tMF | The Movie-Fanatic

Sheer acting talent and international appeal. That's what matters the most in our top 50 young actors list. But being popular doesn't hurt either, so we have that covered too! While you might think being cast in a huge hit will ensure a high ranking, think again - we believe you need to be more than just a box office star to be considered a successful actor.

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Special report by Jed Medina (Also a featured article at the IMDb HitList)

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How it all began. We started with more than 150 names, drawn from Hollywood and the best of world cinema - featuring young actors from the most acclaimed films of the past five years. If the movies you’ve watched are mainly mainstream Hollywood fare, then some of the names (perhaps a lot of them!) will sound unfamiliar to you. Unlike other top lists you might have seen, this one has a more international flavor. Hey, it’s about time you got to see what your friends from the UK, Canada, Germany, and France have been raving about!

The Age Factor. Where are Christian Bale and Tobey Maguire? How about the great Leonardo di Caprio or Oscar winner Adrien Brody? Or that amazing actor Moritz Bleibtreu? It would be easy to have them at the very top of the list, but we narrowed the list to actors not older than 30. Even the likes of Cillian Murphy (31) and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (30) were excluded, though we would surely have loved to include them! What we have here are emerging talents, the ones you will see getting the big roles in the near future - and some of them already have, with awards and nominations to boot.

Enough of talk, let's have them already!

# 50 - Luke Grimes: He got that perfect male model look but would rather play some obnoxious role or be the villain than join the catwalk. Of course, that's only me speculating...V Magazine gave him the perfect title: The biggest movie star you've never heard of! But the profile they wrote for him is more than enough to compensate for the 'slight'.

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Here's just a small portion of it:

After two years of conservatory and a brief stint back in Ohio pouring concrete to earn cash, Grimes finally made the move to Hollywood; he bought a cheap Honda and drove. "I watched through the windshield as it changed from green to desert to California," he remembers. "It freaked me out. It wasn't like school. It was like, this is my new life." Things were slow at first. He worked at a Santa Monica movie theater and drank a lot of whiskey, usually alone. But it was future costar Mischa Barton who (unintentionally) set his career in motion. Before leaving New York, he'd met her and she'd invited him to her birthday party. There he met publicist Craig Schneider.Grimes forgot about it, until, after a few weeks in Los Angeles, he found Schneider's business card. Within days he had full representation.

Grimes has developed a close circle of friends in L.A., mostly guys in the band he drums for, Mitchell's Folly. But living in a city he agrees is a little bit Godless isn't easy. Only recently, with a steady Brothers & Sisters paycheck, could he even afford to move into his own place. That meant that last summer, while filming director Cam Archer's forthcoming sophomore feature with Ellen Barkin, he was waking up every morning on a couch before heading to the set. "That makes it a little harder to get into character," he admits. Grimes reveled in the film's complexity, and compares Archer's indeterminate style to that of Luis Buñuel, the director of Belle de Jour. It's rumored that Barkin handpicked Grimes for the role because he reminded her of Johnny Depp, whom she used to date. "Ellen and I did have some pretty heavy scenes. Maybe she had a Johnny flashback," he laughs. "She really went for it. You are worried about it affecting you-as a guy, if you know what I mean. You don't want to embarrass yourself. But I think from now on I am going to just enjoy it. If it affects me, then it's like, "Sorry guys, I'm just really in character."

Luke Grimes is goofy and an undeniable heartthrob, but he's also a born actor. In Mandy Lane-in which he gets a hand job in a car and a blow job in a barn before getting shot in the head, and for which he and his costars bunked together for a month and behaved much like the boozy, horny teens they play in the film-Grimes stands out, imparting a sense of inner complication to a role that could have easily been played as flat.

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# 49 - Tom Felton: The problem with famous young villains is that movie fans can sometimes get carried away. In the case of Tom Felton, his role of Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series puts him on the spotlight, albeit in a negative way. But once fans realize that the real Tom is so completely opposite his role, then they can began to appreciate the person.

