From rising standouts in tentpole projects (like Fred Hechinger in “Gladiator II,” for one) and indie-familiar faces that broke out big on streaming (Aaron Pierre in “Rebel Ridge,” for another) to shining newcomers (many here) with guaranteed futures in TV or indie film or, let’s face it, probably studio Hollywood ahead — these are the breakthrough performances IndieWire most cherished in 2024.
Here are the fresh finds who, in some cases, out of the clear blue, made us take a step back or inch even closer toward their acting debuts or what are the defining performances of their careers thus far. These performances are the ones in which, years from now (or hopefully even sooner), we can point to, smile, sand say, “This is the one that put them on the map.” All deserve your attention and especially in many of the underseen gems highlighted on this list.
Wilson Chapman, Marcus Jones, Sarah Shachat, and Erin Strecker, contributed to this story.
Yura Borisov, “Anora”
International film fans paying attention would know that Russian actor Yura Borisov already broke out in the Finnish Oscar entry “Compartment No. 6” from 2021, there playing a miner sharing a long train journey with a student. But here in a quietly powerful performance, he is the eyes and ears of “Anora” as Igor, a hired henchmen sent to help break up the whirlwind “fraud” marriage between Ani (Mikey Madison) and Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn). He is literally a strong and silent type, framed by director Sean Baker often in the background of shots (but never out of focus) standing behind Ani. By the end of “Anora,” which finds Ani and Igor alone in the snowy cave of a car in Brighton Beach at the end of another long journey, you want him to save you, too. —RL
Lily Collias, “Good One”
“Good One” observes the moment that the shine starts to come off of a young person — not because they’re naive to what’s out there in the world but just because it’s devastating to have to feel it for the first time.
In many ways, Lily Collias’ Sam is the wisest, most put-together person out of the trio of her, her dad Chris (James Le Gros), and her dad’s friend Matt (Danny McCarthy) who all take a camping trip together before she heads off to college. But through Collias’ ingenious dance with India Donaldson’s camera, we see just how much Sam takes in, how deeply she feels it, and how what she knows about the two men results in silent accommodation until it can’t anymore. It is a performance of inches that feel like miles and Collias charts it all out with startling clarity. —SS
Vera Drew, “The People’s Joker”
“The People’s Joker” is first and foremost a directorial showcase for Vera Drew, whose DIY scrapbook vision of DC Comics was so subversive and unique that it almost never came out. But Drew, playing essentially a trans femme version of iconic “Batman” villain Joker, also deserves major kudos for her hilarious and sweet performance in the lovely future midnight movie classic. She gives the often wacky story — which mixes superhero parody, comedy world satire, and earnest trans exploration — real heart and soul, playing the hero’s discovery and embrace of their identity with real nuance and yearning. And, importantly, Drew is very funny in the film too, with a dry and understated comedic style that makes the often bitterly dark humor land even harder. —WC
Karla Sofía Gascón, “Emilia Pérez”
Jacques Audiard’s audacious and color-riveted Spanish-language musical “Emilia Pérez” is anchored by a marvelous Karla Sofía Gascón, a trans actress in her first major screen role. She plays a Mexican former cartel leader who wants to escape a life of crime to live a more authentic one — while dreaming of gender affirmation surgery to become her true self, Emilia, with help from a lawyer played by Zoe Saldaña. As Emilia, Gascón feels almost ripped from the ensemble of a Pedro Almodóvar movie — a little bit saint, a little bit mother figure, and still a little bit dangerous despite her self-reinvention. Gascón opens the emotional firehose as Emilia learns quite haplessly that her past as Manitas (involving wife Selena Gomez and two kids) can no longer parallel her present. There’s something soothing about Gascón’s presence even as Emilia is headed for doom. —RL
Chloe Guidry, “Under the Bridge”
All the young performers on Hulu’s “Under the Bridge” are worth watching, but for our money the best of the bunch is Guidry, who portrays the main “mean girl” Josephine Bell. In Guidry’s capable hands, Jo is much more than just your standard-issue high school bully. She’s genuinely frightening, the kind who easily shows why adults, and not just kids, can’t seem to forget her.
But of course, there’s a deeply troubled individual behind her scary actions, and it’s here that Guidry becomes unforgettable. In telling the real-life story of Reena Virk’s murder, creator Quinn Shephard and team go to great lengths to show the humanity of all involved, from Virk (portrayed in the series by Vritika Gupta), to her parents, to Virk’s teen murderers. The mix of casual cruelty and inner fear that Guidry displays is one of the standout performances of the year and particularly for a young actor just starting out, it announces a career worth watching. —ES
Jessica Gunning, “Baby Reindeer”
When she first shows up in Richard Gadd’s “Baby Reindeer,” Jessica Gunning definitely gives off the where-have-I-seen-her-before quality that some actors never shake. Part of that is that you probably have seen her, since the actress has been working hard for the 17 years — but part of it is the innate familiarity that made her perfect to play Martha, the complex stalker in the Emmy-winning limited series.
