Young Hollywood Impact Report: Laufey, Hunter Schafer, Ayra Starr, more
The talent highlighted in Variety’s Young Hollywood Impact Report all made a splash in the last year in the worlds of film, television, music, theater and digital, and will be celebrated at an event Aug. 8. After last year’s strikes, the next gen stars are happy to be back on the set. Freya Allan says the best part of working on “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is “getting to work with such a grounded, lovely bunch of actors. Despite being such a big budget movie, it really felt so intimate and there wasn’t any feeling of hierarchy we were all just doing what we love.”
Busy as they are, there’s always room for binging. “I’m a bit shite when it comes to catching new movies, but I am getting better at it! Loving ‘The Bear’ right now, and I massively enjoyed ‘Baby Reindeer’ earlier this year,” says Up Next actor Solly McLeod. “I’ve been recommended ‘Severance’ on Apple TV by so many people, so that’s next on my list.”
“When I sit back and look at what’s happening, it really, truly blows my mind,” says musician Benson Boone about his success — and although the people on this list worked hard to get there, they know the journey is just beginning.
Freya Allan
The English actor, 22, starred in the hit “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” ($397 million worldwide) and will soon appear in the next season of Netflix’s “The Witcher,” reprising her role as foundational character Princess Cirilla. What can we expect from Season 4? “She’s experiencing a very complicated romantic relationship for the first time and really falls into a very dark and brutal side of herself but also a very free one in some ways,” Allan says, calling it liberating “to be able to do something different than before and surprising, hopefully.”
Iain Armitage
Armitage wrapped his seventh and final season as the title character in “Young Sheldon” — which continued to earn strong ratings for CBS – and won a trophy at “The Kids’ Choice Awards” in July. He celebrated his 16th birthday by taking his grandmother in a small plane as part of his pilot training, while plotting the next stage of his career. “I feel like I’m in a good position to branch out and do different and weird stuff, which is really what I want to do,” he says.
Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Dallas Liu, Ian Ousley, Elizabeth Yu
“Avatar: The Last Airbender”
The cast’s dedication to their roles has led to the live-action adaptation’s popularity. Cormier, now 14 and 11 when he auditioned, says he “wasn’t fully aware of the responsibilities [he] was about to take on” when the part first came along. Yu, 21, who appreciated the story more as an adult during an audition-process re-watch, calls it “an amazing depiction of all the different forms of family, grief, friendship, ambition.” Kiawentiio, 18, says tunnel vision worked in her favor when it came to auditioning. Ousley, 22, notes that he wasn’t sure which role he was up for: “I feel like that gave me the creative freedom I needed to bring myself to the character without any preconceived pressure.” Liu, 22, says he “understood so much about it before even having read a script” since he had been a fan of the property as a child.
Finn Bennett
Fourteen years after his first screen role, Bennett, 25, grabbed the spotlight through his performance as Peter Prior in HBO’s “True Detective: Night Country.” The British-Irish actor is currently shooting his role as the cruel prince Aerion in HBO’s “Game of Thrones” prequel series “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.” “I try to kind of keep in mind that it can disappear as quickly as it happened, so I’m intent on enjoying where I am at the minute,” he says.
Vic Blends
Blends, 24, has built massive followings on TikTok (15 million), Instagram (3.6 million) and Facebook (2 million) with inspirational videos in which he has deep conversations with people while giving them free haircuts. He’s further expanded his entrepreneurial footprint with the online VicBlends Barber Academy and the clothing line and lifestyle company Planted. “I have a small tattoo that says ‘planted’ on my right side of my face,” explains the North Carolina native. “That just means everything that I do is to stay grounded.”
Benson Boone
With 1.43 billion on-demand audio streams worldwide, Boone’s “Beautiful Things” has become the most streamed song of 2024, earning the 22 year-old a spot in Spotify’s “Billions” club. “When I sit back and look at what’s happening, it really, truly blows my mind,” the singer-songwriter told Variety. In addition to a completely sold-out world tour for his debut full-length LP, “Fireworks & Rollerblades” (Night Street/Warner), Boone was selected to open for Taylor Swift’s Era’s Tour in London.
