10 Young Actors to Watch in 2011
10. Ashley Greene
Like quite a few, young Ashley Greene earned her stripes as part of the ensemble cast of the ‘’Twilight’’ franchise. In 2011, she’ll again play sparkly eyed Alice Cullen (in ‘’Breaking Dawn’’) but she’s also the female lead in two incongruent flicks, ‘’Skateland’’ – a coming-of-age dramedy set in the ‘80s – and ‘’The Apparition’’, a new horror flick from producer Joel Silver. Beauty and Genuine Talent seems to go a long way in this industry, so expect to hear more from Ashley Greene over the next few years.
9. Alex Pettyfer
British actor Alex Pettyfer – who you might have seen in “Stormbreaker” and is soon to appear in the delayed “Beastly” – has his sights set firmly on the front cover of Dolly. Like ‘’Twilight’’ duo Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, Pettyfer’s the star of a film based on a very popular book, in this case ‘’I Am Number Four’’, which most are already predicting to be one of the biggest young people’s films of the year. Much like Pattinson and Lautner, Pettyfer may struggle to be seen as a serious actor for a couple of years, particularly if “I Am Number Four” turns into a huge franchise (which they say it will), but stardom beats unemployment every time, right!?
8. Elsa Pataky
Madrid-born born Pataky is set to overheat engines this year as the female lead in Universal’s fifth ‘’Fast and the Furious’’ movie (‘’Fast Five’’). Playing love interest to Vin Diesel never hurt anyone (look at Michelle Rodriguez, she just starred in the biggest film of all time, “Avatar”), so it’s likely we’ll hear lots from this beauty in the coming years (though it’s likely those that matter are already aware of the 34-year-old – she just married “Thor” star Chris Hemsworth).
7. Dianna Agron
One of the beauties over on Fox’s “Glee”, musically-trained Diana Agron is using the leverage she’s earnt playing Quinn on Ryan Murphy’s aforesaid hit musi-edy to carve out a big screen career for herself. The Georgia-born beauty was shortlisted for a role in the ‘’Spider-Man’’ movie (likely the one Emma Stone ended up scoring) but got over the line with the producers of “Burlesque” and “I Am Number Four” who were quick to grab her signature. I think we know who’ll be leaving TV’s “Glee” first.
6. Andrew Garfield
The UK’s Garfield will likely be atop of this list in 2012, with him playing the new Spider-Man and all (in Marc Webb’s superhero reboot, due out next year), but 2011’s going to be super kind to him all the same. Garfield’s hot off the acclaimed “The Social Network”, one of the biggest Oscar contenders of the year, and also impressed critics with his recent performance in “Never Let Me Go”, but more so, his face – likely covered in red latex – is going to plastered across magazines, web sites and desktop backgrounds this year.
5. Jennifer Lawrence
Lawrence hit the big time in 2010 with her rousing performance as Ree Dolly in the award-winning “Winters Bone”. Since then – and in addition to seeing that film go on to be one of the leading awards contenders of 2011 – Lawrence has been cast to play Mystique, the blue-skinned mutant previously played by Rebecca Romjin in the “X-Men” movies, in director Matthew Vaughn’s “X-Men : First Class”. Lawrence also has a role in the new Mel Gibson flick, “The Beaver”.
4. Lily Collins
British actress Lily Collins is set to be the envy of young women everywhere when she smooches up to Taylor ‘Jacob’ Lautner in the upcoming “Abduction”. The spy thriller marks Collins’ first major big screen role, though she did play small parts in the likes of “The Blind Side” and TVs “90210”, and with the flick garnering good early buzz, it’d seem she’s chosen wisely. In addition to “Abduction”, Collins will be seen opposite Paul Bettany in the flick “Priest”, and has also signed to play the female lead in a remake of “Romeo and Juliet”.
3. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
The Victoria’s Secret model is being labeled ‘the next Megan Fox’ and with good reason, she replaces Ms Fox as lead hottie in the new “Transformers” movie. The 23 year-old makes her film debut opposite Shia LaBeouf in what’s inarguably one of the biggest films of 2011. So long as Huntington-Whiteley is smarter when it comes to choosing movies, she’ll be around longer than Megan whatsherface.
2. Brooklyn Decker
23-year-old Brooklyn Decker is leaving behind the swimsuit modeling to do battle with deep sea supernatural forces in director Peter Berg’s uber-expensive “Battleship”. The film, which marks the model’s biggest acting gig since playing ‘job applicant’ on an episode of “Chuck”, is tipped to be one of the year’s biggest blockbusters. Nothing like a huge-scale tentpole to cement one’s career in Hollywood.
1.Chris Hemsworth
Aussie boy Hemsworth has, with brother Liam (“The Last Song”), spent most of the festive season wandering around his home town of Cowes, Victoria, without so much as an autograph request from vacationers or locals. Make the most of the anonymity pal, this time next year you’ll be mobbed at the Cowes Supermarket! Hemsworth, of course, stars as the Norse God in one of this year’s biggest flicks, “Thor”. Considering what the big-time superhero movie has done for folks like Robert Downey Jr, Christian Bale, Brandon Routh and Eric Bana, Hemsworth’s gonna need to employ some security quick smart.