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Carey Mulligan

Though she’s been acting in major film and TV productions for five years, Carey Mulligan’s career has had a meteoric rise in the past 12 months. Last year, at this time, her role in the British film An Education was being touted as one of the best young performances by any actor in a very long time. This year, after picking up a Best Actress Oscar nomination, Mulligan can be seen in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and as the lead character in the art house sci-fi drama Never Let Me Go. She’s had a whirlwind year, and I genuinely hope that she won’t become another It girl who strikes the fancy of American hearts for about 18 months, and then fades away into obscurity (proof positive of the latter: Gretchen Mol. Remember when she was huge?).

Who’s to say what will happen, but Mulligan has the chops and general stage presence to remain one of the most major British imports since Keira Knightley and, stretching further back, Emma Thompson. Mulligan, in An Education, proved to have more fortitude behind her frail figure when facing off against love interest Peter Sarsgaard and father Alfred Molina. An Education is not a perfect film, but when you watch Mulligan’s performance, you understand what all the hype is about. Her role in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps looks a little more standard, where she plays the love interest of main character Shia LaBeouf and the daughter of Michael Douglas’s iconic Gordon Gekko. Never Let Me Go, however, looks to be right in her wheelhouse, an austere drama set in a mysterious boarding school. She’ll have her time to face off with Knightley; I bet she’ll hold her own.

Anna Kendrick

It’s rare that when I see an actor in a movie, I find myself more likely to enjoy it (or at least, that actor’s time on screen). For me to like such an actor is one thing; for that actor to come from the Twilight movies is something else. Yes, those who have seen movies like Camp know that Anna Kendrick was acting far before the Twilight series snatched her up as one of Bella’s non-vampire, non-werewolf classmates, but most people recognize her first from the Twilight films. In those films, she reminded me most of Kristen Wiig, in that her character managed to throw off a line or two that seems improvised, commenting on the ridiculousness of what’s going on. But her real star role was in Up in the Air.

For this role, of course, she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar (and part of me wishes she had won). Since then, she’s only been seen in the latest Twilight film and as Scott Pilgrim’s sister in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (which, of course, is information you know because YOU saw that movie, right? Right?). What about her relatively sparse career is so interesting? If you’ve seen Up in the Air, you know: watching her perform against George Clooney, and match him line for line, is watching the blossoming of one of the great new actresses. I sincerely hope Kendrick’s post-Twilight career brings her as much acclaim as she can get. If making those movies helps her push through less commercially viable films, so be it; her talent is obvious and deserves more attention.

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