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Says Tom on acting and branching out into music:

I find that if you're acting and somebody says, "I don't like that," you can always say, "Well... I was told to do that!" [laughs] Whereas if it's something that's completely your idea, you really have to face the flames if other people don't like it. But, like I say, I'm not trying to get signed or trying to get a record deal. It's just for fun, and it was originally so my friends abroad could keep up with my music and keep up with what I've been writing and so forth, and obviously it's turned into something a bit more than that. But I'm happy to share if people are friendly enough to listen, so no complaints!

Tom apparently wanted to do more than acting and is trying music and writing his own songs. He was also cast in a small British film called The Disappeared, in a way proving he can do more than play villain to Dan Radcliffe. Of this film, Tom commented:

It’s very different from Harry Potter; it’s a bit of a sci-fi/horror, I think, or something along those lines. It’s got quite a solid script, and we shot the whole thing in around 26 days in London, which was very contrasting from the shooting experience of Harry Potter.

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# 48 - Kostja Ullmann: After appearing in a variety of shows on German television, Kostja Ullmann was offered the role of Achim, one of the leads in Marco Kreuzpaintner's Summer Storm. Acting opposite another top young actor, Robert Stadlober, Ullmann's role required him to do love scenes with Stadlober in this gay-themed coming-of-age film. The film went on to win awards in Germany, including nominations for both leads.

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I was taking acting lessons when I got the offer to play a leading role in Summer Storm. With its success, the attention we got from fans and the press was a wonderful feeling. I felt lucky in that I was getting paid for doing something that I liked a lot.

But the young actor is now trying to get into more mature roles. Coming-of-age films seem to offer him no new challenges at this stage of his career:

I think filmmakers and the studios are aware of my desire for more mature, challenging roles, though I still get those teen character roles! In "Schliemann and Sophie", I even had a beard (laughs) to make me look older!

Definitely one of Germany's most important talents, watch out for Kostja in Punish Me!

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# 47 - Thomas Dumerchez: Unlike some of his American counterparts who might shy away from doing controversial things like taking their clothes off, playing gay or getting into a role that could become too 'hot' for comfort, our French star seems to relish doing just the opposite. After taking on an extremely controversial role in Gael Morel's Three Dancing Slaves, Dumerchez subsequently seduced the great Catherine Deneuve on screen in Après lui (After Him).

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Says Boyd van Hoeij at European-Films.net:

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In Morel's previous film Le clan (Three Dancing Slaves), Dumerchez debuted as a young gay man who offers his bare behind to his newfound lover, who responds: "Do you want me to shave your arse first?", followed by a close-up of the proposed action. One cannot but wonder whether Catherine Deneuve had this scene in mind when she agreed to star in Après lui -- probably not. Compared to that feature, Après lui's tone is much more subdued and feminine, with a lively use of colour, light and camera movements to counter its solemn theme. Le clan was almost devoid of female characters, harsh and cruel, whereas here the central character is a woman with a mother instinct that just does not want to go away.

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# 46 - Olly Alexander: He is not your normal young gorgeous Hollywood actor. Looking closely, there is even that striking similarity to Tim Burton, one of Olly's favorite filmmakers.

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Michael Martin's profile of Olly Alexander in Interview Magazine is more than enough for an introduction:

"Intense is a good word for it," says Olly Alexander about his upcoming film debut. He isn't kidding: The 18-year-old British actor recently completed work on the surrealistic drama Enter the Void. It's directed by Gaspar Noé, the man also responsible for 2002's controversial film Irréversible, which included an excruciating nine-minute rape scene. Enter the Void features Alexander as a troubled teenager in Tokyo who spirals into drug addiction after discovering his mother is sleeping with his best friend. "Sex, violence, drug-taking . . . I got to do it all," he jokes on a stopover in New York from London, where he currently lives. "In pretty much every scene I'm either crying or screaming or doing something violent." The actor's own life was a different sort of roller coaster: His father's work in amusement parks had him moving around the English countryside as a child. At 16, he landed a role in the British TV series Summerhill, and, in addition to Enter the Void, he appears in three more films due out this year: Tormented, a story about bullying; Bright Star, Jane Campion's biopic of John Keats, in which Alexander plays the poet's younger brother ("My character looks very ill and dies," he reports); and Dust, in which he plays an incestuous twin in a post-apocalyptic love triangle. With a résumé like this, it's safe to say that he's averted the gawky-teen-soccer-movie period altogether. "Every job I've done, I reached the limits of my acting capabilities," he says. "I have always pushed myself to feel extreme emotions."

