Who's Next: 18 rising stars who'll be lighting up the screen in 2023
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To pull together The A.V. Club’s initial Who’s Next list of stars to watch in the year ahead, we canvassed experts across the industry and closely surveyed the landscape of coming films and shows. The result is an already impressive roster of promising young talent, featuring 18 actors who figure to be talked about throughout 2023—and well beyond.
Several of the performers on our list will actually be working with each other this year (the Barbie movie cast is stacked). Some of them have been in the game for a while, but are taking on their first major starring roles. And still others are making their acting debuts this year. These young actors have varying degrees of experience, but they’re all set to make a big impact on the industry in 2023.
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Bella Ramsey
Age: 19
Birthplace: Nottinghamshire, England
British actress Bella Ramsey had the kind of breakout role at a young age most actors dream about their entire careers. She won over Game Of Thrones viewers with her steely portrayal of Lady Lyanna Mormont, the 10-year-old head of her noble house. Fierce, loyal, and wise beyond her years, she quickly became a fan favorite for her no-nonsense attitude and for showing the lords of the North who was boss. Ramsey’s performance left no doubt that she, like Lady Mormont, was a force to be reckoned with.
Last year she returned to period pieces, playing Lady Jane Grey in the Starz series Becoming Elizabeth and taking on the plucky lead role in Lena Dunham’s adaptation of the medieval coming-of-age comedy Catherine Called Birdy. She’s done plenty of voice work too, lending her vocal stylings to the lead role in the charming Netflix animated series Hilda. Later this year she can be heard as Molly in the animated sequel Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget.
Ramsey’s current gig is her most challenging yet—portraying Ellie on HBO’s newly minted hit series The Last Of Us, based on the popular video game. Set mainly in a post-apocalyptic world where a parasitic fungus causes humans to turn into zombie hosts, The Last Of Us follows Ellie on a cross-country journey alongside Joel (Pedro Pascal), a hardened smuggler. Both the show and Ramsey have earned praise from fans of the game as well as newcomers to the property. We expect to hear her name a lot this year, perhaps even through Emmy season. [Cindy White]
Kelvin Harrison Jr.
Age: 28
Birthplace: New Orleans
There’s a turning point in every successful actor’s career where it becomes clear the industry is ready to trust them with leading role material. While you could say that moment for Kelvin Harrison Jr. was his 2020 BAFTA EE Rising Star nomination, recognizing his breakout work in It Comes At Night, Monsters And Men, Luce, Waves, and more.
But in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, Harrison embodied blues icon B.B. King, resulting in the kind of trifecta that guarantees a spot on a list like this one: he underwent the Hollywood rite of passage that is playing a real person, he had critics wishing his supporting role were a lead, and he’s appeared in an Oscar Best Picture nominee.
The latter point is even more remarkable when you remember this is not Harrison’s first time at that particular rodeo. Between Elvis, an early role in 12 Years A Slave, and the SAG Award-winning The Trial Of The Chicago 7, perhaps Best Picture nominees are something he’ll make a habit of in the years to come. Up next he’ll play Mozart’s contemporary Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, in Chevalier, Scar in Barry Jenkins’ Mufasa: The Lion King, and none other than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in Disney+ and National Geographic’s hit anthology Genius: MLK/X. [Jack Smart]
Jaz Sinclair
Age: 28
Birthplace: Dallas
Jaz Sinclair has racked up an impressive list of sci-fi TV roles in Revolution and The Vampire Diaries. She also appeared opposite Oscar-nominee Andrea Riseborough in last year’s Please Baby Please. However, her claim to fame was the four-season-long Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. Sinclair, as teen witch Rosalind “Roz” Walker, is an instant charmer in Netflix’s supernatural drama.
For too long on TV, Black witches were depicted as side characters supporting the white protagonist. Sinclair’s vulnerable yet fierce performance meant Roz became a leader in her own right. It’s no wonder she was tapped to take over The Boys’ long-awaited spin-off, Gen V.
In that coming-of-age superhero drama, Sinclair will play a young “supe” called Marie Moreau, who participates in the battle royal challenges at a Vought-run university. If we know anything about The Boys, Gen V will be a dark joyride, allowing Sinclair to portray her acting range like never before, and will hopefully be an ideal launchpad as a lead star. [Saloni Gajjar]
Devery Jacobs
Age: 29
Birthplace: Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada
Devery Jacobs is already a star in the making, thanks to her poignant performance in FX’s Indigenous comedy, Reservation Dogs (one of The A.V. Club’s top five shows of 2022). The actor has been working in the industry for a few years, but her breakout role in the stellar coming-of-age series deservedly put her on the map. And she’s only just beginning.
