Jessica Chastain, Chris Hemsworth Among BAFTA Rising Star Nominees

Thor star Chris Hemsworth and his onscreen nemesis Tom Hiddleston are among this year’s Orange Wednesdays Rising Star Award potential nominees as announced by the British Academy Film Awards. In addition to Hemsworth and Hiddleston, the list also includes Adam Deacon, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris O’Dowd, Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne.
 
The eight candidates were selected by Pippa Harris, Sienna Miller, Allon Reich, Kate Lee, Alex O’Connell, Jonny Pile, Charles Gant, Simon Pegg, David Yates, Nina Gold, Colin Kennedy, Hannah Marriot, and Jamie Graham. The list of eight candidates for the Rising Star Award will be whittled down to five nominees and announced on Wednesday, January 11, 2012.
 
More on Chris Hemsworth (Courtesy of BAFTA):
 
Born: 11th August 1983
Nationality: Australian
 
Making his silver screen debut with a small part in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek, it was being cast as the title character in Thor that marked Chris as a star in the making – reflected in his ranking in the ‘the new A-list’ by the Hollywood Reporter in 2010.
 
With The Avengers, the sequel to Thor, on the cards for 2012, as well as Snow White and the Huntsman, playing opposite Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron, it’s clear that Chris has established himself as a new force to be reckoned with.
 
More on Tom Hiddleston (Courtesy of BAFTA):
 
Born: 9th February 1981
Nationality: British
 
A graduate of Cambridge and RADA, Tom was a well-established theatre actor, winning plaudits for his performances in Shakespeare’s Othello and Cymbeline. But it was Tom’s casting as Loki by director Kenneth Branagh, with whom he’d worked on television’s Wallander, in 2011’s epic Thor that truly brought him into the international spotlight. This year Tom also played F Scott Fitzgerald in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, and starred opposite Rachel Weisz in The Deep Blue Sea.
 
Tom’s upcoming projects include the film adaptation of the award-winning play War Horse (directed by Steven Spielberg) as well as a reprise of his role of Loki in the sequel to Thor, The Avengers.
 
More on Jessica Chastain (Courtesy of BAFTA):
 
Born: 29th March 1981
Nationality: American
 
Born in northern California to working-class parents, Jessica trained in acting at the prestigious Julliard School in New York City, on a scholarship funded by the actor Robin Williams.
 
Jessica worked in television until making her big screen debut in 2008’s Jolene. But there’s no doubt that 2011 is her breakout year. Expectations are that she’ll get nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category across the board for her role in Tree of Life, in which she played opposite Brad Pitt. Her performances in The Help and Take Shelter are also considered strong awards contenders.
 
Jessica’s next film, The Wettest County in the World, is slated for early 2012 release, and rumour has it that among her other projects, she’ll also be filming the lead role in a controversial biopic of Princess Diana.
 
More on Eddie Redmayne (Courtesy of BAFTA):
 
Born: 1st June 1982
Nationality: British
 
With a host of awards for his stage performances in New York and London, including a Tony, Eton and Cambridge-educated Eddie has until now been best known for his theatre acting (and his work as a Burberry model).
 
But this looks set to change in 2012: first, thanks to his affecting performance opposite Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn. And second, with his casting as Marius, the romantic male lead in an epic new production of Les Misérables, alongside heavyweights Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush and Russell Crowe.
 
More on Jennifer Lawrence (Courtesy of BAFTA):
 
Born: 15th August 1990
Nationality: American
 
Jennifer Lawrence has established herself as one of Hollywood’s most promising young actresses with performances that have garnered critical acclaim including an Academy Award® nomination at the age of 20 for her role in Winter’s Bone, the second-youngest actress ever to be nominated.
 
Her performance in Winter’s Bone as a young teenager struggling to help her troubled family survive dysfunction and the reality of rural poverty also garnered her Golden Globe®, SAG, Independent Spirit Award and Critic’s Choice Award nominations.
 
Currently Lawrence can be seen on screen in Drake Doremus’ Like Crazy which recently won the Grand Jury prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In early 2012, Lawrence will star in the sci-fi novel trilogy turned blockbuster, The Hunger Games and in 2013 The Silver Linings Playbook opposite Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper.
 
Lawrence made her feature film debut in 2008’s The Burning Plain, which also starred Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger. Her other recent film credits include, The Beaver directed by Jodie Foster and X-Men: First Class where she played the shape-shifting villainess, Mystique.
 
More on Chris O’Dowd (Courtesy of BAFTA):
 
Born: 9th October 1979
Nationality: Irish
 
Hailing from Boyle in the West of Ireland Chris has been loved by television fans since his 2006 debut in the IT Crowd. He showed off his dramatic chops playing the lead in The Crimson Petal and the White but it was his role as the affable police officer Rhodes in Bridesmaids that sent his career into the stratosphere.
 
Chris’s other roles to date include playing the loveable Simon in The Boat That Rocked. He also appeared in Gulliver’s Travels, Dinner for Schmucks and Vera Drake.
 
Chris will feature alongside Paul Rudd in 2012’s sequel to Judd Apatow’s hit comedy Knocked Up, This is Forty. He will also star in Australian film The Sapphires and is writing and producing a comedy pilot for the American television network NBC and a comedy series for Sky.
 
More on Felicity Jones (Courtesy of BAFTA):
 
Born: 17th October 1983
Nationality: British
 
Felicity got her first break as an actress when she was only 11, making her debut in The Worst Witch. Roles in The Archers and Weirdsister College followed, and she continued acting while completing a degree at Wadham College, Oxford.
 
The last few years have seen Felicity’s career rapidly pick up speed, following her award at the Sundance Film Festival of a Special Jury Prize (Dramatic) for her performance in critically-acclaimed Like Crazy.
 
Felicity then did a comic turn in Chalet Girl — a role that required her to study snowboarding — and will next be seen in the period drama Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, slated for release in 2012.
 
More on Adam Deacon (Courtesy of BAFTA):
 
Born: 4th March 1983
Nationality: British
 
Growing up in a difficult East London estate, Adam was encouraged by a teacher to pursue after-school drama classes at the Anna Scher Theatre school – and the rest is history.
 
At 12 Adam had his first film role in Face and worked steadily in TV and film until he landed his breakthrough part in Kidulthood (2006), alongside Jaime Winstone and Nicholas Hoult.
 
The sequel, Adulthood, followed in 2008, and in 2011 Adam took his career into his own hands by starring in Anuvahood, which he also collaboratively wrote and directed. Adam can be seen in three upcoming films, Outside Bet alongside Bob Hoskins, the thriller Payback Season, and Menhaj Huda’s Comedown.
 
Source: BAFTA