Meet the 8 Young Women Poised to Take Over Hollywood

Coming soon to a screen near you: Eight breakout stars bringing supercharged performances to fall’s must-see movies.
Melissa Benoist 

You know her as: Glee high-schooler Marley Rose
Catch her in: Danny Collins, with Al Pacino and Jennifer Garner; Whiplash, with Miles Teller
On art imitating life: “There’s always going to be a part of me [like Whiplash‘s Nicole] that’s this naïve girl from Denver who just wants to find her place.”
Britt Robertson



Catch her in: Cake, with Jennifer Aniston; Tomorrowland, with George Clooney
On “Normal Britt attire:” “I just want to be in sweatpants and T-shirts and Converse. Or barefoot. Like, no bra.”
Tessa Thompson 

Catch her in: Civil Rights-era drama Selma; Ivy League satire Dear White People
On “the joy” of playing DWP‘s Sam White: “She’s not one thing—she’s a lot of contradictions. We all have parts of ourselves that sort of bump up against the others. And that’s okay, we’re just human.”
Liana Liberato 

Catch her in: Nicholas Sparks adaptation The Best of Me
On finding romance:“I’m used to playing the victim, and I was given the ability to be a lively, vibrant girl who’s in love. It was uncharted territory.”

From L-R: MacKenzie Mauzy, Teyonah Parris, Kaitlyn Dever, Genesis Rodriguez (Photo: Jan Welters)

Mackenzie Mauzy 

Catch her in: Into the Woods, with Johnny Depp and Meryl Streep
On Rapunzel prep: “I sang the songs in my apartment, locked in the closet so my neighbors wouldn’t get mad at me.”
Teyonah Parris 

You know her as: Mad Men secretary Dawn Chambers
Catch her in: Dear White People
On America’s color wars: “Our film deals with identity and what it means to be a black face in a white place.”
Kaitlyn Dever 

You know her as: Eve Baxter on ABC’s Last Man Standing
Catch her in: Jason Reitman’s Men, Women & Children; Lynn Shelton’s Laggies, with Keira Knightley.
On running her mouth: “[Lynn] is very open to improvising. I felt like my character would say whatever was on her mind, so that’s what I literally did.”
Genesis Rodriguez 

Catch her in: Run All Night, with Liam Neeson; Disney’s Big Hero 6
On ambition: “I’m trying to be the Latina Dustin Hoffman. He can play comedic, dramatic, or mysterious roles—that’s what I’m going for.”