The shortlist for this year’s BAFTA EE Rising Star Award will be unveiled on 3rd March allowing movie fans to vote for their preferred winner ahead of this year’s BAFTA Film Awards ceremony on 11th April.
Now in its sixteenth year, the award celebrates up-and-coming talent and was created in honour of multi award-winning casting director Mary Selway whose 36-year career saw her work on more than ninety films helmed by leading directors such as Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood.
Previous winners include James McAvoy, Eva Green, Juno Temple, Tom Hardy, Kristen Stewart, Noel Clarke, Jack O’Connell, Will Poulter, John Boyega, Tom Holland, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright and last year’s winner Micheal Ward.
The shortlist was drawn up by a panel including Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina and The Danish Girl), actress and BAFTA Film Committee member Jo Hartley (Eddie the Eagle and After Life) and BAFTA-winning actress Naomi Ackie (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker).
BAFTA Chair, Krishnendu Majumdar, said: “Showcasing and supporting new talent is hugely important to everything we do at BAFTA and the EE Rising Star Award is a fantastic opportunity to put some incredible up-and-coming talent in the spotlight.
“The calibre of previous nominees and winners has been outstanding, so I am delighted at the quality of entrants this year and it certainly made for a difficult decision-making process.”
Pete Jeavons, Marketing Communications Director at BT and EE, added: “As the only category to be voted for by the British public, we are proud to work alongside BAFTA to provide film fans with a voice at the 2021 EE British Academy Film Awards.
“Over the past 16 years, EE Rising Star Award nominees and winners have achieved enviable industry success and have provided us with some of the world’s most recognisable films.”
“Whilst this years’ jury panel will be a different format to previous years, there has never been such an important time to celebrate the film industry and the entertainment and escapism that it provides in more trying times.”