In this day and age, you have a lot of the mediocre in the younger world of actresses (Miley Cyrus, Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, etc... can you see the pattern there?). But there is also a lot of amazing talent out there as well. Some names are bigger than others, but you also have your non-household names.
The five actresses I detail in this post are, for the most part, relatively young. You might have only seen one or two of their films. You might have seen more and just not realized it. But in their repertoire, they expose themselves as great up-and-comers. For each actress, I'll state their current age (even if their birthday is next month, I'll state what it is right now); the number of movies they've been in (including those in post-production, but not including TV work); where you might recognize them; and further details/my thoughts. So without further ado, I will now detail my top 5 favorite up-and-coming young actresses.
Top 5 Up-And-Coming Young Actresses
5. AnnaSophia Robb
Current Age: 16
# of Movies: 11
Probably Recognized From: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Bridge to Terabithia
Details: She's probably the oldest on my list. AnnaSophia Robb has a tendency to be in not-so-good movies, with I believe Bridge to Terabithia being a prime exception. But even in bad movies, she's always one of the biggest highlights. Most notably, she probably did the best job in the abysmally disappointing film Jumper, playing a younger version of Rachel Bilson. I also personally believe she should have played Annabeth in the movie adaptation of Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief, as every description of that character in the book pointed to AnnaSophia.
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4. Saoirse Ronan
Current Age: 16
# of Movies: 8
Probably Recognized From: Atonement, The Lovely Bones, City of Ember
Details: She's probably (arguably) the biggest name on my list (at least critically). Atonement, as a film, left me conflicted, but there were two things I loved about it: the music and Saoirse Ronan. I knew from the second the film ended that this girl was going to be something special. Hers was always my favorite portrayal of that character. I don't remember much about City of Ember, meaning it left me pretty underwhelmed. But I do remember I enjoyed her character more than anything else in the movie. She's an excellent young actress, proving she can do both adult drama and children's fantasy.
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3. Jodelle Ferland
Current Age: 15
# of Movies: 16
Probably Recognized From: Silent Hill
Details: Jodelle Ferland is kinda like my female Ben Foster. Not really a household name (though Ben is getting there), but I find myself excited when I realize she's in a movie. Strangely, she's in quite a bit of horror. I guess she does the creepy little girl thing well, regardless of her doing the 'creepy little girl' or not. A big thing she brings with her, though, is innocence. She has an amazing innocent and likable quality to her (which I suppose is why they chose her for the mostly pointless character of Bree in the recent Eclipse). She's quite excellent in Silent Hill. But she's also done a crazy amount of TV. For instance, she was in a mini-series from a while back called Kingdom Hospital. She was also in the pilot episode of the criminally underrated and prematurely canceled Dead Like Me (talk about a tear-jerker episode). But I can totally see this girl hopping from the horror-train to more dramatic roles. There's no doubt in my mind she'll end up with more recognition in the future. It might take a while, but it'll happen.
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2. Elle Fanning
Current Age: 12
# of Movies: 19
Probably Recognized From: Phoebe in Wonderland, Benjamin Button
Details: Simultaneously the youngest on my list and owner of the largest number of movies (though if you count television, Ms. Ferland and the following choice might rival her). Of course I know her as the younger sister of Dakota. But part of me wonders if Elle is even better than her sister. She didn't really show up on my radar as somebody to watch until I somewhat recently saw Phoebe in Wonderland. That is an amazing film, and her acting in it is phenomenal. Usually, her role is a young sibling or a younger version of a main character. But she's almost always not the focal point of the film (if a younger version, for instance, that version might not be shown for long). Though after her starring role in Phoebe, I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for this one.
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1. Chloe Moretz
Current Age: 13
# of Movies: 17
Probably Recognized From: Kick-Ass, Let Me In (trailers, at this point)
Details: No surprise here. Chloe, of course, hit it big as Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass. But she already had quite a resume under her belt before that point. And it's strange looking at it, as it makes me go "She was in that?" For instance, I don't remember her in (500) Days of Summer, nor do I remember her in the Amityville Horror remake from a few years back. But she makes my number 1 spot because she's basically jumped up in popularity quite a bit since her Hit-Girl performance, and I think I can safely assume she's gonna become a 'go-to' child actress for a lot of things here soon.
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Runner-Up: Isabelle Fuhrman
Current Age: 13
# of Movies: 5
Probably Recognized From: Orphan
Detail: Have you seen Orphan? I don't blame you if you haven't. I had an aversion to it myself, despite my love of horror (crappy or otherwise). It's not the best horror film in the world, but holy crap is Isabelle Fuhrman's perfomance great. Kind of a spoiler here... but she was essentially an 11-year-old American girl playing a 30-something-year-old European woman pretending to be a 9-year-old Russian girl. And she pulls it off. It's really an outstanding performance on this little girl's part, and I think most would agree--whether you liked the movie or not.
