Amazing Actors To Watch In 2019
New Year, new stars – or at least that’s what we expect! OK, so Hollywood’s heaviest hitters aren’t going anywhere, but there’s a raft of young up-and-comers ready to join them at the top table. We’ve hand-selected some of the names you’ll likely see in lights this year, as well as where you can catch their work right now – and when they’re looking at you from every screen and magazine you see over the next twelve months, remember where you heard it first!
FLORENCE PUGH
Outlaw King, available now on Netflix, Virgin TV 999
Once the furore over Chris Pine and his little friend died down, the performance of the Oxford-born thespian won headlines of its own. And while squeezing into a corset for a historical drama is usually seen as taxing work in the acting world, it’s nothing compared to the next role we’ll be seeing her in – portraying wrestling superstar Paige in Fighting With My Family (showing as part of the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival. Yeah, that’s a role we wouldn’t fancy grappling with!
ELLIE BAMBER
Nocturnal Animals, available now on Netflix, Virgin TV 999
Small screen, big screen, and even the stage – nothing is safe from the flame-haired 21-year-old. Tom Ford’s stylish thriller gave her a platform, but she’s taken a route less travelled in the interim, amassing award nominations for her West End exploits. Her latest project worth making a dance (but not a song!) about is as Corinne in the ongoing BBC1 version of Les Miserables (Sundays @ 9pm, BBC1, Virgin TV 108) – and big things are expected no matter what she turns her hand to next.
SONOYA MIZUNO
Maniac, available now on Netflix, Virgin TV 999
Minor roles in Ex Machina and La La Land (both available to rent now on Virgin Movies from €2.99) had put the Tokyo-born, London-raised actress on the radar of some eagle-eyed viewers, but it was her prominent turn in the mind-warping mini-series Maniac that demonstrated her star power for all to see. Another significant series – Devs – is on the agenda for 2019; with luck, it’s merely the start of the former ballerina’s time at the top!
LEWIS PULLMAN
Bad Times at the El Royale, available to rent now on Virgin Movies from €4.99
Drew Goddard’s smart and stylish neo-noir romp is a feast for the senses in all sorts of ways – and the performance of the Californian is one of them. Taking after his father Bill, he’s carving out quite a reputation in Tinseltown, and a few more scene-stealing performances should be expected in the year ahead. Oh, and by this time next year we’ll be counting down to his appearance in the Top Gun sequel. Ah yes, we can feel the need for speed already…
JOHN DAVID WASHINGTON
BlacKkKlansman, available to rent now on Virgin Movies from €4.99
Want to know how to make an impression? Well, converting the biggest role of your fledgling career into an award-nominated tour de force – that’s certainly one way of doing it! Denzel’s lad, who was once a good enough American Football player to be signed by the St Louis Rams (remember them, eh?!), put in a performance to make papa proud, and has Hollywood holding its breath to see what lies ahead. If it’s anything like we’ve seen already, it’s guaranteed to be pretty special…
HENRY GOLDING
A Simple Favour, available to rent now on Virgin Movies from €4.99
The Malaysian had a massive twelve months – if you’re holding your own alongside Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick you must be doing something right! As for what this year might hold? Ah, just two bog-standard roles, really; one a bumper Christmas rom-com where he’ll strut his stuff opposite Emilia Clarke, the other a Guy Ritchie gangster flick with Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant and Colin Farrell. No biggie…
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