Breakout TV Actors of 2015-2016 Season
The best new actors on television this year
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Emily Beecham was born on 12 May 1984 in Wythenshawe, Manchester, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Daphne (2017), Hail, Caesar! (2016) and The Pursuit of Love (2021).The Widow in "Into the Badlands"- Actress
- Producer
Amirah Vann was born on 24 June 1980 in Queens, New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Underground (2016), Tracers (2015) and Arcane (2021).Ernestine in "Underground"- Actor
- Producer
- Script and Continuity Department
Despite his prominence in Hollywood as a character actor known for playing villains and criminals, Ben Mendelsohn has been a leading man in Australia since starting acting as a teenager.
Paul Benjamin Mendelsohn was born in Melbourne, Australia, to Carole Ann (Ferguson), a nurse, and Frederick Arthur Oscar Mendelsohn, a medical researcher. Getting his start in television, including The Henderson Kids (1985) and the long running soap opera Neighbours (1985), Mendelsohn broke out with his performance as an ill-fated juvenile delinquent in the acclaimed coming of age film The Year My Voice Broke (1987). Mendelsohn won the best supporting actor award from the Australian Film Institute, his first of eight nominations.
Mendelsohn went onto to become one of the most popular teen/young adult stars in Australia cinema, often rivaling other emerging talents of his generation, including Russell Crowe, Noah Taylor, and Guy Pearce, leading the Australian tabloid to nickname them "the Mouse Pack" in reference to the Rat Pack in America and Brit Pack in the UK, emerging at the same time. Among his peers, Mendelsohn seemed to corner the market on troubled, angry young men, thanks to his roles in Idiot Box (1996), Metal Skin (1994), and Nirvana Street Murder (1990). But Mendelsohn also proved he was capable of being a romantic lead, starring in the comedies The Big Steal (1990), Cosi (1996), and Amy (1997).
In the 1990s, Mendelsohn appeared in just one "Hollywood" film, the action film Vertical Limit (2000), as one of two daredevil climbers on a rescue mission, often providing the film's comic relief. The film failed to find an audience and Mendelsohn returned to Australia, where he primarily worked in theater and television, despite earning best actor nominations from the Australian Film Institute and Australian Film Critics Circle for the drama Mullet, as a prodigal son returning to his small town. He also took steps to work in more international films such as The New World (2005), Knowing (2009) and Australia (2008). Mendelsohn has acknowledged that there was a period of almost two years that he had so little work, he considered leaving the acting profession entirely.
In 2009, Mendelsohn experienced a bit of a comeback with the role in the independent Australian films Beautiful Kate (2009), as troubled man forced to reunite with his dying father and come to terms with the death of his twin sister, with whom he had a complicated relationship. He was nominated for Australian Film Institute and Australian Film Critics Circle Best Actor in 2009. A year later, he appeared as Pope in Animal Kingdom (2010), the most terrifying and violent member of a crime family. In 2010, he won Best Actor from the Australian Film Institute, Independent Film Award, and Australian Film Critics Circle.
Since 2010, Mendelsohn has become a major player in Hollywood as a character actor in both blockbuster films (The Dark Knight Rises (2012)) and critically acclaimed films such as Killing Them Softly (2012) and The Place Beyond the Pines (2012). In 2013 he appeared in the UK Starred Up (2013), which earned him a Best Supporting Actor Award from the British Independent Film Awards. He received high praise for his performance as gambling addict in 2015's Mississippi Grind (2015) (earning an independent spirit award nomination for best actor). The same year he began a two season run on Netflix's Bloodline (2015) as Danny Rayburn, the black sheep in a well respected family in the Florida Keys (he was considered a guest actor in the third and final season). In 2016 his career took another leap forward, appearing as the main villain in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), and winning the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He missed the ceremony, as he was filming Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One (2018).Danny Rayburn in "Bloodline"- Actor
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Mel Rodriguez was born in Miami, Florida, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Little Miss Sunshine (2006), The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) and Panic Room (2002).Marco in "Better Call Saul"- Actress
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- Writer
Sharon Lorencia Horgan is an Irish actress, writer, director, comedian and producer. She is best known for the comedy series Pulling (2006-2009) and Catastrophe (2015-2019), both of which she starred in and co-wrote. She also created the HBO comedy series Divorce (2016-2019).
Horgan won the 2008 British Comedy Award for Best TV Actress for Pulling, while the show's 2009 hour-long final episode won the British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Drama. A seven-time BAFTA TV Award nominee, she won the 2016 BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Writer for Catastrophe (with Rob Delaney). Catastrophe was also nominated for Scripted Comedy in the 2020 BAFTA TV Awards and for the 2016 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. She has also won five Irish Film and Television Awards in both acting and writing for her work on Catastrophe. Horgan also won the 2021 Irish Film and Television Award in the category of Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in Dating Amber (2020).
Horgan has appeared in the films Valiant (2005), Imagine Me & You (2005), Man Up (2015), and Game Night (2018), Military Wives (2019), Dating Amber (2020), and BBC Two film Together (2021).Sharon in "Catastrophe"- Actress
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- Editor
Yasmine Al Massri is an international actress, contemporary artist and dancer. Born in Lebanon, from a Palestinian father and an Egyptian mother. At age 20, she moved to Paris to study, and graduated from the prestigious L'Ecole des Beaux Arts de Paris in Multimedia and live performances.