Maya Boyd
Boyd, 21, was the ultimate multi-tasker when she completed her senior year at the University of Michigan while making her Broadway debut in the Tony-winning production of “Merrily We Roll Along.” Balancing performances in New York and classes over Zoom, she finished her degree while learning on the job. The show “was my job but also a class. I was such a student. My castmates were also my professors.” Now, she’s taking over the titular role in “& Juliet.”
Emma Chamberlain
Since parlaying YouTube fame into entrepreneurial success with the December 2019 launch of her Chamberlain Coffee brand, the 23-year-old has continued to increase her realm of influence with the popular podcast “Anything Goes,” voice acting roles and regular appearances as a presenter at the Met Gala. “I really loved my look this year,” says Chamberlain. “It truly felt like my stylist, Jean Paul Gaultier, and I had a baby, and that baby was our dress.”
NLE Choppa
At 21, NLE Choppa’s achievements include over 8.3 billion streams and 17 RIAA-certified plaques, with his second album, “Cottonwood 2” (No Love Entertainment/Warner) peaking at No. 9 on the R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart in 2023. The Memphis native has also played an active role in supporting his hometown, launching the NLE Reading Challenge, which incentivized at-risk elementary students to read 40 million words, and leading the “Skate for Tyre” peaceful protest following the death of Tyre Nichols.
Alex Consani
Transgender model and TikTok star Consani, 20, has walked the runway for almost every major designer, including Versace and Alexander McQueen, and stared in ad campaigns for Marc Jacobs and Margiela Fragrance. But she really catapulted into pop culture on TikTok, where her millions of followers send her clips viral. The busy Consani has been binging “The Act” in her downtime.
FLO: Jorja Douglas, Stella Quaresma, Renée Downer
The Brit Award-winning Douglas, 22, Quaresma, 22, and Downer, 21, have just released single “Check” and are working on their debut LP. The singers have steeped themselves in on-the-road experience, including their first U.S. festival performance at April’s Coachella. “Growing up, Coachella was the ‘it’ festival. To have been a part of it so early in our careers is definitely a highlight,” they tell Variety. It was also good prep for the tour they’re about to embark upon in support of Kehlani.
Kaia Gerber
Gerber, 22, went from modeling — following in the footsteps of her supermodel mother Cindy Crawford — into acting roles in edgy feature comedy “Bottoms” and Apple TV+’s “Palm Royale.” Among her upcoming projects: Jason Reitman’s buzzy “Saturday Night.” Beyond the screen, her book club, Library Science, is thriving. Gerber is currently “binging correspondences between writers, like the poems between Jack Gilbert and Linda Greg and the letters between Henry Miller and Ana?s Nin,” she says, while also “rewatching ‘Girls’ for the millionth time.”
Millie Gibson
Gibson, 20, spent the last year traveling around the universe as Doctor Who’s companion Ruby Sunday on the latest iteration on the much-beloved BBC series, starring Rwandan-Scottish actor Ncuti Gatwa, who made history as the first Black, queer Doctor. “I wanted to bring a youth and vitality to the show; Ruby Sunday is the youngest companion we’ve had. She’s a lost child, a foundling, but with an infectious joy and aura that captures the Doctor’s attention as they journey along in their quests,” Gibson says, crediting showrunner Russell T. Davis with trusting her “completely with shaping her spirit and warmth that the audience can fall in love with.”
Ariana Greenblatt
From being chased by dinosaurs alongside Adam Driver in “65” to using the Force as a young Ahsoka Tano in “Ahsoka” to starring in blockbuster “Barbie” (which earned her a Critics’ Choice Award nom for best young actor), Greenblatt’s past year has been nothing but impressive. The 16-year-old says her “destroy Barbie” scene with Margot Robbie is one she’s most proud of, as “that was my audition scene and the first scene I learned for Sasha, so the day that we filmed, it was a full-circle moment.” Greenblatt will next be seen in “Borderlands.”
