8. Jennifer Lawrence
In 2010 Hollywood was shaken by the explosive breakthrough performance of Jennifer Lawrence, in the independent success Winter’s Bone, winning an Oscar nomination at 20 years of age. She won the award itself two years later for Silver Lining’s Playbook, working alongside Bradley Cooper and Robert DeNiro under the auspices of director David O.Russell.
In this film she displayed a natural forcefulness and created a sense of empathy for her character. Her growth was confirmed in the following year in another film from Russell, American Hustle. This time she had a wickedly comic role as a character who was deceptive and misleading, stealing the show in a small role.
7. Robert Pattinson
After he became known in the Twilight series, both critics and the public were impressed by Robert Pattinson’s performance in the Cronenberg films, Cosmopolis and Maps To The Stars.
It is a typical of Cronenberg to use the same actors from film to film and to become attached to them. If Pattinson had already shaken off the label of teen-idol with the interesting Bel Ami, only with Cosmopolis does he assume the mantle of Actor.
He offers a powerful performance in interpreting a character who is introverted but animalistic. He is equally good in Maps to the Stars, where he plays a chauffeur-actor who hides behind the smile and the appearance of innocence, while another aspect of his nature is revealed in the course of the film.
6. Miles Teller
After a peripatetic childhood and graduating from New York University, Miles Teller made his debut on the big screen in 2010 in the film Rabbit Hole. In this film, he displayed an ability to work alongside such noted actors as Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart, and demonstrated for the first time a decided skill, one noticed by the public.
In subsequent years, Miles participated mostly in films aimed at a young audience, up until 2014, a crucial year for him. He won the leading role in the successful Whiplash.
The film presented him considerable challenges, primarily not being overwhelmed by the powerhouse performance of JK Simmons. But he holds up well, focusing on physical performance rather than dialogue and pulling off the many close-ups that director Damien Chazelle required of him.
5. Ellen Page
The Canadian actress Ellen Page began her career very early on television and in a few years became one of the most promising young Canadian performers, participating in independent films such as Hard Candy and Mouth to Mouth.
She reached stardom in American cinema with the first X-Men, but her breakthrough was in the title role of Juno.
The film is an adroit comedy-drama and was greatly appreciated by audiences and critics. She was nominated for an Oscar in a role which shows off her special features: excellent comic timing, natural spontaneity and an almost magnetic allure.
In 2010 she won the role of a young architect in the Christopher Nolan film Inception, which confirms her qualities in what turn out to be an especially challenging part. In the following years she has had the opportunity to work with important directors such as Woody Allen and Bryan Singer.
4. Paul Dano
Paul Dano began his starring career ,after giving support in several comedies with the film The Ballad of Jack and Rose playing opposite Daniel Day-Lewis. Although the film proved to be too poetic, the performances are excellent, especially Paul’s.
But the real step forward came in 2006 with Little Miss Sunshine, where he played a young boy who had taken a vow of silence. For obvious reasons, he is forced to show a different side of his acting ability. He shows great expressiveness and qualities as a mimic.
By the next year he was now an established actor and was chosen to star in Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, where he offers one of the most impressive performances by a young actor in recent years. In the part of a charlatan preacher he is sometimes explosive, intense and most importantly good support for Daniel Day-Lewis.
In more recent years he has participated in major films like Prisoners and 12 Years a Slave in parts more or less important, and in the next year he will participate in a new film by Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino.
3. Mia Wasikowska
This young Australian has become in recent years one of the most promising actresses of the Hollywood scene, along with colleagues Rooney Mara and Jennifer Lawrence.
She became known to the general public in the role of Alice Kingsley in the movie Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton. Playing the role of little Alice, at once naive and curious and immersed in the magical atmosphere typical of Burton film, the same Wasikowska described the experience as both formative and challenging.
In the following years she is noted both for supporting parts in films such as The Kids Are All Right, and starring roles in movies like the independent film, Restless by Gus Van Sant, and Jane Eyre, opposite Michael Fassbender, where she showed a predilection for costume roles which employed all her charm and talent.
In more recent years she has had the opportunity to work with notable directors, including Cronenberg in Maps To The Stars, where she was impressive in the role of a little girl who was a former arsonist and who tries to move closer to her family, who is immersed in the vices of modern Hollywood.
2. Emma Stone
Of the actors in her age group, Emma Stone displays both a great maturity and a great presence in world cinema. After moving from Arizona to Los Angeles, and acting in several plays, she won her first major role in 2010 with Easy Girl, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. In 2011 she appeared alongside Jessica Chastain, Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis in The Help, but she had more serious challenges to come.
2014 was an important year Stone appeared in Magic in the Moonlight and Birdman, working with a Woody Allen and one of Hollywood’s emerging directing talents, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.
In the first film, opposite Colin Firth, she demonstrated excellent comic timing; Birdman showcased her talents in a more rounded fashion, as she commands the screen in a secondary.
1. Rooney Mara
In 2010 Rooney Mara, who had only played small film roles until that time, caught the eye of director David Fincher was cast in an interesting role in the film The Social Network and showed great promise, especially in an early scene. Working with the esteemed Fincher gave a boost to her career and the following year she was awarded the lead role in his film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, where she ed a complex and multifaceted character.
Her performance impressed audiences and critics and earned her nominations for the Academy Award and Golden Globe in the best actress category.
2013 was a great year for Mara, who undertook a short but very effective part alongside Joaquin Phoenix in the film Her, and a scene stealing role Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects.
In this film, she played the part of a woman suffering from depression trapped in a difficult relationship with her husband, enduring a series of twists. Rooney again displayed her flexibility in a very complicated role, one requiring total immersion in the character.
Author Bio: Sebastiano graduated in Humanities and is attending a degree in Economics for Arts and Culture. He is interested in art and film ratings, and is a regular follower of Venice Film Festival.