Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch for 2021

“House of Gucci,” “Stillwater”
French actor Cottin has brought her acting talents out West, reaching American audiences through the series “Call My Agent!,” in which she plays talent rep Andrea Martel. The doors continued to open for her, as she garnered roles in “Stillwater,” “Killing Eve” and “House of Gucci.” When “Call My Agent!” gained success in the midst of the pandemic, Cottin was in lockdown in Paris with her family. “I realized that by reading one of my favorite French newspapers, Courier International, which prints the best of foreign press, including articles about how French political issues are perceived abroad. There was an article in it about ‘Call My Agent!’ breaking out internationally, with extracts from various American and British press about it. All this happened after we decided to end it.”

“Stillwater” is Cottin’s highest-profile introduction to American audiences yet and she speaks highly of director Tom McCarthy and co-star Matt Damon. “Working in absolute trust is something I value very highly.”

American audiences will see Cottin on the screen when she returns to “Killing Eve” as Hélène. “Getting on board in Season 3 is something quite different than starting at the origin of a show,” the actor says.

Her newest role is the widely anticipated “House of Gucci,” toplining Adam Driver and Lady Gaga. She plays Paola Franchi, girlfriend of Maurizio Gucci. Cottin spoke of the diversity of roles she’s had. “I try to understand the vision of the director and understand the musicality of my partners, as each project is defined by so many individuals and what we all live or experience.”

— Jennifer Yuma

Influences:  Virginie Despentes, Kate Winslet, The Strokes

Representation: Agency: UTA

“The Harder They Fall”

“A certain performative theatricality has always been ingrained in my day-to-day,” Deadwyler says. “Stage, performance, theater — those things are the bedrock for me.” The Georgia native has quickly established herself as a versatile performer in a number of Atlanta-based stage and screen productions, including Tyler Perry’s soapy crime drama “The Haves and Have Nots,” HBO’s “Watchmen” and the feature “The Devil to Pay,” for which she won the actress prize in 2020 at Winchester, Va.’s, GenreBlast Film Festival.

She will next be seen in Netflix’s “The Harder They Fall,” a bloody Western in which she steals scenes as Jonathan Majors’ enforcer. She is shooting the film “Till,” in which she plays the mother of Emmett Till. And then there’s Netflix’s limited series “From Scratch,” as well as HBO Max’s timely “Station Eleven,” based on Emily St. John Mandel’s novel about the aftermath of a pandemic. But after using art for almost two decades to examine the world around her, Deadwyler says her goals are more about the pursuit of questions than the achievement of career benchmarks. “I am looking for buoyancy,” she says. “I’m interested in blurring the lines of what it means to do commercial work and to do experimental work. And to be somebody who’s a part of that ushering, I’m down for either one of them.”

— Todd Gilchrist

Influences: Jasmine Guy, Crystal Fox, Andrea Frye, Donna Briscoe

Reps: Agency: Paradigm; Management: Play Management; Legal: Ziffren Brittenham

“In the Heights,” “Batgirl”

Born Leslie Grace Martinez in the Bronx, the Dominican star of “In the Heights” spent her early years just a borough away from the Washington Heights neighborhood where her character, Nina Rosario, would wrestle with her future — and her very identity — to the tune of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award-winning music. After building a singing career primarily in Spanish and then landing an acting role mostly in English, Grace says she shares more with Nina than geography: “there was always a struggle between pride and also a little bit of shame for not fully being one thing, and not fully being another.”

To say that Grace’s career has leveled up quickly is an understatement; her next part is playing Batgirl for HBO Max. The opportunity keeps the pressure on her as one of the rising stars in a pocket of the industry that is embracing diversity, if slowly. “I have big shoes to step into, even more so because we have now a little bit more representation within the superhero world and these huge franchises,” she says. “So we’ve got to continue to show excellence.” Right now, however, the biggest challenge for her is the physical preparation she’s gone through for the role. “I’m somebody who’s never fought in my life,” she says. But after being eased into the industry with a musical that brilliantly utilizes her developing skillset, she welcomes the chance to show what she’s capable of. “Balancing both music and acting and the time and the commitment that it takes for both is definitely a challenge,” she says. “But I’m fully accepting it. It fulfills me, and it’s what makes me feel like this is what I’m put on this earth to do.”
— Todd Gilchrist

Influences: Sharon Stone, Kate Winslet, Halle Berry

Reps: Agency: CAA; Management: 641 Meridian Entertainment; Legal: Lawrence H. Katz

“The Queen’s Gambit,” “The Tragedy of Macbeth”

Ingram started acting at age 10, but not for the reason that most people do. “It was supposed to make me a better communicator,” she says. “It wasn’t until I was 16 that I was like, ‘Oh, people really do this!’”

So she began to “really do this.” Now, at 27, she has played Jolene in Netflix’s wildly popular limited series “The Queen’s Gambit,” stars in Joel Coen’s Shakespeare adaptation “The Tragedy of Macbeth” alongside Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand and in 2022, she’ll join the “Star Wars” franchise in the miniseries “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” Still, she remains humble, finding humor in the hiccups along the way.

