Top 10 Young Hollywood Talents: Who Will Be the Next Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, or Al Pacino?

They are in their twenties or early thirties, but they've already managed to make themselves known in an unprecedented way. Some could be described as rising stars, which gradually rise to fame in small steps. For others, all it took was one role to place them straight among the elite.

Who will be the next Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, Jack Nicholson, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert De Niro, or Al Pacino? You may already know some of these rising stars, some you may have never heard of before.

1. Tom Holland

The 25-year-old Londoner needs no introduction. He became famous as the latest, shortest (173 cm), but also the funniest Spider-Man. He also portrayed this role in other Marvel blockbusters such as Avengers, Captain America: Civil War, or the Loki series. He undoubtedly inherited his acting talent and love for arts from his father Dominic, who is an actor, writer, comedian, and host himself.

According to Insider, Tom got on the stage for the first time at 12 in the Billy Elliot musical. He made his silver screen debut in the catastrophic drama The Impossible alongside Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. He went on with the adventure films In the Heart of the Sea and The Lost City of Z, gaining more attention from critics thanks to the historical drama Pilgrimage, in which he portrayed a monk.

In 2017, he won the BAFTA Rising Star Award. Director Antonio Campos noticed that he was doing a great job in a rough thriller called The Devil All the Time from the American countryside. In it, Holland performed a suggestive performance when he portrayed a young man who doesn't hesitate to pull the trigger in order to protect his loved ones.


So far, the best, most mature, and literally chilling performance the British actor has performed was in the drama based on the true story of Cherry. The Russ brothers directed it, and in it, he played a war veteran who becomes a drug addict and loses the love of his life. Although the film had a weak script, his performance took your breath away at times. Most recently, you can see him in the action thriller Uncharted.

2. Timothée Chalamet

He's 26 years old, and although he might not be buff, women are now getting weak in the knees from his boyish charm. He proved that a sex symbol could also be an actor who doesn't spend half his days in the gym lifting dumbbells. Over the last ten years, besides a seductive look, he has shown an enormous acting talent, regardless of the role you assign to him. In short, he tackles whatever's thrown at him with ease and without unnecessary lamentation.

The first significant role was in a CIA Homeland spy series. The intelligent sci-fi Interstellar, directed by Christopher Nolan, soon arrived. He also gave a brilliant performance in the cruel western Hostiles alongside Christian Bala and Rosamund Pike.

The film that turned his life upside down was the sensitive drama of Luca Guadagnino about two gays called Call Me by Your Name.

Together with the actor Armi Hammer, who's nine years older than Chalamet, they had many passionate erotic scenes in the film. The young man from New York tackled them like a seasoned man in his forties with three Oscars under his belt. Critics in Florida and his hometown heavily praised him for his performance, and he also received his premier nomination for a Golden Globe and an Oscar.

Suddenly he was a star. Another spectacular performance followed in the biopic Beautiful Boy, where, for a change, he portrayed a sinister addict who robs his own family without a blink of an eye. His talent was also praised by the director Woody Allen in the novel A Rainy Day in New York or Denis Villeneuve, who cast him in Dune in the central role. Adam McKay and Wes Anderson also gave him a chance.

3. Daniel Kaluuja

He's 32 years old, and you might be familiar with him from the series Skins, Black Mirror, in the comedies Kick-Ass 2 or Johnny English Reborn, but also the dark Sicilian thriller Sicario. He didn't get a chance to fully showcase his potential in any of the above-mentioned films.

Only the director Jordan Peele had noticed his potential when he gave him space to play the lead role for the first time. He cast him in a bizarre but brilliant, layered, and original thriller on racism called Get Out.

And what a great idea that was. Kaluuja subsequently received nominations for the most prestigious awards (BAFTA, Golden Globe, Oscar), and the door to Hollywood was open wide. Another African-American, Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave), gave him a valuable opportunity in Widows, and Kaluuja rose to the occasion just as expected.

