2014 has been another terrific year for breakthrough stars as we have seen whole host of actors and actresses deliver a series of exciting performances to announce themselves on the acting stage.
Felicity Jones
And while they may have made their breakthrough this year, they really are a group oaf actors that you need to keep an eye out for into 2015, as they all have some incredibly exciting movie projects on the horizon.
- Felicity Jones
Jones may have kicked her acting career off in the late nineties with television before moving on to film projects, but it was this year that she really announced herself on a global acting stage. And it was with The Invisible Woman that she grabbed everyone's attention at the beginning of 2014.
The Invisible Woman was the latest directing offering from Ralph Fiennes, who also starred alongside Jones in the film about the mistress of Charles Dickens. Jones took on the role of Dickens' mistress Nelly - Fiennes played Dickens - in a movie that was to cement her as a bona fide leading lady.
The Invisible Woman was met with critical acclaim and Jones' central performance really did have the critics - including myself - raving. And she is set to do the same on 1st January as she returns to the big screen with the highly anticipated The Theory of Everything.
The Theory of Everything - which chronicles the relationship between Stephen and Jane Hawking after they met at university - has been playing extensively on the festival circuit this autumn, where Jones and Eddie Redmayne's central performances have been widely praised.
It has been a great end to the years as Jones received both a Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Best Actress nomination for her performance in the new movie - she is hotly tipped to also be in the Oscar running when they nominations are announced later this month. She is one of a rather large British acting contingent that were including in the Golden Globe and SAG nominations in what has been another great year for British cinema and British performances.
As well as starring in The Theory of Everything in 2014, she has completed work on True Story and Autobahn, and is currently filming her latest movie A Monster Calls, which sees her team up with director J.A. Bayona. It is going to be another very exciting year for the British actress.
- Brenton Thwaites
Over the last decade or so, we have seen a surge in Australian talent that has made the transition to Hollywood, and Brenton Thwaites is the latest Aussie big screen star, and 2014 has been his breakthrough year.
As most Australian actors do, Thwaites made his debut in TV series Home and Away before making the transition into film, and we have seen him in a handful of film projects this year, including Oculus, Maleficent, and The Giver.
While The Giver and Oculus were met with mixed results, he stepped into the big budget blockbuster for the first time with Maleficent - which was a live action Disney movie that was a re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty/Maleficent story that we all know so well. Thwaites took on the role of Prince Phillip alongside Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, and Sam Riley.
Maleficent went on to become the third highest grossing movie of year behind Transformers: Age of Extinction and Guardians of the Galaxy, and was a movie that helped to propel Thwaites's star even higher.
And 2015 is going to be another busy year for the actor as we are going to see Son of a Gun and Gods of Egypt hit the big screen. Son of a Gun sees him star alongside Ewan McGregor, while Gerard Butler, Geoffrey Rush, and Nikolaj Coster - Waldau are also on the cast list for Gods of Egypt. As if that is not exciting enough for the young actor, he has also been linked to a role in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man Tell No Tales, which is set to film later this year.
- Jack O'Connell
Every year we see one British star really make a major breakthrough and in 2014, that was the fantastically talented Jack O'Connell. O'Connell is no stranger to this acting lark with movies such as Private Peaceful and The Liability as well as TV series Skins under his belt, but this is the year where he has got everyone talking.
Starred Up was one of the British movies that just about everyone was talking about during the 2013 BFI London Film Festival and that movie hit the big screen earlier this year, where it was met by critical acclaim.
Directed by David Mackenzie, Starred Up saw O'Connell star as a troubled and violent teenager who comes face to face with his father when he is moved to an adult prisoner. It was a riveting performance from O'Connell as he starred alongside Ben Mendelsohn and Rupert Friend.
He followed that up with another blistering performance in '71, which was another London Film Festival gem earlier this autumn. And he has finished off 2014 with a bang as he has taken on the lead role in Unbroken, the second directorial outing for Angelina Jolie.
The biopic tells the true story of Olympian Louis Zamperini, who was captured by the Japanese during the Second World War - O'Connell takes on the role of Zamperini in the film, alongside Domhnall Gleeson, Jai Courtney, and Garrett Hedlund.
Unbroken is a movie that will only further increase the profile of O'Connell, and he will be back on the big screen later this year with Tulip Fever. He has also been linked to roles in Money Monster and The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.