Jacobs often steals the spotlight on Res Dogs with her nuanced take on Elora Danan, a teen seeking more to life than the community she’s from, except she has to reckon with her heritage first. She also shone as a writer after joining the Res Dogs writers’ room for season two.
The Critics Choice winner will next appear in Res Dogs’ third season, as well as Ark: The Animated Series, which is based on the video game. But she’s also marking a major turning point in her career by joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2023. Jacobs co-stars in Disney+’s upcoming Echo, the Hawkeye spin-off with Alaqua Cox, Charlie Cox, and Vincent D’Onofrio. There aren’t many details about her character yet, but it’s safe to say an MCU project automatically leads to a global audience. [Saloni Gajjar]
Ncuti Gatwa
Age: 30
Birthplace: Nyarugenge, Kigali, Rwanda
If you first met Ncuti (pronounced like “shooty”) Gatwa as Eric Effiong in the high-school dramedy Sex Education, you already know that he can light up a scene. As the openly gay best friend of Otis (Asa Butterfield) he never settled for being second banana—he had relationship troubles, breakthroughs, and a character arc of his own.
Gatwa’s character has become an example for how to do representation properly on TV, and he seems to take that responsibility seriously. Why else would he agree to sign on to one of the most iconic roles in all of British pop culture for his next project?
This year, Gatwa will be officially introduced as the next Doctor in Russell T. Davies’ newly revamped iteration of Doctor Who. After joining David Tennant for one more go at the helm of the TARDIS in a series of three 60th anniversary specials (premiering in November), Gatwa will continue on his own as the first Black actor to take over the role of the legendary Time Lord. And just for good measure, as if he wasn’t already in for a big year, Gatwa is also among the list of standout actors appearing in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie this summer. [Cindy White]
Sophia Lillis
Age: 20
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York
The path to stardom is different for everyone, but sometimes it’s simply a matter of putting in the work, remaining steadily employed, and rocking every opportunity that comes along. That’s how Sophia Lillis has gone from taking acting classes at age seven to appearing in two major studio films due for release this year.
Her big break came back in 2017, when Lillis starred as young Beverly in the Stephen King adaptation It. She went on to reprise her role in the 2019 sequel It: Chapter Two. In 2020 she played the lead in the coming-of-age black comedy I Am Not Okay With This.
Moving into the future, we’ll get to see Lillis on the big screen this March playing a druid (with horns and a tail) in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Her character, Doric, is a shapeshifter who can turn into animals, including an owlbear. She’ll also appear alongside Scarlett Johansson, Jeff Goldblum, and Tom Hanks in Wes Anderson’s next film, Asteroid City, coming to theaters in June. [Cindy White]
Ayo Edibiri
Age: 27
Birthplace: Boston
In last year’s fantastic, out-of-nowhere Hulu series The Bear, Ayo Edebiri made a statement as aspiring chef Sydney Adamu. As newly hired sous-chef of the Original Beef of Chicagoland she takes on the thankless job of implementing head chef Carmy’s (Jeremy Allen White) plan to revitalize his late brother’s failing restaurant. At the end of the first season, the two of them plan to team up to open their own restaurant. We’ll see how that goes (not exactly smoothly we predict) when the show comes back for season two early this summer.
Edebiri recently turned heads again at the Sundance Film Festival in the musical comedy Theater Camp, alongside Molly Gordon, Ben Platt, Amy Sedaris, and Patti Harrison, among others.
The biggest signal that she’s officially arrived, though, is the freshly announced news that she’ll be joining the MCU with an as-yet-unspecified role in the upcoming superhero team-up film Thunderbolts. Her talents aren’t limited to acting, though. Her resume also includes stints as a producer and writer on shows like What We Do In The Shadows and Dickenson (in which she also appeared as Hattie). It feels like the sky’s the limit for this up-and-coming multi-hyphenate. [Cindy White]
Justice Smith
Age: 27
Birthplace: Los Angeles
What makes a rising Hollywood star these days? Is it raw talent, a clear commitment to and affinity for the craft? Or is it movie-star bona fides, the kind of charisma that sees an actor cast in long-running film franchises? Justice Smith is excelling in both of those avenues.
His nuanced work in The Get Down and Generation prove he’s a technically brilliant actor, while his appearances in the Jurassic World series, romance drama All The Bright Places, and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu don’t sacrifice that level of quality.
The latter hit has a sequel planned for 2024, but we won’t have to wait long to see Smith on the big screen: he’s one of many reasons to check out Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and he also stars opposite Julianne Moore in the Apple TV+ film Sharper, coming in February [Jack Smart]
Storm Reid
Age: 19
Birthplace: Atlanta
You may already be familiar with Storm Reid from her previous roles as Meg in A Wrinkle In Time or Gia in Euphoria, or perhaps you saw her in the horror films Don’t Let Go and The Invisible Man. Her star has been on the rise for some time now, but she’s in for an even bigger year in 2023. Reid’s name has already come up a lot in reference to the January 20 release of Missing.
