We have received a number of emails from fans asking about the Top 10 Hottest Young Actors rankings and for some recommendations on movies they ought to see to really appreciate these guys and their acting - the questions are most especially addressed to Robert Pattinson, Gaspard Ulliel, Jamie Bell, Ben Whishaw, and Jim Sturgess.

As always, we try to oblige. Here are a number of movies that really showcase the talents of these young guys. Many of them are incredibly good films from some of the industry's cutting-edge filmmakers, and others come from new directors and scriptwriters who are just about to break into the scene.

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Let's start with Jamie Bell. At 22 years old, Jamie is definitely one of the industry's most talented young actors. In fact, he beat Russell Crowe (Gladiator) and other leading actors in the 2001 BAFTA Best Actor awards. Bell won that trophy for his astounding performance in Billy Elliot. I know many of you watched that fantastic movie and some of you might have watched his latest movie, Hallam Foe, but I think that  you might not be aware of his other awesome movie, Undertow. Here are some scenes featuring Bell and Kristen Stewart:

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The movie was made by David Gordon Green, the same filmmaker who gave us Pineapple Express, George Washington and Snow Angels, among others. Undertow tells the story of the Munn family, and how Bell and his younger brother (played by Devon Alan) escape from their uncle (Josh Lucas) who killed their father (Dermot Mulroney) in search for some valuable family treasures.

What makes this an exceptional showcase for Bell is his ability to get into his character - Chris Munn. Chris is a lonely young kid who can't connect with his father and has all sorts of problems with his girlfriend and her family. He is also desperate to have sex and to get into a serious relationship with a girl. This is where it differs from other movies, however, in that the young lead goes to a brothel, has sex and falls in love. As the brothers try to escape from their uncle, they encounter different kinds of people and enter a sub-culture of sorts where people live in various desperate situations.

About Zac and C.R.A.Z.Y.: The movie C.R.A.Z.Y. is about a young boy named Zac who grew up in a close-knit Catholic family in Quebec, Canada in the late 1960s. He is also gay. But there is more to it than just the personal journey of one young man trying to find his own identity. It is also about the other members of the family. If you've noticed about the title, it actually has something to do with the names of the boys- the children in the family. Says the filmmaker:

It's a story of two love affairs. A father's love for his five sons. And one son's love for his father, a love so strong it compels him to live a lie. That son is Zac Beaulieu, born on the 25th of December 1960, different from all his brothers, but desperate to fit in. During the next 20 years, life takes Zac on a surprising and unexpected journey that ultimately leads him to accept his true nature and, even more importantly, leads his father to love him for who he really is. A mystical fable about a modern-day Christ-like figure, "C.R.A.Z.Y" exudes the beauty, the poetry and the madness of the human spirit in all its contradictions.

Insights from Grondin: The young actor was asked about his role and here's an excerpt of the interview conducted by Film Focus:

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Zac's journey is so universal, did you feel a connection to him?

Yeah. Well, I was born in the eighties and I come from a really small family - I have just one older brother - and I'm straight, but when I read the script I felt really close to the character. It is universal, and I've even spoken to women who felt close to the character. He goes through what every teenager goes through; trying to find himself and trying to be different but feeling like he has to be someone else. In normal life I think we've all wanted to feel like someone else; the captain of the football team or the prom-queen. So yeah, I think everybody can relate to that.

And I think the music helps a lot for people internationally to get the movie too. Whether you're in Spain or Italy or London, everybody knows David Bowie and Pink Floyd.

Sheer acting talent and international appeal. That's what matter the most in our top 50 young actors list.

The same applies in this updated rankings, but let me just add a few equally important points- The most talented young actors are those who relish doing difficult and risky roles and look forward working with the best filmmakers. tMF dislikes young actors who talk too much and will do just about anything to stay in the limelight. Let the performance speak for itself.

