Top Ten Breakthrough Performers of 2025: Miles Caton, Eva Victor, Chase Infiniti and More
Welcome to the 17th annual Breakthrough Performers list, where we shine a spotlight on rising actors who are on track to become Hollywood’s next big stars. In 2025, we saw an imaginative slate of films from Ryan Coogler’s raw vampire saga Sinners to Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic One Battle After Another, to indie films with a lot of heart including Hamnet and Sorry, Baby. It was one of the stronger years for movies this decade, with plenty of new faces and names to discover. It’s a big reason I’m pretty excited about this year’s breakthrough list.
Since 2009, I’ve been tracking emerging talents and predicting their lasting impact on cinema. This tradition has consistently highlighted standouts, some of whom are pictured above in the gallery. Last year, Monica Barbaro joined the ranks of past honorees like Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Florence Pugh, Timothée Chalamet, Brie Larson, Austin Butler, and Jacob Elordi, actors who’ve topped the list in previous years. Barbaro edged out Anora star (and Best Actress-winner) Mikey Madison, who also would have made a terrific choice in the top spot. Barbaro’s momentum surges forward in 2026, playing a supporting role in Bart Layton’s Crime 101 opposite Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry, Barry Keoghan, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Nick Nolte. She also stars in Will Gluck’s romantic drama, One Night Only, in 2026, alongside Maya Hawke, Callum Turner, Molly Ringwald, Julia Fox, and LeVar Burton. Her third film (currently in post-production and eyeing a 2026 release) is Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial, which puts her alongside past Breakthrough Performers alums like Andrew Garfield, Cooper Hoffman, Billie Lourd, and Chris O’Dowd, plus Jason Schwartzman, Mark Rylance, Ike Barinholtz, and Yura Borisov. Barbaro’s star is only beginning to rise.
That predictive spark has fueled the list’s evolution, now in its second year at AwardsWatch, with a pretty stellar history. Past champions like Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Brie Larson, Mahershala Ali, and Ariana DeBose all went on to win Oscars. In fact, 12 of the 16 title-bearers have received acting Oscar nominations (with Elordi possibly making it 13 for his scene-stealing turn in Frankenstein). More than two dozen other actors from past lists have earned Oscar nods and/or wins, including Jeremy Renner, Carey Mulligan, Anna Kendrick, Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Lakeith Stanfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Rooney Mara, Lupita Nyong’o, Alicia Vikander, Lucas Hedges, Ruth Negga, Naomie Harris, Daniel Kaluuya, Margot Robbie, Adam Driver, Cynthia Erivo, Riz Ahmed, Chadwick Boseman, Jessie Buckley, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Stephanie Hsu, and Sebastian Stan. Seventeen years in, what still excites me most about the year is unearthing those unpolished gems, the ones who redefine “star power” on their own terms and will help usher in a whole new era of film.
The rules for eligibility remain simple: individuals who have already received nominations for a SAG (Film), Oscar, or Globe (Film) in previous years are not eligible. To that, as this list was curated before today, no less than three in the lineup earned their first ever SAG Actor Award nominations today, so it seems prescient that we have them here. The list rarely features actors under 18, given the challenge of predicting the trajectory of a young actor’s career. This keeps the focus on true newcomers, from global indies to diverse ensembles, amplifying voices cinema needs most. You might wonder why names like Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another) or David Jonsson (The Long Walk) aren’t on this year’s list. It is often because we predicted their stardom before becoming a household name (Taylor made the 2023 list for her turn in A Thousand and One; Jonsson made last year’s list for Alien: Romulus).
This list is created based on standout performances, presence, future projects, and, of course, personal opinion. With that, and a heartfelt thanks to the AwardsWatch team, I present the Breakthrough Performers of 2025.
