BAFTA has announced this morning that Laia Costa, Lucas Hedges, Tom Holland, Ruth Negga and Anya Taylor-Joy have been nominated for the EE Rising Star Award at this year’s British Academy Film Awards.
The Rising Star Award is designed to honour actors and actresses who have shown truly outstanding talent on the big screen in the past year and captured the attention of both the public and the film industry and is the only award to be decided by a public vote.
LAIA COSTA starred in Sebastian Schipper’s critically-acclaimed Victoria, a film which was almost entirely improvised by the actors and shot in one single take – in turn landing her a series of awards wins. Prior to this, she played the lead role of Lucià in the Russian film Fort Ross, directed by Russian director Yuriy Moroz, and also starred in Palm Trees in the Snow. Costa has worked extensively in her native country, Spain, starring in TV shows such as Cites, the Spanish remake of British TV series Dates, Carlos, Rey Emperador, and Polseres Vermelles. Up next, Costa will be seen starring opposite Thomas Mann in Matthew Brown’s latest Independent film Maine, and Martin Hodara’s Nieve negra with Richard Darin.
LUCAS HEDGES can currently be seen on the big screen alongside Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams and Gretchen Mol, in Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea. Hedges broke onto the scene when director Wes Anderson cast him in his first role as Redford in Moonrise Kingdom. Anderson first caught glimpse of Hedges after sitting in the audience of one of his middle school plays and has since then cast him in The Grand Budapest Hotel, starring alongside Ralph Fiennes. Other notable roles include Richard in Jason Reitman’s Labor Day and starring opposite Christoph Waltz in Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem. Hedges has recently wrapped production on Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut, Lady Bird alongside Saoirse Ronan and Tracy Letts, and Martin McDonagh’s film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which is set for release this year.
TOM HOLLAND, trained actor and dancer, is best known for his role as the iconic Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Holland starred in Captain America: Civil War alongside Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans and has recently finished filming for Spider-Man: Homecoming where he appears opposite Michael Keaton. Holland made his screen debut opposite Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts in Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Impossible. Prior to this, Holland has worked with a number of big names including Chris Hemsworth and Cillian Murphy in Ron Howard’s In the Heart of the Sea, Saoirse Ronan in Kevin MacDonald’s How I Live Now and Tom Hardy in Steven Knight’s Locke. 2017 spells another busy year as Holland features in James Gray’s The Lost City of Z with Robert Pattinson and begins shooting for The Current War opposite the acclaimed Benedict Cumberbatch.
RUTH NEGGA is currently starring in Jeff Nichols’ critically acclaimed film, Loving, opposite Joel Edgerton, which was inspired by the documentary The Loving Story and follows Mildred and Richard Loving, the couple behind the pivotal 1967 civil rights case. After enjoying a successful career in theatre, Negga made her screen debut in the Irish film Capital Letters, playing the lead role of Taiwo. She went on to play the lead role of Mary in Isolation the following year, and has also starred as Tulip O’Hare in the critically acclaimed series Preacher opposite Dominic Cooper. Her award-winning theatre credits include Lolita, Duck, Phaedre and Titus Andronicus.
ANYA TAYLOR-JOY is most notably known for her breakthrough and debut film role of Thomasin in Robert Egger’s The Witch. Following this, Taylor-Joy starred in the science fiction horror film Morgan, directed by Luke Scott, and Vikram Gandhi’s film Barry where she played Charlotte opposite Devon Terrell. Next up for release is M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller Split where Taylor-Joy will be seen in the leading role alongside the first ever EE Rising Star Award winner, James McAvoy, in the gripping story of a man with 23 personalities who is compelled to abduct three teenage girls.
Be sure to cast your vote for this year’s EE Rising Star here.
Originally published January 5, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
