tMF | The Movie-Fanatic

Someone recently said, "The cash is in America, in Hollywood to be exact, but the talents are here in Britain". I don't know if you'll agree, but it seems to me, when Hollywood is looking for the next big star, many turn to the U.K. It's a veritable gold mine of talents - James McAvoy, Ben Whishaw, Emily Blunt, Andrew Garfield, Jamie Bell and now Carey Mulligan.

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Poised to become this year's most celebrated young actress, Carey Mulligan, will be seen in four high-profile films - Michael Mann's crime-drama Public Enemies (with Johnny Depp), Jim Sheridan's much-anticipated film Brothers (featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman), Shana Feste's The Greatest and Mark Romanek's Never Let Me Go, where Mulligan will act alongside Keira Knightley, Sally Hawkins, and Charlotte Rampling.

Introducing... !: As this year's UK representative in EFP's European Shooting Stars, there can be no better introduction for Carey Mulligan. Born in 1985, Carey has already appeared on stage on both sides of the Atlantic. After some notable performances on television, the 23-year old actress went on to act alongside some of cinema's most talented. Says the actress::

I was born in London, lived in Germany until I was 8. My father ran hotels. And then back. Now I’m just outside London. I acted all the way through school. My first job was Pride and Prejudice when I was 18 turning 19, and then I just carried on after that.

More of Carey Mulligan and clips from her movie, An Education, right after the jump!

When someone listens to Slayer, Edith Piaf, Nirvana and Katy Perry, I'm impressed! But when that someone happens to be internet savvy, loves to read books (as diverse as the choice of music), wears an eye patch and is not afraid to speak out and is an actress who loves variety in her roles as well, then I'm a converted fan!

Oh, who is she? She's Kat Dennings!

A Rising Star: She started in television -making appearances in shows like CSI, ER and Sex and the City. But it was in Charlie Bartlett that she really made such a good impression. As Susan, she plays the love interest of Anton Yelchin, who is playing the title role.

Kendra @Jake Weird posted a review of the film, and was quite specific on Denning's role, exactly what I remember!

A pretty drama student, Susan Gardner (Kat Dennings), mistakes Charlie for a teacher when she sees him wearing a tie, and she is immediately attracted by his quirky manners, offhand remarks, and his skills in improvising theatre comedy. She is the daughter of the school's principal Nathan Gardner (Robert Downey Jr.), with whom she has a difficult relationship.

Maybe this unsatisfactory family bond is one of the reasons for the mutual attraction between Susan and Charlie. [ read more ]

I have to agree. That scene alone was enough for me to remember Dennings, and it's just a supporting role. In her more high-profile movie, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Dennings plays Norah opposite Michael Cera who plays Nick.My favorite reviewer, Karina Longworth @Spout said:

From its animated notebook-scrawl opening credits to a final scene in which two people finally, effortlessly unburden themselves of a MacGuffin and just decide to be together, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (based on the young adult novel by Rachel Cohn and David Leviathan) seems to have been packaged in the hopes that the lightning that made Juno an unignorable commodity a cultural phenomena will strike twice. Nick and Norah isn't quite the assault to the teen romance genre that Juno was, and that's both good and bad. Michael Cera's Nick, Kat Denning's Norah, and their assorted pals drift fluidly between irony-as-defense and taking both themselves, and the idea of love, very seriously. The result is a film that's much more of a traditional teen romance, but also a more honest one.

I was amused and tried to maintain an open mind with Juno, but in Nick and Norah, I was simply enjoying myself.

Definitely one of today's most sought-after young talents, Saoirse Ronan is poised to take top ranking at tMF's updated 50 Hottest Young Actresses list. Considered one of the youngest ever to get an Oscar nomination, the young actress is already building an impressive acting resume that includes Atonement (where she got nominated for the Academy Awards), Death Defying Acts, City of Ember and The Way Back.

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Highly Anticipated Role: After wowing audiences worldwide with her performance in Atonement, the 14-year old actress will once again enchant and amaze moviegoers with her upcoming film, The Lovely Bones. Based on the best selling book by Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones is the story of a 14-year-old girl from suburban Pennsylvania who is murdered by her neighbor. She tells the story from Heaven, showing the lives of the people around her and how they have changed all while attempting to get someone to find her lost body.

With Peter Jackson at the helm, and starring Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and Susan Sarandon, The Lovely Bones is one of the most anticipated films for 2009.

"I think she's such a natural and intuitive and giving actor. She's brilliant. I think everyone's got this opinion that she's going to suck, but would you put someone who couldn't act next to Toni Collette? It would be stupid. "

"So I think everyone's going to be surprised when they see her if they've got that opinion of her,'' she added.

Gemma Ward is one of fashion's highest paid models, and was ranked by models.com as #1 in its previous listings.

Says model agency director Christine Fox in her interview with ModelWatch:

I discovered Gemma Ward when she was 14 years old sitting in the crowd of about two thousand young girls at a model competition, she hadn't entered and I ended up persuading her to do so - she never won but I signed her up the next day and the rest is history. It feels pretty surreal to have actually been the one to initiate her career and will be something I will tell my grandchildren. Not many people can say they discovered a super model. Australian newspaper in Sydney wrote an article and referred to me as someone who has defined and set the trend for the look of models at the moment. That was a huge compliment to me and something I think will remain as one of the highlights of my career to date.

More of Gemma Ward soon in an exclusive profile!

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First on our list of upcoming profiles of young actresses is Kristen Stewart. I first heard of her and thought, this girl is fabulous, when I watched Undertow. That's another David Gordon Green movie with the awesome Jamie Bell in the lead role. While her role is a bit short, she made quite an impression as Jamie Bell's girl, whose parents disapprove of the young man. Undertow is one of Jamie's most acclaimed films and from there Miss Stewart went from strength to strength.

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Kristen also made waves in Sean Penn's Into the Wild, the movie that really made Emile Hirsch a star to watch. Says Kristen on her audition for the role (the actress auditioned for Sean Penn with a song):

Music is one of the most emotionally expressive things you can do. If I’m not feelin’ it, I can’t sing. Those two nights [where she sings for a crowd in the film], something was going on. It’s not always you can give that much. But, yeah, it’s intimidating. I went in and played "Blackbird” for him. That’s a hard song to sing to. I’m not a singer. I can play it but he was really funny about it. He asked me if I didn’t want him to look at me. "Do you want me to turn around?” "No, you have to see it.” But, I’d never done anything like that. It takes a guy like Sean to make you come to it and pump out the words.

It would be hard for an agent or a film producer to talk Ellen Page into doing something she didn't want to do. For one thing, the young actress from Canada is independent-minded and speaks frankly about her views on acting.

"When I feel strongly about something, I'm not so quiet," says Ms. Page.

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With the critical praise and recognition of her latest film, Juno, it is only a matter of time before Ellen Page finds herself right up there as one of Hollywood's most sought-after young actors. As one of the nominees for the Oscar for Best Actress, Page has certainly made it big! She is also up for the Orange Rising Stars at the BAFTA.