Which of these will '95 born actors will be Oscar-nominated first?
Tuesday, March 30, 2021 at 11:50AM by Nathaniel R
Since it's 26 days until the Oscars we thought we'd look at 26 year-olds... or soon-to-be 26 year olds rather. Only one actor born in 1995 has been nominated to date. That'd be the internet's twink boyfriend Timothée Chalamet. But which other actors of the 1995 vintage will join him in receiving Hollywood's greatest stamp of approval? We've collected six potential suspects after the jump along with a few handful of alternates though it bears noting that the next big star born in '95 could very easily be someone who hasn't even made their first film yet since careers take time to build and Hollywood was forced to take a full year off of discovering new talent in 2020...
WHICH BORN IN '95 ACTOR WILL BE OSCAR NOMINATED NEXT?
(ALPHA ORDER)
RJ CYLER scene stealer
He first came to the media's attention in the Sundance hit Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Critics Choice nomination, Best Young Performer) and found more mainstream love with the reboot of Power Rangers (2017) and a supporting role in Sierra Burgess is a Loser (2018). Hollywood has been receptive so you've also maybe seen him in movies like War Machine and White Boy Rick, or TV series like Scream and Black Lightning. But we're placing him in this speculative 'top six' because he's already completed three news films which sound promising for their variety of genres. Up next: He plays Benvolio in the modernized Shakespeare adaptation R#J, some kind of supporting role in the black western The Harder They Fall (which has a frankly incredible cast including Regina King, Jonathan Majors, and Idris Elba), and a leading role in the runaway slave drama Freedom's Path.
MOLLY GORDON funny girl
You've surely seen her and loved her as "Triple A" in Booksmart (2019) or as "Hannah" in Good Boys. You're in for a treat next week when the very funny Jewish comedy Shiva Baby opens in which she plays an out lesbian confronting her ex (Rachel Sennott) at an uncomfortable crowded worlds-colliding shiva. Her vibe is currently surely more "future Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy nominee" than Oscar nominee but whatever. The point of this post is POTENTIAL and television and movies are becoming more fused all the time. We're hoping for big things either way. Up next: ???
SHIRA HAAS legend in training
You already know where we stand on this Israeli sensation (and two time Ophir winner) who broke through in a big international way with the miniseries Unorthodox (2020) for which she should have won the Best Actress Emmy despite incredibly formidable competition from awards-magnets like Regina King and Cate Blanchett. We've been heart-eyed fans of Shira's since her wrenching supporting work in The Zookeeper's Wife (2017). She recently starred in the Israeli Oscar submission Asia (2020). Up next: the Barbra Streisand produced series Lioness in which she'll play the young "Mother of Israel" Golda Meir. Will she get any movie roles worthy of her gift or become queen of the miniseries?
HALEY LU RICHARDSON the dazzler
A professional actor since her early teens, casting directors noted Richardson's promise right from the jump. Her first three features (The Last Survivors, The Young Kieslowski, Escape from Polygamy) were all leading roles. None set the world on fire but she's been working ever since. She's had success in films like Split and The Edge of Seventeen, but for us it was her cheerfully exuberant and irressistible turn in Support the Girls that had us convinced she was one to watch. Now, if she can just find some more quality projects because most of her films and TV shows haven't been critical darlings or big hits. Up next: leading roles in the sibling drama Montana Story with Owen Teague, and the romance The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight and part of the ensemble of the the sci-fi drama After Yang with Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith.
QUINN SHEPHARD DIY queen
The reason we're including her is not because her career is hot right now. In fact we're wondering why it isn't hotter. When she was just 20 she co-wrote, produced, edited, directed and starred in her own vehicle Blame (2017), a high school drama about two rival teenagers and a drama teacher (Chris Messina) during a production of The Crucible. The movie won her girlfriend Nadia Alexander (who co-starred as her rival) Best Actress at the Tribeca Film Festival. Shephard herself did a beautiful job in all five of her hyphenate jobs so if Hollywood doesn't come around we hope she builds another vehicle for herself. Other credits include TV's Hostages, the movies Unaccompanied Minors, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, and The Man in the Woods. Up next: ???
