Madina Nalwanga
More than most, Disney got that we’re in changing times, and look to be making a real effort towards diversity both in front of and behind the camera, and few films exemplify that better than “Queen Of Katwe,” one of their rare non-franchise movies this year. Made with ESPN Films, and directed by “Monsoon Wedding” and “The Namesake” helmer Mira Nair, the film, about Phiona Mutesi, a young Uganda girl who became a chess master, is a rare studio movie about African characters. The film should give a good live-action showcase to David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong’o, but neither are actually the lead of the film: It’s newcomer Madina Nalwanga who plays Mutesi. It’s a tough role for anyone to pull off, but from what we hear, the young Uganda actress is a screen natural, and there’s already some awards buzz about the performance. The film’s premiering at TIFF: Expect Nalwanga to be the talk of the festival.
Ben O’Toole
When you’re cast as a co-lead in a new movie by Kathryn Bigelow alongside proven top-notch performers like John Boyega, Will Poulter and Jack Reynor, you can best believe that we’ll be paying attention, and that’s what happened to Ben O’Toole a few weeks back. The Australian actor started out in a string of shorts before landing a regular role in Australian medical drama “Love Child,” and grabbing a small role in Russell Crowe’s directorial debut “The Water Diviner.” But it’s a supporting turn in Mel Gibson’s “Hacksaw Ridge” that appears to have started the buzz machine on O’Toole, and has helped to land him one of the leads in Bigelow’s untitled Detroit Riots movie, which just started shooting. That’s not his only 2017 appearance, as he has a small appearance in the next “Pirates Of The Caribbean” movie wrapped as well. Expect Joel Edgerton-sized big things.
Chris Redd
A despairingly small number of people seemed to see it, but “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping,” the mock-documentary from the Lonely Island team, makes a strong argument for being the best comedy of the year. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s clever, well-made and consistently laugh-out-loud funny. Amidst an ocean of cameos, the scene-stealing turn comes not from Will Arnett, Seal or Ringo Starr, but from relative unknown Chris Redd, who plays Conner4Real’s support act Hunter The Hungry. Redd’s playing essentially a riff on Tyler The Creator, and perfectly deploys both his early years of trying to break into the Chicago hip-hop scene and his Second City improv training to absolutely kill it. He’d already cropped up in the first season in “Empire,” so he can do drama too, and he’s clearly impressed “Popstar” producer Judd Apatow, as he’s joined the cast of Netflix’s “Love” for the second season.
Angourie Rice
As good as Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling are in Shane Black’s furiously enjoyable “The Nice Guys” (and Crowe is arguably as good as he’s been in anything since “State Of Play,” and Gosling since “Blue Valentine”), they don’t give the most memorable performances in the film. Instead, it’s 15-year-old Angourie Rice, who is an immediately appealing presence as Gosling’s daughter, and kind of makes you want a “Veronica Mars”-style spin-off starring her. Rice, who’s actually an Australian from Melbourne (her accent is sort of faultless), first broke out in Cannes-approved end-of-the-world drama “These Final Hours,” and since cropped up in various Australia TV series and films, with the co-lead in coming-of-age pic “Jasper Jones” starring Hugo Weaving and Toni Collette on the way. But “The Nice Guys” was her big Hollywood break, and massive things have already followed: She’s in the cast of “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” and though her role remains under wraps, it’s not impossible to imagine she might be playing Gwen Stacy or Mary-Jane Watson…
Sam Richardson
If you’re a “Veep” fan, we probably just have to say the word ‘Richard Splett’ to bring you out in fits of giggles, and Sam Richardson is the man responsible for that. The Detroit native started out, like so many comic actors have, in Second City, but only just started breaking through a few years back, with small roles in “The Office,” “Horrible Bosses 2” and playing a TSA agent in both “Arrested Development” and “We’re The Millers.” But “Veep” was the breakthrough — the inept, tirelessly upbeat Splett swiftly became one of the funniest parts of the best comedy ensemble on TV. He’s gotten better and better, but he’s also become positively omnipresent on screen of late, with small roles in “Spy,” “Neighbors 2,” “Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates,” “Ghostbusters” and, coming up, “Office Christmas Party.” None have used him as well as he deserves, but that’ll hopefully change imminently: With his real-life best friend, ex-SNL-er Tim Robinson, he’s writing and starring in his own Comedy Central show, “Detroiters.”