Selena Gomez
The Actress: A teen star from the House of Mouse, Gomez is perhaps best known for her relationship with pint-sized megalomaniac Justin Bieber. A winning turn in likeable family film Ramona And Beezus has gone some way towards shifting that undesirable association…
Why So Hot? She’ll be doing her level best not to let Kermit and co. make off with all the scenes in the upcoming Muppets movie, a film that should give her career the proper platform to become a full-blown movie star. After that comes filming on heist movie Spring Breakers in which she will star alongside fellow rising stars Emma Roberts and Dave Franco.
Dakota Johnson
The Actress: The latest in a long lineage of Hollywood stars (her parents are Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, whilst Tippi Hedren is her grandmother), Johnson appeared in a minor role in The Social Network , before following that up with a part in teen creature feature Beastly .
Why So Hot? She’ll be making her presence felt in no fewer than three comedies in the shape of Goats , Gay Dude and family offering Theo , in which she plays a leading role. Throw in a part alongside Jena Malone in domestic drama For Ellen , and an appearance in 21 Jump Street and she’s going to be a very busy lady indeed.
Nina Dobrev
The Actress: A regular on glitzy telly show The Vampire Diaries , Dobrev first came to our attention with minor parts in girls-gone-bad thrillers Chloe and The Roommate . However, her time in the supporting shadows may soon be at an end…
Why So Hot? She’s one of the three young leads in college romance The Perks Of Being A Wallflower which also stars Logan Lerman and a certain Emma Watson. As lineups go, they don’t get much more up-and-coming than those three.
Alice Eve
The Actress: The daughter of British actor Trever Eve, Alice had appeared in minor roles in half-baked tosh such as Sex And The City 2 and Harrison Ford clunker Crossing Over , before bagging her first leading role opposite Jay Baruchel in She’s Out Of My League . That performance, combined with a recurring role in Entourage has helped shift her career to the next level.
Why So Hot? Next summer will see her star opposite Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in the third Men In Black movie, undoubtedly the biggest picture she’s been involved in to date. Another interesting project on the horizon is The Raven , a fictionalized account of the life of Edgar Allen Poe, with John Cusack as the master of the macabre. That one lands here in March.
Analeigh Tipton
The Actress: A model turned actress, Analeigh has enjoyed a big year in 2011 with small roles in big films in the shape of The Green Lantern and Crazy Stupid Love . Bigger things, however, lie further down the track.
Why So Hot? A role in indie drama Samaritan should give her a bit more meat to chew on, before a prominent spot in the Hollywood shop window awaits with a part in upcoming zombie romance Warm Bodies . This one could well be the new Twilight , and if that turns out to be the case, Tipton can expect her career to go from strength to strength.
Jena Malone
The Actress: A long-standing indie darling, Jena was Jake Gyllenhaal’s love interest in Donnie Darko , before turning her arse-kicking attentions to Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch . Not a new face then, but one that’s about to generate a lot more star-power.
Why So Hot? She’ll be taking the lead in Ibsen adaptation The Doll’s House , opposite Sir Ben Kingsley and Julian Sands. She also takes centre stage in The Wait , a pitch-black drama in which she and Chloe Sevigny play sisters hiding their dead mother’s corpse inside their home. With a raft of smaller supporting roles also in the pipeline, you won’t be able to miss Jena Malone in 2012.
Teresa Palmer
The Actress: Making her name in sci-fi fantasies The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and I Am Number Four (she was number 6), Aussie Teresa looks set to go from strength to strength with a starring role as the object of Nicholas Hoult’s affections in Warm Bodies .
Why So Hot? The aforementioned Warm Bodies could well put her on a similar level to Kristen Stewart, whilst a starring role opposite Liam Hemsorth in war drama AWOL should help consolidate her Young Hollywood credentials. Before that there’s mystery drama Wish You Were Here to look forward to, as she and Joel Edgerton find themselves getting into difficulties on a seemingly idyllic holiday…
Amber Heard
The Actress: Okay so she’s not exactly new, having appeared in the likes of Pineapple Express , Drive Angry and Zombieland (memorably getting her head caved in with a toilet cistern in that last one) but she’s still teetering on the brink of full-on leading lady material. However, she may be about to get there sooner rather than later…
Why So Hot? She’s on sizzling form as a femme fatale in The Rum Diary , whilst next year will see her be taking the lead in comedy drama Syrup , alongside Kellan Lutz. And of course, she’ll also be starring as playmate Maureen in glossy new telly show The Playboy Club …
Emma Roberts
The Actress: Recently spotted in stalk and slash sequel Scream 4 , Emma Roberts is daughter to famous father Eric, and niece to a little-known actress named Julia. With those sorts of contacts, we’d back her to go far.