For “Baby Reindeer” to work, and for Gunning to execute such a performance, Martha had to be multifaceted; she’s awkward in her initial interactions with Donny (Gadd), warm when she receives his affection, bold and tawdry at times, furious and violent at others. She elicits sympathy from the start, but never revulsion, as the episodes slowly unravel a troubled individual desperate for connection. Gunning’s knack for comedy comes handy when Martha’s mood switches on a dime, and the performance unsurprisingly yielded her first-ever Emmy Award.
“If I never work again, I get to say that I played Martha in ‘Baby Reindeer,’” Gunning told IndieWire in the summer. “I’m so proud of that.” —PK
Fred Hechinger, “Gladiator II” and “Thelma”
Get you a guy who will go to bat for a monkey with the same gusto as he’ll defend June Squibb. Hechinger’s turn as a deranged Emperor in “Gladiator II” couldn’t appear more different from the adrift but well-meaning grandson he plays in “Thelma.” Certainly, the assignments require different levels of naturalism and different kinds of comedy. But in both films, Hechinger displays a soulful quality that lets you see just how his characters are led by their emotions — whether those emotions are love and worry or, uh, leering bloodlust — and in a way so intriguing he can’t help but invite the audience in. Hechinger is an incredible switch-hitter inside a group dynamic too, going mostly straight-man only to explode or being mostly wild only to find a focus at the worst possible time. Whatever he’s doing, Hechinger’s able to make us really feel his performances. —SS
Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson, “Nickel Boys”
Actors Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson are the eyes, literally, through which we see the world of Nickel Academy, the setting of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Colson Whitehead novel that filmmaker RaMell Ross is skillfully adapting. Here they make a strong debut in two unconventional yet deeply affecting roles. Though they are not always on the screen in the traditional sense, their warmth provides some transitive property that makes watching the Orion Pictures release more of an immersive experience than what would be inferred from its initial video game-like approach to cinematography. Playing two sides of an eternal debate about how to survive crippling oppression, the actors play out conversations that feel all too relevant to America’s current state, even though the film is set in Florida, during the earlier days of the Civil Rights Movement. —MJ
John Earl Jelks, “Exhibiting Forgiveness”
Titus Kaphar’s feature directorial debut marks theater staple John Earl Jelks’ first time starring in a film with wide distributio. Playing a father in recovery relying on his faith but blinded as to why his son (played by André Holland) would resist rebuilding a relationship with him, the 65-year-old actor gut-wrenchingly embodies a relative everyone has dealt with before. Often acting opposite several Oscar nominees, like Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, who plays his estranged wife, Jelks stands out as a visceral force that is only hard to watch in the sense of how true to life his performance feels. —MJ
Dallas Liu, “Avatar: The Last Airbender”
There’s a lot of pressure in adapting something as beloved and perfect as Nickelodeon’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” anime, even without a live-action performance to live up to. Dallas Liu and his Netflix “AtLA” costars still followed in the footsteps of iconic performances, but made the characters created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko their own. Liu faced the daunting task of tackling Dante Basco’s Prince Zuko, a tortured teen with a dramatic streak as hot as the fire he bends so deftly. It’s a tricky spectrum that the animated series often uses for comic relief, but which Liu imbues with palpable adolescent angst and sincerity. He makes Zuko’s rage, pain, and confusion feel real, as well as the softer moments hidden behind his character’s rough exterior. His scene with Uncle Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) is one of the more satisfying creative gambles in Albert Kim’s adaptation, in which Zuko remembers Iroh’s son, comforting his uncle with a fond memory instead of explicitly saying what he feels.
“They let me play him as someone that truly has experienced trauma and banishment versus going over-the-top with his classic anger and hotheadedness,” Liu told IndieWire ahead of the show’s February premiere. With two more seasons confirmed, he’ll get to dive deeper into one of the best character arcs on television and grow alongside a character that he’s already proven he cares for deeply. —PK
Clarence Maclin, “Sing Sing”
A lived-in quality is not the foundation of every great acting performance, but it is hard not to leave the new A24 release from Greg Kwedar in awe of how well Maclin is able to convey the full range of his character’s experience as an incarcerated individual who finds salvation through theater. Playing a version of himself opposite recent Oscar nominee Colman Domingo, the man also known as Divine Eye is the definition of a revelation, skillfully guiding the audience toward the connection between the story the film is telling, and the true experiences of inmates whose lives have been changed by programs like Rehabilitation Through the Arts. And it is not in a cloying way either. His character’s redemption takes one by welcome surprise because of how repugnant he reads when he’s first introduced. —MJ
Ambika Mod, “One Day”
“One Day” is one of IndieWire’s Best Shows of 2024, and that’s largely thanks to Ambika Mod’s lively, engaging performance as Emma Morley, one half of the doomed lovers that populate this weepy, romantic Netflix miniseries.