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# 45 - Jamie Campbell Bower: If you've watched Sweeney Todd, then you'll remember the young guy who was talking to Johnny Depp at the beginning of the film. He looks so young and sweet and... dead! That's Anthony, the young lover of Sweeney Todd's daughter Johanna. Playing the role is Jamie Campbell Bower. Of course, Bower is the latest addition to the growing list of talented actors playing parts in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga. Says Papermag:

Not many people would argue Depp's coolness factor, but Bower's own coolness barometer is nothing to sniff at. More straight-up gorgeous than handsome, the 19-year-old British actor has the tall, thin build of a model and full Angelina Jolie-like lips. Add to that: He's in a band, grew up listening to Bob Marley and he credits the Libertines as the main influence for his personal style.

But good looks and coolness aside, Bower readily admits sweating out his first musical rehearsal for his role as Anthony, the young lover of Sweeney Todd's daughter Johanna in the Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical turned Tim Burton-directed film. "[Sondheim] was there. It was horrifying," says Bower. "I mean, he's a really nice guy -- really, really cool, and obviously he knows his shit -- but having him there I was just so nervous."

Expect great things from this guy. With a refreshingly friendly attitude and the absence of any star complex, Campbell-Bower is destined to become a star!

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# 44 - Luke Treadaway: His most notable roles include the lead in Brothers of the Head, with real life brother, Harry, in which they played conjoined twins. Luke played Barry Howe, the band's singer, and his brother Harry played Tom Howe, the guitarist and song-writer. Says Luke about the role and the film itself:

It was so weird, but so wonderful and human - and so completely devoid of any clichéd novelty scenes or twin gags. Take that five inch bridge of flesh away, and they're still two extremely interesting characters with a real story, and that's what I think Tony Grisoni succeeded in creating.

He also appeared as a 14 year old Theo in the hard-hitting Channel 4 drama Clapham Junction, where he appeared naked. He is also to appear in the remake of 1981 film version of Clash of the Titans. Get to know more of Luke via this fab LiveJournal site dedicated to the brothers - The Treadaway Twins.

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# 43 - Max Minghela: From a family of artists, Max Minghella is the son of the late award-winning writer and director Anthony Minghella. His mother is choreographer Carolyn Choa.

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USA Today gave us an insightful profile of the young actor, excerpts follows:

AT JUST 20, Max Minghella is one well-connected guy. Yes, as the son of Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella ("The English Patient"), he has grown up on movie sets. But it takes more than a flashy pedigree to become the buddy of Jake Gyllenhaal, the protégé of Matt Damon and the guy Natalie Portman would date -- if she were into "younger men." (She's all of 24.) As the charismatic, curly-haired Minghella plays George Clooney's son in "Syriana," which opens Wednesday in select cities, we catch him on a break from classes in theater and sociology at New York's Columbia University. He offers this take on what's ina name.

MAKING HIS OWN WAY. Before this year, Minghella's on-screen career was limited to seconds as an extra in his dad's movies. "In 'Cold Mountain,'" he says, "I shot a gun for one of the sides of the Civil War, I think." He breaks that mold this month, playing Richard Gere's malcontent son in "Bee Season," about a family shaken when the daughter becomes a spelling bee champ. But Minghella has been trying for larger gigs for several years. "With a famous name," he says, "you have to work that much harder to get the part."

HAVING THAT DAD. An only child (he has an older half-sister), Minghella grew up in North London's posh Hampstead with his dad, who often was away on movie shoots, and his mom, Chinese choreographer Carolyn Choa. "I was alone more than most kids," he says. When Dad was home, "we would sit together at the piano, and he would play Cat Stevens and the Talking Heads."

