Sundance 2019: Trending Names

1. Awkwafina

Nora Lum, known professionally as Awkwafina, is an American actress and rapper. She has played supporting roles in the comedy films Ocean's 8 and Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and her leading role in the comedy-drama The Farewell (2019) earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress nomination.

She ...

2. Tzi Ma

Actor | Rush Hour

For over four decades, Tzi Ma (pronounced "TIE MA") has blazed new trails for the representation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in Hollywood with a groundbreaking career that encompasses virtually every genre across film, television and theater.

From big budget blockbusters like ...

3. Lulu Wang

Director | The Farewell

Lulu Wang was born on February 25, 1983 in Beijing, China. She is a director and writer, known for The Farewell (2019), Touch (2015) and Family Meal.

4. Chinonye Chukwu

Producer | Till

Chinonye Chukwu was born on May 19, 1985 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. She is a director and writer, known for Till (2022), Clemency (2019) and A Long Walk (2013).

5. Vernee Watson

Actress | Christmas with the Kranks

Vernee Watson was born on September 28, 1949 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Christmas with the Kranks (2004), The Kid (2000) and General Hospital (1963). She was previously married to Van Johnson and Joe Duckett.

6. Danielle Brooks

Actress | Peacemaker

Danielle Brooks was born on September 17, 1989 in Augusta, Georgia, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Peacemaker (2022), Orange Is the New Black (2013) and Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia (2021). She has been married to Dennis Gelin since January 13, 2022. They have one child.

7. Richard Schiff

Actor | Man of Steel

Richard was born in Bethesda, Maryland, the middle of three sons of Edward, a real estate lawyer, and Charlotte, a cable TV and publishing executive. His parents divorced when he was 12. He dropped out of high school and switched to night school because he could finish sooner with less work. He ...

8. Wendell Pierce

Actor | The Wire

Wendell Edward Pierce is an American actor and businessman. He is known for roles in HBO dramas such as Detective Bunk Moreland in The Wire and trombonist Antoine Batiste in Treme; as well as portraying James Greer in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, high-powered attorney Robert Zane in Suits, and Michael ...

9. Aldis Hodge

Actor | Black Adam

Aldis Hodge is a SAG Award-winning actor, who has built a dynamic career as a versatile performer shining in roles in both film and television. Hodge is perhaps best known for his role as Noah in the WGN hit series Underground (2016), starring alongside Jurnee Smollett and Christopher Meloni. ...

10. Alfre Woodard

Actress | Star Trek: First Contact

Alfre Woodard was born on November 8, 1952 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the youngest of three children of Constance, a homemaker, and Marion H. Woodard, an interior designer. She was named by her godmother, who claimed she saw a vision of Alfre's name written out in gold letters. A former high school ...

11. Jillian Bell

Actress | 22 Jump Street

Jillian Bell was raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. She began studying improv at the age of eight. She graduated from Bishop Gorman High School in 2002, and then moved to Los Angeles, where she became a member of the Groundlings. She auditioned for Saturday Night Live, and though she did not join the ...

12. Lil Rel Howery

Actor | Vacation Friends 2

Comedian, actor, writer, and producer Lil Rel Howery is a movie star. His role as TSA agent Rod Williams in the Oscar-winning instant classic Get Out (2017), written and directed by Jordan Peele ushered Howery into superstar status. His keen ability to mesh humor and honor resonated so deeply with ...

13. Michaela Watkins

Actress | Wanderlust

Michaela is currently a main company member of The Groundlings in Los Angeles.

Before moving to Los Angeles, Michaela pursued a life in regional theater.

She received her BFA from Boston University School For the Arts.

Her father is a math professor at Syracuse University, and her mother teaches Latin...

14. Kate Arrington

Actress | Billions

Kate is a Steppenwolf Ensemble member best known for her work onstage, especially with Steppenwolf in Chicago. She has performed on Broadway in Grace with Paul Rudd, Ed Asner, and Michael Shannon and Our Mother's Brief Affair with Linda Lavin. She is married to actor Michael Shannon with whom she ...

15. Oona Laurence

Actress | The Beguiled

Oona Laurence (born August 1, 2002) is an American actress who is best known for originating the role of Matilda Wormwood in Matilda on Broadway alongside Bailey Ryon, Milly Shapiro, and Sophia Gennusa. She is a New York City-based child actress with credits in film, theatre, and television.

After ...

16. Pete Davidson

Actor | The King of Staten Island

Pete Davidson is an American comedian and actor who is a featured player on Saturday Night Live (1975), as of September 2014. He was raised on Staten Island, New York, and is the son of Amy (Waters) and Scott Matthew Davidson. Pete's father, a firefighter, died during the 9/11 attacks.