Why So Hot? As we mentioned before, she’s Julia Roberts’ niece, so the spotlight is never likely to be too far away. She’ll soon be starring with Elijah Wood and Rashida Jones in comedy drama Celeste And Jesse Forever , before filming begins on Spring Breakout , a crime drama featuring James Franco and fellow starlet Selena Gomez.
Imogen Poots
The Actress: Having graduated from the same stage-school gang as Nicholas Hoult, Imogen Poots has set about racking up a series of appearances in a range of movies from 28 Weeks Later to Fright Night , via the recent Jane Eyre adaptation. Hollywood has its next English Rose all ready and waiting.
Why So Hot? She’ll be reporting for A-list duty alongside Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener and Christopher Walken for music drama A Late Quartet , before taking the lead opposite Orlando Bloom in psychodrama The Laureate . Looking further ahead, she’s also attached to Irvine Welsh adaptation Filth , alongside James McAvoy and Jamie Bell. Expect the sweet and innocent image to end at precisely that point…
Rihanna
The Actress: Temperature-raising, controversy-baiting pop starlet with a predilection for airing her various sexual kinks through the medium of song. Oh, and she’s an actress now as well.
Why So Hot? She’ll be firing a big old gun in Peter Berg’s upcoming action spectacular, Battleship . Snide sniggering aside (it is a film based on a board-game after all), she’ll be starring opposite Liam Neeson and Alexander Skarsgard – if she wants to learn the trade, she could be in worse company.
Zoe Kravitz
The Actress: The daughter of Lenny Kravitz (also due a big year thanks to his supporting role in The Hunger Games ), Zoe spread her wings both figuratively and literally as Angel Salvadore in X-Men: First Class .
Why So Hot? Having got our attention as a stripper with wings, Zoe is set to star in the long-awaited (and oft delayed) Mad Max sequel Fury Road . Granted, that project has looked a little rocky of late, but we’re hoping it goes ahead as planned and Kravitz Jr. is catapulted into the same stratosphere of fame as her old man.
Brooklyn Decker
The Actress: Already a famous face (and body) Stateside thanks to her numerous bikini-clad appearances in Sports Illustrated , Brooklyn has since made the jump to the silver screen, recently putting Jennifer Aniston in the shade in Adam Sandler comedy Just Go With It .
Why So Hot? She’ll be lining up alongside fellow part-timer Rihanna in Battleship , before appearing as part of a star-studded ensemble cast (including Anna Kendrick, Cameron Diaz and Elizabeth Banks) in parenthood drama What To Expect When You’re Expecting . One can only hope she continues to find the time to give those bikinis a regular airing.
Elizabeth Olsen
The Actress: Younger sister of twin irritants Mary-Kate and Ashley, Elizabeth seems to be adopting a more softly-softly approach to fame. Put it this way, you won’t be seeing her face on a lunchbox any time soon…
Why So Hot? She’s racked up some rave reviews for her leading role in thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene , in which she stars as a young woman on the run from an abusive cult. New York Minute , it ain’t. Released to widespread acclaim at the Sundance festival, the film will arrive in UK screens on 3 February 2012.
Hailee Steinfeld
The Actress: An Oscar-nominated newcomer as feisty Mattie Ross in True Grit , Steinfeld turned in a star-making performance in which she more than held her own against seasoned co-stars Matt Damon and Jeff Bridges.
Why So Hot? Having been hotly tipped to bag the role of Katniss in the Hunger Games adaptation, Steinfeld will have been disappointed to see Jennifer Lawrence beat her to the punch. However, she’s got a couple of literary adaptations of her own in the pipeline, with parts confirmed in two versions of Romeo and Juliet . The first, which takes the same title as the play, sees her play Juliet to Ed Westwick’s Romeo, whilst Rosaline is a present-day reimagining of the tale from the perspective of Romeo’s ex-girlfriend. OMG!
Lily Collins
The Actress: The daughter of gruff, drum-battering crooner Phil, Lily Collins is undoubtedly a star in her own right in the wake of her involvement with feelgood Oscar-bait The Blind Side . Priest wasn’t quite so well received, but hey, she came out of it better than Paul Bettany.
Why So Hot? She’s going head to head with Kristen Stewart in the battle of the two Snow Whites! Her version, Mirror Mirror , arrives in March with Julia Roberts and Social Network star Armie Hammer providing support. Snow White And The Huntsman arrives three months later, with K-Stew playing a more bad-ass version of the famous character. Delicate beauty or battle-hardened warrior woman – who’s your money on?
