| The Golden Year Award honors the people who created, worked on, or starred in some of the year’s best movies and TV shows, based on their achievements. This could mean anything from big awards to zeitgeist-capturing moments to hugely successful projects — and in most cases, multiple successful projects. The Rotten Tomatoes staff and editorial team got together and whittled down a massive list of folks who impressed us in 2024, debating the merits of over 50 big names until we arrived at eight consensus picks. It was not an easy task, but we think the winners we’ve selected are not only unquestionably worthy of the recognition, but they also represent a nice intersection of film and television, blockbusters and indies, awards contenders and genre favorites. Congratulations to all of our Golden Year Award winners! |
Timothée Chalamet |
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| Look, we know that Timothée Chalamet has been hot for while now, but he and a few of his fellow Golden Year winners here helped to get 2024 off to a roaring start. It actually began in earnest with the mid-December 2023 release of Wonka, which continued to earn big money into early 2024 and remained in the box office top 10 until March. Incidentally, that’s also when his next big project, Dune: Part Two, opened in theaters and went on to become one of the biggest movies of the year — it not only made the box office top 10 of 2024, but it notably also won our Golden Tomato Awards for Best Movie, Best Wide Release, and Best Sci-Fi Movie. After all of that, Chalamet capped off the year with a fantastic performance as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown — no small feat. Oh, and did we mention that all of the aforementioned films are both Certified Fresh and Verified Hot? |
Colin Farrell |
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| Colin Farrell took a short break after earning an Oscar nod for his work in 2022’s The Banshees of Inisherin, but he came back in 2024 to headline two acclaimed drama series. The first was Apple TV+’s Sugar, which saw Farrell star as a private eye in a murder mystery that took some wild turns (we won’t spoil anything here), but his work on HBO’s DC Comics show The Penguin had everyone talking. Farrell disappeared into the prosthetic suit and makeup as Oz Cobb, the notorious Gotham City villain, to expand the role he played in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, and what could have been written off as a somewhat goofy bit part in the film became a showcase for Farrell’s incredible range as an actor. Alongside other noteworthy performances, including co-star Cristin Milioti’s stunning turn as Sofia Falcone, Farrell owned the screen and not only rightfully took home a Golden Globe for his efforts, but also helped ensure The Penguin’s Golden Tomato wins for Best Anthology or Limited Series and Best Mystery & Thriller Series. |
Nicole Kidman |
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| Nicole Kidman has always stayed busy, and she earned an Oscar nomination as recently as 2021 for playing Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos, but 2024 was something of a banner year for the iconic actress. She began in January, headlining the Apple TV+ miniseries Expats before flexing her rom-com chops in Netflix’s A Family Affair. In the latter half of the year, Kidman really turned it on, leading an ensemble in the murder mystery series The Perfect Couple and reprising her recurring role on the spy thriller series Lioness, then lending her voice to another Netflix film, the animated Spellbound. Kidman’s whirlwind of a year culminated in the Christmas release of Halina Reijn’s erotic thriller Babygirl, which saw her steaming up the screen with Harris Dickinson and inspiring a rather fervent fan reaction, memes and all. If that weren’t enough, AMC Theatres also released three new ads featuring Kidman after their first go-round went viral. |
Lupita Nyong’o |
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| Like many others on this list, Lupita Nyong’o’s 2024 was a showcase for her versatility. She was magnetic in A Quiet Place: Day One as Sam, a cancer patient who summons the will to survive in the face of inexplicable horror, and the film ended up scoring the biggest opening weekend of the franchise. But the real highlight of her year came in September with the release of DreamWorks’ animated tale The Wild Robot, a heartstring-tugging adventure about a shipwrecked robot who takes an orphaned gosling under her… wing. As the voice of the titular robot, nicknamed “Roz,” Nyong’o carries the film superbly, infusing the character with stunning depth, and she’s the primary reason why The Wild Robot is both Certified Fresh and Verified Hot, pretty much guaranteed to earn an Oscar nomination, and the winner of our Golden Tomato for Best Animated Movie. |
Glen Powell |
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| After his scene-stealing breakout performance in 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, it wasn’t long before Glen Powell had lots of folks knocking on his door, and 2024 was a huge coming-out party for him. Like Timothée Chalamet, his big year actually started at the tail end of 2023 with the Christmas release of a little rom-com called Anyone but You, in which he co-starred alongside fellow up-and-comer Sydney Sweeney. The film wasn’t loved by critics, but it was a sleeper hit that ignited libidos all over the world well into the new year. He followed that up by showcasing his comedic chops in Richard Linklater’s Hit Man on Netflix, which won our Golden Tomato for both Best Streaming Movie and Best Comedy, and then he made his mark on the summer box office with the blockbuster sequel Twisters. If his leading-man bona fides were ever in question, he’s currently set to lead Edgar Wright’s new adaptation of The Running Man later this year. |
Ella Purnell |
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| Ella Purnell is another star who’s been active for much longer than you probably realize, though she recently turned heads with her work on the hit Showtime series Yellowjackets. We unfortunately didn’t get season 3 of that show in 2024, so Purnell spent her time working on a few other acclaimed and beloved television series instead. And boy, did she work. She not only closed out the second and final season of the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy in July, but she reprised her central role in the highly anticipated second (and also final) season of Netflix’s Arcane, and she somehow found the time to headline two brand new shows on top of that. In April she went toe-to-toe with Walton Goggins in Fallout, one of the best video game adaptations put to the screen (and our Golden Tomato winner for Best Sci-Fi Series), and in October she tapped into her playfully devilish side for Sweetpea. She even managed to sneak in some guest voicework on Prime Video’s Invincible. What’s more, every single one of those shows is Fresh or Certified Fresh at no lower than 86% on the Tomatometer. Her agent deserves a raise. |
Anna Sawai |
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| It has to be said: Shōgun was an absolute phenomenon in 2024. The FX period drama based on the eponymous novel by James Clavell was all anyone could talk about when it debuted in February, with its stunning cinematography, attention to detail, and, of course, stellar performances. Sure, it was a showcase for Hiroyuki Sanada, but he’s a legend, and we expected as much from him; the real surprise was Anna Sawai, who held her own against Sanada and, what’s more, commanded the screen in Japanese and English. Unsurprisingly, multiple Golden Tomato winner Shōgun also dominated at the Golden Globes and the Emmys, setting a record for most wins for the latter, and Sawai took home trophies from both. That alone could have been enough, but she also rode into 2024 on the high of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, the Godzilla/Kong spin-off series that had no business being as good as it was and aired its final episodes in early January, and she also reprised her role in another acclaimed Apple TV+ series, Pachinko, rounding out a pretty outstanding year. |
Zendaya |
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| As we began this list with Timothée Chalamet, it’s only fitting that we end it with Zendaya. The recently engaged star, who transitioned into her more adult roles on television with HBO’s Euphoria, spent her 2024 on the big screen, starting with that sci-fi sequel with her pal Timothée. We’ve already talked about the immense success of Dune: Part Two, both critical and commercial, so it’s worth noting here that, like Chalamet, Zendaya also made some time for a much smaller film, namely Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers. Zendaya sizzled as she traded volleys with Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, and their complicated love triangle managed to win the Golden Tomato for Best Sports Movie. As it happens, Zendaya also served as producer on the film, so she really believed in the project, and it would appear her instincts were spot on. |
