Ahead of next week’s BAFTA Film Award nominations, the British Academy have unveiled their five candidates for this year’s EE Rising Star Award.
At a press conference held this morning, it was confirmed that homegrown stars Marisa Abela, David Jonsson and Nabhaan Rizwan will contest the award alongside American contenders Jharrel Jerome and Mikey Madison.
Brighton-born Marisa made an impression on audiences earlier this year when she portrayed tragic musician Amy Winehouse in the music-based biopic Back to Black.
Prior to that film, she appeared in the Sky Original thriller COBRA (2020) before earning praise for her ongoing role as heiress and Pierrepoint employee Yasmin Kara-Hanini in the acclaimed BBC and HBO drama Industry, which has just been renewed for a fourth series.
Marisa can also be seen in the upcoming thriller Black Bag alongside high-profile stars Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender.
Coincidentally, fellow nominees David and Nabhaan also featured in Industry, with the former playing Pierrepoint employee Gus Sackey in the first two series.
Hailing from London, David appeared in episodes of Endeavour and Deep State before landing the role of Gus. However, his big-screen break came in 2023 when he played Dom in the indie romantic comedy Rye Lane.
Last year saw his star continue to rise with his appearance as the android Andy in the sci-fi blockbuster sequel Alien: Romulus, as well as roles in the war thriller Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin., and the miniseries The Road Trip.
As for Nabhaan, the British-Pakistani actor enjoyed a stellar start to his acting career with key television roles as Raza Shar in the BAFTA-nominated series Informer (2018) and as Tim Das in The Accident (2019).
He then made an impression on the big-screen with parts in the multi-Oscar-winning war thriller 1917 (2019), the indie drama Mogul Mowgli (2020) and the romantic drama The Last Letter from Your Lover (2021).
His career in television continues to excel with notable appearances as Frank Chaudhray in the HBO Max miniseries Station Eleven (2021-22), as Isaac in the BBC sitcom Juice (2023), and as Dionysus in the Netflix comedy Kaos (2024).
Switching to our two nominees from across the pond, we start with Jharrel who enjoyed a strong start to his film career with his role as the teenage version of Kevin in the Oscar-winning drama Moonlight (2016).
Having appeared in smaller films like Monster (2018) and First Match (2018), the Bronx native then pulled off a stunning Emmy win for his powerful portrayal of wrongly-convicted youth Korey Wise in the acclaimed Netflix miniseries When They See Us (2019).
Since then, he starred in the Prime Video’s I’m a Virgo (2023) and HBO Max’s Full Circle (2023) and can also be seen as real-life wrestler Anthony Robles in the sports biopic Unstoppable (2024).
In the case of Mikey, the Los Angeles-born starlet landed her big break with her role as Max Fox, the rebellious older daughter of a dysfunctional family in the well-liked FX comedy Better Things (2016-22).
While working on the series, she also appeared as the ill-fated Manson Family member Sadie in Quentin Tarantino’s period epic Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019) before playing the cunning Amber Freeman in the horror sequel Scream (2022).
Last year brought Mikey her most acclaimed role to date with her highly-praised performance as feisty sex worker Ani in the acclaimed indie comedy Anora. As things stand, the film has already garnered multiple accolades throughout awards season, with Mikey among the strong Best Actress contenders fighting it out for Oscar recognition.
Now in its 20th year, the Rising Star award is the only BAFTA voted for by the British public with previous winners including James McAvoy, Kristen Stewart, Tom Hardy, Tom Holland, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, and last year’s victor Mia McKenna-Bruce.
In the meantime, the nominations for the 78th BAFTA Film Awards will be unveiled on Wednesday 15 January from 12:00pm.
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