20 actors we predict will break through in 2024

Playing Betty Brant in the Tom Holland Spider-Man films put Rice in some blockbusters, but obviously in a tertiary role. That won’t be the case in 2024. Rice is starring in the musical version of Mean Girls. Yes, it’s a January release, which may mean it is a “Dumpuary” film, but on the other hand, the original, non-musical Mean Girls remains beloved and was turned into a musical for a reason. We think Rice will get a chance to star in a hit movie.

Madame Web seems like it will be a disaster. After all, Venom mostly works ironically, and Morbius was fully an ironic experience. Also, Madame Web stars Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney, which feels like a way to grab attention as opposed to, you know, having a good film. O’Connor will be playing Spider-Girl and will pop up again in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire as Lucky.

Bong Joon-ho’s follow-up to Parasite arrives in 2024. Mickey 17 has a stacked cast. There’s Robert Pattinson, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo, and Ackie. Obviously, Ackie is not a name on the same level as those others, but by starring in Bong’s much-anticipated follow-up to winning Best Director, she’s ready to level up.

O’Connor has won an Emmy for playing the now-King Charles III, but his film career has not taken off yet. He would have had his breakthrough in 2023, but Challengers was pushed to 2024 because of the SAG-AFTRA strike. When your film stars Zendaya, and Zendaya’s union says she can’t promote your film, you press pause. Now, the tennis-centric film from Luca Guadagnino is ready for its big moment, and so is O’Connor.

Spaeny just played Priscilla Presley, but a Sofia Coppola period piece is not necessarily the way to mainstream stardom. The year 2024 should keep Spaeny in the limelight and take her career to the next level. She’s starring in Alien: Romulus, the next Alien film, and Alex Garland’s Civil War.

Much as with Madame Web, Kraven the Hunter doesn’t seem likely to be, you know, good. It will likely be seen by a ton of people, though, and Hechinger is playing Chameleon. He’s also in Gladiator 2, and the first film was a massive hit that won Best Picture.

Speaking of Gladiator 2. This is a case of thinking a known actor is about to become one of the biggest actors in the world. Mescal earned an Oscar nomination for Aftersun, but the movie wasn't widely watched. He’s starring in Gladiator 2, and people will be seeing that. It could do for him what Gladiator did for Russell Crowe, and if it does, Mescal will be a full-on movie star.

Can an actor in an animated movie have a breakthrough? In this case, we think so. Pasqualino isn’t really a known name, but he’s lending his voice to the upcoming animated Lord of the Rings film. Brian Cox is voicing the lead, which is already encouraging, but Pasqualino is the voice of the antagonist, Wulf, in The War of the Rohirrim. People will be seeing his name (and presumably his face) at Comic-Con in 2024.

We return to the voice actor realm. Pierre is voicing Mufasa in a Mufasa movie directed by Barry Jenkins. Yeah, that’s huge, especially for an actor whose biggest role thus far is playing Mid-Sized Sedan in Old. Plus, Pierre will be playing Malcolm X in a limited series.

Hey, remember how much fun Kathryn Hahn was as Agatha on WandaVision? Well, the Agatha series is finally arriving on Disney+. Sure, the MCU seems to be showing extensive signs of wear and tear, but it’s not like MCU fans are going to give up entirely. Locke has one of the lead roles, and if you haven’t seen the Netflix show Heartstopper, you’ve likely never seen him.

Yeah, MCU stuff again. Cox played Maya Lopez, aka Echo, in Hawkeye. It seemed pretty clear the plan was to spin Echo off into her own series, and sure enough, it has happened. Cox will headline a Disney+ show in the Marvel Universe. That’s an easy path to a breakthrough.

When somebody who (as of this writing) doesn’t have their own Wikipedia page is starring in a CBS drama, they are about to have a breakthrough. Yeah, you can make your jokes about how nobody under 60 watches CBS, and the network is nothing but crime procedurals that have run for years, but nobody you know has ever watched. When Elsbeth debuts, Patterson will be the lead of a network drama, and that’s an easy call for a breakthrough.

Amazon Prime’s original programming hasn’t hit like Netflix’s or Disney+’s, but it has found some success. Fallout seems like a good bet, given that it is based on a popular video game series. Purnell is playing the lead, and Walton Goggins is playing a mutated gunslinger known as “The Ghoul.” Yeah, that sells us on this one.

Guerra’s career has been spent almost entirely in Spanish-language offerings and Telemundo productions. He has a chance to be seen by a larger audience in Netflix’s Griselda. Sofia Vergara is playing Griselda Blanco, the “Godmother of Cocaine,” and Guerra is co-starring as her third husband, Dario.

Erskine was one of the leads in, and creators of, PEN15, but that Hulu show was more of a cult hit and critical darling. Also? She was a grown woman playing a teenage girl. You may have no clue what Erskine looks like when she’s getting to, you know, play an adult. Well, she’s about to co-star with Donald Glover in a TV adaptation of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Fingers crossed, she’s not playing a teenager in that one. That’d feel pretty weird.

Musician-turned-actor Jarvis has two big projects coming up in 2024. On the small screen, he’s starring in the FX limited series Shogun. In the world of film, Jarvis has a role in Alto Knights. The movie is written by Goodfellas scribe Nicholas Pileggi, is directed by Barry Levinson, and features Robert De Niro starring in a DUAL ROLE. Sure, that will overshadow Jarvis, but he’ll be in the mix.

Disney+ may have ditched the adaptation of The Spiderwick Chronicles, but The Roku Channel picked it up and salvaged it. Granted, that is far from the biggest streaming service, but this series is based on a popular fantasy book series. There’s a reason why Disney+ initially wanted it. Daniels is one of the stars and falls into the “no Wikipedia page” category.

HBO’s The Sympathizer is based on a Pulitzer-winning novel and was developed in part by the acclaimed director Park Chan-wook. Sandra Oh and Robert Downey Jr. have supporting roles, but Xuande is the one starring as the Captain, so this is his chance to shine.

It doesn’t feel like every Blumhouse production turns into a hit, which seemed to be the case a few years ago. However, we have a good feeling about Imaginary getting an audience. It may be a haunted stuffed animal movie, but if they can get away with multiple Annabelle films, they can deliver one movie about an evil teddy bear. Wise is getting to play the lead, and starring in a horror film has been a jumping-off point for many.

A Karate Kid movie was announced for June 2024 but has been pushed back to December 13, 2024, due to the strikes. However, it remains a 2024 film, and it continues to have both Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan attached to bring the worlds of The Karate Kid together. What it doesn’t have is a lead. This is one of those worldwide casting call situations, which gives us a sense they want an unknown. Well, if you are an unknown actor, and suddenly you star in a Karate Kid film, that’s a big-time breakthrough.