Kahlil Greene
Dubbed the Gen Z Historian, Greene, 24, was Yale’s first Black student body president and has built a career as an “edutainer” (educational entertainer), reaching millions on TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn. His series “Hidden History of Racism in New York City” won a 2023 Peabody Award, and he is developing a documentary with Mark McKinnon (“The Circus”) about Gen Z politics; inked a deal with National Geographic for a YouTube doc series; and is writing a book for Penguin Random House. “I think history allows you to be so much more effective in finding solutions to issues when you have a strong vocabulary of events in the past that you can analyze and look toward.”
Joe Locke, Kit Connor
The British series “Heartstopper” became an instant success for Netflix, with the two actors playing the fan favorite main couple in the comic book adaptation. Season 3 debuts in October. In the meantime, Connor, 20, will star as Romeo on Broadway in “Romeo & Juliet” with Rachel Zegler. Other upcoming projects include A24’s “Warfare” and DreamWorks animation’s “The Wild Robot,” alongside Lupita Nyong’o. He eagerly awaits his return to theater, as he finds it “very creatively fulfilling,” noting “it’s one of the best things an actor can do to improve their craft.” Locke, 20, took to Broadway himself earlier this year as Tobias Ragg in the revival of “Sweeney Todd.” He notes that “live theater is acting in its purest form, there’s no camera, or doing 25 takes.” He also stars in the anticipated Disney+ series “Agatha All Along.”
Wisdom Kaye
The 23-year-old TikTok and YouTube superstar made his Met Gala debut this year and slayed — delighting his 11 million followers. The Nigerian-born and Houston-raised Kaye started posting in 2020 and immediately drew the notice of IMG Models and such publications as Vogue. Praised for his cinematic eye and storytelling ability, he has won the Streamy award in the fashion and style category for four consecutive years (2020-2023).
Joey King
King, 24, has successfully navigated the transition from child to adult actor with a dizzyingly diverse array of projects ranging from the fact-based Holocaust miniseries “We Were the Lucky Ones” to the rom-com “A Family Affair” and the upcoming sci-fi actioner “Uglies,” which she also exec produced. “The funniest movies can often be some of the hardest shoots, and the ones with really tough subject matter often have a lot of joy tied to them,” she says.
Laufey
Born in Reykjavik to an Icelandic father and Chinese classical violinist mother, Laufey (pronounced LAY-vay) kicked off 2024 with a Grammy win for “Bewitched” (AWAL), her sophomore effort that fused jazz, classical and contemporary pop genres. “One thing I’ve thought about in the last few months is how much I’ve become the musician that I needed when I was younger,” says the Berklee College of Music grad, whose August show at the Hollywood Bowl is sold out.
Milo Machado-Graner
The now-15-year-old “Anatomy of a Fall” actor was the heart and soul of the Oscar-winning film, stealing scenes — along with canine thesp Messi — from powerhouse adult actors, and earning accolades from international critics’ groups. Earlier this year, he wrapped Arnaud Desplechin’s “Spectateurs!,” starring alongside French heavyweights Mathieu Amalric and Fran?oise Lebrun. Did he learn from his co-stars? “Of course I did ! … We had to look for different emotions. I had a lot of text to learn; it was tiring, but it taught me so much,” says Machado-Graner. “Actually, it had a lot to do with [director] Justine Triet’s method: She takes her time, we do many and many takes. She wants her actors to explore their possibilities, and I noticed that the more tired they are, the closer they come to the truth.”
Lizzy McAlpine
After her 2023 breakthrough “Ceilings” went viral on TikTok, McAlpine, 24, retreated to Pasadena to hone the stripped-back sound that permeates “Older” (RCA), her third album, which was released in April. “I realized that I just want to focus on the art,” the singer-songwriter told Variety. It’s a realization that has since yielded a run of sold-out North American shows, including two nights at L.A.’s Greek Theater and two nights at Radio City Music Hall.