A sort of follow up to the 2018 techno thriller Searching, it further updates the found-footage genre with scenes made to look like they were shot by computer and phone cameras and played on a desktop screen. Reid centers the film as June, a teen trying to put the pieces together after her mother (Nia Long) takes a trip to Colombia with her boyfriend (Ken Leung) and doesn’t come back. Reid has been praised by critics for her convincing performance, which grounds the experimental elements in emotional authenticity.
She’ll next be seen in a small but key role as opposite Bella Ramsey’s Ellie in HBO’s hit video game adaptation The Last Of Us. Reid plays Riley in the upcoming eighth episode of the first season, a character who features in the downloadable add-on The Last Of Us: Left Behind. In a flashback we’ll see how she and Ellie met and what happened to her prior to the premiere (if you watched closely, you may have heard her name dropped). If her story follows the game, it’s sure to be an emotional episode. We can’t wait to see what she does with it. [Cindy White]
Rina Sawayama
Age: 32
Birthplace: Niigata, Japan
Rina Sawayama is already kind of a big deal, but she’s expanding her horizons in 2023. Sawayama got her start as a musician, establishing herself as one of the most innovative pop artists in the game with her EP Rina in 2018 and her debut full-legth Sawayama in 2020.
While she missed out on several British music awards nominations in 2020 because she doesn’t actually hold British citizenship—though she’s lived in England since she was 10 years old—a grassroots campaign started by her fans actually managed to get those rules changed so permanent residents could receive nominations, too.
So, yeah—Sawayama is already one of the coolest people around, and she’s already super successful, but of course she’s not content to rest on her laurels. Instead, she’s expanding into the acting world, making her film debut in John Wick: Chapter 4 in March. Coupled with her modeling career, Sawayama is poised to become a major triple threat in 2023. [Jen Lennon]
Jack Champion
Age: 18
Jack Champion has only had one major film role so far, but he’s been working for years. That’s because he spent more than five years filming James Cameron’s Avatar sequels (seriously—he was cast when he was 12, and he’s 18 now). But it was worth it, because Avatar: The Way Of Water is a huge hit, and Champion is a delight as Spider, a human raised among the Na’vi.
And it’s not just Pandora in Champion’s future, either—while he’ll appear in Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, he’s also got a role in the highly anticipated Scream VI.
Plus, he’ll appear in an upcoming film with Liam Neeson called Retribution, and he’ll also be featured in Freaky Tales with Pedro Pascal. In terms of box office success and recognition, it’s hard to top the Avatar franchise, but Champion is quickly proving that he’s more than just a one-hit acting wonder. [Jen Lennon]
Ariana Greenblatt
Age: 15
Birthplace: New York
Despite being only 15 years old, Ariana Greenblatt has been around for a minute. She made a quick appearance in one episode of the Disney Channel series Liv And Maddie before quickly jumping to a regular supporting role on another Disney Channel series, Stuck In The Middle, in 2016. (Fun fact: Stuck In The Middle is where current it girl Jenna Ortega got her start, too!)
Since then, Greenblatt has quickly been climbing the studio ladder, appearing as Young Gamora in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, and as Young Nina in In The Heights in 2021. But 2023 is set to be the year she’ll truly break out: in March, she’s co-starring with Oscar-nominee Adam Driver in 65, a prehistoric sci-fi thriller.
She’s also set to appear in Greta Gerwig’s highly anticipated Barbie movie, and she’s got a fun role as Tiny Tina in Eli Roth’s Borderlands movie. Between her roles getting bigger and bigger, and her co-stars getting more and more high profile (in addition to Driver, she’s also co-starring with basically every hot young actor under the sun in Barbie, and Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis in Borderlands), Ariana Greenblatt figures to have a career-making year in 2023. [Jen Lennon]
Tom Blyth
Age: 27
Birthplace: Birmingham, England
Actors’ screen debuts don’t get much better than starring opposite Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. Most delightful about Tom Blyth’s first outing was his role in Robin Hood as Feral Child. From there, the Juilliard-trained English star-in-the-making has turned in memorable work in Scott And Sid, Benediction, The Gilded Age, and especially as the eponymous lead in Epix’s series Billy The Kid.
It may be leading roles from here on out for Blyth, who’s been tapped to play Coriolanus Snow in the much-anticipated The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes, the film that will serve as the first prequel in the Hunger Games franchise.