Age Limit- How young is young? The last time I checked, we've decided not to include Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, James Franco and Cillian Murphy because of their age. Now as I look at the previous top 10, I see some favorites that I have to let go... I mean, Gael Garcia Bernal is not that young anymore, right? The roles he used to play in Amores Perros and Y Tu Mama Tambien are just not right for him anymore. The same applies to James McAvoy and Daniel Bruhl. It's like 'been there, done that' sort of thing...

tMF's concept behind the rankings: Our ranking system is fairly simple- a big part goes to the actors' best performances to date and the awards or nominations received from these roles. Another major part goes to future movie projects, which also considers the 'prestige' of the role, and the filmmakers attached to it. A third part of the rankings- the smallest part is all about the kind of buzz the actors get, including the presence and proliferation of fansites, activity on fan boards, online interviews and other media events that they took part in. One last part- that's my own intuition and which I call the 'X-factor' which relies heavily on gut feeling. Once you've watch someone on the big screen, and something 'registers', you just know there is something special about that actor!

[ Get to know more about the mechanics in choosing the top 50 here. ]

Here's the Top 10-

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Top 50 status: Ranked #11 on the previous list.

Best acting performance: His definitive portrayal as the young Dito Montiel in A Guide to Recognizing your Saints.

Why he made the top 50: I'm not that impressed with LaBeouf's acting talents, but I am with his ability to play the Hollywood game. While he admits, he's not your usual 'Hollywood idol type of guy', he certainly has proven time and again that given a good enough role where he can sink his teeth and involve himself in some serious character study, he can show some amazing results.

The biggest factor that puts him into the Top 10 is his ability to draw crowds into the movie houses. A lot of young audience certainly look at Shia as one of their favorite young stars, but not necessarily their favorite young actor.

I had the pleasure this past weekend in rediscovering Jamie Bell's engaging and endearing debut performance in Billy Elliot on television. This film garnered him a BAFTA award for best actor, and is also the film that played a big part in paving the way to the very promising career he's acquired thus far.

He is one of tMF's favorites, and one we will continue to keep our eye on. Now a spotlight on his two upcoming projects, his most recent film Defiance, along with two interesting interviews.

Making good career moves - almost there! I always think of young actors as capable of making lots of headway - even in the short period between our April rankings and this one. I remember that a Zac Efron fan sent me an email demanding an answer as to why Zac was not part of the list:

Please do tell me, is Zac not hot enough for you?

He's not. But that was six months ago. How could Zac impress me when all I'd seen was High School Musical? I could enjoy a more 'acclaimed' musical courtesy of Jean Baptiste Maunier in Les Choristes! But Zac really made waves and so have a lot of the young actors on the list - and one in particular has impressed me a lot: Aaron Johnson.

Grabbing the 10 spots on the Top 20 are all mainstays of the previous list, Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Cera, Channing Tatum, Anton Yelchin, Jeremie Renier, Paul Dano, Andrew Garfield and Louis Garrel.

[ Get to know more about the mechanics in choosing the top 50 here. ]

Here's the Top 20 -

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Top 50 status: First time on the top 50 list.

Biggest roles so far: as Richard Samuels in Me and Orson Welles and as Troy Bolton in the High School Musical series.

Why he made the top 50: Zac is certainly a revelation! With his drive and ambition to become a better actor, he has chosen to prove his critics that there is more to him than just singing. But hey, any actor who can sing and act well is always a good thing - and everyone knows Zac Efron as one of the leads in Disney's High School Musical. It certainly gave the young actor good leverage in Hollywood. There was an interesting interview from Chicago Sun-Times and I quote:

I just had this ear for music and I went around singing all the time," he says. "We were a regular family and I was always involved in sports," he says. "Like I said, I was short for my age, so sports weren't going to become a career. But my parents knew I could really sing. And they saw I was serious about it." [ read more ]

Zac Efron's latest flick, Me and Orson Welles, received major acclaim during its early screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Richard Linklater, Zac plays a teenager in the Orson Welles directed play "Julius Ceasar" in 1937 who starts a torrid affair with the character played by Claire Danes. Says ScreenDaily:

Teen heart-throb Zac Efron gets to prove his acting chops alongside Claire Danes, Ben Chaplin and newcomer Christian McKay.

