10 Rising Actors I Predict Will Be Oscar Winners Within 10 Years, From Emma D’Arcy To Tom Blyth

Summary

• Rising stars await their potential Oscar wins based on merit, talent, and promising upcoming projects.
• Streaming services introduce new talent with nuanced performances worthy of Oscar recognition.
• Some actors, such as Dafne Keen, Bella Ramsey, and Stephanie Hsu, are poised for Oscar nominations after their stellar performances.

Certain rising stars in Hollywood have immeasurable potential, making me believe that they could win Oscars for acting sometime in the next 10 years. The Academy Awards is considered the most prestigious awards ceremony for movies, and the criteria for getting nominated is a complicated game of what kinds of genres are typically considered. We are still waiting on amazing actors and modern directors who have yet to win Oscars to be recognized when their work already merits the highest praise.

Meanwhile, streaming services are bringing in new talent to lead everything from upcoming fantasy book to TV show adaptations to fun new rom-coms. A handful of these actors completely amazed me with their profound and nuanced performances, occasionally making me wonder why they haven’t been nominated for an Oscar yet. On the other hand, some of the biggest up-and-coming stars from the past few years haven’t been in anything that would win them a nomination but have some promising upcoming projects.

10 Dafne Keen

Known For Logan (2017) & His Dark Materials (2019-2022)

Dafne Keen proved her dramatic skill right away with her simmering portrayal of Laura in Logan. She immediately became a favored actress to be cast in a younger role, making it unsurprising that she was picked for the TV show reboot of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. Keen was a safe choice for this show, but by no means a weak one — she was perfect to play Lyra, also a curious and fierce character, in every way. Most recently, Keen appeared in the controversial Star Wars TV show The Acolyte.

The Acolyte does not do justice to Keen’s talents when everyone has seen her play the far more complex and emotional roles of Laura and Lyra. Frankly, she has the skill set to win an Oscar — it’s just a matter of getting the right role. Keen has two upcoming movies (one in pre- and one in post-production) that could either be huge successes or total flops. However, with her combination of established fame and genuine talent, she is likely to get her next amazing role soon.

9 Tom Blyth

Known For The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) & Billy The Kid (2022-2024)

Tom Blyth gives a strong performance in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, considering that his character is wholly unlikable and undergoing an arc that preludes him becoming a cruel dictator. His Coriolanus Snow is poised, cunning, and vulnerable, helping the audience understand how he becomes President Snow. Blyth also stars in the bio-drama series Billy the Kid and one episode of The Gilded Age. Blyth now has a lot of upcoming projects in development, covering several different genres and setting him up to work with various new directors.

While Blyth will gain valuable experience from all of them, his in-development remake of A Farewell to Arms seems like obvious Oscar bait. He probably won’t win an Oscar for it, but he might learn more about the types of performances that are likely to get nominated and how to break the mold to become someone who wins. It might be a while for Blyth, but I think his stardom from The Hunger Games will set him on course for more potential Oscar-nominated movies.

8 Erin Kellyman

Known For Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) & The Green Knight (2021)

I still can’t believe that Erin Kellyman wasn’t nominated for her performance in The Green Knight, no matter how brief it was. Playing an ethereal, vaguely supernatural maiden in need of assistance from Dev Patel’s Gawain, she commands the scene with her implicit condemnation of his behavior. The Green Knight was overlooked by the Academy in general, so Kellyman’s performance went unnoticed. However, it is completely characteristic of her ability to portray characters representative of a bigger ethical debate.

Kellyman was exactly the antagonist The Falcon and the Winter Soldier needed, driving some great scenes with Anthony Mackie that showcase the ideological differences between their two characters. Her role in Willow took up a couple of years; then Willow turned out to be one of the Disney+ TV shows canceled too soon, wasting time she could have spent elsewhere. Kellyman now has some promising upcoming projects, including the threequel 28 Years Later and Steve McQueen’s new historical drama Blitz. Depending on what the scripts give her to work with, she might score her first nomination soon.

7 Charlie Bushnell

Known For Diary Of A Future President (2020-2021) & Percy Jackson And The Olympians (2023-Present)

I think that Charlie Bushnell gave the strongest performance of the young cast in the first season of Disney’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Percy and Annabeth are difficult characters to play with nuance because a lot of their responses are meant to be sarcastic, while Grover is a mostly friendly character. With Luke, Bushnell believably portrays him as Percy’s first real friend at Camp Half-Blood, but people who know that he will be the betrayer (which was pretty much everyone) can feel the undercurrent tensions with his character, even then.

As much time as he spends solely focusing on Percy Jackson, he is becoming a better actor, and can maybe try for an Oscar contender later.

Bushnell then totally nails Luke’s change in character in the final episode, and I am so excited to see more of his two-faced personality in Percy Jackson season 2. Bushnell came to Percy Jackson with experience from Diary of a Future President and doesn’t have anything else lined up in the coming years. As much time as he spends solely focusing on Percy Jackson, he is becoming a better actor, and can maybe try for an Oscar contender later.

6 Amir Wilson

Known For The Secret Garden (2020) & His Dark Materials (2019-2022)

Amir Wilson is the other half of the astoundingly good main duo in His Dark Materials. A lot of the stellar performance is due to him and Keen having great chemistry, but they both give perfect individual performances. Wilson was given a lot to work with and many challenges to live up to as Will Parry, who grapples with the complexities of responsibility and grief. It’s amazing to watch him slowly become unwaveringly protective of Lyra after being initially defensive; he also has a great dynamic with Andrew Scott, who plays his father.

Wilson might not be so easily set up to get an Oscar nomination as Keen, but his confirmed future projects could be the start of a career trajectory that leads to the Oscars. For starters, he is appearing in The Return, Ralph Fiennes’ drama inspired by The Odyssey, later this year. A weighty movie like this working with such A-listers could be the next step in Wilson’s career, garnering more attention from Hollywood’s best directors.

5 Bella Ramsey

Known For Game Of Thrones (2011-2019) & The Last Of Us (2023-Present)

Bella Ramsey blew everyone away from their first scene in Game of Thrones, both in the real world and in the hall of House Mormont. Lady Lyanna Mormont, the 10-year-old who finds herself leading her house after most of her family is killed, quickly became one of the show’s best characters. Ramsey is amazing as the brutally straightforward yet humble and intelligent young leader, and their career has only gotten better since then. Ramsey’s next big thing was The Last of Us, the zombie apocalypse series in which they star alongside Pedro Pascal.

For their performance as Ellie, Ramsey earned a Primetime Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe nomination, essentially the TV equivalent awards of an Oscar. Ramsey also has a crazy number of projects coming up, proving that they are becoming one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood. Ramsey is going to be competing with the House of the Dragon cast at the Golden Globes for the next few years, but still might win their first award at this show before naturally progressing to the Oscars.

4 Anna Sawai

Known For F9: The Fast Saga (2021) & Shogun (2024-Present)

Before Shōgun, Anna Sawai appeared in some average but enjoyable action movies, namely one outing with the Fast & Furious saga and the thriller Ninja Assassin. Her more critically merit-worthy project was the drama series Pachinko, the second season of which is coming soon. However, the course of Sawai’s career was undeniably changed once she appeared in Shōgun, giving an unrivaled performance as the quietly intelligent and powerful Lady Mariko.

This performance unsurprisingly earned Sawai a Primetime Emmy nomination; Shōgun should be considered for the next round of the Golden Globes. Sawai doesn’t have anything else on her schedule yet, although Shōgun season 2 is happening. While she may be taking a break after making Shōgun, Sawai has more than earned some options for new roles that will take her career to its next stage.

3 Emma D’Arcy

Known For Mothering Sunday (2021) & House Of The Dragon (2022-Present)

Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke are dominating House of the Dragon; in D’Arcy’s case, they are leading the way as the de facto heroine Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen with a smoldering, reflective, and emotional performance. D’Arcy has already been nominated at the Golden Globes for playing Rhaenyra and is likely to be there again next year. While they flew under the radar with some romantic dramas before the acclaimed HBO series, becoming the latest Targaryen queen instantly launched them to widespread fame.

D’Arcy only has House of the Dragon on their schedule for the next few years and may choose to focus on that given the demands of filming. However, if House of the Dragon has a stronger ending than Game of Thrones, D’Arcy may end up with even more opportunities in a few years. If they want to go back to making movies and get the right role, their next project right after House of the Dragon could easily be their first Oscar nomination.

2 Dominic Sessa

Known For The Holdovers (2023)

Dominic Sessa started his career at the top, setting him up to meet all the regularly nominated directors in Hollywood. The producers of The Holdovers likely scouted young, unheard-of actors to take on the main student role, which is how Sessa ended up making his on-screen debut in a Best Picture nominee. He perhaps needed just a bit more luck to have gotten a nomination for Best Supporting Actor this time around — but he definitely came close.

Sessa is now lining up other movies, including The Big Sick and The Idea of You writer Michael Showalter’s Oh. What. Fun. and the bio-drama Tow alongside several major A-listers. As both of these movies are in post-production, Sessa could do something else soon. He might need more time working in Hollywood before he gets his first nomination, but he definitely has the potential, and it probably won’t take more than five years.

1 Stephanie Hsu

Known For Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) & The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017-2023)

I personally think that Stephanie Hsu should have won Best Supporting Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once. Hsu appeared in things like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel but was mostly overshadowed by the also talented actors playing the main characters. She became much more famous when she ended up in the hit multiverse adventure that became a Best Picture winner. The absolutely chaotic and constantly fluctuating persona of Jobu Tupaki/Joy gave her all the opportunities she could hope for to show off her acting skills in a single movie.

I think it’s just a matter of time before another director has a crazy idea for which Hsu is a perfect match, and this round will be a winner for her.

Hsu entirely lived up to the people she was starring alongside, who won three out of the four acting categories at the Oscars that year. I think it’s just a matter of time before another director has a crazy idea for which Hsu is a perfect match, and this round will be a winner for her. For many would-be Oscar winners, it comes down to being handed the right script that allows them the opportunity to shine and achieve the recognition they deserve.