- Margot Robbie
Margot Robbie is another Australian star who has made a splash this year, and she has a very busy 2015 ahead of her - she really is going to be a huge star by the time this year is over.
Robbie already had roles in Neighbours, Pan Am and About Time under her belt, but it was her performance alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street that really did send her star rocketing this year. We have only see Robbie star in The Wolf of Wall Street this year, but she is already one of the most in demand actresses in Hollywood.
2014 has been a busy filming year for Robbie as she has finished work on the likes of Suite Francaise, Focus, Z for Zachariah and is currently working on Tarzan, which will see her take on the role of Jane alongside Alexander Skarsgard and Christoph Waltz.
Focus is set to be another big hit of this year as she teams up with Will Smith for the Glenn Ficarra and John Requa directed crime/drama. The movie is set to hit the big screen in the UK in February.
And Robbie is set to step into the big budget blockbuster this year as she is set to start work on the already highly anticipated Suicide Squad. Robbie will take on the role of Harley Quinn in the comic book movie, which focuses on the villains rather than the heroes.
David Ayer will be back in the director's chair for the film, while Tom Hardy, Jai Courtney, Jared Leto, and Will Smith are also on board - Jesse Eisenberg has also been linked to the film to reprise his role of Lex Luthor. Suicide Squad is already a project that comic book fans are looking forward, but we won't be seeing this movie until 2016.
- Oscar Isaac
Oscar Isaac has already enjoyed a career that has spanned over a decade, but it was 2014 when he really made his breakthrough with Inside Llewyn Davis, which saw him team up with directors Joel and Ethan Coen for the first time.
Inside Llewyn Davis hit the big screen at the beginning of 2014, and saw Isaac take on the title role in a movie that was a critical hit. Inside Llewyn Davis was a movie that really did give Isaac the exposure that he needed… now he is one of the most in demand actors in Hollywood.
As well as Inside Llewyn Davis, he enjoyed further critical acclaim with The Two Faces of January, which saw him star alongside Kirsten Dunst and Viggo Mortensen. And the roles are going to get bigger and bigger for Isaac as we go through 2015.
A Most Violent Year, Mojave and Ex Machina are all set to be released at the beginning of the year - A Most Violent Year and sci-fi film Ex Machina are already starting to win over the critics and look set to bring further success for the actor.
However, the 2015 movies that everyone is talking about is Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens as the popular franchise is being brought back to the big screen by director J.J. Abrams and Disney - Disney was the studio that bought LucasFilm. Isaac is set to take on the role of Poe Dameron alongside John Boyega, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Adam Driver, and Gwendoline Christie. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher are also returning to their roles of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia.
And Isaac will go from one blockbuster to another as he has landed the role of Apocalypse in X-Men: Apocalypse, the sequel to the hugely successful Days of Future Past. Filming is set to get underway this year with Bryan Singer back in the director's chair - we will not be seeing the movie until 2016.
- Miles Teller
Miles Teller was an actor who really grabbed my attention when I saw The Spectacular Now at the 2013 BFI London Film Festival, and 2014 has been a terrific year for his with a range of different projects.
Teller really has shown his versatility as an actor over the last twelve months, with comedy, drama, and blockbuster projects under his belt - he really is one to keep eye on as we go through this new year, as he is a truly exciting acting talent.
Whiplash is a movie that we will be treated to later this month, but it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014, where it was immediately met with critical acclaim. The excitement grew around this movie as it played on the festival circuit and Teller started to become a bigger star.
We have also seen Teller star in comedy That Awkward Moment - in which he starred alongside Zach Efron and Michael B. Jordan - and Divergent this year. Divergent is the big screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by Veronica Roth, and saw Teller take on the role of the not so nice Peter.
Teller is set to reprise the role of Peter this year in the sequel Insurgent, and that is not the only blockbuster we are going to see him star in in 2015. His biggest project of the year comes in the form of The Fantastic Four, as the Marvel comic movie is given a reboot by director Josh Trank - who brought us Chronicle.
Teller is set to take on the role of Reed Richards, while Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, and Toby Kebbell are all on board as Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, Ben Grimm, and Victor Domashev. I really can't wait to see the first trailer for the film as it could be one of the biggest blockbusters of the summer.
Other breakthrough stars of 2014 include Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Belle), Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years A Slave), Ansel Elgort (Divergent & The Fault In Our Stars) and Dylan O'Brien (The Maze Runner).