Up and Coming Actresses to Watch for in 2012
These are Powerhouse Woman to keep on your radar, the future HollyWood Superstars
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Jessica Michelle Chastain was born in Sacramento, California, and was raised in a middle-class household in a Northern California suburb. Her mother, Jerri Chastain, is a vegan chef whose family is originally from Kansas, and her stepfather is a fireman. She discovered dance at the age of nine and was in a dance troupe by age thirteen. She began performing in Shakespearean productions all over the Bay area.
An actor in a production of "Romeo & Juliet" encouraged her to audition for Juilliard as a drama major. She became a member of "Crew 32" with the help of a scholarship from one of the school's famous alumni, Robin Williams.
In her last year at Juilliard, she was offered a holding deal with TV writer/producer John Wells and she eventually worked in three of his TV shows. Jessica continues to do theatre, having played in "The Cherry Orchard", "Rodney's Wife", "Salome" and "Othello". She spends her time between New York and Los Angeles, working in theater, film and TV.
In 2011, she had a prolific year in film. She was nominated for and won a number of awards, including a 2012 Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for The Help (2011).- Actress
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Paula Patton was born in Los Angeles, California, to Joyce (Vanraden) and Charles Patton. Her father is African-American and her mother, who is caucasian, has German, English, and Dutch ancestry. Her family lived across the street from the 20th Century Fox lot when she was growing up and she was a fan of films from her earliest years. Her mother, who also appreciated good films, was a schoolteacher, and her father was a lawyer. Paula claims that as a girl she would escape by "pretending to be someone else" so it was not a surprise that she acted in high school plays at Hamilton Magnet Arts High School. Her favorite role was that of "Abigail" in "The Crucible". However, she went on to study film at the University of Southern California in a summer program, and won a 3-month assignment making documentaries for PBS. This led to her working as a production assistant for TV documentaries, and also for Howie Mandel's talk show. She progressed to actually producing documentary segments for Medical Diaries (2000) airing on Discovery Health Channel. Paula now professes that she liked what she was doing, but her dream remained the same as when she was small so she took acting lessons and shifted gears to become a performer. She was almost immediately successful and, within three years, had played parts in major features, Hitch (2005) and Idlewild (2006) and the female lead in Deja Vu (2006) opposite Denzel Washington.- Actress
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Mélanie Laurent was born in Paris, France. She is the daughter of Annick, a ballet teacher, and Pierre, a voice actor, who is most recognized for the French version of The Simpsons (1989). She has a younger brother, Mathieu, and has both Sephardi Jewish (from Tunisia) and Ashkenazi Jewish (from Poland) ancestry. In 1998, Laurent was visiting the set of Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar (1999) with a friend when she caught the attention of Gérard Depardieu. He offered her a role in his next film The Bridge (1999). She only played a small role, but it was enough to further Mélanie's interest in acting.- Actress
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Sara Paxton was born in Woodland Hills, California. At a young age she began acting in television commercials.
She was cast in her first film at the age of 8 as a child at school and at the party in Liar Liar (1997). Her first major television series role was on the WB's Greetings from Tucson (2002). She filmed Sleepover (2004) in fall 2003 (released July 9, 2004), was in Aquamarine (2006) with Julia Roberts' niece, Emma Roberts. Her movie Return to Halloweentown (2006) opened on October 20, 2006. She has also starred in television shows such as SpongeBob SquarePants (1999) and Malcolm in the Middle (2000). She had a recurring TV role on the WB's Summerland (2004).
Sara Paxton graduated from El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills in 2006 and is fluent in both English and Spanish.- Actress
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Jessica Stroup was born October 23rd 1986, in Anderson, South Carolina, USA. At the age of 17, she received a scholarship to attend the University of Georgia, but turned it down to pursue acting. At only 17, she moved to Los Angeles and immediately took acting classes and received both modeling and acting offers. Since then, Jessica has starred in several hit horror movies including Prom Night (2008) and The Hills Have Eyes 2 (2007), and is booked a lead role in the brand new spin-off 90210 (2008) as one of the lead characters, "Erin Silver". In her spare time, Jessica enjoys hanging out with friends and family, watching movies, playing volleyball and listening to music.- Actress
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A native of Bournemouth in the UK, Janet Montgomery moved to London when she received a scholarship at a dance school. One of her first acting jobs was a guest star role on the critically-acclaimed UK teen drama series, Skins (2007), as Nicholas Hoult's love interest.
Upon moving to Los Angeles, Montgomery was quickly cast in the Dark Castle film, The Hills Run Red (2009). In addition to guest-starring on FX's The League (2009), she recurred on the HBO series, Entourage (2004) as E's assistant and Drama's girlfriend. She was also a series regular on the Fox series, Human Target (2010), with Mark Valley and Jackie Earle Haley. More recently, Montgomery was the lead of CBS's Made in Jersey (2012).
Montgomery played one of the dancers, opposite Natalie Portman, in Darren Aronofsky's Oscar-nominated psychological thriller, Black Swan (2010). She also starred in Jesse Peretz's Our Idiot Brother (2011), opposite Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks.
