Right this minute, these guys are two of the hottest young actors making a lot of buzz in Hollywood - Zac Efron and Aaron Johnson - and they're from both sides of the Atlantic!

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One of Zac Efron's latest flick, Me and Orson Welles, will soon hit the festival circuit with scheduled early screenings for Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Richard Linklater, Zac plays a teenager cast 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.

Not to be outdone, British teen actor Aaron Johnson, is making girls scream, as one of the leads in the British teen flick, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. He is also slated to play lead as Dave Lizewski in Kick-Ass, with Nicholas Cage. Here's more info about the movie:

Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan with a few friends and who lives alone with his father. His life is not very difficult and his personal trials not that overwhelming. However, one day he makes the simple decision to become a super-hero even though he has no powers or training.

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I first saw Aaron Johnson in The Illusionist, one of my favorite movies of all time. He plays the young Eisenheim (the adult role is played by Edward Norton, of course). At 18, Johnson has already played his share of challenging and juicy roles in both movies and TV, and IMDb reports that his training includes attending the prestigious Jackie Palmer Stage School, which is located in High Wycombe, where he is tutored in drama, tap, jazz, acrobatics and singing.

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As an indication of his rising status, ScreenDaily recently announced that Aaron is one of this year's Stars of Tomorrow, a list of up and coming talents from the UK. Here's more:

Aaron Johnson had an early taste of Hollywood, featuring as the younger version of Edward Norton's character in The Illusionist in 2006 and as a sidekick to Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in 2003's Shanghai Knights. This year he graduates to leading man status with two very different films. The first is Gurinder Chadha's Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging in which he plays the school heart-throb alongside fellow Star of Tomorrow Georgia Groome (see opposite). The second is Dummy, directed by Matthew Thompson (a 2004 Star of Tomorrow), which has just screened at Edinburgh and sees him as a teenager coping with his mother's death with the help of drugs and sex. "I have a huge passion for acting but I'm interested in variety, both in the characters I play and the kinds of films I'm involved with," says the 18-year-old. He has just been cast opposite Susan Sarandon in Shana Feste's The Greatest, produced by Pierce Brosnan's Irish DreamTime.

Other notable Movies: The Thief Lord (as Prosper), Nearly Famous (as Owen).

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Everyone knows Zac Efron to be one of the leads in Disney's High School Musical. It certainly gave the young actor a 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."

So Zac took piano lessons with Jeremy Mann, a man who also worked for the production company of "Gypsy." An audition later he was one of the newsboys on stage at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts.

Trying to get work as a Brad Pitt with pipes and moves wasn't easy. After a year of auditions and rejections around Hollywood, Efron's mother told him that he had one more year of her chauffeuring and then this show-biz dream was done. Of course, he got a bit on "ER" where his cuteness expired on an operating table (gang gunfire) and then did bits on "CSI: Miami" and "Summerland."

"During this time, we'd drive up to L.A. once a month. It was really an excuse to miss school," Efron admits. "But then I got extremely lucky and booked small spots on TV.

"Then came the mom ultimatum because she was sick of the drive. Mom said, 'By the end of this year, you have to get something substantial or otherwise forget it.' At the time, I had amazing grades, top 10 in my class, and I was driven to make this happen, too."

Along came the audition for this little Disney project called "High School Musical."

Definitely a good career move for Zac is his role in Me and Orson Welles.

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What's on your mind? What do you think of Aaron Johnson? Have you watched any of his movies? What about Zac Efron? Let us know what you think!

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Comments (10)

Aaron Johnson is the most SEXY ppl in the world!!

aaron is so sexy, and amazing actor!

Adi (: , September 02, 2008 | url

Aaron Johnson pwns Zac Efron.

In my opinion anyway. I mean androgyny is great & all but with Zac Efron it's bordering on transsexuality.

Plus Aaron kicked ass as Charlie Chaplin in Shanghai Knights.
Zac Efron was totally jealous you can tell.

Arnold Layne. , September 03, 2008

Aaron

Aaron johnson is a quality actor, he is perfect mate!
x

... , September 08, 2008

Aaron Johnson is soooo much better

I love Aaron!! Sooo much sexier than Zac Efron...I hate Zac Efron!

yo. , September 19, 2008

...

aaron!!!!!!!!!! how dare ucompare aaron to the orange

bum , September 22, 2008

Aaron Johnson all the way!!!!

OMG OMG OMg how dare anyone even compare Aaron to Zac Efron. Zac doesnt have anything on Aaron.
All round he is sexier, hotter, and just the best guy ever!!!!
Aaron all the way!!
xoxoxo

Briellie , October 01, 2008

Aaron is so much better in every way...

Aaron is so much better cause he is such a natural person and actor whereas efron needs some serious make-up remover.
Aaron 4ever...love you
xoxo

Briellie , October 01, 2008

Aaron is most definitely better!

Aaron Johnson is a much better actor, I mean have you seen Zac in High School Musical, he only has three facial expressions, sad Zac, happy Zac and confused Zac lol. I've only seen Aaron in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging and he did some quality acting in that.
Plus Aaron doesn't need a tonne of makeup to be gorgeous. For christ sake, Zac wears fake eyelashes!!
Aaron=awesome lol.

Sofie , October 01, 2008

xxxxx

aaron is so much fitter than zac

Aaron johnson is sexy , October 12, 2008 | url

AAron all the way

Well it seems that i am the only one in my Canadian school that knows about Aaron and all the other girls are obsessive over Efron, and we're talking high school girls not 12 year olds. Efron is good looking in a way.. to pretty for me but Aaron makes me swoon.:) He's amazing if only he was playing Edward in Twilight (sighs) So yes Aaron all the way there's no comparison

Kyla , October 24, 2008

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