5 Up and Coming Actors

Many of the movies that are out today make you wonder if all the great movie actors are over the age of 40 (except you, Leo).  Like, you can never cast a movie with young actors again, because it seems to be OK to fill whole movies with ex members of the Mickey Mouse Club and/or an Olsen Twin.  Sure, the Harry Potter movies have a ton of young talent, but they aren’t exactly up-and-coming, considering they’ve been in the game for a decade now.  So who are the up-and-coming young actors?  Who can we expect great things from?  Granted, this is one humble blogger’s opinion, but I’d put my money on these folks.

 Jamie Campbell Bower

Male model and singer, Jamie Campbell Bower, 23 years old, has appeared in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the later movies based on the Twilight novels, and the show Camelot, but he has yet to have a movie release where he is the star.  Perhaps that will change with the upcoming Anonymous – a movie about the idea that Shakespeare was not the author of the plays credited to him, and The Mortal Instruments, a movie based on the novel by Cassandra Clare.  You might recognize Bower from his short appearances in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I and II as Gellert Grindelward, and he is engaged to Bonnie Wright, the young actress who plays Ginny Weasley in the films.  Bower has shown promise in the movies he’s appeared in so far, and we expect to see great things from him.

Olivia Thirlby

You may recognize her by her hilarious role in Juno as Leah, Juno’s best friend and confidante.  Since then, she’s had roles in movies such as The Wackness and No Strings Attached, but no leading roles of note.  Thirlby, 25 years old, has six movies in the hopper, one completed, three in post-production, and two in pre-production, plus a TV pilot for a show called Good Vibes, also starring Adam Brody of The OC, Jake Busey, and Debi Mazar.  Hopefully one of these projects will lauch Olivia’s status into leady-lady land.

Juno Temple

The daughter of of a film producer and a film director, Juno Temple is 22 years old and poised for some great roles.  So far, she’s had bit parts in big films, like Atonement, Notes on a Scandal, and The Other Boleyn Girl, and leading roles in less-seen movies like Dirty Girl (also starring Mary Steenburgen and William H. Macy), Little Birds (also starring Kate Bosworth and Leslie Mann), and Year One (starring Jack Black and Michael Cera).  In retrospect, Year One is not necessarily a less-seen movie, considering it opened on 3022 screens), but did you actually see it?  Didn’t think so.  Hopefully, one of the many projects percolating for this young and talented actor will give her the kudos she deserves.  Temple is slotted to play Queen Anne in the upcoming reboot of The Three Musketeers, and she has two leading roles forthcoming in The Brass Teapot and Jack and Diane.  It is also rumored that she will have a role in the upcoming final installment of the Christopher Nolan Batman series, titled The Dark Knight Rises.

Max Irons

Max Irons (26) is the son of famed actors Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack.  He had a small role in 2009′s little-watched Dorian Gray, and appeared in Red Riding Hood, a film reviled by critics and snubbed by fans of the ever-popular vampire movies.  We happen to think Max is better than that, if his lineage and the shining performances in both films are to be taken into account.  Hopefully, his upcoming role as a young Antonio Vivaldi in the Boris Damast-written and produced film Vivaldi will make a difference, if for no other reason than Alfred Molina agreed to be involved.  Damast’s resume is a little light, but since this is his first screenwriting effort perhaps we’ll see something more promising direction-wise than the 1999 weird film Pros & Cons.  All we are saying, is give Max a chance.

Jaclyn Hales

Brand new to the movie scene, this 24-year old beauty has two movies in pre-production.  How do we know about her, you ask?  We were lucky enough to catch a screener of the upcoming film Unicorn City, where Hales plays the leading lady, Marsha.  The movie, a comedy about a LARPer who forms his own Utopian society for gamers to prove his leadership skills to get a job he wants, will be released soon, and you’ll notice that even though indie up-and-come Devin McGinn carries the show, and Jon Gries (of Napoleon Dynamite fame) gives a characteristically wonderful performance, Hales steals every scene she is in.  Her awkward yet loveable character’s attempts to gain McGinn’s character’s attention comprise the most amusing and touching scenes in the movies, and we expect great things of this young lady.

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Posted by Lauren Hill on July 18, 2011. Filed under Movies, The List. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry