Much like the Faces of 2024, there are always entertainers of note to be on the look-out for in the new year or those who made great waves throughout the current year who will, undoubtedly, be big stars in the new year.
The new faces of 2025 appear below in no particular order:
Elliott Heffernan – After a nationwide open casting call and dealing with the audition process, this 11-year-old British boy made his professional on screen debut in the box office World War II-themed movie Blitz from director Steve McQueen. He played the young son, George, of Rita who was portrayed by Saoirse Ronan.
Phylicia Pearl Mpasi – Phylicia is a Maryland-born actress, who turned heads as young Celie in last year’s new version of The Color Purple, a performance which earned her an Outstanding Breakthrough Performance nomination at the 24th Annual Black Reel Awards. Not bad for her first big role, huh? Previously she worked as a staff writer for the short-lived Paramount+ series Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.
Nikki Rodriguez – The 20-something actress from Minneapolis moved to LA straight out of school, first playing the tough teen girlfriend of a South Central gang member in the Gen Z comedy On My Block and then landing the plum role of Jackie Howard, the smart New York teenager, who ends up living in Colorado with her late mother’s best friend and her large family in the Netflix young-adult drama My Life With the Walter Boys.
Matilda De Angelis – The Italian actress and singer recently starred in the box office movie Across the River and Into the Woods (yes, that’s the full title of the movie and the Ernest Hemingway book on which it is based) alongside Liev Schreiber and Josh Hutcherson before landing the lead role in the spin-off series Citadel: Diana where she played an undercover agent for the global spy agency Citadel.
Anna Sawai – The Best Actress Emmy winner for the revised version of Shogun, had one of her big breaks in the 2021 franchise film F9: The Fast Saga, but it’s been her work in the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ series Pachinko as well as Monarch: Legacy of Monsters that got her attention in addition to her award-winning performance in the aforementioned Shogun.
Mia McKenna-Bruce – She appeared in the young adult dramas Get Even and Vampire Academy as well as the Dakota Johnson-led movie Persuasion before winning the EE Rising Star Award at the BAFTAs, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, which is the British equivalent to the Oscars and Emmys and is the only award voted on by the British public, for her role in the acclaimed indie film How to Have Sex.
Kali Reis – The former world champion professional boxer of Native American descent co-starred alongside recent Emmy winner Jodie Foster in the fourth season of True Detective: Night Country where Kali was nominated herself as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Not too bad for her small screen acting debut, right?
Ambika Mod – Her first big break was in the AMC+ original series This Is Going to Hurt, playing Shruti Acharya, a young Labour Ward trainee alongside actor Ben Whishaw before appearing in the small screen adaptation of One Day based on the David Nicholls 2009 novel and its 2011 film adaptation, which starred Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. It was this lead role that really broke hearts.
Hoa Xuande – While this newcomer has actually been acting since 2010, it wasn’t until he appeared in the short-lived John Cho series Cowboy Bebop and then the HBO period piece espionage series The Sympathizer, where he starred opposite Robert Downey Jr., that caught viewers’ attention.
Drew Starkey – Drew has appeared in the TV shows Mercy Street, Shots Fired and Ozark as well as the box office movie Love, Simon and the streaming flick The Other Zoey, but it’s been his recurring role in the Netflix series Outer Banks and his starring role in this fall’s box office movie Queer, starring 007 actor Daniel Craig himself, that has been turning heads.
Are there any actors or actresses who you think are the faces to watch in 2025? Please share.
TOMORROW: Closing Out 2024
Rueben's Ramblings 