[ read more ]

I'm particularly impressed with the young Minghella in Art School Confidential, cast in a leading role when he has yet to appear in movies! He plays Jerome, a kid from the suburbs who loves to draw, goes to New York City's Strathmore College for his freshman year as a drawing major. Another outstanding performance, this time, you will notice Max has matured physically and much more - as the lead in Elvis and Anabelle.Watch out for Max in 2 upcoming films: Alejandro Amenábar's historical drama Agora and Beeban Kidron's Hippie Hippie Shake.

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# 42 - Marc Andre Grondin: The award-winning Canadian actor is enjoying the best of both worlds- an exciting acting career in Canada while connecting to his growing English-based movie fans. At the same time, exploring the French cinematic scene and portraying roles that will challenge his skills to the fullest. Grondin first came into prominence via Jean-Marc Vallée award-winning film C.R.A.Z.Y.

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The young actor has already won a César, the prestigious French film award, as most promising new male star. He won for his role in the film Le Premier Jour Du Reste de Ta Vie (The First Day of the Rest of Your Life), a family drama directed by France's Rémi Bezançon. Grondin has two new feature films- Jean-Paul Salomé's The Chameleon and Christopher Thompson's Bus Palladium. Says Grondin making the comparison:

A shooting in France is not the same as in Quebec. In Canada, the film is so valuable that a filmmaker is almost forced to cut and take quick turns. In the French film scene, a director does not hesitate to make multiple versions of scenes from every possible angle imaginable, and then just delete many of the scenes in the final cut. A film shot in 11 weeks here could probably be shot in half the time in Montreal! "

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Even IndieWIRE seems fascinated by the young actor:

Following a screening of Quebecois director Jean-Marc Vallee's sensational Toronto International Film Festival '05 audience award winner "C.R.A.Z.Y." at the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival yesterday, a couple of people were overheard saying about the film's lead actor Marc-Andre Grondin, "he's the Canadian Gael [Garcia Bernal]." Their features do have some resemblance and Grondin definitely gave quite an impressive performance in the film, which is a unique coming-of-age story.

Not to be outdone, Grondin also stars in Karim Hussain's La belle bête. The "story focuses on the insanely-screwed up relationship between an aging (but still sexy) mother, her oddball daughter, and the beautiful man/boy of a son that they both long to possess and control." Enjoy the trailer, it's that good!

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# 41 - David Kross - Germany's shooting star for 2009 is no other than 18-year old David Kross, who made waves via his role in Stephen Daldry's critically acclaimed amd award-winning film The Reader. In Daldry's latest feature, Kross gets to play the young lover of Kate Winslet. The magnificent Winslet eventually won the Oscar Best Actress for her role as a defendant accused of war-crime in Nazi Germany. Kross also won some minor awards as most promising young actor. This year's Shooting Stars jury has this to say about Kross:

A rapidly maturing talent who can express the full range of emotions from aggression to vulnerability, while always allowing the audience to emphasise with his situation on screen.

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The article also provided an overview of Kross' filmography, so far:

He had provided an indication of his talent in his first role age 12 in the TV movie "Help, I'm a Boy!" (Hilfe Ich Bin Ein Junge) by Oliver Dommenget. He was cast in the multi-award winning 2006 film "Tough Enough" (Knallhart) by Detlev Buck and was discovered by a larger audience. Since then he has gone on to star in "Krabat" alongside Daniel Brühl and, most recently, in the critically acclaimed "The Reader" (Stephen Daldry, 2008). Currently he is shooting in Cambodia on Detlev Buck's new movie "Same Same but Different".

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On The Reader, Kross commented:

When I first heard about this production, I was still at school. Since my plan was to finish school first I was not sure whether I should go to the audition, but I knew the film Billy Elliot and when I found out that Stephen Daldry would direct The Reader I really wanted to meet him. I loved the novel by Bernhard Schlink, so I was very keen on getting this part. After a long auditioning process, when Stephen told me I got the part, I was speechless. The novel combines clear and simple writing with a wonderfully moving love story. I also think it is a very important book, especially for Germany.

I believe David Kross is just following up on the tradition of acting excellence as exemplified by Daniel Brühl, Franka Potente and Moritz Bleibtreu. I'm definitely looking forward to see more of Kross in both German and international productions.

