2015 has been a crazy year to say the least, with some epic crash-and-burns (Pan, Tomorrowland), tentpoles bustin’ more blocks than usual (Jurassic World, Straight Outta Compton…just all of Universal in general), and television continuing to change the media landscape. Emerging from the digital dust and box office receipts, here are the 10 biggest breakout stars of 2015 and what they got planned for 2016.
In a year of the spy movie (Spectre, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Spy among them), Taron Egerton kept it fresh and hip with the raucous Kingsman: The Secret Service. He also supported in Tom Hardy’s double headliner Legend. You’ll see more of Egerton in starring roles starting next year with Eddie the Eagle (about Great Britain’s first Olympic ski jumper) and Robin Hood: Origins, opposite 2014 breakout star Eve Hewson.
Ex Machina was the sleeper hit of 2015, with many thanks due to Alicia Vikander‘s physical, scary performance. Vikander was in a ton of movies this year (The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Testament of Youth, Burnt), with Oscar-hopeful The Danish Girl still on the slate. And you’ll have a hard time avoiding her at the 2016 cinemas with roles in Tulip Fever (written by Sir Tom Stoppard), The Light Between Oceans (from The Place Beyond the Pines‘ Derek Cianfrance), and opposite Matt Damon in the fifth Bourne movie.
There’s no shortage of visual inventiveness in crime comedy caper Dope, but it’s Shameik Moore‘s cool, charismatic performance that’s making him a star. His next project is massive: a 13-hour musical period piece by Baz Luhrmann called The Get Down about the explosive rise of punk, hip-hop, and disco at the end of the 1970s. Netflix releases Get Down in 2016.
The 20-year old Mission: Impossible film franchise got its strongest female character and performance by Rebecca Ferguson, who played undercover MI6 agent Ilsa Faust in Rogue Nation. That alone got her the plum gig of directly co-starring with Emily Blunt in The Girl on the Train, adaptation of the massively popular novel of the same name.
Everyone who’s seen Attack the Block is ending 2015 with the confirmation that, yes, John Boyega is going to be a big star. He’s the lead in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (and returning for Episode VIII). In 2016, he’ll be seen opposite Emma Watson in another sci-fi movie, The Circle, adapted by James Ponsoldt (The End of the Tour, The Spectacular Now) based on the Dave Eggers book.
Amy Schumer‘s sketch show Inside Amy Schumer has been around on Comedy Central since 2013, but she became a household name over the summer after leading Judd Apatow’s comeback movie Trainwreck and recently releasing her stand-up special Live at the Apollo. Her next project is starring with one of the world’s leading actors, Jennifer Lawrence, on a yet untitled movie.
As one of two emotional cruxes of Room, the indescribable drama about a mother and son who escape an enclosure the two had been confined in for years, Jacob Tremblay had a lot riding on his young shoulders and pulled it off, to the point of major Oscar buzz this coming February. Tremblay’s 2016 looks even more explosive, with roles in The Book of Henry (from Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow), Burn Your Maps (with Vera Farmiga), and Shut In, co-starring Naomi Watts.
Lily James co-starred with Bradley Cooper in the recent Burnt, but it was James’ role in keeping the Disney reimagination machine alive as the titular Cinderella (which grossed over $500 million worldwide) that made her 2015 a breakout year. She’s keeping the “literary” tradition going in 2016 as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. In addition, she’s been cast in Edgar Wright’s next movie, Baby Driver, due 2017.
Amazon Studios has been crushing it after the success of Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle and the recently released Red Oaks, a 1980s-styled sex comedy with an ensemble cast led by Craig Roberts, adds fuel to that fire. Roberts also wrote/directed/starred in Just Jim (featuring Emile Hirsch) this year, while next year brings The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Rob Burnett (Late Show with David Letterman, Everybody Loves Raymond).
The actor in this gallery most befitting the “breakout star” label is by far Priyanka Chopra. A cultural icon in her native India with over 50 Bollywood movies to her name, Chopra broke through the Western media with her starring role in ABC’s Quantico, becoming the first South Asian woman to headline an American drama on network television. She’s part of ABC’s diversifying lineup (including Black-ish and Fresh Off the Boat) but, in a recent L.A. Timesinterview, downplays that distinction: “I believe we’ve created borders with too many colors.”