Maleah Joi Moon
Moon, 21, embodies Ali in the semi-autobiographical Alicia Keys musical “Hell’s Kitchen” on Broadway. She joined the project during its premiere Off Broadway at the Public Theater and followed its transfer, where she was awarded a Tony for best actress in a musical. After graduating high school in 2020, Moon became one of the youngest recipients of this honor.
NewJeans: Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, Hyein
Since its July 2022 debut, NewJeans — the K-pop group comprised of members Minji (20), Hanni (19), Danielle (19), Haerin (18) and Hyein (16) — has charted on the Billboard Global 200 for 37 consecutive weeks (the longest of any K-pop female act), achieved more than 4.3 billion streams and secured brand partnerships with Coca-Cola, Apple and (fittingly) Levi’s. In other words, they’re total K-pop darlings who, with the release of new tracks “Bubble Gum” and “How Sweet’’ this past May, are positioning themselves for a massive 2025 world tour.
Leah Sava Jeffries, Walker Scobell, Aryan Simhadri
“Percy Jackson and the Olympians”
When “Percy Jackson” dropped in December, it became the No. 1 TV premiere of Disney-branded programming of all time. Rick Riordan’s book series of the same name was published before any of the young cast were born, but they all grew up fans. Scobell, 15, remembers reading the books in third grade and calls them his “favorite book series ever.” Sava Jeffries, 14, who once wrote an essay about the books for school, was thrilled to audition for it. Simhadri, 18, also loved the books and when it came to casting, he notes that “there’s a lot of pressure when you’re adapting something so beloved to so many people, including yourself, but I think a lot of that pressure [is self-inflicted] because we all want to make something we’re proud of.” Season 2 has been confirmed.
Mekai Curtis, Hailey Kilgore
“Power Book III: Raising Kanan”
Producers aren’t fond of telling Curtis, 23, and Kilgore, 25, about the next wild plot twist coming their way in Starz’s hit crime family drama “Power Book III: Raising Kanan,” in which they play Kanan and his cousin Jukebox, respectively, but sometimes they insist. “I like to know everything that’s going on just so I can kind of formulate the performance throughout the season,” says Kilgore, who first made her mark as Ti Moune in the 2017-2019 Broadway revival of “Once on This Island.” Curtis notes: “I think it gave me the insight, the perspective and the maturity to handle the pace of everything that comes with leading a show.”
Michael Rainey Jr.
The second half of the fourth and final season of Starz’ hit series “Power Book II: Ghost” doesn’t premiere until September, but Rainey, 23, shot his last scene as conflicted crime family scion Tariq St. Patrick more than a year ago, giving him more time to explore other artistic endeavors in addition to acting. “I love creating music, making beats,” he says. “Also, I have a team of writers and we’re working on scripts for movies and shows and stuff like that.”
Tommy Richman
After releasing a string of singles with Brent Faiyaz’s ISO Supremacy label, 24-year-old Richman posted a teaser of “Million Dollar Baby” to TikTok in April — a move that would lead to a No. 2 debut on the Billboard Hot 100 two weeks later. As the dance challenges that helped make the song go viral continue to proliferate, the pop-rap artist finds himself having spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the TikTok Top 50 chart.
Dominic Sessa
Sessa’s debut role in Oscar-nominated “The Holdovers” landed the New Jersey native on Variety’s 2023 10 Actors to Watch list, and he’s most proud of a moving dinner scene between him and Paul Giamatti, noting that every time director Alexander Payne quickly moved on “to the next scene, something was done well.” Sessa’s upcoming slate of projects includes starring in “Tow” with Rose Byrne, joining the “Now You See Me” heist franchise for its third installment, plus Christmas comedy “Oh. What. Fun.”
Hunter Schafer
The Berlin festival hit “Cuckoo” — an upcoming Neon release — showed the range of Schafer, 25, who recently was tapped to star with Michelle Yeoh in Amazon Prime Video’s “Blade Runner 2099” series. “Most of the time when I watch myself, I have to watch through my hands. I didn’t have to do that with this movie,” Schafer says of “Cuckoo,” adding, “I genuinely felt really solid about my performance.” The “Euphoria” star also has A24’s “Mother Mary” with Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel on deck and walked the Cannes red carpet in support of Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness.”
