” are the most important tools. This can only be done after typing dozens of people in real life reliably. At first, typing a celebrity requires to watch hours of interviews. Then you can do it faster by picking up the revealing details.
An overview of usual accuracy
The Enneagram Institute is maybe the “least worst” source of examples. But their accuracy depends on types. Type 7 is rather well known and the list is rather good. Filtered on the examples I know, the list is OK:
Type 7 :
Galileo Galilei,W.A. Mozart,Richard Feynman, John F. Kennedy,Joe Biden, Sarah Palin, Silvio Berlusconi, Richard Branson, Leonard Bernstein, Chuck Berry, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Steven Spielberg, Fred Astaire, Cary Grant, John Belushi, Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Bruce Willis,Robert Downey, Jr., Leonardo DiCaprio, Charlie Sheen, Cameron Diaz, Paris Hilton,David Duchovny
The mistakes are understandable. I am not 100% sure Galileo is not a 7. I only know Feynman is a 9w1 because I studied many examples of similar physicists but I originally thought he was a 7 too. I also considered Robert Downey, Jr. could be a 7.
On the other hand, lists of the rarest types are made almost entirely of non-stereotypical examples of more common types:
Type 4 :
Frédéric Chopin, Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky, Gustav Mahler, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Edgar Allen Poe, Yukio Mishima, Virginia Woolf, Anne Frank, J.D. Salinger, Frida Kahlo, Maria Callas, Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen, Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), Cher, Annie Lennox, Prince, Alanis Morrisette,Florence ( + the Machine) Welch, Amy Winehouse, Ingmar Bergman, Marlon Brando, Jeremy Irons, Angelina Jolie, Winona Ryder, Kate Winslet, Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp
Some mistakes are understandable: Chopin, Callas, Mishima, Bergman are not absurd and credible. However, typing Angelina Jolie or Cher as 4s requires a good dose of hallucinogens.
Enneagram Elements 