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# 40 - Lou Taylor Pucci: With his breakthrough film, Thumbsucker, for which he won Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival and a special jury prize at Sundance, Lou Taylor Pucci is fast becoming a young actor to be reckoned with. Acting since he was just 10 years old, Pucci has been seen in memorable roles in The Go-Getter, Fast Food Nation, The Chumbscrubber, Empire Falls, Southland Tales and Personal Velocity.

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Born and raised in New Jersey, he has an accomplished musician for a father and a fashion model for a mother. Rumor has it that he has been geared towards the entertainment scene with his parent's choice of his name. Says Lou in a recent interview:

I always knew I was going to be in entertainment, but no one was really making me be there. Like my parents kinda named me Lou Taylor Pucci because they thought it was a good stage name.

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# 39- Tom Schilling - Says Ed Meza (Variety's Berlin correspondent) of young German actor Tom Schilling who was listed as one of the six hot young German talents featured by Variety:

From his heartfelt portrayal of a sensitive, poetry-loving boy who doesn't fit in at an elite Nazi school in Dennis Gansel's 2005 hit "Before the Fall" to playing the future Fuehrer himself, albeit as a broke and hopeless young artist living in Vienna with two old Jews, in Urs Odermatt's upcoming adaptation of George Tabori's theatrical farce "Mein Kampf," Tom Schilling continues to broaden his range and live up to his rep as one of Germany's hardest-working young thesps. [ read more ]

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His amazing performance in Napola (Before The Fall)  is definitely worthy of an award, but the young actor continues to amaze, this time he's playing the young Adolf Hitler in Urs Odermatt's Mein Kampf. [ Refer to a tMF article about this film ]. Schilling also played another interesting role in Pornorama - Marc Rothemund's free-wheeling chronicle of the Munich sex film industry in the 1970s. In the film, Schilling plays an aspiring pornographer. He is shown below, together with another rising star, Karoline Herfurth (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer)

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An earlier film, Egoshooter, is also worth mentioning as it provides movie audiences with an introduction into young Tom's dedication to acting. Egoshooter is a video diary of a young 19-year old German boy named Jakob who films his daily life and his interaction with the people who live in close proximity. Take a look at the Egoshooter trailer:

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Christian Becker, the director has this to say about the actor:

I do admire his courage to let himself in on this project. There was not even a split second when Tom could have known what would happen next. All he knew was that he had to be on the go for twelve hours daily, since using the video equipment allowed us to shoot almost permanently. This tour de force must have been quite hard to do for him, even more so because we wanted him to give as much of himself to the character as possible.

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# 38 - Thomas Sangster: You might be surprised to learn something about Thomas Sangster. He is quite articulate, actually:

At school you're treated as a child and that's it. On a film set you're treated as an actor, as a better person, which sounds awful but it's true. Teachers are a higher authority in some ways. But I like that because it grounds me and I like my friends because they don't care and they know I've been filming and that's it, they don't care. And as soon as I start rambling on about it they tell me to shut up. And I like that because again that brings me back down and I don't want to get too far out there.

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MailOnline has a comprehensive profile of Sangster:

[ Edit: As commented below, we are editing this article to exclude the TinTin mention ] Thomas Sangster, you may recall, was the lad who starred in the Richard Curtis film comedy Love Actually, where Liam Neeson played his stepdad and his leading co-stars were Emma Thompson and Bill Nighy (who, actually, walked off with the picture).

Anyway, Sangster, who possesses mesmerising eyes, was good in the movie. Soon after, he did Nanny McPhee, starring again with Emma Thompson, and that was also a hit. At the end of this month, he begins working with Oscar-winning director Jane Campion on her film Bright Star, a love story with Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish portraying John Keats and his lover Fanny Brawne.

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# 37 - Tom Payne: He's one of UK Stars of Tomorrow's top picks:

Having made his mark on the small screen, Tom Payne has taken his first steps into feature films. He stars alongside Frances McDormand, Ciaran Hinds and Amy Adams in Bharat Nalluri's period comedy Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day. Payne relished the opportunity to show his versatility as an actor and his work impressed producer Stephen Garrett: 'Tom plays a rather dim young man and he brought great charm and charisma to a part that could have been dull,' says Garrett.

