Meet the new Hollywood.
Love the old guard though we do, Tom Cruise is 60, Brad Pitt is 59 and Sandra Bullock is 58 — and they’ve been entertaining us consistently since they were practically kids. Sure, these A-listers might still have some of their best work ahead, but there’s ample room for some vivacious new blood.
And there are so many brilliant emerging actors to become obsessed with.
This year, The Post watched hundreds of films and TV shows and are shouting out the nascent celebs who wowed us — and who we’re sure will be answering awkward E! red-carpet questions for years to come.
Here are our 10 favorite blazing stars of 2023.
Jeremy Pope, 30
Where you know him from: A24’s “The Inspection” and Ryan Murphy’s “Hollywood” on Netflix
Where you’ll see him this year: As Jean-Michel Basquiat in “The Collaboration” on Broadway, opposite Paul Bettany, and reprising that role in a forthcoming film version; singing out as Sammy Davis Jr. in “Scandalous!”
Why he’s a standout: You might not know him by name just yet, but the mega-skilled, 30-year-old Jeremy Pope has already been a Tony, Emmy, Grammy and Golden Globe nominee. In fact, this year at the Globes, the fifth slot for best actor in a drama didn’t go to the amped-up Tom Cruise or Paul Mescal — it went to Pope for his heralded turn as a gay man who enlists in the Marines in “The Inspection.” His acting is always top notch, deeply felt and nuanced, but he’s also a phenomenal singer and dancer, as evidenced by his work in the Broadway musical about the Temptations, “Ain’t Too Proud,” which earned him a Tony nom. It’s easy to imagine him turning into a new Hugh Jackman — a Marvel hero one day, and a “Music Man” the next.
Stephanie Hsu, 32
Where you know her from: The sci-fi/comedy/action thriller “Everything Everywhere All at Once“
Where you’ll see her this year: The Natasha Lyonne-starring detective series “Poker Face” on Peacock and the action-comedy series “American Born Chinese” on Disney+
Why she’s a standout: Hsu (pronounced “shoe”), a Broadway performer who played a recurring role on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” more than held her own against the legendary Michelle Yeoh in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Playing Yeoh’s character’s daughter Joy, she turns out to have a role in unraveling the multiverse in her alternate persona as Jobu Tupaki, flamboyant destroyer of worlds. This year, she’s set to re-team with co-stars Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan on Disney’s “American Born Chinese,” adapted from the award-winning 2006 graphic novel. Regarding her dual turn in “EEAAO,” Hsu told Vanity Fair she studied Jim Carrey’s Riddler and Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker as inspo: “It felt different — vulnerable in a different way — to be a woman allowing herself to kind of spill out in that way and be kind of unlikable, both as Joy and Jobu.”
Adam DiMarco, 32
Where you know him from: HBO’s “The White Lotus”
Where you’ll see him this year: At the SAG Awards where he’s nominated with his cast for best ensemble performance in a drama series (and, we’re told, he’s been fielding tons of offers since “White Lotus: Sicily” exploded)
Why he’s a standout: Yes, Jennifer Coolidge was a meme-a-minute on Season 2 of HBO’s “The White Lotus.” But the breakout star was Adam DiMarco as sweet-but-sinister Albie. Arriving in Sicily as your typical college-age nice guy, DiMarco’s doe-eyed character soon finds himself in a risky fling with an Italian streetwalker and glued fans started to wonder if he was the season’s surprise murderer. That’s DiMarco’s magic. The Canadian actor brings his early Disney-Channel good looks and innocence to the table, but shrewdly warps them with dark intensity. He’s enjoying his newfound fame. DiMarco sat front row at the Prada show in Milan recently — his first fashion week — and he’s sure to become a visible fixture of glossies and TVs alike.
Rachel Sennott, 27
Where you know her from: “Shiva Baby” and “Bodies Bodies Bodies”
Where you’ll see her this year: In the starry new HBO show “The Idol” alongside Lily-Rose Depp, The Weeknd, Troye Sivan and Dan Levy, and in the films “I Used To Be Funny” and “Bottoms”
Why she’s a standout: There’s stand-up funny, TV funny, theater funny and movie funny. Lately, young talent with that last gift has has been hard to come by. But Sennott, who attended NYU, gets big laughs effortlessly on the big screen. Her brand of self-aware Gen Z incredulousness is gobsmackingly hilarious — all at once alarmingly real and biting. Every moment in the ensemble comedy “Bodies Bodies Bodies” that Sennott wasn’t on-screen, we silently begged for her to come back and rattle off a zinger. She outright stole the film from the fabulous Maria Bakalova (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”) and Pete Davidson. The actress also performed a splendid leading role in the earlier indie “Shiva Baby,” which you should watch, but she’s well on the way to becoming the movie comic of the moment.
