The breakthrough actors to watch in 2024
These nine emerging talents stood out in a raft of films and television shows last year, and we can expect to see more from them in 2024.
Hollywood is teeming with stars whom we’ve long loved to watch on the big and small screens, an array of big names we can always count on for outstanding performances in feature films and television shows.
But in the wake of upheaval in the film industry from the writers and actors’ strikes last year, the cinematic landscape has begun to change as an increasing number of up-and-coming actors emerge on to the scene.
From breakout roles to career-altering characters, there have been a few names in particular that have begun appearing more frequently on the radar.
Here are some of the most prolific emerging actors who left strong impressions on us last year, and from whom we might be able to expect big things this year and beyond.
Ayo Edebiri
Actor, writer and producer Ayo Edebiri has had an incredible few years. She started her career as a writer on shows such as Sunnyside, Dickinson, Big Mouth and What We Do in the Shadows (for which she was nominated in the best episodic comedy category of the Writers Guild of America Awards last year), but her acting trajectory began to take off with her breakout role as sous chef Sydney Adamu in The Bear, for which she won a Golden Globe for best actress in a comedy.
Most recently, Edebiri played second lead Josie in the film Bottoms alongside friend and collaborator Rachel Sennot. Indeed, last year was a highly successful and prolific one for Edebiri, who landed a supporting role in Theater Camp as well as several voice acting roles in numerous titles. We expect to see even more big things from her in this year.
Charles Melton
Charles Melton made his acting debut in the musical comedy-drama TV series Glee in 2014, and appeared in two episodes of American Horror Story from 2015-16 as well as several short films, but he rose to prominence when he played Reggie Mantle in the TV series Riverdale. It has been his recent transformation from teenage heart-throb to a more mature actor taking on some incredibly powerful roles that has solidified his breakthrough, though.
Melton’s heart-wrenching work in the film May December, starring alongside Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, has landed him a Gotham Award for best supporting actor, with plenty of Oscar buzz already sweeping through the industry.
Lily Gladstone
Lily Gladstone, a Native American actor of Siksikaitsitapi and NiMiiPuu descent, has been acting for many years. From acting alongside Kristen Stewart in Certain Women and later in First Cow, Gladstone already has a number of awards on her shelf and nominations under her belt. But it has been her incredible breakthrough role in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon that has seen her burst into the mainstream spotlight last year. Acting in the lead alongside star Leonardo DiCaprio, Gladstone made history at the recent Golden Globes for being the first indigenous actor to win the best actress gong for her performance in the film. Scorsese’s latest film is a likely to be a contender in an array of categories at this year’s Academy Awards, and no doubt many more career-defining roles await Gladstone.
Sam Rechner
Australian actor Sam Rechner was recently named GQ’s breakthrough actor of the year at GQ Australia’s Men of the Year awards, and it is an accolade the young film and television actor certainly deserves.
From playing a supporting role in Steven Spielberg’s 2022 Oscar-nominated feature The Fabelmans, Rechner has most recently landed a role in the second season of Netflix’s Heartbreak High, the teen comedy-drama series that has received international acclaim since its premiere in 2022.
Off the back of these roles and with a promising career laid out before him, we can be sure to see plenty more of Rechner in the new year and beyond.
Nicholas Galitzine
Nicholas Galitzine made his film debut in 2014 with The Beat Beneath My Feet, and since then the British actor’s resume has expanded significantly.
Having most recently starred in Bottoms, Red, White & Royal Blue, last year’s Amazon Prime adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s 2019 LGBT romance novel, and 2022 Netflix romantic drama Purple Hearts, Galitzine shows no signs of slowing down and is working with the likes of Anne Hathaway on an upcoming project, The Idea of You.
Critics have praised Galitzine’s impeccable range, transitioning easily from playing a solemn and eloquent English royal to an egocentric high school American football star, every character depicted with great commitment.
Archie Madekwe
From a series of minor roles in some major feature films and television series including Midsommar and See, Madekwe has officially broken into Hollywood with his lead work in several projects last year, including Gran Turismo, Beau is Afraid, Heart of Stone and Saltburn. For Madekwe, another young actor who has been applauded for his wide range of acting skills, the sky’s the limit.
Havana Rose Liu
Havana Rose Liu is a Brooklyn-born multidisciplinary artist with an extensive resume expanding from actor to model, dancer and activist, and she has become one of the film industry’s rising stars.
Her acting debut was a supporting role in the action drama film Mayday in 2021, and later that year she appeared in a minor role in Netflix comedy-drama The Chair. In 2022 she landed a starring role in the thriller No Exit, her first feature film.But it is in Liu’s latest project from last year, the highly anticipated, witty and raunchy comedy Bottoms, in which she plays one of the leads, a cheerleader named Isabel, that her acting career has truly begun to solidify. Her heartfelt, funny yet meaningful performance in this film that critics loved is confirmation enough that Liu is definitely one to watch.
Alison Oliver
Irish actor Alison Oliver is slowly but surely taking over Hollywood. Known for working with incredibly influential and prolific women in the film industry, Oliver launched her career in 2022 in a big way through her lead role in Conversations with Friends, the highly anticipated Hulu miniseries and adaptation of author Sally Rooney’s internationally bestselling book of the same name.
Her most recent work has been just as compelling, playing Venetia in the recent film Saltburn alongside a notable cast that includes Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Barry Keoghan and Richard E. Grant. Last year Oliver also worked on TV series Best Interests as well as the drama short Sound and Colour, and no doubt she will continue to land even more incredible roles this year.
Teyana Taylor
From her work in Coming 2 America (2021), White Men Can’t Jump (2023) and The Book of Clarence (2023), Taylor has set herself up as one of last year’s breakthrough actors with her most recent role in A Thousand and One, a far more serious and complex role than she has tackled before and that has generated a lot of positive buzz.
Her rise in the industry has only just begun, as Taylor’s plans to direct her first feature film are in the works through the production company she co-founded.