Hollywood’s Rising Stars Of 2026

There is something deliciously off-kilter and very Diablo Cody about Forbidden Fruits. The feverish, female-forward film – part satire, part fable – explores the intoxicating pull of sisterhood and what happens when sisterly closeness curdles into something darker. “I love a movie that centers female relationships,” says star Alexandra Shipp. “This is still an under-explored area and I think this movie pushes against all the stereotypes about women.”

Shipp plays Fig, an alt-leaning outsider and state-bird obsessive who finds herself drawn into the orbit of a tight-knit group known as the Fruits. “What she’s looking for is community,” she explains. “And she very much finds that.” For the first stretch of the film, the bond between the young women feels euphoric. “You’re seeing it at its most solid foundation of friendship and of girlhood.” But as loyalties shift and myth bleeds into reality, relationships start to unravel.

The role offered Shipp both comedy and emotional excavation. She relished the collaboration with director Meredith Alloway. “She asked me, ‘What do you think? What do you see?’” Shipp says. Her process is meticulous. “When I’m developing a character, I like to write it all down. I start from the minute they’re born to the minute we see them on screen. All of our experiences shape us as human beings.”

Shipp interrogates meaning in all her role selections. “What are we saying?” she asks of any project. I live to entertain, but also what is my character doing that’s propelling the conversation forward.” Art, she adds, is inherently political. “A lot of the time, just my presence is a political statement… as a queer Black woman.”

Shipp is hoping to keep up the pace of the change already in motion. “Someone cracked the door for me. I’m going to kick it open so that the next generation of women can come through.” Beyond acting, she has ambitions to write and direct. “I love telling stories,” she says. “I’d love to be able to bring something to life from inception to completion.

When Ji-young Yoo was in college, finishing midterms, she found herself weighing up two different futures: completing her remaining classes or accepting a role in the miniseries Expats, alongside Nicole Kidman. “If it’s between getting a degree that no one is really asking me for and getting to work with Nicole Kidman, the choice is Nicole Kidman,” she says.

The decision proved formative. Years later, Yoo would find herself taking another career leap by providing the voice of Zoey in Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters – a high-energy animated spectacle blending action, music and fantasy that quickly became a worldwide phenomenon and the most popular Netflix film of all time. The scale of its success was something she could never have imagined. “We were all so proud of the movie, but I don’t think anyone who works in this industry will say that you can ever guess what project is going to be that big,” Yoo reflects. “I certainly didn’t think that a project could be so globally popular.”

Part of that surreal experience has been occupying a curious sweet spot: starring in a global hit while retaining a degree of anonymity as a voice actor. “I didn’t have too much time to think about how it had taken over the world,” she says. “But it gave me a newfound appreciation for the global effect of the movie because I would go outside on my day off and [the soundtrack] Golden would be playing at the food stall, then Soda Pop was playing at the mall. Because I was a voice actor, I really got to enjoy it – no one really knew that I was related to the movie. I just got to appreciate how much everyone was loving it.”

Next, Yoo returns to television with a role in the crime series Presumed Innocent, a shift she welcomes. Still, she admits she would happily revisit the world of demon hunting. “I would love to do [a sequel]. I had a marvellous time working with [directors] Chris and Maggie. They’re phenomenal people and obviously very talented, so if they would want me back, I’ll be there in a second.” Until then, she is focused on enjoying the ride: “I’ve been very, very lucky that life has been taking me in a pretty good direction.”

“If you had told me as a little girl that I would get to play a part like this, I would have flipped out,” says Gus Birney. She is referring to her role in Netflix’s Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, an atmospheric horror series following a bride and groom (Camila Morrone and Adam DiMarco) in the week leading up to their ill-fated nuptials at his family’s home. Executive produced by the Duffer Brothers, the show is generating buzz as their first project since Stranger Things.

Birney plays Portia, Morrone’s sister-in-law-from-hell. “Portia really does feel like she’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She’s like a little doll that’s about to crack,” says the actor. “It was a dream part for me in every way because I love playing that kind of unhinged energy.” While filming was intense, given the sinister subject matter, it was also unexpectedly joyful, Birney recalls. “It was just the family for the majority of shooting and we got really tight.” When they weren’t working, the cast relaxed by going to escape rooms. “Adam [DiMarco] takes escape rooms <so> seriously – and I’m terrible at them,” she laughs. “It’s really what happens when you’re filming… you become like a literal family.”

Her career has unfolded steadily across television and theater, with roles in The Mist, Dickinson and Shining Vale. Last year’s Black Rabbit, alongside Jude Law and Jason Bateman, marked another shift: working alongside established stars in a high-profile production, an experience she describes as “intimidating” but “very fancy”. On-stage, she made her Broadway debut in 2023 and returns to theater this spring in New York, leading the cast of Seagull: True Story.

Although it may feel like a homecoming (Birney’s parents are both theater actors), her sights are firmly set on new creative challenges. “I would really like to do something more physical. I’ve got a whole weight-training routine, and I’m like, oh, it’d be great to train for a role.” She is also exploring work behind the camera, having recently executive produced indie film Old Soul. “I don’t think I have the balls to be a director yet, but I know all these incredible women that are stepping into that role,” she says. “I just don’t want to limit myself.”

“Horror taps into the fact that being alive is actually horrifying,” says filmmaker Nia DaCosta.

In the years since her 2018 debut Little Woods – a devastating modern-noir starring Tessa Thompson and Lily James – DaCosta has become known for her boundary-pushing work. Broadly, her films are a subversive probe at the status quo. “I’m trying to grapple with the world right now. I’m so interested in the strictures and structures of society,” she says. “’'m not necessarily making movies about people changing society; I make movies that are about inspecting society.”

Her experience in this area is permeating through Hollywood’s own elite. It was DaCosta who Hollywood heavyweight Jordan Peele called on to helm his sequel to the classic horror film Candyman, in 2021. Cult director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) and his longtime collaborator Alex Garland (The Beach) asked her to direct this year’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.

In an era of franchise fatigue, DaCosta has done the unthinkable with Bone Temple. So much more than just a post-apocalyptic slasher; it’s a blistering look at a society unraveling at the hands of malevolent leaders. The cast is stellar: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell and newcomers Erin Kellyman and Alfie Williams. There is even a cameo from original cast member Cillian Murphy.

While pushing sensibilities with her art, on set, she favors a gentler approach. “I don’t cast assholes,” DaCosta says. “It really brings the vibe down. It’s just not healthy. And I don’t really like being in unhealthy work environments. Making sure that everyone feels safe enough – emotionally, mentally, physically – to give all of themselves to what we’re doing… those are the things I prioritize.”

DaCosta has many ‘firsts’ to her name. Candyman made her the first Black female director to have a number-one opening weekend. She also became the youngest director ever and first Black woman to helm a Marvel film (The Marvels, 2023). She is more interested in what comes next, though. In the pipeline is a musical version of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, as well as a handful of high-profile TV projects.

As for her proudest moment to date? “Hearing the audience laugh and scream in all the right places at the premieres,” she says, “As a filmmaker, that to me equals feeling seen.”