Categories: Articles - Acting Articles - Moviemaking

The Rising Stars of 2012

Published by

Laurel Dammann

There’s quite the array of emerging actors out there in the film world, most of whom have been referred to as the “next big thing” at one point or another. But which of these “next big thing”s will actually live up to the title? Social media research company Fizziology (fizziolo.gy) has endeavored to find out by tracking and analyzing the social media buzz of over 1,500 actors and actresses, and after an exhaustive look at the general public’s three social media must-haves—Facebook, Twitter and blogs—they’ve compiled their list of seven much-buzzed-about stars on the brink of a breakout year. They are:

Paula Patton:
Known for: Precious (2009), Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
You’ll be seeing her in: Disconnect (2012)
Note: Heading into the new year, Patton’s buzz had increased by over 2,000 percent.

Rooney Mara:
Known for: The Social Network (2011), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
You’ll be seeing her in: Steven Soderbergh’s The Bitter Pill (2013), Terrence Malick’s Lawless (2013)
Note: By the end of 2011, the social media buzz around Mara increased by over 570 percent.

Tom Hardy:
Known for: Inception (2010), Warrior (2011), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
You’ll be seeing him in: This Means War (2012), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), John Hillcoat’s Wettest Country (2012)

Michael Fassbender:
Known for: Hunger (2008), Fish Tank (2009), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Jane Eyre (2011), X-Men: First Class (2011), A Dangerous Method (2011), Shame (2011), Haywire (2011)
You’ll be seeing him in: Ridley Scott’s Prometheus (2012), Steve McQueen’s Twelve Years a Slave (2013)

Carey Mulligan:
Known for: An Education (2009), Never Let Me Go (2010), Drive (2011), Shame (2011)
You’ll be seeing her in: Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby (2012), the Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Untitled Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze Project (2013)

Liam Hemsworth:
Known for: The Last Song (2010)
You’ll be seeing him in: The Hunger Games (2012), AWOL (2012) and The Expendables 2 (2012).

Nina Dobrev:
Known for: “The Vampire Diaries”
You’ll be seeing her in: The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)