Beauty Break: Breakthrough Performers of the Year
Saturday, February 1, 2020 at 8:00PM by Nathaniel R
Getting to the fun stuff now in the Film Bitch Awards. New categories are up including Best Juvenile Performances (which gives us the chance to rave about the best working child actor in Hollywood again -- that'd be Noah Jupe), Best Casting (the only time you'll hear Nathaniel praise Uncut Gems), and Best Ensemble acting. Also on that awards page are the nominees for Breakthrough Perfomer of the Year including both of stars of Waves, Taylor Russell and Kelvin Harrison Jr. The basic criteria of that category is that it has to be early in their film career and we ask ourselves the question: how badly do we want to see them again in something else?
After the jump beautiful photographs of this year's nominees as well as a history of who came before them this past decade...
THIS YEAR'S NOMINEES
JESSIE BUCKLEY
30 years old. Wild Rose was just movie #3 for this Irish powerhouse.
KELVIN HARRISON JR
25 years old. This in demand young actor from New Orleans had ten (wut?) yes TEN movies released in the past two years, finally breaking big with the double whammy of Luce and Waves.
TOM MERCIER
26 years old. This Israeli living in Paris plays an Israeli immigrating to Paris in his film debut Synonyms. He's too new to know how much is acting and how much is existing on camera -- this is his first acting gig after previously being a judo champion and a dancer -- but he carries Synonyms with such confrontational force and uninhibited physicality that we're eager to find out.
MARGARET QUALLEY
25 years old. She'd mostly been "Andie MacDowell's daughter" through a few TV and film projects until the double whammy of her take on "Anne Reinking" in Fosse / Verdon on TV and "Pussycat" in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the movie theaters. Now she's just Margaret Qualley and we can't wait to see what else she can do.
TAYLOR RUSSELL
25 years old. By headlining a modest horror hit (Escape Room) and blossoming before our eyes in the polarizing indie Waves, this young Canadian actress has definitely arrived.
PREVIOUS "BREAKTHROUGH" NOMINEES THIS PAST DECADE
2018 Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians), Cynthia Erivo (Widows), Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians), Jun Jong-Seo (Burning), Joanna Kulig (Cold War)
Too soon to tell how they'll fare in the long term but Erivo (silver medalists) and Awkwafina (gold medalist) exploded with job offers immediately. Erivo is already an Oscar nominee (but if you ask us way better in her other filmed roles including her latest, The Outsiders on HBO). Awkwafina had an immediate succcess d'estime via The Farewell and will soon headline her own TV show. We haven't seen Kulig since but Jun Jog Seo will appear in the next Ana Lily Amipour picture titled Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon.
2017 Nahuel Perez Biscayart (BPM), Harris Dickinson (Beach Rats), Betty Gabriel (Get Out), Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth), Daniela Vega (A Fantastic Woman)
Whooops... giving the gold medal to Harris Dickinson was a bad call. He's been dull since appearing only as objects of girl's affections in various genre films / franchises though there's still time to turn the ship around. Weirdly we didn't give Pugh even one of the three medals and here she is two years later embarrassing our lack of foresight.
2016 no data :(
2015 Rebecca Ferguson (M:I - Rogue Nation), John Magaro (Carol/The Big Short), Bel Powley (Diary of a Teenage Girl), Mya Taylor (Tangerine), Karidja Touré (Girlhood)
Powley was the gold medalist but Ferguson has emerged as the most consistently exciting from this batch.
2014 Jillian Bell (21 Jump Street), Carrie Coon (Gone Girl), Gugu Mbatha Raw (Beyond the Lights), Jack O'Connell (Unbroken/71), Tony Revolori (Grand Budapest Hotel)
Gugu was our gold medalist and though she's justifiably working a lot, her career isn't really the leading lady career it should be given her talent and range. (sigh). Jillian Bell just had a leading role - Brittany Runs a Marathon but that sure took a while. Carrie Coon is going strong on television and stage but not cinema which is frustrating.
2013 Israel Broussard (The Bling Ring), Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby), Kaitlyn Dever (Short Term 12), Adele Exarchopoulus (Blue is the Warmest Color), Tye Sheridan (Mud).
Dever was the gold medalist and we chose so well because she gets better and better, doesn't she?. We have good taste at spotting fresh talent. Of course Debicki got cooler and cooler and we're kind of obsessed now. Why didn't Israel Broussard ever happen?
2012 Emayatzi Corienaldi (Middle of Nowhere), Matthias Schoenaerts (Bullhead), Alicia Vikander (A Royal Affair), Quvehanzane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect).
Schoenaerts was the gold medalist and he did us proud thereafter. Vikander, of course, won an Oscar a couple of years later but her star appears to be fading already. Rebel Wilson was our bronze medalist which is slightly embarrassing now due to her lack of range paired with her ubiquity. Challenge yourself, Rebel! Still don't understand how the movies ignored Corienaldi but at least she found steady work on various TV shows.
2011 Olivia Colman (Tyrannosaur), Tom Cullen (Weekend), Chris New (Weekend), Adepere Oduye (Pariah), Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
Of these five performers, New and Oduye really didn't get the support of filmmakers (sigh) but the others are going strong and of course Colman is now a total giant. Still, Olsen's career (she was the gold medalist) isn't half the marvel we expected it to be after her eery coming out party as a cult victim ... probably because Marvel flattened her.
2010 Anthony Deptula (One Too Many Mornings), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone), Rooney Mara (Docial Network), Mia Wasikowska (The Kids Are All Right), Ellen Wong (Scott Pilgrim)
Rooney Mara took the gold. Ellen Wong didn't become a star but has had steady work on TV and is now on GLOW. Deptula stopped acting though he's still in the industry making shorts, writing, and producing things.
Reader Comments (9)
Qualley on Leftovers was a bit of a breakthrough in my mind. Had no idea she was Andie MacDowell’s daughter!
I fell in love with Jessie Buckley watching her in the BBC adaptation of War and Peace. Is one of those cases when you finish an episode and you inmediately search the name on IMDB. I love when that happens.
Qualley had an amazing year. I particulary loved her Ann Reinking. I love Ann Reinking.
I’m predicting Qualley to outlast but I don’t mind being wrong - all of these actors are fantastic!
I totally like Margaret Qualley. I'd totally recommend her performance in Noviate. Terrifying film.
BTW, did anyone hear about the recent news about Amber Heard and Johnny Depp?
I knew something wasn't right and... wow...
Harris Dickinson was in the New Queer impostor "Postcards from London" after "Beach Rats," so your description isn't totally correct.
Fuck my drag, right?
What? How come you hate Uncut Gems? Did you write anything about it? I am curious (I think it's a masterpiece).
Buckley went from losing a reality TV show to becoming one of the most versatile actresses who'll get work in both sides of the Atlantic. I love this song.
Jessie Buckley! Watch her performance from tonight’s BAFTAs to see why she’s the whole package. Love her.