(P.S. Keep an eye out for a potential Top 5 Up-And-Coming Young Actors.)
5. AnnaSophia RobbCurrent Age: 16
# of Movies: 11
Probably Recognized From: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Bridge to Terabithia
Details: She's probably the oldest on my list. AnnaSophia Robb has a tendency to be in not-so-good movies, with I believe Bridge to Terabithia being a prime exception. But even in bad movies, she's always one of the biggest highlights. Most notably, she probably did the best job in the abysmally disappointing film Jumper, playing a younger version of Rachel Bilson. I also personally believe she should have played Annabeth in the movie adaptation of Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief, as every description of that character in the book pointed to AnnaSophia.
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4. Saoirse RonanCurrent Age: 16
# of Movies: 8
Probably Recognized From: Atonement, The Lovely Bones, City of Ember
Details: She's probably (arguably) the biggest name on my list (at least critically). Atonement, as a film, left me conflicted, but there were two things I loved about it: the music and Saoirse Ronan. I knew from the second the film ended that this girl was going to be something special. Hers was always my favorite portrayal of that character. I don't remember much about City of Ember, meaning it left me pretty underwhelmed. But I do remember I enjoyed her character more than anything else in the movie. She's an excellent young actress, proving she can do both adult drama and children's fantasy.
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3. Jodelle FerlandCurrent Age: 15
# of Movies: 16
Probably Recognized From: Silent Hill
Details: Jodelle Ferland is kinda like my female Ben Foster. Not really a household name (though Ben is getting there), but I find myself excited when I realize she's in a movie. Strangely, she's in quite a bit of horror. I guess she does the creepy little girl thing well, regardless of her doing the 'creepy little girl' or not. A big thing she brings with her, though, is innocence. She has an amazing innocent and likable quality to her (which I suppose is why they chose her for the mostly pointless character of Bree in the recent Eclipse). She's quite excellent in Silent Hill. But she's also done a crazy amount of TV. For instance, she was in a mini-series from a while back called Kingdom Hospital. She was also in the pilot episode of the criminally underrated and prematurely canceled Dead Like Me (talk about a tear-jerker episode). But I can totally see this girl hopping from the horror-train to more dramatic roles. There's no doubt in my mind she'll end up with more recognition in the future. It might take a while, but it'll happen.
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2. Elle FanningCurrent Age: 12
# of Movies: 19
Probably Recognized From: Phoebe in Wonderland, Benjamin Button
Details: Simultaneously the youngest on my list and owner of the largest number of movies (though if you count television, Ms. Ferland and the following choice might rival her). Of course I know her as the younger sister of Dakota. But part of me wonders if Elle is even better than her sister. She didn't really show up on my radar as somebody to watch until I somewhat recently saw Phoebe in Wonderland. That is an amazing film, and her acting in it is phenomenal. Usually, her role is a young sibling or a younger version of a main character. But she's almost always not the focal point of the film (if a younger version, for instance, that version might not be shown for long). Though after her starring role in Phoebe, I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for this one.
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1. Chloe MoretzCurrent Age: 13
# of Movies: 17
Probably Recognized From: Kick-Ass, Let Me In (trailers, at this point)
Details: No surprise here. Chloe, of course, hit it big as Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass. But she already had quite a resume under her belt before that point. And it's strange looking at it, as it makes me go "She was in that?" For instance, I don't remember her in (500) Days of Summer, nor do I remember her in the Amityville Horror remake from a few years back. But she makes my number 1 spot because she's basically jumped up in popularity quite a bit since her Hit-Girl performance, and I think I can safely assume she's gonna become a 'go-to' child actress for a lot of things here soon.
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Runner-Up: Isabelle FuhrmanCurrent Age: 13
# of Movies: 5
Probably Recognized From: Orphan
Detail: Have you seen Orphan? I don't blame you if you haven't. I had an aversion to it myself, despite my love of horror (crappy or otherwise). It's not the best horror film in the world, but holy crap is Isabelle Fuhrman's perfomance great. Kind of a spoiler here... but she was essentially an 11-year-old American girl playing a 30-something-year-old European woman pretending to be a 9-year-old Russian girl. And she pulls it off. It's really an outstanding performance on this little girl's part, and I think most would agree--whether you liked the movie or not.
(P.S. Keep an eye out for a potential Top 5 Up-And-Coming Young Actors.)
Saoirse Ronan all the way. I can't wait to see what she does with The Way Back
ReplyDelete(Jodelle Ferland was quite good in that TV Movie Pictures of Hollis Woods. It was schmaltz, but she was good.)
I'm glad to see Saoirse in the running too. She was amazing in Atonement.
ReplyDeleteHard to argue with any of these, and that's not just because I don't think I could name any other young actresses (Breslin). Ronan certainly seems to be the most talented.
ReplyDeleteDamn, Chloe - 17 movies in less than 13 years. Impressive.