And if that’s enough, Blyth is also lined up for the lead role in Alfredo Barrios Jr.’s comedy Discussion Materials, about a professional hockey player who becomes a junior banker in the high-finance world. [Jack Smart]
Nathalie Emmanuel
Age: 33
Birthplace: Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England
Let’s get real about the role for which Nathalie Emmanuel, until recently, was best known: Game Of Thrones’ Missandei. Acting as counselor to Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys was a thankless role. And as the actor herself has indicated with refreshing frankness, playing the show’s one woman of color invited fair criticism: “We need to have this idea of inclusion at the forefront and a diversity of thought and ideas all the way up the chain,” she said.
So it’s to Emmanuel’s credit that her subsequent work has taken her closer and closer to leading lady status. She held her own as a scene-stealing action pro in the Fast & Furious and Maze Runner franchises, threw her hat into the rom-com ring with 2019’s Four Weddings And A Funeral series, and then finally was, well, invited, to lead The Invitation. The Gothic drama about a woman being lured to a wedding full of what turn out to be vampires confirmed that Emmanuel is both an actor and a movie star. Emmy-nominated for Quibi’s Die Hart and with a movie version on the way, she’ll also star in the upcoming Fast X as well as Francis Ford Coppola’s highly anticipated Megalopolis. [Jack Smart]
Dominique Thorne
Age: 25
Birthplace: New York
Appearing in the films If Beale Street Could Talk and Judas And The Black Messiah is an incredible way for an actor to start their Hollywood journey, and that’s exactly how Dominique Thorne kicked off her career.
Building on that success, Thorne made her debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. As Riri Williams, she dons the mantle of Ironheart in the film, and while it can be understandably difficult to stand out among actors like Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, and Letitia Wright, Thorne’s lighthearted performance still managed to resonate with fans.
Thorne will reprise her role as Riri in the Disney+ series Ironheart in 2023, joining Marvel stars like Hailee Steinfeld and Iman Vellani to lead her own drama. It’s clear that Kevin Feige has huge plans for her in the Young Avengers grouping. And before you start to pigeonhole Thorne as strictly superhero material, consider that she’ll also appear in the upcoming historical drama Freaky Tales opposite Pedro Pascal and Ben Mendelsohn. [Saloni Gajjar]
Hari Nef
Age: 30
Birthplace: Philadelphia
Actress-writer-model Hari Nef was already looking towards the future last year when she walked several runways showing off designer collections for spring and summer of 2023. It was an early start to what’s shaping up to be a big year for her.
Neff will soon appear in the HBO series The Idol, created by Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and starring Lily-Rose Depp. And she’ll light up the screen in Greta Gerwig’s highly anticipated summer tentpole film Barbie. She’s also set to portray Candy Darling in a biopic about the life of the transgender icon.
Nef is a bit of an icon herself, making history as the first openly transgender model signed by influential modeling agency IMG, and the first to grace the cover of a major fashion magazine when she appeared on a September 2016 special issue of Elle. With a body of work that already includes a SAG-nominated recurring role in Transparent and a featured part in the Sex And The City reboot And Just Like That… she’s already got a firm foundation to continue to build on this year, and beyond. [Cindy White]
Kathryn Newton
Age: 25
Born: Orlando, Florida
The thing about Kathryn Newton’s rising stardom is it doesn’t matter which of her vastly different audiences you ask—they’ll all agree she’s one of today’s most exciting up-and-comers.
CW audiences have known it since Supernatural, while prestige drama fans watched her hold her own in Halt And Catch Fire and Big Little Lies (remember when she made Reese Witherspoon puke?). Horror fans know her from her breakout in Paranormal Activity 4 and the comedic hit Freaky, and she pulled off both sci-fi and rom-com in The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things. Furthermore, Pokémon aficionados love her for Detective Pikachu.
But if there are any niche audiences out there who still don’t have Newton on their radar, that will soon change with her taking on the role of Cassie Lang in next month’s Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania. Welcome to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Kathryn, and get ready for Phase Four of your own career. [Jack Smart]
Halle Bailey
Age: 22
Birthplace: Atlanta
To put it simply, 2023 is fit to be Halle Bailey’s year. Unlike most of the actors here, Bailey is not as much a case of moving from supporting to leading roles. Rather, she has dominated one industry—music, as part of the Grammy-nominated Chloe x Halle with her sister Chlöe—enough to warrant imminent domination of another.
As a child she made minor (and adorable) appearances in Last Holiday and the Disney Channel’s Let It Shine, and she has stolen the show on Freeform’s great Grown-ish.
But Bailey has entered the big leagues with the announcement that she’ll recreate the lead role in this year’s Disney live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid. (And if one iconic musical weren’t enough, later in the year she’ll appear in the tuned-up version of The Color Purple.) We’ve been looking forward to seeing this astonishing talent receive her flowers—and rise above the haters—from the moment we heard her sing that snippet of “Part of Your World” as Ariel. It’s the role of a lifetime—so far—and we have no doubt she’ll inhabit beautifully. [Jack Smart]
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