10. Guillaume Marbeck – Nouvelle Vague (by Daniel Bayer)
It’s one thing to do an imitation of a famous person onscreen, and another to capture that person’s essence in such a way that you disappear, in effect “becoming” the person you’re playing. At first, Guillaume Marbeck’s performance as Jean-Luc Godard in Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague appears to be merely an incredible imitation of the perpetually sunglasses-clad French auteur. Godard is a pretty easy person to imitate (the glasses really do a lot of the work), and Marbeck makes it look even easier with the way he slips into the icon’s speech patterns and posture. Given that this marks his feature debut as an actor, it’s easy to think that Marbeck wasn’t really acting much in this role, merely heightening some of his own personality traits to play Godard. Watch even a few seconds of him in any other setting, though, and such thoughts vanish. Not only is his resemblance to Godard much less than one might have expected, but his generous personality couldn’t be farther from Godard’s minimalistic monotone. No, Marbeck is putting on a real performance in Nouvelle Vague, so thoroughly delving into Godard’s skin that it feels inseparable from his own. His insouciant way with the screenplay’s Godardian bon mots and occasionally playful body language would be more than enough for any other actor playing Godard, but Marbeck is so dialed in that every micro-expression hits with the force of the automobiles in Godard’s Week-end, and he does everything largely without access to his eyes, one of the most powerful tools in an actor’s arsenal. Marbeck isn’t resting on mere imitation, nor did he luck into a role he was born to play; he put in the work to capture the essence of one of the most recognizable film directors in the world and produced a performance full of vibrant life. Whatever he does next, we’ll be watching.
9. Tonatiuh – Kiss of the Spider Woman (by Karen Peterson)
Just a year ago, as Bill Condon’s new adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman was preparing for its world premiere at Sundance, no one would have thought the biggest, boldest performance would come not from Jennifer Lopez or Diego Luna but from a young, fresh-faced newcomer. And yet, Tonatiuh, surrounded by superstar power, managed to rise above them to breathe new life into the character of Luis Molina, a queer prisoner incarcerated for indecency in 1970s Argentina.
Bringing so much soul and longing to the character of Molina, the up-and-coming star revealed deep wells of emotion and talent. He is also a triple threat, a fantastic dancer and singer who delivers a rich, decadent rendition of “She’s a Woman.”
Audiences may recognize the California-born actor from some film and TV work including the Netflix film Carry-On, or the short-lived ABC series Promised Land. Now, having gone toe-to-toe with Lopez and Luna, it’s going to be exciting to see where Tonatiuh goes next.
8. A$AP Rocky – Highest 2 Lowest, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (by Jay Ledbetter)
A rapper without an album release since 2018, no major film role since 2015, and a high-profile personal relationship with one of the biggest pop stars in the world could be accused of being in their “Famous for Being Famous” era, but A$AP Rocky emerged from the pop culture shadows in 2025 with a pair of film performances that reminded us not just of his innate presence as a person of interest, but of the fact that he might just have real chops as an actor with two standout supporting performances in Highest 2 Lowest and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.
In Highest 2 Lowest, Rocky is asked to do the impossible by being the antagonist opposite Denzel Washington. It helps that said antagonist is a rapper and the song Rocky performs is, in fact, a lowkey banger, but Rocky is able to hold his own against maybe the greatest actor of his generation on an alchemic combination of natural presence and a flair for the theatrical. No one could walk away from the finale of Highest 2 Lowest and not think that Rocky has undeniable movie star traits. His untrained charisma is proof positive of that “unteachable thing” you hear about so often.
Rocky’s inherent good-looks and charisma are matched only by his intensity in Highest 2 Lowest, but it is his empathy that shines through in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. One could very much see a world where A$AP Rocky becomes a rom-com icon (if he wasn’t so famous already). Opposite Rose Byrne, in what is probably the performance of the year, Rocky operates as the shoulda-been ally that helps Byrne through her troubles in a more traditional movie. In If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, that means he gets brutally injured and dismissed, but Rocky’s charisma makes the embarrassment and pain all the more palpable. A$AP Rocky is already an icon in more ways than almost anyone could hope, but what 2025 proved is that he can be a film icon if that’s the path he chooses. With an album set to release in 2026, expect to see a lot more A$AP on your social media feeds, and hopefully on the big screen for years to come.
7. Oona Chaplin – Avatar: Fire and Ash (by Daniel Bayer)
It takes a lot of confidence on the part of the studio to put a new character played by a relatively unknown front and center in the marketing for the third film in a series, even one that doesn’t need famous faces to sell itself, like James Cameron’s Avatar films. But the first trailer for Avatar: Fire and Ash went viral not because of its eye-popping visuals, but because of six words: “Your goddess has no dominion here.” Even in trailer form, it’s clear that Oona Chaplin was going to be the breakout star of the film; her entrance alone exudes a level of self-aware sex appeal the franchise has never seen before, and the fire behind her eyes seems as wild as the fire she lights upon her fingers. That delicious final line reading vaunted her into the pantheon of iconic cinematic villains before anyone had even seen the film, and while Chaplin’s Varang may not have quite as central a presence in the epic-length Fire and Ash as the trailer promised, Geraldine’s daughter (which, yes, makes her Charlie’s granddaughter) delivers the goods, earning her spot as the star of the film’s marketing materials.
