- Title: Actors Marisa Abela, David Jonsson among BAFTA Rising Star nominees
- Date: 7th January 2025
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JANUARY 7, 2025) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIR OF THE BAFTA FILM COMMITTEE, ANNA HIGGS, SAYING: ''Hopefully today you'll see these five nominees are exceptional and I think are really exceptional because they're in such different films, there's huge franchises, there's indie American movies, there is tiny BFI-backed independent feature films for a first-time feature maker. So, a real range of artistry as well as the type of work on show.'' VARIOUS RIZWAN SPEAKING TO PRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) 2025 BAFTA EE RISING STAR AWARD NOMINEE, ACTOR, NABHAAN RIZWAN, SAYING: ''Yeah, I just want to try things. I just want to play, play, play and try things for the first time. You know, no one wants to let you do things for the first time, it's okay the second, third, fourth, everyone wants to do it. But you know, we believe things can't be done for the first time. And I think that's where, you know, artists come to the fore and you might not get it right but at least you try, at least you tried something.'' 25 . (SCREEN LEFT TO RIGHT) PLUMB, HIGGS, ABELA, JONSSON, RIZWAN AND O'CONNELL POSING (SOUNDBITE) (English) 2025 BAFTA EE RISING STAR AWARD NOMINEE, ACTOR, DAVID JONSSON, SAYING: "I do this thing where I take off the first page just because, not because I'm trying to be cool, because I don't want to, I want the purest form of reading it. I don't want to get influenced by anything else. And I remember reading it and it really read like an independent sci-fi. It just was cool characters and it was a cool world. And then I found out it was 'Alien'' and I was like 'Oh, I don't know if that's for me. I don't know if I can do it.' But you know, when you get an opportunity like that to work with Fede Alvarez, Ridley Scott and all the people behind that, it's just , you can't say no, you know." VARIOUS OF ABELA SPEAKING TO PRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) 2025 BAFTA EE RISING STAR AWARD NOMINEE, ACTOR, MARISA ABELA, SAYING: ''You know, we filmed the whole movie in London. We filmed 54 locations in 45 days, all in London. And I moved to Camden. And like, this movie wouldn't exist if it were, Amy wouldn't have existed if it wasn't for Camden and for London and for that culture that, you know, and that kind of new, the early twenties music scene and all of those things. And so the fact that this is all happening in London is so meaningful. And, you know, also just for me, the BAFTAs is something that, you know, I grew up watching and I grew up being inspired by and to be sort of accepted into that community is really, I'm very honoured.'' NOMINEES AND HOSTS ON STAGE AS EVENT ENDS
- Embargoed: 21st January 2025 14:58
- Keywords: 2025 EE British Academy Film Awards BAFTA BAFTA Rising Star David Jonsson EE Rising Star Award Jharrel Jerome Marisa Abela Mikey Madison Nabhaan Rizwan
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: UK
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA00E142707012025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Marisa Abela, who portrayed late singer Amy Winehouse in biopic "Back to Black" and David Jonsson, most recently seen in sci-fi horror "Alien: Romulus" are among the five actors nominated for the EE Rising Star Award at next month's British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Film Awards.
The pair are nominated alongside fellow "Industry" actor Nabhaan Rizwan, whose credits include film "In Camera" about an aspiring actor facing constant audition rejections and Netflix series "Kaos," a modern re-imagining of Greek mythology.
British television drama "Industry" follows a group of graduates competing for jobs at a top investment bank.
''It's so nice to be in this group, amongst friends, people that I have worked with,'' Abela said at the nominee announcement event in London on Tuesday (January 7).
Not all the talent could make the event due to work commitments, but Abela, Rizwan and Jonsson were all there in person.
Jonsson described getting nominated as ''bananas'' and ''crazy'' - saying he remembered watching event host and actor Jack O'Connell scoop the prize back in 2015, when Jonsson was still in school.
Now in it's 20th year, the EE Rising Star Award is a prize that "celebrates stars who are on their way to kind of iconic movie star status,'' explained Chair of the BAFTA Film Committee, Anna Higgs.
The other two actors on the shortlist are Jharrel Jerome, known for Oscar-winning film "Moonlight'' and most recently biographical sports drama "Unstoppable'' and Mikey Madison who stars in ''Anora'' - the top movie at last year's Cannes film festival. Madison was also nominates for best actress in a musical or comedy film at Sunday's (January 5) Golden Globes.
Past recipients of the Rising Star Award, which is voted for by the public, include "Sex Education" star Emma Mackey, "Tomorrow Never Dies" actress Lashana Lynch and Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya.
2025 EE British Academy Film Awards, Britain's top film industry honours, will take place on Feb. 16 in London.
BAFTA will announce the full list of the 2025 awards nominees next week.
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