Cailee Spaeny
Spaeny, 25, wowed critics and audiences as Priscilla Presley in Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” earning a best actress trophy at the Venice Film Festival and a Golden Globe nomination. “I think everyone just came together and no one slept much for that month. But we all did it for the love of the movie and the story and Sofia,” she says. This year, she co-starred in hit “Civil War,” has “Alien: Romulus” on deck and has been tapped for the third installment of the “Knives Out” film series.
Ayra Starr
In the 12 months leading up to Starr’s sophomore album, “The Year I Turned 21” (Mavin-Republic Records), the Beninese-Nigerian artist, 22, embarked upon a debut world tour, racked up a billion streams on Spotify, landed a Grammy nomination and became the first Nigerian female artist to chart the Billboard 200. To perhaps even greater disbelief, she also found a fan in Rihanna: “You never think that you’re going to actually meet her one day and be one of her favorite artists.”
Maisy Stella
Stella, 20, has worked in the industry from a young age, though her true breakout role arrived in January at Sundance with the premiere of “My Old Ass.” She earned rave reviews for her work in the project, produced by LuckyChap banner and acquired by Amazon MGM Studios; it’s scheduled for a September premiere. In the meantime, Stella uses her downtime to relax and has “been religiously watching” ‘Love Island USA’s’ new season.
Manuel Turizo
Turizo, 24, solidified his position as a major force in the Latin music world with his wildly successful single, “La Bachata,” becoming the No. 1 most-streamed Latin solo song in Spotify history, and achieving U.S. platinum and 26 x Latin platinum status in 2023. In the lead-up to his fourth studio album, “201,” which comes out this fall, the Miami-based Colombian artist found himself a Paris fashion-week fixture with front row seats at Fendi, Dior and Balmain.
Izzy G, Aiyana Goodfellow, Chloe Guidry, Vritika Gupta, Javon Walton
“Under the Bridge”
The powerhouse young cast of the critically acclaimed Hulu crime series set in the 1990s earned praise for their commitment and depth they brought to their performances. For Guidry, 17, that meant extensive research — she “delved deep into the details, including the atmosphere of Saanich,” where the series is set. Walton, 18, embraced method acting for the part and “would journal about” his character Warren while trying to remain immersed in 1990s elements like rap and baggie clothes. Goodfellow, 18, notes that developing Dusty’s character meant “focusing on her voice: not just her accent, which is very different, but the tone, cadence and how it affects her physicality.” For Gupta, 14, “understanding her [character’s] characteristics was very important, such as the way she smiled or the way she lowered her voice in certain moments.” Izzy G, 16, knew she would have to humanize Kelly without judging and figure out how to be sure she was more than just a headline.
Xavi
The Arizona native who caught the attention of Interscope executives on social media began 2024 with his hit single, “La Diabla,” becoming the No. 1 song on Spotify’s Global 200. Blending R&B, pop and urban with música Mexicana, the 20-year-old says the highlight of his year was his Poco a Poco tour. “The name explains how ‘little by little’ we are chasing our dreams,” he says, dreams that will soon find him finishing a debut album and helping his family open a restaurant.
Ji-young Yoo
Yoo made a splash in 2023 Tribeca Festival honoree “Smoking Tigers,” winning the performance award for a U.S. narrative feature. This year, Yoo made her mark in Amazon Prime Video’s “Expats,” starring alongside Nicole Kidman and Sarayu Blue as Mercy, who ends up as part of the series’ central tragedy. “Expats” showrunner Lulu Wang told Variety, “Ji-young has such an expressive face that gives you so much even when she does so little. She doesn’t have to do much, and all those moments are there.”