Other recent projects include Dancing on the Edge (2013), with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Matthew Goode, as well as Spies of Warsaw (2013), opposite David Tennant. She just completed shooting the lead of the independent film, If You See Her (2014), and is about to start shooting the female lead in Salem (2014), the first original series for WGN.- Actress
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Actress and philanthropist Rooney Mara was born on April 17, 1985 in Bedford, New York. She made her screen debut in the slasher film Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005), went on to have a supporting role in the independent coming-of-age drama Tanner Hall (2009), and has since starred in the horror remake A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), the biographical drama The Social Network (2010), the thriller remake The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), and the romantic drama Carol (2015).
Patricia Rooney Mara is one of four children of Kathleen McNulty (née Rooney) and NFL football team New York Giants executive Timothy Christopher Mara. Her grandfathers were Wellington Mara, co-owner of the Giants, and Timothy Rooney, owner of Yonkers Raceway, and her grand-uncle is Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney, the former Ambassador to Ireland. She is the great-granddaughter of Art Rooney, the founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers football franchise. Her father has Irish, German, and French-Canadian ancestry, and her mother is of Irish and Italian descent.
After graduating from Bedford's Fox Lane High School, she went to Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia in South America for four months as part of the Traveling School, an open learning environment. She attended George Washington University for a year and then transferred to New York University, where she studied international social policy psychology and nonprofits. She took her degree from New York University in 2010. Her studies focused on non-profit organizations, as her family has a tradition of involvement in philanthropic causes.
She had thought of acting after watching old movies and attending musical theater, but did not think of it as a serious vocation and was afraid she might fail at this. As a result of her reservations, she appeared in only one play while in high school.
She began seriously focusing on acting when she was at New York University, appearing in student films. Inspired by her older sister, actress Kate Mara, she began to pursue the craft, auditioning for acting jobs at age 19. She appeared with her sister Kate in the video horror movie Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005), billing herself as "Patricia Mara". As "Tricia Mara", she had guest roles on television and won her first lead in the movie Tanner Hall (2009), which was shot in the fall of 2007.
She originally auditioned for the supporting role of Lucasta in "Tanner Hall", a $3-million independent film, but director Tatiana von Fürstenberg was so impressed by the young actress, she had her return to audition for the lead role of Fernanda, which Mara won. Furstenberg was delighted with her nuanced performance, saying, "Still waters run deep".
Continuing to call herself Tricia Mara, this was during the making of "Tanner Hall" that she considered changing her professional name to Rooney Mara, soliciting the advice of the cast and crew. After premiering at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, her performance in "Tanner Hall" brought the rechristened Rooney Mara a "Rising Star" award at the 2009 Hamptons Film Festival and a "Stargazer Award" at the 2010 Gen Art Film Festival.
She received her first lead role in a major feature, in the $35 million remake A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010). The movie proved disappointing at the box office, grossing only $63 million domestically and racking up a worldwide gross of just under $116 million. However, she was noticed by critics in the small but pivotal role of the Boston University undergrad Erica Albright who dumps Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network (2010). Director David Fincher subsequently cast her as the lead, Lisbeth Salander, in his thriller remake, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), based on Stieg Larsson's Millennium book series. She received critical acclaim for her performance, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama.
She starred in the thriller film Side Effects (2013), the independent drama Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013), and the acclaimed sci-fi romantic drama Her (2013). The following year, she starred in the adventure drama Trash (2014). She garnered further critical acclaim for her performance in Todd Haynes' romantic drama Carol (2015), for which she won the Best Actress Award at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama and the SAG, BAFTA, and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In the spirit of her family's philanthropic endeavors, Rooney created Faces of Kibera, a charity that provides food, medical care and housing to orphans in Nairobi, Kenya's Kibra district, a small slum that houses a million people. There are many orphans as AIDS is rampant in the slum.- Actress
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Gina La Piana was born on 3 January 1972 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Stay with Me (2019), Ali G Indahouse (2002) and Intentional.- Actress
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Kimberly Estrada is an American actress known for playing a wide range of roles, from professional boxer to vixen. Estrada is an ethnic blend of primarily Chinese, Spanish and Native descent and has an extensive background in martial arts and combat including Shaolin Kempo, Jeet Kun Do Kung Fu, Jiu-jitsu, Tae Kwon Do, Kickboxing and Western Boxing. An accomplished athlete, Estrada was the only girl playing on her high school's boys soccer team and then played soccer for the University of Maryland, College Park at the NCAA Division 1 level. At the University of Maryland, Estrada earned scholar-athlete awards, graduating cum laude with a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice.
Estrada has been directed by Academy Award winners Clint Eastwood, Bill Condon, Oliver Stone and the Coen Brothers. She was cast and directed by Clint Eastwood in Best Picture Million Dollar Baby, as one of Hilary Swank's opponents. She was Spokesmodel #16 on the first 45 episodes of NBC's Deal or No Deal and was named as one of People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in 2006.
Estrada has been a guest on Good Morning America and The Best Damn Sports Show Period. In 8 episodes of the CW's Easy Money, Estrada (as Cherise Buffkin) had the opportunity to work with Laurie Metcalf, who played her mother-in-law. Recent TV appearances include: Hawaii 5-0, Chance, Hit the Floor and Criminal Minds.