For a character originally introduced in a beloved book and then a less-beloved movie starring Anne Hathaway, it might have been tricky to make the role her own. But Mod — alongside an also-excellent Leo Woodall — manages to create a whole person growing and changing over a dozen years. She shines in every aspect of this love story, from the nervous early days to the later disappointments that inevitably come. Thanks to her work here, the third telling of this story is the best, and one that is absolutely worth a holiday rewatch. Bring on the tears. —ES
Preeti Panigrahi, “Girls Will Be Girls”
“Girls Will Be Girls” is the feature film debut of star Preeti Panigrahi, but the twentysomething Indian actor is able to find shades and complexities that most experienced movie stars could struggle to land. Shuchi Talati’s brilliant portrait of a young girl’s first love and sexual awakening renders a lot of seemingly lewd or melodramatic material (there’s a subtle battle between mother and daughter for the affections of the same teen boy coursing through the film) with a soft, deft, and intelligent touch.
As Mira, the straight-A student who falls in love with a charming new boy and struggles with her sexual desires and her tense relationship with her protective mom, Panigrahi has a curious, emotionally open face that conveys all of the conflicting feelings plaguing this young woman; lust for her new boyfriend, shame for her burgeoning desires, envy for her mother, and anger for the restrictions placed upon her. It’s a rich performance that deservedly netted Panigrahi a Special Jury Award upon the film’s premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. —WC
Lola Petticrew, “Say Nothing”
“When the email came in about this show on which Dolours Price would be the lead, I immediately was like, ‘I have to do this,’” Petticrew told IndieWire about their role as a real-life leader of the IRA during the Troubles, highlighting their personal connection to the material, growing up in Belfast in the aftermath of that conflict.
On Hulu’s “Say Nothing,” Petticrew brings that personal insight into moving light. They are put through the wringer, showing Dolours going from a peace protester to someone who robs banks and plans car bombings. To keep the audience engaged, if not quite always on Dolours’ side, Petticrew had to constantly let viewers into their thinking. They were helped by excellent scripts from creator Joshua Zetumer and team, but it’s their choices throughout that make you continue to think about Dolours long past the closing credits. Their work on the nine-episode limited series heralds a performer worth watching, one who can soar with tricky material, complicated motivations and all. —ES
Aaron Pierre, “Rebel Ridge”
An arresting presence in Barry Jenkins’ underseen masterpiece “The Underground Railroad,” Aaron Pierre has a small list of credits that hasn’t translated to much in the way of wider exposure. A leading role in “Rebel Ridge,” a successful Netflix action movie of uncommon skill and dexterity, should hopefully change that. Directed by Jeremy Saulnier of “Green Room” and “Blue Ruin” fame, the thriller smartly casts Pierre as a Marine Corps veteran taking revenge on a racist small-town police force that ruined his cousin’s life. With his ludicrous muscles and his tall frame, Pierre can play an imposing action hero in his sleep, but what makes the film work is the subtle gentleness and honor he brings to his taciturn hero, a quality that makes the inner pain he goes through all the more wrenching. It’s one of the best action-hero turns of the year – the main flaw is that we couldn’t see Pierre on the big screen where he belongs. —WC
Kali Reis, “True Detective: Night Country”
“Night Country” showrunner Issa López never hid her intent to subvert the history of “True Detective” (and of most murder mysteries), in which women are pawns and victims but rarely the hands of justice. In the fourth installment of HBO’s crime drama, it’s a group of men who turn up dead in the Alaskan ice, and two women in charge of finding their killer — and the killer’s motive.
World champion boxer Reis brings obvious strength to Evangeline Navarro, but it’s her emotional strength and intricacy that make this character thrive. Whether she’s verbally sparring with Danvers (Jodie Foster), reckoning with her past and her heritage, or distracting herself from everything else with Qavvik (Joel D. Montgrand), Reis wears Navarro’s hurt and anger as defensive armor, her next barb or punch coiled right at the surface for whoever is dumb enough to provoke it.