 
This time he was introduced as a cold-blooded and insidious psychopath who's perfectly capable of torturing a handicapped person without mercy or just shooting someone in the head out of the blue.

As one of the few actors in this chart, Kaluuja is one of those lucky owners of the most prized golden Oscar statue. He was awarded by it for his last performance in the political thriller Judas and the Black Messiah. He tells the story of the Black Panther movement (he portrayed its leader Fred Hampton) during the turbulent '60s.

4. Will Poulter

Not familiar with this name? The 27-year-old Brit doesn't get that much attention yet. The more aware people already know that his acting is at such a high level that he can compete with any colleague in this ranking. He made his silver screen debut in 2007 as a 14-year-old in an entertaining genre mix called Son of Rambow.

He portrayed a little boy who lives in a religious sect where TV is banned. However, once he sees the film Ramo, everything changes - he turns into a feared fighter at school. Followed by the 20th Century Fox blockbuster The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader and soon after the successful comedy road movie We're the Millers. Only 20-year-old Will appears in a scene where Jennifer Aniston and Emma Roberts teach him how to kiss. In 2014, he received the BAFTA Award for the rising star.


The roles of a shy nerd seem to be great for him, but it's not for nothing that it is said that the negative roles toughen you up the most. After Poulter got the opportunity to act in the drama Revenant alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, he appeared in a thrilling, "claustrophobic" thriller based on an actual event called Detroit.

In a film about racial unrest in Detroit, he played a domineering, violent, racist police officer and captivated everyone with his confident and best performance so far. He later confirmed his qualities in Ari Aster's terrifying horror film Midsommar.

5. Lucas Hedges

This 25-year-old New Yorker is a real phenomenon. Never afraid to accept the most challenging tasks imaginable, and although they're often mentally exhausting, he doesn't let it show. Even if the name doesn't ring a bell for you, you might remember, for example, the heartbreaking Oscar-awarded Manchester by the Sea, where he portrayed a pensive teenager supervised by Casey Affleck.

For his convincing performance, he earned a valuable Oscar nomination, which got him noticed by great directing talents, such as Martin McDonagh, Greta Gerwig or Jonah Hill, who has cast him in his directorial debut (you most likely know him as an actor). Hill has cast him as a lonely and grumpy, frustrated Ian who bullies his younger brother Stevie in Mid90s.

 
"Lucas is a highly sensitive and cordial young man. I felt that if you suddenly felt the sensitivity and huge heart in contrast with the bullying and anger we see in the film, you'd still be much more empathetic to his character," Hill revealed about the actor. The description couldn't be more accurate. Thanks to the scene with amok and psychological collapse of Hedges, he convinced everyone in an instant that he belongs to the top talent out there.

Another fantastic performance of his was in the biographical film Honey Boy, where he introduced himself as a young Shia LaBeouf. He was also fabulous in the independent drama Waves from the production of A24, directed by Trey Edward Shults.

He was also great in the drama Boy Erased. For a change, he portrayed a homosexual from a Christian family who gets sent to rehab due to his sexual orientation. If we prophesized for a moment and tried to guess someone from this ranking who will play the biggest roles one day and win multiple Oscars, it would be Hedges.

6. Tye Sheridan

He made his debut as an 11-year-old in the poetic, over three-hour-long drama The Tree of Life by Terrence Malick. Immediately after, he appeared in the independent drama Mud alongside the experienced Matthew McConaughey. Today you might know him mainly from the expensive blockbusters like X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Deadpool 2, or from Spielberg's science fiction Ready Player One, where he portrayed the protagonist.


The lesser-known role, in which he showed his desire to perform "in full swing", was in a film inspired by true story of The Stanford Prison Experiment. He played one of the prisoners and showed a variety of emotions. He was also not afraid of the role of the soldier in Iraq in the war drama The Yellow Birds.