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Interview Magazine's Kaleem Aftab has produced an amazing list of actors that they profile. I guess, it should be required reading by now, especially those who likes to know the latest fresh faces. And guess who was profiled for Interview?

Tom Payne is done acting like a teenager. As the Essex, England-born actor pointedly puts it, "I'm 26, and I'm finally getting to play characters in their early twenties." After a small but attention-grabbing role in Bharat Nalluri's 2008 romantic comedy Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Payne has now been given the opportunity to slip into some adult-size boots. He was recently selected by director Colin Barr to play soccer legend George Best [ the movie is entitled Best: His Mother's Son], the 1960s Manchester United superstar who was a notorious party animal and his era's David Beckham, for a forthcoming BBC biopic. The dashing British actor has the same dark eyes and slender frame as the wing wizard Best, but says the similarities end when it comes to the soccer field: "I recently played my first game since school," Payne recounts. "After 15 minutes I was knackered. It was all actors, so anytime someone fell we'd all run over to check that they were all right." These days Payne is more than all right, especially now that he doesn't have to dip into the psyche of an obnoxious teen, which he did for two seasons in the BBC series Waterloo Road, as well as on the controversial English TV drama Skins. "I went on Skins when I was 23, and everyone else was about 17," he recalls. "It was like -being back at school. There were these weird -rumors about me and another girl in the cast that were born out of jealousy." Now his acting peers will be jealous for more verifiable reasons.

Tom was recently interviewed by Digital Spy on his portrayal of the football legend, George Best. He was asked if he was nervous about portraying the sports celebrity:

I was incredibly nervous! I think because everyone knows who he was - and even if they didn't know him, they have an opinion on him. So I felt quite nervous. I remember just after we started filming, I had a bit of a break-down and spoke to the producer - it felt like a huge responsibility.

Stay tuned for our exclusive interview with Tom Payne here @tMF!

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# 36 - Harry Treadaway: Teen Vogue's Young Hollywood 2008 feature listed Harry Treadaway as one of its top picks:

I got my start playing a daffodil in the local pantomime at age three," the now 24-year-old actor recalls, wistfully. "I've come a long way since." It's true: He and his identical twin, Luke, played conjoined rock star siblings in 2005's Brothers of the Head. Then he kept the beat as the drummer in the Joy Division biopic Control and as a teen Buzzcocks fan in the Palm d'Or-nominated short Love You More. This fall, he'll star with Bill Murray and Saoirse Ronan (of Atonement fame) in the adventure-packed City of Ember. Things are also looking up for Harry's girlfriend, Polly Stenham, whose critically acclaimed play That Face recently made her the youngest writer to debut in London's West End in 42 years. A collaboration may be in the works: "I plan to act in one of her productions... if she'll let me!

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# 35 - Alden Ehrenreich: I can't help but notice the strong screen presence of this young actor by the name of Alden Ehrenreich. I was watching the trailer of Francis Ford Coppola's latest film called Tetro and his on-screen presence is undeniable - he's the reason why tMF devotes most of its articles to aspiring young actors!

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Get to know more of Mr. Ehrenreich via Interview Magazine:

Now 19, the lupine young actor is starring alongside Vincent Gallo and Maribel Verdú in Francis Ford Coppola's upcoming drama Tetro, a story about a family of artists living in Argentina. "He has been my favorite director for a long time," Ehrenreich says of Coppola, for whom he read a passage from The Catcher in the Rye for his audition. "Before I met with him, I rented a bunch of documentaries that he's in so I knew how he spoke. He's not an intimidating presence, even though he carries a lot of prestige. He makes you feel relaxed and collaborative." Ehrenreich, whose mother is an interior designer and whose stepfather is an orthodontist, grew up in Pacific Palisades, California-"a small town in the middle of L.A.," as he describes it. But today the actor, who is already being called the next Leonardo DiCaprio, is thousands of miles away from Hollywood. He's currently living in New York City's East Village, making short films, and trying to get through his intense first year of studio acting at NYU. "For me, the drive is storytelling," Ehrenreich says. "To be a part of an art that tells a story and to be a catalyst, a color in that, is very exciting."