Her artistic interdisciplinary career began in dancing, when in 2000 she joined the Thouraya Baghdadi's Dance company in Paris. Inspired by great choreographers, she explored classical and innovative ways of performing Arab repertoire and opened herself to world folklore, Flamenco, Salsa and African dance. Shortly afterwards she created her own personal style of performance and directed herself in numerous performance videos that have been seen in performance arts festivals around the world.
Al Massri's first big break as an actress was in the award-winning Lebanese film "Caramel" written and directed by Nadine Labaki. At the 2007 Cannes Film Festival it generated tremendous critical acclaim and went on to be the most successful Arab film to date. It also got Al Massri a best actress award with the film's ensemble of actresses at the Abu Dhabi International Film Festival, and later a nomination at the Asia Pacific Screen Award 2007.
In 2008, director Najwa al Najjar cast Yasmine in the lead role of her award winning film "Pomegranates and Myrrh" alongside Hiam Abbass. The film opened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009 and Yasmine went on to win the Youssef Chahine Best Actress award for her performance at the Rabat International Film Festival.
In 2010 Yasmine starred in Julian Schnabel's internationally acclaimed film," Miral", alongside Vanessa Redgrave, Hiam Abbas, Frieda Pinto and Willem Dafoe. Her latest movie "The Last Friday", won the best film award at the Dubai International Film Festival 2011.
More recently, Yasmine was seen as a series regular opposite John Malkovich in the NBC series Crossbones and also as a series regular in the ABC series Quantico.
In 2015, Variety included her on their list of breakout performances, which also included the likes of Rami Malek, Aziz Ansari, Titus Burgess, Taraji P. Henson, Ben Mendelsohn and more.Nima/Raina on "Quantico"- Actor
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Tituss Burgess was born on 21 February 1979 in Athens, Georgia, USA. He is an actor, known for Central Park (2020), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015) and Dolemite Is My Name (2019).Titus in "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"- Actor
- Producer
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Elvis Nolasco is an award-winning actor, producer, and director, best-known for his roles in MGM+'s NAACP Image Award-winning crime drama, Godfather of Harlem, and ABC's Primetime Emmy Award-winning anthology series, American Crime. Nolasco's acting has been applauded by nationally recognized film institutions including the Critics' Choice Association's Critics Choice Television Awards, the International Press Academy's Satellite Awards, in addition to esteemed festivals including the IndieFEST Film Awards. His latest production work includes the 2022 short fantasy film, Ro & the Stardust, which received noteworthy awards during the 2022 DTLA Film Festival and the Philadelphia Film Festival. In 2018, Nolasco successfully made his directorial debut at the Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) in Los Angeles for his short film, Time 2 Surrender, of which he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in. The film was purchased by FOX Soul TV. Nolasco, who was born and raised in the U.S. and is of Dominican descent, can also be seen starring in bilingual films including HBO Max's 2021 crime drama, Sinaliento, where he was awarded "Best Actor" for his lead role at the 10th Annual Dominican Film Festival In New York. In 2023, viewers can see Nolasco playing Nat Pettigrew in Season 3 of Godfather of Harlem, and Jorge Ramirez, a Bakersfield, CA man who was wrongfully killed during a 2013 officer-involved shooting, in ABC News Studios' new docuseries, Killing County.Carter Nix in "American Crime"- Actor
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PJ Marshall is an American actor known for his versatility, forceful onscreen presence, and athleticism.. He began his career with guest roles on television, appearing on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Oz, and Law & Order: L.A. Marshall soon added movies to his resume, appearing in a variety of films, from Mississippi Grind, staring Ryan Reynolds, to Catch .44, starring Forest Whitaker, to Maggie, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Recent television credits include the plantation overseer Bill Meekes on WGN's Underground Detective Jack Colquitt on American Horror Story. His stage work includes Off-Broadway productions of Reservoir Dogs, Getting Out, Trailerville, Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind and Fool for Love, for which he received a Garland Award nomination. Prior to becoming an actor, Marshall was a professional dancer, martial artist, and competitive surfer. He studied acting at the Wynn Handman Studio.Bill in "Underground"- Actress
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Susan Misner was born in Paterson, New Jersey in 1971. She grew up in Pompton Plains where she fell in love with dancing. Her love of the dance led her to New York City where she landed roles in Broadway plays such as Guys and Dolls, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To A Forum, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and Dream.
After turning her focus toward acting, Susan appeared on, One Life to Live (1968), as Grace Davidson. She appeared in such films as Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Chicago (2002), Stick It in Detroit (2008), Two Weeks (2006), Somebody's Hero (2012), Cayman Went (2009), and Hope Springs (2012). She can also be seen in music videos by C&C Music Factory and Taylor Dayne.
You can see Susan in CBS's Person of Interest (2011) as Jessica Arndt and in the 2013 Mid-season Thriller The Following (2013) as Jenny Mitchell, who has ties to Kevin Bacon's character.
Susan was just cast in The Americans (2013) as Sandra Beeman and will also play a handful of episodes in ABC's Nashville (2012) as Dr. Stacey Douglas.Terri in "Billions"- Actor
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Griffin Newman was born on 19 February 1989 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Disenchanted (2022), Draft Day (2014) and The Tick (2016).Casper in "Vinyl"