Omar Rudberg, Edvin Ryding
“Young Royals”
The stars of the Swedish Netflix hit “Young Royals” have seen their careers blossom. Ryding, 21, will next appear in Danny Boyle’s “28 Years Later” alongside Cillian Murphy and Jodie Comer. Rudberg, 25, who began his showbiz career as a member of the boy band FO&O, has transitioned into a successful solo singer and recently launched a unisex fragrance under the beauty brand OMR. What shows have they been binging on? Ryding says it’s “The Bear,” noting that “the writing is so specific, and the performances are wonderful.” Rudberg names the Swedish drama “Threesome,” noting the chemistry among the main cast members.
Up Next: 4Batz
When the 20-year-old Dallas native released his debut track in 2023, he got traction quickly — and has kept it. In under six months, the R&B artist amassed more than 2.5 million streams on Spotify, receiving co-signs from SZA and Drake — the latter of whom appeared on a remix of “act ii: date @ 8” this past March. Two months later, his debut mixtape landed at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top R&B albums chart and featured a remix by yet another heavy hitter: Ye.
Up Next: Ateez
Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, Wooyoung, Jongho
The octet — Hongjoong (25), Seonghwa (26), Yunho (25), Yeosang (25), San (25), Mingi (24), Wooyoung (24) and Jongho (23) — are the first male Korean group to play Coachella. The KQ Entertainment act scored their first Billboard No. 1 in December 2023 with “The World EP.Fin: Will,” hit No. 2 with EP “Golden Hour: Part1” in June, the biggest sales week for any 2024 K-pop album. They have played sold-out stadiums on their Towards the Light: Will to Power North American tour, propelled by a dedicated fans base dubbed “Atiny.”
Up Next: Ella Beatty
The 24-year-old Juilliard-trained actor’s first job out of school was “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans,” where she held her own with the veteran ensemble. The daughter of Annette Bening and Warren Beatty made her Broadway debut earlier this year in “Appropriate,” starring Sarah Paulson, and she’s got A24 feature “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” with Rose Byrne and A$AP Rocky in the can. “I’m really interested in pursuing projects that challenge both me as an actress and our current state of affairs,” she says. “I hope I can continue to work on things that interrogate something essential about human beings and are also joyous and moving. It’s always nice to be moved!”
Up Next: Lily Collias
Collias, 19, came out of nowhere to earn raves at Sundance and Cannes for her performance in “Good One,” as Sam, a 17-year-old navigating the rising tensions between father (James Le Gros) and his best friend (Danny McCarthy) during the trio’s backpacking trip. “My life is completely flipped, and I’m so grateful for it,” she says. “But I’m still in the same tiny room in New York in the same apartment.” Next up is A24’s “Altar.”
Up Next: Mikey Madison
Madison, 25, has already made a mark on audiences with her five-season stint as moody older daughter Max on FX’s “Better Things” and memorably fiery turns in “Scream” (2022) and as Manson family member Susan Atkins in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” (2019). Now, she’s generating early awards season buzz for her performance as an exotic dancer who falls in love with the son of a Russian oligarch in writer-director Sean Baker’s Cannes Palme d’Or-winning “Anora.”
Up Next: Solly McLeod
The 24-year-old Scottish actor racked up credits in the last year or so in festival hits “The Dead Don’t Die,” with Viggo Mortensen and Vicky Krieps; “Last Swim,” which won the Crystal Bear at Berlin; and played the titular character in the ITV/PBS Masterpiece series “Tom Jones.” Next up is Amazon Prime series “Fear” and epic “William Tell,” with Claes Bang. “I need to feel a connection to the project as a whole and be sure it’s a story I want to tell and feel like I’m able to do justice,” McLeod says. “No written character is more real or more human or more flawed than you.”
Up Next: Helen J. Shen
Shen, 24, made their principal character debut in “Teeth” at Playwrights Horizons the night they learned they were cast as Claire in the new musical “Maybe Happy Ending.” This Broadway debut brings Shen to the stage as a robot alongside Darren Criss and Tony Award-winning director Michael Arden. “She’s a little weird, as all the most fun characters,” Shen says. “How human can I be while playing a non-human character? Claire’s perspective on the world is a gift to embody.”
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