#10 – #6

10. Mia Wasikowska (age: 21)

She’s been acting since 2004 but I don’t think I’ve seen her before this year in two very polar films; Alice in Wonderland and The Kids Are All Right. She was pretty much as useless as the script in Alice in Wonderland and but in The Kids Are All Right she was just brilliant in every scene she was a part of. Even though Julianne Moore and Annette Bening are the stars of the film when it came to the battle of which of the children that we care for it’s all about Wasikowska and it’s not because the story tells us to, since the story wants us to really pay more attention to the guy, but because she’s that great.

Upcoming Roles: Jane Eyre, Restless, Albert Nobbs, Stoker, A View From The Bridge, The Wettest County in the World

9. Olivia Thirlby (age:24)

This is one of the few actresses which has the #1 thing that a lead actress needs to be successful, charisma. From Juno to The Wackness on to her appearances in Bored to Death she never ceases to grab the camera. She stares you dead in the eye and let’s you know that she’s on screen and you need to pay attention to what she’s saying, and the fact that she’s hot doesn’t hurt the fact either.

Upcoming Roles: Margaret, The Darkest Hour, Dredd, M, Good Vibes (TV)

8. Evan Rachel Wood (age:23)

She’s been acting from 1994, but the first time that I took note of her was in 2007 when she starred in Across the Universe. She didn’t need to do much but be dramatic and easy going all at once. But when Aronofsky came calling and cast her in The Wrestler as the estranged daughter of Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson who’s being asked to let Randy back into her life on some level, even if it’s not as the loving father that he’s failed to be all her life. Even though people call in Rourke‘s comeback movie I see it more as Evan Rachel Wood‘s breakout role.

Upcoming Roles: The Conspirator, The Idles of March

7. Saoirse Ronan (age:16)

She’s the star in the Peter Jackson‘s flop, The Lovely Bones, and she shared the lead in Joe Wright‘s Atonement. She was brilliant in both films and not only does she do what most child actors don’t do (i.e. just be the innocent vulnerable child) but she also adds a layer of depth to these characters. Even though in The Lovely Bones her character comes to an end due to naivety, we see a progression during her death that she goes through as she tries to make a decision as to whether it’s more important for people to know what happened to her or whether it’s better for her to let go, and that is what she does really well.

Upcoming Roles: Hanna, Violet & Daisy, The Hobbit: Part 1, The Hobbit: Part 2

6. Ellen Page (age: 23)

She’s loved and hated by a lot of people around the internet. However, still today I love watching her in Juno and she’s come along to do a lot of the generic Hollywood films where she plays roles with a lot less depth, but there’re still some movies that she’s done since Juno that she brings a lot of great character to. An American Crime and The Tracey Fragments are two of her best films and add that to Hard Candy and I believe it trumps every Whip It and Inception where she feels like anyone could’ve played that role.

Upcoming Roles: Super, Tilda (TV), Freeheld

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