“It’s so funny — I didn’t get an audition for [“Macbeth”], but all of my friends did!” Ingram says. But she happened to be in Los Angeles on hiatus from “The Queen’s Gambit” at just the right time, so her team pulled something together. A last-minute audition was scheduled; a few weeks later, she had the role. “It was insane to have my name anywhere near that roster. Very crazy cool.”

Ingram continues to treat her projects as if they’re acting classes. When asked about her career highlights, she simply cites the chance to be in the room where it happens.

“Being able to watch veteran [actors] in their most vulnerable place, when they’re trying to figure it out, and they don’t necessarily know yet. Getting to watch the growth of a performance. It’s like finding out that everybody poops! Just the glory of being a fly on the wall.”

— Selome Hailu

Influences: Nicole Beharie, Aunjanue Ellis, Angela Bassett, Viola Davis

Reps: Agency: Innovative Artists; Management: Authentic Talent & Literary Management; Legal: Fox Rothschild

“Coda”

Due to technical difficulties, Jones only had one night to learn enough American Sign Language for an entire scene in her audition to play Ruby, the titular child of deaf adults in Sian Heder’s “Coda.” While waiting to receive a video of the scene for her to copy, Jones took it upon herself to connect with Ruby’s educational goals.

“I [knew] that Ruby was fingerspelling ‘Berklee’ in the scene, so all weekend, I was just going over ‘Berklee, Berklee, Berklee.’ Fingerspelling is quite hard. It’s quite hard to get your fingers in position. So all weekend I was fingerspelling ‘Berklee,’ and then they finally sent the link on Monday, and I stayed up until 4 a.m. learning the rest of the scene. A couple weeks later I found out I got the part. Sian said, ‘We couldn’t believe how fast your
fingerspelling was.’”

Best-known for her role on Netflix’s “Locke and Key,” Jones earned raves for “Coda,” which  finds her starring with established performers like Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin and Eugenio Derbez.

Jones relishes the skills she took away from “Coda,” namely the confidence to sing live and her new love for ASL, which she has committed to practicing for life. “Roles like Ruby don’t come along very often. You’re lucky if you get to learn one skill,” she says. Up next is a  role in the film adaptation of the viral story “Cat Person.” And Jones hopes to buff her research skills and star in a biopic one day.

“All I want from acting is longevity. I want to carry on doing it for a very, very, very long time.”

— Selome Hailu

Influences: Viola Davis, Vanessa Kirby

Reps: Agency: ARG Talent and ICM Partners; Legal: Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson

“The Umbrella Academy,” “After Yang”

Acting wasn’t Min’s first ambition. The “Umbrella Academy” and “After Yang” actor originally began his career as a journalist, but the second-generation Korean American and Cornell graduate soon found himself impatient at assignments to cover lobster festivals and the latest wines.

“I realized I would have to be in the industry for another potential decade before I got to really write about things that I wanted to,” says Min, who decided to give acting a shot. “It’s another form storytelling. I also grew up doing a lot of public speaking and enjoy being onstage, so I figured, I’ll give it a go.”

Starting with classes and absorbing as much training as he could, Min worked his way up step by step, from commercials to small roles on shows such as “Faking It,” “CSI: Cyber” and “Pure Genius” before landing Netflix’s “Umbrella Academy.”

Min does see similarities between journalism and acting, but also the differences.

“As a writer, you craft a narrative, it’s sort of all in your hands,” he says. “Working with so many different kinds of people, an actor is one piece of the puzzle. There’s something about other people pushing you beyond what you think you’re capable of doing.”

While he keeps an open mind to a return to writing and trying his hand at directing, Min is keeping busy with the release of “After Yang” following its premiere at Cannes this year, and is working on a new Netflix limited series.

— Paul Plunkett

Influences: Tony Leung, Wong Kar Wai, Kogonada

Reps: Agency: CAA; Management: Authentic; Legal: Hansen,  Jacobson

“Colin in Black & White”

When Michael first saw the audition sides for Ava DuVernay’s Netflix series “Colin in Black & White,” detailing the high school years of NFL player and activist Colin Kaepernick, his response was immediate. “I was like, ‘Wow, whoever gets this role is going to have so much fun,’” Michael recalls. “I never, in my wildest dreams, thought it would be me.”

Though he just turned 18, Michael has already worked with some of the best directors in the business, from Jim Jarmusch (“Paterson”) to Todd Haynes (“Wonderstruck”). Last year, he headlined Netflix’s horror comedy “Vampires vs. the Bronx.” But his performance as the teenage Kaepernick is a true revelation. The series details Kaepernick’s early years growing up as mixed race athlete with white parents while finding his voice.

Michael credits his mother with cultivating his love for film; born and raised in Manhattan, he recalls going to the New York Film Festival with her at the age of 8. “There are definitely some things I shouldn’t have seen,” he jokes.