Fully recognizing the opportunity presented by the character and the motion-capture process used on the Avatar films, Chaplin accordingly went all-out in her performance, slinking around the world of Pandora like a panther stalking its prey and pushing her facial expressions to the absolute limit. She’s mighty fun engaging in hissing matches with Zoe Saldaña’s Neytiri (finally, a worthy opponent!), but she’s at her best in her scenes with Stephen Lang’s Quaritch, overpowering him so easily but so excitedly seduced by his offer of human firepower. Seducing him with her lithe body as much as with her twisted mind, seething with rage as she tortures other Na’vi though the neural link in their tails, Chaplin gives Fire and Ash an electrical charge that neither of the previous Avatar films had, adding fascinating new dimensions to the world of Pandora. Cameron’s screenplay gives her lots of juicy material, and she responds in kind, chewing the scenery with ferocious abandon. That works because Varang is a classic out-sized sci-fi villain, but it proves that Chaplin has the right instincts to make just as successful a career for herself as her mother and grandfather.
6. Odessa A’zion – Marty Supreme (by Mark Johnson)
In the kinetic rush of Josh Safdie’s table tennis fever dream Marty Supreme, there’s a mid-film sequence where the camera circles a match not to track points, but to trap the emotional stalemate between two players running on obsession. At the center of it is Odessa A’zion’s Rachel Mizler, Marty’s (Timothée Chalamet) sharp, combustible love interest and the film’s most destabilizing force. Rachel isn’t a muse or a pit stop on Marty’s rise; she’s a mirror, exposing the cracks in his relentless drive through her own quiet rebellions and mounting regret. A’zion plays her with raw edges intact: impulsive, wounded, and alive to every shifting power dynamic in the room. Against Safdie’s nerve-fraying direction and Chalamet’s coiled intensity, she doesn’t just keep up. She commands the frame, announcing herself as a performer to watch and making it clear that 2026 is just a start for A’zion.
Beyond Marty Supreme, A’zion has been steadily building a resume that spans film, television, and voice work. In 2025, she appeared in the TV series I Love LA and Ghosts, and took on film roles in Sam Hayes’ Pools, David F. Sandberg’s Until Dawn, and Nick Rowland’s She Rides Shotgun. In 2026, she’s set to appear in James Kimball’s horror feature For the Night and Spencer King’s drama Nickels, while also lending her voice to the animated series Stranger Things: Tales from ’85.
5. Eva Victor – Sorry, Baby (by Erik Anderson)
Eva Victor has had an unlikely career trajectory. Born in Paris but grew up in the Bay Area (and went to a summer camp a half mile from where I currently live), Victor, who uses she/they pronouns, has always been a born performer. Whether it’s the San Francisco Girls Chorus, performing for President Obama’s 2009 inauguration or improv at Northwestern University, the stage was being set.
A stint at Reductress and several viral Twitter videos got them noticed by Hollywood and was cast on the Showtime series Billions in its 5th season, playing junior hedge fund manager Rian under Asia Kate Dillon’s Taylor Mason but underneath was bubbling something more personal.
When COVID shut down production on Billions, Victor headed up to Maine, subletting a friend’s house and started diving deep on a personal story of trauma and growth that, from the outside, seemed like a darker turn compared to their goofy observational comedy. It’s here that Sorry, Baby was born, the story of English lit professor Agnes (Victor), the bad thing that happens to her and a cat. The best cat (well, cats). More on that later. After an impromptu DM from Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) over Instagram, a professional relationship was born and he and his partners at Pastel, who backed Charlotte Wells and her Oscar-nominated 2022 film Aftersun, boarded the film. Pastel dispatched Victor into a hand-tailored, year-long filmmaking bootcamp that included reading lists, editing and cinematography tutorials, and mock shoots. Victor even shadowed writer-director Jane Schoenbrun throughout the production of I Saw the TV Glow.
As writer, director and star, Victor’s talents are fully on display and for many this year, it was our first look at them, a true discovery. Vulnerable in both performance and story, and with a keen eye for some brilliant casting in Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges and John Carroll Lynch, and you have a recipe for one of best films of the year. Since its January debut at the Sundance Film Festival, where Victor won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, to the end of the calendar year, they’ve won the lion’s share of ‘First time director’ kudos from critics, including from the National Board of Review, a screenplay nomination from Critics Choice and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. An impressive start to what is already a flourishing career.
