BAFTA Rising Star Award nominees revealed

This year’s nominees are Naomi Ackie, Sheila Atim, Daryl McCormack, Emma Mackie and Aimee Lou Wood, all young, exciting, but acclaimed actors. 

Ackie comes hot off playing Whitney Houston in Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, and Atim starred in last year’s The Woman King. Atim’s castmate from The Woman King, Lashana Lynch, won the Rising Star Award in 2022. 

McCormack memorably starred against Emma Thompson in the sex-positive dramedy Good Luck To You, Leo Grande last year. Mackie and Wood are both Sex Education alumni, and Mackie starred as Emily Dickinson in Emily while Wood made an impression against Bill Nighy in the moving Living. 

Naomie Ackie as Whitney Houston. Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing

Nominations were unveiled at the Savoy Hotel in London, where Ackie, Atim and McCormack were in attendance. 

Previous BAFTA Rising Star winners include Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, John Boyega and Tom Holland. Typically, award winners have gone on to have a bright future in the industry. 

Although the BAFTAs, like most industry awards ceremonies, have been accused of only nominating white creatives, the BAFTA Rising Star Award has always been one to highlight diversity. 

The rest of the BAFTA nominations will follow on Thursday before the winners will be unveiled in the grand ceremony on 19 February. The ceremony will take place in London’s Royal Festival Hall.