Another cool article about Ehrenreich is now available via NY Mag.com: An excerpt follows-

The Coppola audition was the craziest. He first had me read from Catcher in the Rye. Then we had screen tests at his Napa vineyard. Then I got a call to go to Argentina, where I had another four days of screen tests-improvs at cafés and "directing" a group of Argentine actors. I asked him a lot about Marlon Brando. "He was a very dignified man," he said. Period. [ read more ]

Here's a video clip of Alden Ehrenreich discussing the process of landing the role of 'Bennie' and working with Director Francis Ford Coppola in the upcoming film, "Tetro.":

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Variety's Chief Film Critic Todd McCarthy registered a 'lukewarm' reception to Coppola's latest film, but has nothing but praise for the young Ehrenreich:

"Tetro" likely will be most remembered for introducing a highly promising young actor, Alden Ehrenreich. Allegedly first noticed by Steven Spielberg in a homevideo played at a bat mitzvah and subsequently discovered by longtime casting ace and producer Fred Roos, the 18-year-old Ehrenreich manages the remarkable feat of resembling by turns three of the leading actors from "The Departed": When he first appears, he looks like the younger brother of Leonardo DiCaprio; then, at certain moments, his smile and the look in his eye recall Jack Nicholson, while his head and facial shape are reminiscent of Matt Damon. Not only that, he has a winning screen presence and proves entirely up to the role's dramatic requirements. [ read more ]

# 34 - Nicolas Duvauchelle: Touted as a rebel, Duvauchelle seem to be one of the most promising young actors in France and Europe. While studying to become a pharmacy employee, he was discovered in a boxing club in Paris. After some auditions, he starred in Le petit voleur (1999), and many other films such as Snowboarder (2003), an action movie, and Trouble Every Day (2001) with 'Beatrice Dalle'. Thanks to his handsome appearance, he became a male-model, and starred in a TV ad for Levi's jeans, and became Hugo Boss perfume's supermodel. Nicolas was brought to stardom by Les corps impatients (2003) with Laura Smet. He confirmed his status of rebel actor playing in Poids léger (2004), a movie where he played a boxer.

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Kaleem Aftab wrote a profile of Nicolas for Interview Magazine, and it sums up his acting career quite perfectly:

A little more than a decade ago, a casting agent spotted Nicolas Duvauchelle doing some Thai boxing at his local gym in Paris. The French tough guy was soon thrust in front of director Erick Zonca, and fighter became actor. Today, the 28-year-old Duvauchelle can be found tearing up movie sets with cinematic superdames such as Isabelle Huppert in Claire Denis's upcoming African race drama, White Material; and Catherine Deneuve in André Téchiné's forthcoming film, La Fille du RER, about a racial attack on a train. Not bad for someone who never attended an acting class.

In France, Duvauchelle garners comparisons to James Dean and Marlon Brando and was a regular in the gossip pages when he dated actress Ludivine Sagnier (they had a daughter together in 2005). In some ways, Duvauchelle still cultivates his rebel image like he's standing in front of a punching bag. "I'm a fighter, not a thinker," he says. "I don't want to do movies for the money." But just beyond the buff, tattooed exterior lies a very sensitive soul. He's not even interested in taking lead roles in action movies. "It would be funny," Duvauchelle says. "It was a genre I loved when I was 10. Not now."

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# 33 - Jean-Baptiste Maunier: The youngest in the top50 hotlist, French teen actor Jean Baptiste Maunier has an acting resume a lot of older actors would envy. As Pierre Morhange, Jean Baptiste Maunier captured the hearts of Parisians in the highly successful Les Choristes (The Choir). Directed by Christophe Barratier, the film is about a passionate music teacher who arrives at a correctional boarding school for boys and transforms their lives through music. Maunier plays the rebellious Morhange who pretends to be a young devil but sings like an angel. The movie also paved the way for Maunier to secure further interesting movie roles, among them Le Grand Meaulnes, with another top French talent Nicolas Duvauchelle.