Kaya Scodelario
The Actress: As a veteran of four series of teen drama Skins , Scodelario has got the teen tearaway routine down pat, a role she tapped into again for Brit drama Shank . Despite a blink-and-you’ll-miss-her part in Moon , and a slightly more substantial appearance in Clash Of The Titans , she’s yet to get her proper big break on the silver screen. However, that’s all about to change in the coming months…
Why So Hot? She’ll be playing the leading role of Catherine Earnshaw in upcoming period drama Wuthering Heights , directed by BAFTA and Oscar-winner Andrea Arnold. With the film already winning rave reviews, it’s a performance that should set her down the same path as fellow Skins alumni Nicholas Hoult and Dev Patel, with fully-fledged movie star status waiting at the end of it.
Olivia Thirlby
The Actress: Perhaps best remembered as Ellen Page’s slutty mate in Juno , Thirlby has yet to break out in the same way as her co-star, instead making do with smallish roles in The Wackness and No Strings Attached . However, her slate for 2012 is exciting to say the least…
Why So Hot? Filming has wrapped on Paul Weitz drama Another Bullshit Night In Suck City (a love it or hate it title if ever we heard one), in which Thirlby stars opposite Robert De Niro and Julianne Moore. She’ll then be appearing in Dredd , Pete Travis’s Judge Dredd update, before starring as young heroine Max McKenzie in comedy adventure M , with Woody Harrelson and Giovanni Ribisi. Like we said, it’s going to be a big year for Miss Thirlby.
Emily Browning
The Actress: The doe-eyed star of Sucker Punch , currently appearing in cinemas in the Cannes-wowing drama Sleeping Beauty . It’s challenging material (it’s about the sex trade after all) and the perfect counterweight to the more lurid excesses of Zack Snyder’s movie.
Why So Hot? She’ll next be teaming up with fellow bright young things Juno Temple and Michael Cera for Magic, Magic , a South America-set thriller in which a young woman begins to lose her mind to the bafflement of her best friends. Hottest young cast around? It’s got to be up there…
Mia Wasikowska
The Actress: The star of Tim Burton’s queasy Alice In Wonderland has gone on to establish herself with meaty roles in the likes of Jane Eyre and Gus Van Sant’s Restless . And from the looks of her upcoming schedule, she’s about to make the jump from up-and-comer to established star in double-quick time!
Why So Hot? On the back of her well-reviewed performances this year, Wasikowaska will be starring in period drama Albert Nobbs , before rubbing shoulders with Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman in The Wettest Country In The World , the upcoming crime drama from The Road ’s John Hillcoat. She’ll then be getting her scream on with Nicole Kidman in horror flick Stoker before joining Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton and John Hurt for Jim Jarmusch’s untitled next project. Congratualtions Mia, you are well and truly through the looking glass now.
Chloe Moretz
The Actress: When a thirteen-year-old Moretz dropped the C-bomb in Matthew Vaughn’s super-caper Kick-Ass , moralising tabloid hand-wringers the world over proclaimed that modern cinema was going to hell in a handcart. Thankfully she followed that up with a far less controversial role as an artery-draining child vampire, and the swearing was all forgotten. Not one to do things by halves, is she?
Why So Hot? Whilst she’s been on the scene for a year or two now, Kick-Ass was more cult underdog than all-conquering mega-hit. Her turn in Martin Scorsese’s fantasy spectacular Hugo will make her a household name, even to those who don’t take the Daily Mail .
Felicity Jones
The Actress: A British actress perhaps best known for her TV work on the likes of Northanger Abbey (in which she starred with Carey Mulligan), Jones’ big break came when Ricky Gervais cast her as Julie in 2010’s Cemetery Junction . A supporting role in The Tempest soon followed, before a bright and breezy turn in Britcom Chalet Girl earlier this year.
Why So Hot? She’s been rightly heralded for her star-making turn in Like Crazy , which arrives in UK screens on 3 February 2012. Her performance netted her the Special Jury Prize at Cannes and looks set to be the springboard that launches her Hollywood career. Director Drake Doremus has already signed her up for his next (as yet untitled) project alongside Kyle Maclachlan and Guy Pearce.