Tom Blyth, 27
Where you know him from: The title role in the Epix series “Billy the Kid” and the film “Benediction”
Where you’ll see him this year: “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”
Why he’s a standout: It takes an insane level of charisma to get cast as the young Coriolanus Snow, the villain played by Donald Sutherland in the “Hunger Games” movies. In this prequel film adapted from the 2020 book by Suzanne Collins, the 27-year-old Blyth will star as the teenage Snow, opposite Rachel Zegler of “West Side Story” as Lucy Gray Baird, alongside castmates Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage and Jason Schwartzman. As the Brit told W Magazine, he’s committed to ignoring the astronomical level of fandom that surrounds the “Hunger Games” franchise: “I actively try not to think about it, because it can drive you crazy.”
Sheila Atim, 32
Where you know her from: “The Woman King,” starring Viola Davis, and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”
Where you’ll see her this year: In A24’s “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt”
Why she’s a standout: Already an acclaimed British stage actress (she’s won Olivier Awards for “Girl from the North Country” and the play “Constellations), Atim has a burgeoning movie career that’s been supercharged lately. She’s co-starred with Halle Berry in a boxing indie called “Bruised”; she’s been part of the MCU with “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”; and she was a formidable, memorable warrior in the action-packed “Woman King.” She’s a fascinating performer to experience — both authoritative and tender, with an air of secrecy about her. She’s the lead in A24’s “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” — the producers of which include Barry Jenkins of “Moonlight” — that premieres at the Sundance Film Festival this month.
Bella Ramsey, 19
Where you know her from: As outspoken Lyanna Mormont on “Game of Thrones,” and the title character in “Catherine Called Birdy”
Where you’ll see her this year: “The Last of Us” and “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget”
Why she’s a standout: As one of the tiniest cast members of “Game of Thrones,” Ramsey made an outsized impression as the fierce Lyanna Mormont. Now the 19-year-old actor, who recently came out as neurodivergent and nonbinary, is wowing audiences in her role opposite fellow “GoT” alum Pedro Pascal in HBO’s apocalyptic video-game adaptation “The Last of Us,” and will voice a character in the new Aardman-produced animated movie “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.” What’s next for this formidable teen? Lena Dunham, who directed Ramsey in “Catherine Called Birdy,” gave some ideas to Elle: Ramsey “would make a killer Peter Pan, would really crush Amelia Earhart, and could also deliver quite an exceptional David Bowie.”
Cooper Raiff, 25
Where you know him from: “Cha Cha Real Smooth” on Apple TV+
Where you’ll see him this year: Directing “The Trashers” starring David Harbour and “Licorice Pizza” breakout star Cooper Hoffman, and writing and directing the Amazon series “Exciting Times”
Why he’s a standout: The jack-of-all-trades Raiff exemplifies what is increasingly expected of Hollywood stars today — artists who can create their own tailor-made, quality projects. The New Jersey native wrote, directed and starred in the lovable indie movie “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” opposite Dakota Johnson, which became a breakout hit at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival that Apple TV+ bought for $15 million. He exudes 1980s boyish charisma, and it’s impossible not to be on his side. On the writing front, every character, no matter how small, is fleshed out and embraceable. Raiff’s appeal and broad array of abilities are already making him a hot commodity.
Frankie Corio, 12
Where you know her from: The acclaimed family-bond drama “Aftersun”
Where you’ll see her this year: Horror-drama “The Bagman”
Why she’s a standout: Scottish 12-year-old Corio made her acting debut alongside Paul Mescal in “Aftersun,” a quiet drama about the relationship between a young father and his daughter that ended up garnering many awards nominations, alongside rave reviews for Corio’s naturalistic performance opposite the mesmerizing Mescal (“Normal People”). She’s next set to appear in another drama, “The Bagman,” which will also feature Sam Claflin (“The Hunger Games,” “Peaky Blinders”) — but as she said on the red carpet recently, her dream is to get a tragedy-infused role on “Stranger Things,” specifically a “big dramatic death,” she told IndieWire. “I’ll get killed by Vecna, my bones will break.”
Yasmin Finney, 19
Where you know her from: The Netflix dramedy “Heartstopper”
Where you’ll see her this year: “Doctor Who”
Why she’s a standout: Finney, 19, made waves in “Heartstopper” as Elle Argent, a schoolmate of series protagonist Charlie, who transfers to a girls’ school after coming out as trans. The British Finney, who is trans herself, won the on-screen trailblazer award from Gay Times for the role, among other accolades. She appeared on the cover of British Vogue last fall in advance of her new gig this year, as the latest companion to the incoming new Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) on the BBC’s long-running sci-fi series “Doctor Who.” She’s the first trans actor to star on the show, and as she told Vogue of her casting, “I remember growing up idolising [the series] … I’m happy to be the representation on a show that means a lot to so many.”