Over the last 10 years, melding a strong business background with her artistic/creative side, Estrada followed another passion and expanded to working behind the camera, as a producer in the film and commercial worlds. Estrada has produced commercials and digital media for an extensive list of clients.- Actress
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Berglind Icey was born on 4 June 1977 in Iceland. She is an actress, known for The Master of Disguise (2002), The Animal (2001) and The Hot Chick (2002).- Actress
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Dale Waddington was born in Connecticut, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Julia (2022), Innovative Wealth Strategists Commercial: Love in Action (2022) and Stand in the Gap (2023). She has been married to Bruce Horowitz since 27 September 1998. They have two children.- Pinot is of Spanish-French, and Native American ancestry and was born in Los Angeles, California. Niece of famous Mexican film actor "El Piporro", Cynthia is making her mark in Hollywood.
Cynthia embarked on her own artistic journey at the age of four when she became one of the youngest members to join the Dance Academy in Chicago and had her own spot on a PBS after school children's show, "Villa Alegre".
Cynthia landed her first modeling contract at the age of 16 with Elites's Petite division DIVA after becoming a regional finalist in The Look of the Year model search. Cynthia later joined a Shakespearean troupe before she settled into The University Of Texas where she majored in Theatre,Philosophy and Photography.
After an international career as a model, Pinot re-launched her acting career in 2001 with a supporting role on Rush Hour 2. She has worked mostly in the action film genre with directors like Brett Ratner, Bryan Spicer, Jon Cassar and James Wong. Pinot later worked on an International drama entitled Jornada Al Norte in 2006. This film starred Cynthia Pinot and was featured in several film festivals like the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, and LA Film Festival. Cynthia has worked with Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Jet Lee and Tom Arnold. Pinot has appeared in the television series Alias, and featured on the first season of 24 with Kiefer Sutherland.
Anne Bancroft was Cynthia's Mentor in early 2001-2002.
Pinot is also an international award winning artist Inspired by philosophy and principles she is recognized for her magical realism and Native American inspired art. her favorite writers. Focused on her work and the desire to create a better place for artist to express their ability, she has involved herself in non-profit organizations like Boys and Girls Club of America, HAPPI (Handicapped Artists And Performers) and Saint Judes Foundation. She also donates time to work with adolescent correctional facilities in the Los Angeles area.
A quiet demeanored artist, Cynthia possesses a magnetic presences that draws you in. Her enigmatic aura and untamed free spirit is resonating with art critics worldwide. - Actress
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- Jess Rizo is best known as a working actress and director currently based in Los Angeles, California. She is of Sicilian, Mexican and Native American decent, fluent in Spanish. Jessica was raised in Silicon Valley, California, though having spent a lot of time in Mexico as a child. Jessica, took to arts from a young age, orchestrating variety shows starring herself and anyone she could conceivably persuade to join in. Survived by the loss of both her parents from a very young age, Jessica's will to achieve at the highest level continuously amazes those around her. Don't let her big screen ambition fool you, as she has a heart of gold having donated time and service to the homeless community for many years far beyond her silver screen success and pursuits.
She is making her presence stronger with every corner she rounds making her directorial debut with A New Day. A feature length documentary, exploring the journey of a Skid Row based basketball team, documenting their success', and failures on a very gripping road to recovery. As individuals and as a team throughout the duration of a basketball season, she witnessed a heart wrenching journey unlike anything she could have fathomed. The project has great traction and we hope to see it on the big screen very soon.
Jess, can be seen in numerous television and film productions notably her lead role as Stacia in action thriller, Assassins Code playing opposite John Savage. She has also appeared in 15 national commercial and print campaigns including, Clinique, Wet n' Wild, Wells Fargo, Amazon, Chevy, Sprint, Holiday Inn, Eagle One, Old Navy, Diet Pepsi, Hair Sanity and many more. Jess guest-stars on hit Netflix television show, One Day At A Time, where she played opposite Judy Reyes, in the role of Esther.
When acting was not a primary focus, Jessica had career success' in perhaps unlikely fields of landscape design, mortgage lending, and gold trading. She excelled at anything she put her mind and heart to, but always knew her true love will be the arts and entertainment of full time acting career. Stay tuned for whats next. - Actress
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Jessica Brown Findlay is an English actress. She is known for Emelia Conan-Doyle in the British comedy-drama Albatross (2011), Winter's Tale (2014), This Beautiful Fantastic (2016) and Lady Sybil Crawley in ITV's Downton Abbey (2010). She also starred in the TV series Misfits (2009) and mini-series Labyrinth (2012). In 2011, she starred in the Black Mirror (2011) episode, Fifteen Million Merits (2011). "Albatross" was her film debut.
Jessica was born in Cookham, Berkshire, to Beverley, a teacher's aide and nurse, and Christopher Brown-Findlay, who works in finance. She is of Scottish, English, and Irish descent. Jessica trained with the National Youth Ballet and the Associates of the Royal Ballet. At age fifteen, she was invited to dance with the Kirov at the Royal Opera House for a summer season.