And in the end — no spoilers — it’s that burning indignation that drives her to connect two unsolved murders and ultimately work out both of them, with a solution that brings her somewhere closer to peace. —PK
Naomi Scott, “Smile 2”
It’s been a while since we’ve had a woman-has-full-nervous-crackup, grand guignol-style horror movie of the likes of “Black Swan.” Enter Naomi Scott — known for tentpoles like the 2017 “Power Rangers” movie and as Jasmine in 2019’s “Aladdin” — in “Smile 2,” an audacious highwire performance as a pop star infected with a viral, rictus-grin-inducing curse that drives her to madness. Writer/director Parker Finn’s stylishly directed gorefest would be nothing without the force of its star, who makes the emotional and psychic downfall of a stressed-out top-of-the-charts singer feel visceral and real despite all the special effects, tricky camerawork, and viscera. The kind of full-throated performance that makes you sit up in your chair and demand immediately more from the young star. —RL
Anna Sawai, “Shogun” and “Pachinko”
With not one but two stellar performances in TV series this year, Anna Sawai has conquered every single member of the IndieWire TV staff — all of us nominated her for her work in either “Shōgun” or “Pachinko.” The former is arguably the more breakout-iest breakout role, given the show’s overall success; and Sawai’s Lady Mariko is intrinsic to it. She wears a perfectly elegant mask and yet Sawai is a master of allowing us to sense the raw emotion the character is carrying underneath when we need to. It’s a hard thing to make an audience understand poise as a defense mechanism and the character would not be legible without Sawai’s ability to do so.Her work as career-woman Naomi on “Pachinko” is a refreshing contrast, too. Hemmed in by a different flavor of patriarchy and armored with the late ’80s shoulder-pads of privilege, Naomi is a compelling and somehow non-contradictory blend of wariness and hope; and it’s because Sawai imbues her with a constant, lively curiosity that is both intellectual and emotional. Even when Naomi’s heart is breaking, Sawai finds a way to show that the hurt is inseparable from her strength. Whether the fence is eight-fold or eighty, Sawai is a performer who can guide us through every layer. —SS
Drew Starkey, “Queer”
Drew Starkey paints a lithe, elusive silhouette as Eugene Allerton, seemingly gliding above ground in Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer.” The Asheville-hailing star of “Outer Banks” is a love object out of reach and feasted upon by Daniel Craig’s William Lee, the literary surrogate for source material author William S. Burroughs’ pungently self-destructive novella about love and loathing in postwar Mexico City. Starkey alongside Harris Dickinson in “Babygirl” cements 2024 as the year of the white twink, here in a performance built mostly on silences, furtive, longing glances, and alcoholic yearning. The camera itself (handled by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom) seems to be in love with Starkey, skilled in the art of onscreen telepathy from character to audience even if telepathy between Allerton and Lee is a dead-end. —RL
Maisy Stella, “My Old Ass”
There’s a moment towards the very end of “My Old Ass” where Maisy Stella’s Elliot rejects a warning from her older self and tells her, “No,” with both authority and affection. It would be impressive purely because Aubrey Plaza plays that older self, and it’s no small thing to make Wow Platinum think twice. But Stella’s performance stands out in its own right. She makes Elliot as inviting, energetic, and good-natured as she’s also flawed, impatient, and sheltered. Stella can do it all, and in “My Old Ass” she does it all with a wry humor and the kind of immediacy to her performance that can only make you wonder how great a scene partner she is for both her fellow actors and the camera. May we have many more films with Stella to find out. —SS
Izaac Wang, “Dìdi”
It’s a difficult challenge to make a character like Chris in Sean Wang’s “Didi” lovable. A 13-year-old teen in 2008, he’s rude, obnoxious, misogynistic, and hostile toward the people who actually love him. What makes the film work is Wang’s deft depiction of Chris as a boy who’s ultimately less mean-spirited than he is painfully insecure about everything, from his Taiwanese identity to his sexual inexperience. And Izaac Wang, an experienced child actor who before has only gotten bit parts in films like “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” proves achingly vulnerable and sweet as Chris, making the bratty tween someone to love. —WC
Zoe Ziegler, “Janet Planet”
There are a lot of young girls like Lacy, the point-of-view character in “Janet Planet,” throughout cinema. Precocious, awkward, shy, both wise beyond their years and painfully showing their age at every turn. It’s so easy for this archetype to feel mushy and insubstantial, unbearably twee and inauthentic. What makes Annie Baker’s debut film such a moving look at the bond between mother and child is how authentically it renders Lacy and her fascination with her mother’s life over the course of one long Summer, rendering their relationship through sharply observed memories and moments. 12-year-old Zoey Ziegler, in her film debut, is a key to why the film works so well. In her film debut, she’s extraordinarily perceptive as a performer, finding lived-in chemistry with Julianne Nicholson as Lacy’s mother and some subtle layers to a character who could otherwise be an inherently passive observer. —WC