Brit Marling
The Actress: Brit Marling is what our American chums insist on calling a “triple threat”, in that she not only acts, but writes and produces as well. She’s done just that in two films this year, Sound Of My Voice and Another Earth , both of which went down a storm at Sundance. Safe to say she’s quite talented then…
Why So Hot? Another Earth should thrust Marling into the public consciousness when it lands here in December, having already scooped an award at Sundance. She’ll then be starring in a clutch of mainstream movies including Arbitrage with Susan Sarandon and Richard Gere, The East with Alexander Skarsgaard and Ellen Page, and The Company You Keep with Sarandon (again), Robert Redford and Anna Kendrick. Busy girl.
Dakota Fanning
The Actress: The elder of the Fanning sisters at 17, Dakota burst onto our screens as Denzel Washington’s diminuitive co-star in Man On Fire before teaming up with Tom Cruise for 2005’s War Of The Worlds remake. Her debut as a leading lady in The Runaways won her critical approval, whilst her involvement with the Twilight franchise has seen her star move firmly into the ascendancy.
Why So Hot? She’ll be appearing in one of the cinematic events of the year (like it or not) as the Breaking Dawn finale arrives in 2012. After that, she’ll be getting her teeth into more highbrow fare in Richard Linklater’s Effie , as the teenage bride of Victorian art critic John Ruskin.
Elle Fanning
The Actress: Already a rising star at just 13 years of age, Fanning appeared as a young Cate Blanchett in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button before hogging the limelight with a remarkably affecting turn in Super 8 , the beating heart of what could otherwise have been an action-saturated movie.
Why So Hot? She can next be seen holding her own alongside genuine A-listers Scarlett Johanssen and Matt Damon in Cameron Crowe’s We Bought A Zoo . Already, she’s gone beyond child-star territory and is a becoming a genuine draw in her own right.
Juno Temple
The Actress: One of British cinema’s hottest properties, Temple has cropped up in superior home-grown fare such as Atonement and Notes On A Scandal as well as making waves across the pond in the likes of Year One and Greenberg .
Why So Hot? She’s bagged herself a role in 2012’s biggest film, The Dark Knight Rises , that’s why. She’ll be playing young call-girl Holly Robinson, known to readers of Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One as Catwoman’s sidekick. Consider the doors to mainstream fame fully kicked off their hinges.
Vanessa Hudgens
The Actress: High School Musical moppet turned arse-kicking sex bomb after her gun-toting performance in teenage boy’s wet dream Sucker Punch . Hudgens is now hot on ex-boyfriend Zac Efron’s tail as a (sort of) Serious Actor.
Why So Hot? She’ll soon be grappling with Nic Cage’s scenery-chewing antics in upcoming thriller The Frozen Ground , along with John Cusack, Radha Mitchell and 50 Cent. Based on a true story, Cage and Hudgens will play a pair of mismatched cops on the hunt for Cusack’s serial killer Robert Hansen.
Rooney Mara
The Actress: As part of the achingly hip cast of The Social Network , Rooney Mara capitalised on the groundwork laid by stints on less stellar productions such as the Nightmare On Elm Street remake. However, this Christmas should see her break out in a very big way…
Why So Hot? She’ll be teaming up with Daniel Craig for David Fincher’s US-language version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo . Stepping into Noomi Rapace’s shoes will be no easy task, but if Mara can make her Lisbeth Salander a distinctly different creation, she could be on for some serious critical acclaim. It comes out in Oscar season after all…
Jennifer Lawrence
The Actress: Oscar-nominated for her turn in indie favourite Winter’s Bone , Lawrence has since wowed the multiplex crowd with her eye-catching performance as Mystique in X-Men: First Class . First rule of showbusiness: wearing nothing but blue paint is a sure-fire way of getting yourself known…
Why So Hot? The Hunger Games series might just be the next Harry Potter (or at least that’s what Lionsgate will be hoping), or at the very least, the next Twilight . Starring as the saga’s feisty heroine Katniss Everdeen, and with a reappearance in the next X-Men movie also likely, Lawrence is set to take her place at the very top of the A-list.
Emma Stone
The Actress: A winning combination of startling good-looks and sharp comic timing saw Stone rise to prominence in sleeper hits Superbad and Zombieland . A smart and sassy turn in high-school comedy Easy A proved she can also carry top billing without breaking stride.
Why So Hot? This year saw her bag one of the most hotly contested roles in Hollywood as Gwen Stacy, love interest to real-life boyfriend Andrew Garfield in upcoming reboot The Amazing Spider-Man . She’s also starred in Oscar-bait The Help , and will line up alongside Sean Penn and Ryan Gosling for Ruben Fleischer’s lavish crime drama Gangster Squad . Mark our words, nobody is going to be bigger in 2012 than Emma Stone.
