After Almost 20 Years in the Business, This is Brie Larson's Breakout Year
Actress Brie Larson at the Golden Globe Awards. (Photo: Getty Images)
Really, at this point, 26-year-old actress Brie Larson — predicted by many outlets to win the Academy Award this year — doesn’t need another article about how she’s an “it-girl” (she refutes the term, anyway) for coming into the A-list spotlight for her leading performance in Room. “There is no ‘it,’” Larson told CBS News in December 2015. “Who was 'it’ before 'it’? And when does 'it’ go away? When did I get 'it’? Who’s gonna take 'it’?”
After all, Larson, whose legal name is Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers, has been acting since she was age 9, starting with sketches on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and a stint as Bob Saget’s daughter in The WB sitcom Raising Dad. Once upon a time, she also explored a career in music, with one album, Finally Out of P.E., released in 2005, selling only 3,500 copies. She’s also had her fair share of work in youth entertainment, starring alongside Beverly Mitchell in the Disney Channel film Right on Track and co-starring in teen flick Sleepover — though she’s well known for turning down opportunities to follow in the footsteps of former teen idols like Hilary Duff and Selena Gomez. Before 2015, she appeared in 21 Jump Street, co-starring with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, and played Kate in Showtime’s United States of Tara, which was canceled after the third season but received critical acclaim. Her choice of roles paid off. So far for her performance in Room, she’s won one Screen Actors Guild Award and one Golden Globe Award. She is nominated twice for a British Academy Film Award this year, and she’s gearing up to be the favorite for the Best Actress Oscar. This, like Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone in 2010, is Larson’s breakout year — but she’s been working at it for a long time. Like Lawrence, she’s friends with Amy Schumer, and she even plays Schumer’s sister in the 2015 comedic film, Trainwreck.
Yahoo Beauty editor in chief Bobbi Brown met Larson at the 2015 Telluride Film Festival and predicted that 2016 would be her year of wins — and our chief was right: Larson’s earned her fame, but the talent was always there.
Related:
Why TV Star Turned Film Lead Brie Larson Should Win Best Actress at the 2016 Oscars
Telluride Film Festival: Muted Beauty and Powerful Films Rule
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