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Young Maunier's talent is not limited to playing roles in period films. He also played it cool in last year's French comedy, Hellphone.Watch a video clip of the young actor singing in Les Choristes:

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Says View London on Maunier:

...the stand-out performance belongs to Jean-Baptiste Maunier, who really does have -as the script says- the face and voice of an angel. Maunier was allegedly plucked from a choir group having never acted before and has now become something of a sensation in France.

Definitely one of France's most promising young actors, expect fireworks from this talented guy!

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# 32 - Charlie Cox: He recently played Ian Hamilton, a Scottish nationalist, in The Stone of Destiny. The film retells the fascinating and true story of four young Glaswegian students who, in 1951, outwitted the British authorities in their successful attempt to take back the Stone of Scone - a beloved symbol of Scottish pride, back to its country of origin.

With a leading role in the fantasy film Stardust, Charlie Cox is one of the British film industry's most anticipated new talents. After some noticeable roles in such films as Dot the I, Tirant le Blanc and Casanova, it's time for Charlie to take the lead. While Casanova is Heath Ledger's film, Cox's portrayal of Giovanni Bruni is a notable role in itself.

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Says a critic: 'Cox can certainly match Ledger in the looks department, as much as in acting!' Casanova is a 2005 comedy film directed by Lasse Hallström based on the life of Giacomo Casanova. In Stardust, he will once again pit talents with Sienna Miller (who starred with Cox and Heath Ledger in Casanova) and with Claire Danes, who plays his leading lady. In the film, Cox is Tristran Thorn, a young man who promises his beloved that he will retrieve a fallen star by venturing into the Faerie realm, where he encounters witches, pirates, evil trees, unicorns and treacherous princes. Says Charlie about the movie:

My favorite scenes were the early ones with Claire (Danes) where we're bickering and fighting. We had a lot of fun doing it and we're just laughing a lot and being stupid on set.

I was fairly amused to read an article that discusses Charlie's hairstyle! What's so cool about the article is that a comprehensive profile of the actor was also included.

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# 31 - Rupert Grint: Although only acting in one school play before being cast in the popular wizard series "Harry Potter," Rupert has already proved himself one of the most recognized actors on the big screen. When he heard that there were going to be auditions for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, he decided to try out for it.Unlike the other children who were auditioning, Rupert came in with hip-hop lyrics that promoted Ronald Weasley, the character for which he was auditioning, and was chosen soon afterward...

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One thing everyone should be made aware of: Never underestimate young Rupert Grint! If you think he's only capable of playing supporting roles in Harry Potter, think again! Says The Village Voice on his performance in Driving Lessons:

Rupert Grint, on the other hand, is a revelation. A supporting player in the highly popular Harry Potter series (in which Julie Walters plays his mother), the young actor displays an innate naturalness mixed with personal charisma that turn a potentially pathetic Christian freak into a humorous, thoroughly likable - if more than a little awkward - young man caught between the dogmatic brainwashing perpetrated by his well-intentioned but psychopathic mother and his need to grow into his own person. Even when Brock's words are inadequate - the final confrontation between Ben and his mother comes to mind - Grint delivers his lines with such honesty that he makes them ring true. Only a veritably accomplished actor can manage such a feat.

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Grint is also making lots of buzz via the new film, Cherrybomb. Comments ReelzChannel:

Grint, who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter movies, ventures into new territory in this coming-of-age drama, getting caught up in a wild weekend of drink, drugs, shoplifting, and stealing cars while competing for a young woman's affections. Although the new Harry Potter movie is being promoted as "sex, potions, and rock and roll," this movie really does seem to be a step beyond for the young actor who, like Daniel Radcliffe in Equus, will be getting a bit more exposure here than he is used to...

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What's on your mind? Oh and yes, there are 30 more names on the list, and if your favorite actor is not yet here, then perhaps he might be ranked higher or perhaps not at all, so please do tell us who he is and why he ought to be part of the list. Anyway, just fire away!