JUSTICE SMITH the new breed
He's been working steadily since his teenage years (and first came to wide notice on The Get Down). Last summer he came out with his boyfriend, fellow actor Nicholas Ashe (Queen Sugar), to celebrate #BlackQueerLove. In a beautiful illustration of how far the industry has come, this didn't remotely derail his career. In fact it felt like it lit a fuse and the explosion could be very big indeed. He's the lead of the brand new and very entertaining HBO series Genera+ion. Up next: The lead role in the thriller The Voyeurs (2021) with Sydney Sweeney and Ben Hardy, a reprise of his franchise role with Jurassic World Dominion (2022), and the next attempt to make Dungeons and Dragons (2022) into a thing again.
Other actors who might be worth keeping an eye on, but success is always an unpredictable mix of talent, the right opportunities, good management, media savvy, taste in projects, and dumb luck...
Sophia Ali (The Wilds, Uncharted), Paula Beer (Transit, Undine), Luke Benward (Dumplin', Life of the Party), Matilda de Angelis (Undoing, Robbing Musollinni), Sarah Dugdale (Virgin River, In the Shadow of the Moon), Natalia Dyer (Stranger Things, Velvet Buzzsaw), Phoebe Dynevor (Bridgerton, Younger), Sasha Lane (Hellboy, American Honey), Alex Lawther (Imitation Game, Howards End), Ross Lynch (My Friend Dahmer, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Shameik Moore (Dope, Wu-Tang: An American Saga), Victoria Pedretti (You, Haunting of Hill House), Ryan Potter - pictured left (Big Hero 6, Titans), Nick Robinson - pictured above (Love Simon, A Teacher), and Ashton Sanders - pictured right (Moonlight, Native Son), Julia Goldani Telles (The Wind, Girlfriend Experience)
Reader Comments (30)
What is going on with the Honorary Oscars?
How can you mention Haley Lu and NOT mention her best performance (and one of the best of the 2010s) in <I>Columbus</I>?
Please please please watch if you haven’t already. She’s been my #1 up-and-comer for a little while now.
I don't know any of those people,maybe i'll see something they've been in soon.
Peggy Sue -- They skipped this season due to that being such a who's who of older Hollywood exclusive but crowded in person gala. So we won't get them again until (presumably) November 2021.
Parker -- i haven't seen that which explains that ;)
Of those mentioned probably only Shira Haas.
Right now I can't see any of the others getting even remotely close to being nominated.
None of them.
I’m mildly disappointed that Ashton Sanders and Sasha Lane missed the Top 6 list - both have showed incredible promise and I’m excited to see what they do next...
Shira Haas 100%. So good in Shtisel too!
1994 group was way more inspired but good luck to all of them.
Was shocked to not see Zendaya - then doubly shocked to learn she was born in 1996! So much talent in 1 young performer!
WHAT?!!
Peggy Sue... what are you saying WHAT!? about? The Honorary Oscars? Yeah, i know it's sad but according to industry types the reason that one of the reasons the Honorary Oscars are never moving back to the broadcast is how much the honorees and their guests and tribute-givers seem to love them in their own gala (where they get a ton of attention and long tributes...rather than what we used to see on the ceremony). I'd be totally okay with them keeping it this way if they also made it a televised ceremony so we could watch the entire evening with all the luminaries and not just youtube clips. It would get lower ratings than the Oscars but so what?!
DrMistery, Rod, Geri - i dont control who gets born in a year haha. But of course the younger people are the less chance they've had to wow us already.
Nick -- yes. Zendaya coming up tomorrow ;)
Kermit -- i wanted to include Sanders but his career has been weirdly quiet (at least it feels like that to me) given what's happened with the rest of Moonlight's cast.
Honestly I can see Chalamet being nominated again very soon, he's so talented.
Haas is probably the safest bet out of this lot.
Talking about Haley Lu Richardson but not mentioning her career breakout in COLUMBUS? Wow.