Undoubtedly, he excelled most in the 2021 drama The Tender Bar, about a teenage boy abandoned by his father. He was given a lot of space to let his acting spectrum shine, and he made use of it confidently. It was the most mature performance of his career, which was probably due to the fact that, as the actor himself said for Collider, he identified with his character immensely while reading the script. The film was directed by the famous actor George Clooney, and Sheridan's main acting colleague in the film was Ben Affleck.

7. Taron Egerton

He's 32 years old and studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He started in theatre and often impressed people in great musicals with his incredible dancing and singing. He first appeared on screen at the age of 25. It was a drama Testament of Youth, where he was given quite some space and got to shine alongside more experienced colleagues Alicia Vikander and Kit Harington.

He conquered Hollywood the same year with the excellent action flick Kingsman: The Secret Service, and his determination to be among the best was apparent in the rough gangster movie Legend with Tom Hardy. He was cast in the lead role by Dexter Fletcher in the biographical sports drama Eddie the Eagle, and he also played the main role in Otto Bathurst's film, as the famous Robin Hood.

However, the most significant opportunity came when he received an offer to portray the music legend Elton John in the film Rocketman. Since the aforementioned Dexter Fletcher directed the movie, everything went smoothly, with the actor winning an Oscar for his incredible performance. "When I saw Taron, I was not looking at him — I was looking at me. And when I was hearing the voice, I was hearing me, but it wasn’t me. Everything about it was extraordinary," the singer told Indiewire.

8. Dev Patel

The 39-year-old Brit, like Daniel Kaluuja, started in the popular teen series Skins. Unlike him, his first role was already groundbreaking and brought him almost unlimited opportunities at the highest ranks. In 2008, he was selected for the leading role in the film Slumdog Millionaire by the famous Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 127 Hours).


He won the BIFA Award for his performance and enjoyed himself on the red carpet with his colleagues during the Oscars. Although he wasn't nominated, Boyle's film won about eight statues. This was followed by the fantasy film The Last Airbender directed by M. Right Shyamalan, the likable festival flick The Road Within, and the successful sci-fi Chappie.

The powerful drama Lion Garth Davis brought him to the red carpet again. In it, he played an Indian boy who, after 25 years, tries to use Google Earth in combination with flashes of memories to find his lost family, to finally have peace of mind.

He won a BAFTA award, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar nomination. Undoubtedly, his career highlights include his role in David Lowery's dark and subtly surrealistic historical drama, The Green Knight.

9. Caleb Landry Jones

Caleb has this expression of a weirdo or a criminal, which makes his con characters truly great. The thirty-two-year-old actor from Texas is taking slow steps forward. That's why he's probably the least known of all that are mentioned here. And although he's really inconspicuous at first glance, he's one of the most talented following the so-called Stanislavsky method and is able to fully take on his character.


At the same time, he can use his emotional memory to enrich the character he portrays. That's precisely what Jones did, for example, in the sci-fi horror film Antiviral with the unpleasant atmosphere, in the film Queen and Country, in the thriller Get Out, and especially in the suggestive drama Nitram, for which he won the prestigious award at the Cannes Film Festival.

He was also excellent in the films Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, The Florida Project, The Dead Don't Die, or the sequel to the cult series Twin Peaks with the Return subtitle, even though he didn't get too much space in that one. He's guaranteed to have a wonderful career ahead of himself.

10. Alex Lawther

The 26-year-old English actor is still waiting for his "big" role in the megalomaniac blockbuster world, yet a single role was enough for him to attract the attention of the most established directors. We're talking about the series The End of the F *** ing World, which was based on a comic book by Charles S. Forsman. The British portrayed the 17-year-old James, desperately looking for both life and relationships, and thinks of himself as a psychopath.


They find a like-minded free spirit Alyssa and embark on a wild journey towards freedom and new experiences. Lawther is absolutely fantastic here. Ridley Scott, who cast him in the role of King Charles VI in The Last Duel is aware of this fact. Wes Anderson also gave him a chance in his latest film The French Dispatch.