Michael says he’s drawn to projects that have a valuable message. It’s something he shares in common with the athlete he plays in “Colin.”

“I’ve always said that it’s important to use your platform for change and to see him stand up for a group of people who almost never get a platform to speak, was so powerful to me. I used to say, ‘I want to be like Colin when I grow up.’ And I kind of did grow up to be Colin for a little while.”

— Jenelle Riley

Influences: His mother, Adam Driver, Yara Shahidi, Héctor Aníbal, Christopher Nolan

Reps: Agency: A3 Artists; Management: Brillstein Entertainment Partners; Legal: Morris Yorn

“Mare of Eastown,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home”

Marvel fans recognize the versatile Australian actor as Peter Parker’s classmate Betty Brant in the “Spider-Man” movies, but her star really took off with HBO’s watercooler series “Mare of Easttown,” in which she went toe to toe with such heavyweights as Kate Winslet and Jean Smart.

On “Mare of Easttown,” Rice’s Siobhan had to juggle her brother’s suicide, her family’s trauma, helping to raise her nephew and still navigate high school, her own budding sexuality and desire to leave the Philadelphia suburbs for a university across the country. It’s a lot. “I really connected with the fact that she says she’s in pain but she has been put in this position of having to be an adult. She kind of has to play peacemaker between her parents and her mom and her grandmother, while she’s trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be.”

Next up for Rice is comedy “Senior Year” with fellow Aussie Rebel Wilson. She adds that she’s a movie lover and a consummate reader but with “Senior Year,” “I was actually really excited to do comedy” after being in that tense, sad world of “Mare.” She’d love to collaborate with Greta Gerwig, and between working a lot and being grounded in Australia because of COVID, “you never know what’s going to happen. Really, I’m living day to day, moment to moment, just trying to let go of the crippling sense of needing to control my future.”

— Carole Horst

Influences: Her parents and sister, Lorde, the painter Paula Modersohn-Becker

Reps: Agency: WME; Management: Catherine Poulton Management (Australia); Legal: Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern

“The Hand of God”

Playing the central character in a major film early in one’s career can be an intimidating challenge, but Scotti’s role in “The Hand of God” carried extra pressure for the Italian. He was tasked with portraying a younger version of the film’s internationally acclaimed writer-director Paolo Sorrentino (“The Great Beauty”).

“It was a bit strange in the beginning, but I thought it was better not think about it, I tried to create a kind of distance between between me and these thoughts,” Scotti says of any concerns he may have felt. “I tried to feel Paolo as much as I could, to hear him, and to hear the recommendations from him.”

The film follows Scotti’s character Fabietto through an ’80s summer when soccer legend Diego Maradona came to Naples, leading to an event that has tragic consequences on the young man’s life.

Scotti’s love of film began when his father showed him Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window.” “I was so impressed by that movie,” he recalled. “I wanted one day to be able to give [people] emotions like this movie gave to me.”

Scotti eventually found himself in short films, then a series (“Luna Nera”) before breaking through in “The Hand of God.” Currently considering his next options, Scotti is taking the long view on his acting career. “When I am 50, I can say if I am an actor or I’m not an actor,” he says. “I’m just really beginning, so let’s see.”

— Paul Plunkett

Influences: Willem Dafoe, Paul Dano, Mathieu Amalric

Reps: Agency: Movimento in Arte (Rome); Management: Stars on Field (Milano)

“King Richard,” “The First Lady”

At just 14 years old, Sidney has worked alongside some of the biggest actors in the entertainment industry, including Viola Davis in “Fences” and Taraji P. Henson in “Hidden Figures” —  she played the stars’ daughters in both projects.

Her latest role is no different, as she plays young Venus Williams from ages 10 to 14, in the biopic, “King Richard,” slated to hit theaters Nov. 25. Will Smith portrays Richard Williams, the charismatic father and coach of tennis greats Venus and Serena.

Sidney related to the scene in which Richard tells his daughters that they would be “representing every little Black girl on Earth.” “For every role I take, I look at the higher purpose, the higher meaning, the greater message of the role and project,” she says. “Without them, our world would have been a much different place. I am in this industry made possible from the generations before me who fought diligently for change.

“Venus Williams has forever been one of my biggest heroes. So I threw myself fully into every moment — tennis — and especially her championship mindset.”

So much of the the Williams sisters’ lives have been documented, which was a blessing for Sidney. “Watching endless videos of matches and interviews fueled my own ‘Eye of the Tiger.’”

Her next role will be the new limited series “The First Lady,” where she will play Sasha Obama and reunite with her “Fences” mother Davis.

Sidney says “King Richard” will make audiences feel good. “I hope every single person leaves this film feeling triumphant.”

— Jennifer Yuma

Influences: Viola Davis, Will Smith, her mom Malik and her manager Constance Tillotson

Reps: Agency: CAA; Management: Transcend Management