Considering film choices and the young Leo adjacent love , Timothee Chalamet is very likely getting nominated for an oscar soon. I dont expect him to win anytime soon though unless he does a musician biopic or “suffers”.
Isnt it a shame that in the case of oscars, best performances are rarely the awarded ones. For example who has revisited Gary Oldman’s win as his best, or the revenant over the wolf of wall street. Joaquin Pheonix’s work in The Master is so much better than Joker, even. Paul Thomas Anderson is probably the only exception that comes to mind. Lincoln , There will be Blood both are acting masterclasses.
I hope they'll double the recipients or something. I'm really sad about this (although I don't usually agree with their picks)
Ashton Sanders should be getting as many opportunities after Moonlight as Chalamet post-CMBYN, but alas...Hollywood.
Haley Lu Richardson and Shira Haas seemed destined for impressive careers, so I'll go with them for most likely.
Shira Haas and Barbra Streisand collaborating on a project? I am so happy!
If it were up to me, Haley Lu would be twice-nominated by now, for COLUMBUS and SUPPORT THE GIRLS.
I love what Molly Gordon has been doing and I can easily imagine her nominated if the right role in the right movie comes along (something along the lines of Anna Kendrick in UP IN THE AIR in terms of where she was at in her career and what that movie was), but I agree that most of her awardable opportunities will probably be on television in the coming years. It'd be such a delight to see some critics groups or even the Indie Spirits throw her a Supporting Actress nomination for SHIVA BABY.
Realistically, none of them. None of these actors have actually broken through in a way that makes you say, "yeah, they have an Oscar-nominee career ahead of them." Molly Gordon maybe, as she keeps popping up in a number of good films, even if they're mostly thankless roles. Justice Smith may be the star of Generation, but he was also a complete nuisance in Jurassic World.
What a motley crew. Along with cover.... the movies will never be the same. No REAL stars.
Man, people can be curmudgeons.
I'm gonna go with Alex Lawther. His performance in that Black Mirror episode was absolutely riveting (that slow walk at the end). He could have a really fantastic career. If you asked me to name the best Black Mirror performance, he'd probably make my shortlist.
I'll echo the love for Haley Lu Richardson. She's very watchable in Columbus.
Thought Paula Beer was worthy in Frantz and am hoping she gets some cross over success.
Ashton Sanders works regularly. The only cast member from Moonlight who doesn't seem to book at all is the child actor who played Kevin as a boy. Everyone else has had some breakout booking since.
I would include Geraldine Viswanathan in that long list. She's been a delight in the TV show MIRACLE WORKERS (with Daniel Radcliffe and Steve Buscemi) and she was in a charming romcom last year (THE BROKEN HEARTS GALLERY). I'm not saying she's remotely Oscar-bound, but a worthy talent to keep an eye out on.
Of these, I've got to go with Shira. She was such a powerhouse in Unorthodox. She and Haley are my favorites here.
Never wise to favor someone from continental Europe for a nomination, but from this year I'd say Paula Beer. From your 6 - Richardson. Learning Nathaniel hasn't watched Columbus makes me hope that'll be a reason for another post on that film someday. ;) It's so good.
what a difference a year makes - i was familiar with the entire top six of '94 but only one from this group [shira]
What an interesting article.....to look back on five years from now.
I echo the love for COLUMBUS. It's very slow but very beautiful, and both Richardson and John Cho are great in it.
I didn't even know Julia Goldani Telles had been cast in "The Girlfriend Experience," or that they were doing another season of that show. The last one was kind of a disappointment, but I might give it another try. JGT has great screen presence, even if she always seems to play a bitch (but a redeemable bitch).
VICTORIA PEDRETTI????? Are we talking about the same Victoria Pedrett? The one in Bly Manor? Sheeshhhhh!! She's terrible. Her performance in the Haunting of Bly Manor was one of the worst (the worst!) I've ever seen in the last few years. And I'm not alone here, read the reviews, majority of them were particularly focused on how bad she was. Sorry, but she was terrible (as bad as Daisy Ridley - almost)