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Before a single scene was ever filmed, the movie Choke was at a disadvantage. Whether or not the film would be any good was of little relevance. It was already handicapped by two inevitable comparisons: to the Chuck Palahniuk novel the movie was based on and to the David Fincher’s Fight Club, also adapted from a Palahniuk book. They are fair comparisons for obvious reasons but in the interest of continuing that fairness I watched this movie with two thoughts in mind. One, this wasn’t going to be Fight Club. Choke didn’t have the director, stars or the budget to even come close to competing. Two, and most importantly, the books are always better. Saying you didn’t like a movie adapted from a book because it wasn’t as good as the book is like saying you didn’t like Star Wars because you don’t like science fiction. I’m not saying it’s impossible or that some films haven’t come close, it’s just a stupid thing to say.

The Last Station looks at the last days of Russia's greatest author, Count Leo Tolstoy. Considered an icon by all Russians, Tolstoy is the author of such acclaimed novels as 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina'. Wanting to spend his dying days in peace and quiet, Tolstoy fled from his home and away from the spotlight. He died nine days later in the house of the station master at Astapovo.

Directed by Michael Hoffman, the cast include James McAvoy as Valentin Bulgakov, Christopher Plummer as Count Leo Tolstoy, Helen Mirren as Tolstoy's wife, Sofya, Pul Giamatti as Vladimir Chertkov and Anne-Marie Duff as Tolstoy's daughter, Sasha.

Awards Buzz: via Awards Daily:

Talk about your Oscar recipe - Helen Mirren, James McAvoy, Paul Giamatti, Anne-Marie Duff and Christopher Plummer. A film about Leo Tolstoy. The film looks to be a 2009 release, which is sort of interesting...

Fellow IMDb news desk partner Awards Daily posted some interesting updates on The Last Station- a promotional website that features a lot of info and materials related to the movie.

The Middleground. The top 30 is the middleground, where you get to find out who are making headways and who are not. We maintain a rather skeptical view of some of the actors' performances (i.e. we're not yet impressed totally!). That's probably the reason why you might notice the low ranking for some of the more popular names, which you thought should have been way up there.

Moving down the rankings were Ben Foster, Kevin Zegers, Michael Angarano, Chris Evans and Eddie Redmayne. New on the list are Keiran Culkin and Nicolas Cazale and completing the top 30 are Ben Barnes, Lou Taylor Pucci and Sam Riley.

International Appeal. I should have mentioned that during the first time we launched our top 50 list last April, many took note of its 'international flavor' and that we feature French, German and even Italian actors. The trend continues as we get to discover more young talents. Both Screen Daily's UK Stars of Tomorrow and the European Film Commission's Shooting Stars were relied upon in finalizing the list.

[ Get to know more about the mechanics in choosing the top 50 here. ]

Here's the Top 30-

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Top 50 status: Ranked #12 on the previous list.

Biggest roles so far: as Cole McKay in Black Irish, as Cameron Kincaid in Man in the Chair and as Jason Tripitikas in The Forbidden Kingdom.

Why he made the top 50: My favorite scene in Lords of Dogtown is when the Z-Boys (Hirsch, Stacey Peralta, et al) visited Sid (played with such sensitivity by Michael Angarano). It was such a heartfelt performance you can't help but feel for the young man who has cancer and is about to die. Says Angarano about his character:

A somewhat awkward and eager-to-please rich kid. Sid will do anything to hang out with the Z-Boys. Whatever he lacks in skating ability Sid easily makes up for in heart, good humor and occasionally, cash

Four outstanding features will further consolidate Angarano as one of today's most talented young actors- 2 of which are outstanding films in their own rights: Black Irish, in which he plays 15-year-old Cole McKay and Man in the Chair which centers around a 17-year-old kid who flirts with the law, underachieves at school, and is at odds with his loving mother and his constantly indifferent and derisive stepfather.

After a banner year in 2007, it seems Angarano is taking it a bit easy, with only one notable role to date, as Benjamin Purvis in Gentlemen Broncos. I'm sure many Angarano fans expect more from the young actor, and hopefully we'll catch some cool casting news before the end of the year.