4. Damson Idris – F1 (by Ryan McQuade)
From the moment Damson Idris appears on screen in F1, you lean forward in your seat. The charismatic, arrogant energy of Formula One driver Joshua Pearce is on full display, as he shows up to the race track, leading a team without a single point in the season as he is completely consumed with the idea of his talents as a driver and celebrity. The reality check for Pearce comes in the form of his new teammate, Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a nomadic gun-for-hire racer who as a former 1990s Formula One driver, returns to the spot with APXGP to get back on track. As a standard sports film plot would lay out, Pearce and Hayes collide against each other for most of the film, and they are thrilling together in every scene of F1. It’s very rare to see a movie star like Brad Pitt going toe to toe with someone younger than him and getting upstaged in various scenes, and that’s exactly what Idris does, taking the cocky, naïve driver and turning him into a root-able, relatable character by the end of the film, learning from Pitt’s Sonny on how to take care of himself on and off the track and become the star he was born to be. In doing this, Idris became a revelation for audiences this year, with this being his most notable, largest role to date, and making him a new contender for the internet’s pick for the next James Bond. But for now, it’s clear that Damson Idris has the movie star gene in him, and you better start buying stock now, because he shows the promise of someone we will be talking about for a long time.
3. Miles Caton – Sinners (by Ryan McQuade)
Midway through Ryan Coogler’s sensational Sinners, there lies one of the best scenes of the year, in which the visionary director tracks the history of blues, and how the origins laid the foundation for every single type of genre found in modern music. At the center of this stunning moment lies one of 2025’s brightest discoveries, actor Miles Caton, who plays Sammie, the cousin of Smoke and Stack Moore (Michael B. Jordan). Sammie possesses the ability to transcend reality by playing the cords on his guitar; a special gift that is passed down to a select few across each generation, and becomes something he must fight to protect once others come to try and steal Sammie’s gift. Much like Sammie, Caton is a special musical talent, one that blew away audiences this year with his singing and acting in his debut performance, crafting the layered work of a veteran and working alongside composer Ludwig Göransson to craft the music within Sinners that give the film its soul. We are introduced to the world from Sammie’s eyes, and we leave the film convinced of a special, new talent emerging right in front of us with Caton.
2. David Corenswet – Superman (by Cody Dericks)
It’s something of a tradition to cast an unknown actor whenever Warner Bros. looks to revive Superman. Besides a small part in the forgotten submarine film Gray Lady Down, Christopher Reeve essentially made his film debut when he donned the red tights in Richard Donner’s Superman in 1978 (Reeve was even billed third in the opening credits below Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman). The same goes for Brandon Routh, who had one single film credit before the 2006 release of Superman Returns. Compared to them, David Corenswet was practically a veteran when he was cast in James Gunn’s triumphant Superman – undoubtedly the best superhero film of 2025. He had memorable supporting roles in the hits Pearl and Twisters, along with a number of television credits, including featured parts in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix shows The Politician and Hollywood. Still, his winning, charismatic performance in Superman was likely the first time most audience members ever took notice of his handsome face.
But getting the casting right was only the first challenge for Gunn. Despite being the very definition of iconic, Superman is a tough character to make dramatically compelling. When he can broadly be described as “unstoppable,” it can be hard for any situation he finds himself in to have any tension. Smartly, Gunn starts the film with the Man of Steel having suffered his very first defeat, making it clear that he’s far from unbeatable. Corenswet leans into this imperfection, emphasizing his human upbringing in his characterization over his superpowered alien origins. This comes through in his personality – he’s quick-tempered and impatient, selling the idea that a man with unlimited powers and stupendous abilities might find the pettiness of human conflict frustrating. But he’s not just an intentional swerve away from the Boy Scout-like popular image of Superman. Corenswet is charming and easy to root for, bringing movie star appeal to the film.
Audiences responded well to his performance, and it’s not controversial to say that Corenswet unquestionably delivers the best portrayal of Superman since Christopher Reeve. Only time will tell if he’s able to do what nearly every other Superman couldn’t: have a robust career outside of the DC films. But in the meantime, fans won’t have to wait long to see Corenswet fly again. He’ll be appearing in Supergirl, coming to theaters next summer.
1. Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another (by Sophia Ciminello)
There’s a moment in Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest masterwork, One Battle After Another, that takes my breath away. After a bank robbery goes awry and the members of the French 75 are forced to dissipate and go into hiding, a baby (soon to be Willa Ferguson) looks up at her dad while chewing on the trust device designed to keep them connected, should they ever lose each other. In what feels like the modern equivalent of the iconic match cut in Lawrence of Arabia, suddenly and seamlessly, a sixteen-year-old Willa’s face fills the screen, and Anderson introduces the revelation that is Chase Infiniti.
An adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s postmodern American tale “Vineland” had been percolating in Anderson’s brain for over a decade, but he and his longtime casting director, Cassandra Kulukundis, knew that the film would be impossible until they found the right actress to play Willa. It’s immediately clear that Infiniti was worth the wait. After a supporting turn in the limited series Presumed Innocent, Infiniti’s remarkable feature film debut is defined by how deftly she builds her character as she learns more about her parents’ past and her own inner strength. In her first scene with her father Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio), the pair feels more like a mother and son than a father and daughter, as Infiniti imbues Willa with a frankness and (just like her mother) the belief that she can take care of herself, perfectly juxtaposing DiCaprio’s anxiety-tinged hangover. There’s an inherent confidence in her performance that directly connects to one of the film’s core ideas: freedom means no fear. When Willa learns that Lockjaw isn’t simply a figment of Bob’s own paranoia, Infiniti conjures up pieces of her character that only the audience and the French 75 will recognize as traces of the mother she never knew. This is especially true when she goes toe-to-toe with Sean Penn’s Lockjaw, a man on the hunt, who never should have found her. Together, Infiniti and Penn perfectly capture the script’s humor and terror, especially when she overpowers him mentally and physically. Still, Infiniti’s finest work comes in the film’s thrilling conclusion that establishes her as a new kind of final girl; one who has not only survived the wreckage, but who also emerges ready to understand and embrace her dad.
Anderson often cites the late, great Jonathan Demme as one of his heroes, and Infiniti’s portrayal of Willa often feels like a sister character to Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling. In The Silence of the Lambs and One Battle After Another, both women are introduced to us as they’re training, and while it isn’t immediately clear what they’re preparing for, they’ll be tested just as a mythic hero would. But how often do we get to see young women in these roles? Typically, these characters are reserved for young men who, to come of age and discover a deeper truth about their identity, must leave their homes behind to conquer an evil threat. So, when Infiniti escapes and slams the car door, revving up the engine and her own power, I can’t help but feel completely moved by her. Bob has been trying his best to keep up and to save Willa, but she doesn’t need to be saved. He’s raised her with what was left of his revolutionary spirit and trusts that he can now just be there to be her dad. At the end of the film, Infiniti still gives Willa the confidence that she’s always had, but this time, there’s a childlike quality to her, as she calls him “Dad” for the first time. All Bob can do is the only thing any parent can do when their children start to find them a little less relevant: tell them to be careful. And after the pain and doubt Willa has endured in just a day, Infiniti still finds a way to make us believe in the importance of forging on and embracing revolution. She’s an essential heroine for a new generation.
As we turn the page on another remarkable year in film, these ten breakthrough performers capture the promise that keeps me returning to this list year after year. This is the raw spark of actors who do not merely inhabit roles but reshape them, following in the footsteps of past standouts who once appeared here and went on to define an era. I am eager to see where this new wave of talent goes next as they build on a legacy that now includes Oscar winners and industry mainstays. Seventeen years in, the search for the next defining performers feels as vital and optimistic as ever. My thanks, as always, to the AwardsWatch crew for making this a shared endeavor. Now we look ahead to 2026 and the performances still to come, where a first glance at a festival screening or an indie release might reveal the next true breakout star.
- Top Ten Breakthrough Performers of 2025: Miles Caton, Eva Victor, Chase Infiniti and More - January 7, 2026
- 2026 Oscar Predictions: The Awards Alchemist Checks In After Week One of Precursors - December 9, 2025
- 2026 Oscar Predictions: The Awards Alchemist’s Updates With Festival Awards and Heading Into Critics Season - November 4, 2025
Golden Globe Awards Predictions – Motion Picture: Will it be One Award After Another or Will Voters be Sentimental? 
American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Nominations: ‘Frankenstein,’ Marty Supreme’ Make the Cut, ‘Hamnet’ Misses 
Oscars: 317 Films Eligible for 98th Academy Awards, 201 for Best Picture 
DGA Awards: Directors Guild Nominates Paul Thomas Anderson, Ryan Coogler, Guillermo del Toro, Josh Safdie, Chloé Zhao