Davidson ...

17. Sydney Sweeney

Actress | Euphoria

Sydney Sweeney (born September 12, 1997) is an American actress best known for her roles as Haley Caren on In the Vault (2017) and Emaline Addario on the Netflix series Everything Sucks! (2018). Sweeney is set to star in recurring roles in the HBO miniseries Sharp Objects (2018) starring Amy Adams ...

18. Jason Orley

Actor | The Intern

Jason Orley is known for The Intern (2015), Big Time Adolescence (2019) and I Want You Back (2022).

19. Jon Cryer

Actor | Two and a Half Men

Jonathan Niven Cryer is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. Born into a show business family, he made his motion picture debut as a teenager photographer in the 1984 romantic comedy No Small Affair; his breakout role came in 1986, in the John Hughes-written film Pretty in Pink. In 1998, he ...

20. Colson Baker

Actor | The Dirt

Colson Baker was born on April 22, 1990 in Houston, Texas, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for The Dirt (2019), Good Mourning (2022) and Project Power (2020).

21. Hannah Pearl Utt

Director | Cora Bora

Hannah Pearl Utt is known for Cora Bora (2023), Before You Know It (2019) and Disengaged (2016).

22. Mike Colter

Actor | Luke Cage

Mike was born to Mr. & Mrs. Eddie Lee Colter Sr. He attended Benedict College where he was mentored and groomed his drama professor Scott Blanks. After transferring to the University of South Carolina where he attained a B.A. degree in theater, Mike went on to study at Mason Gross School of the ...

23. Judith Light

Actress | Who's the Boss?

Tony Award and Emmy Award winner Judith Light made her professional stage debut in 1970 and made her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of A Doll's House starring Liv Ullmann and Sam Waterston. She made her television breakthrough in the daytime soap opera One Life to Live (1968). She assumed the ...

24. Alec Baldwin

Actor | The Departed

Alec Baldwin is the oldest, and best-known, of the four Baldwin brothers in the acting business (the others are Stephen Baldwin, William Baldwin and Daniel Baldwin). Alexander Rae Baldwin III was born on April 3, 1958 in Massapequa, New York, the son of Carol Newcomb (Martineau) and Alexander Rae ...

25. Mandy Patinkin

Actor | Homeland

Mandy Patinkin was born Mandel Bruce Patinkin in Chicago, Illinois, to Doris "Doralee" (Sinton), a homemaker and cookbook writer, and Lester Patinkin, who operated two scrap metal plants. He is of Russian Jewish and Latvian Jewish descent. Growing up, he began singing in synagogue choirs at the age...

26. Kevin Smith

Producer | Clerks

Kevin Patrick Smith was born in Red Bank but grew up in Highlands, New Jersey, the son of Grace (Schultz) and Donald E. Smith, a postal worker. He is very proud of his native state; this fact can be seen in all of his movies. Kevin is of mostly German, with some Irish and English, ancestry.

His ...

27. Naomi Watts

Actress | Mulholland Dr.

Naomi Ellen Watts was born on September 28, 1968 in Shoreham, England to Myfanwy Edwards "Miv" (Roberts), an antiques dealer and costume/set designer, and Peter Watts (Peter Anthony Watts), Pink Floyd's road manager. Her maternal grandfather was Welsh. Her father died when she was seven and she ...

28. Octavia Spencer

Actress | Hidden Figures

Spencer is a native of Montgomery, Alabama, which she claims is the proverbial buckle of the Bible belt. She's the sixth of seven siblings and holds a BS in Liberal Arts from Auburn University. A "closet" lover of acting, this practical Alabamian knew that she'd someday work in the film industry, ...

29. Tim Roth

Actor | Rob Roy

Often mistaken for an American because of his skill at imitating accents, actor Tim Roth was born Timothy Simon Roth on May 14, 1961 in Lambeth, London, England. His mother, Ann, was a teacher and landscape painter. His father, Ernie, was a journalist who had changed the family name from "Smith" to ...

30. Kelvin Harrison Jr.

Actor | Luce

Kelvin Harrison Jr. was born on July 23, 1994 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Luce (2019), Monsters and Men (2018) and It Comes at Night (2017).

31. Julius Onah

Director | Luce

Julius Onah is a Nigerian-American filmmaker and occasional actor. Onah was born in Makurdi, Benue State in Nigeria. He was raised in the Philippines, Nigeria, Togo and the United Kingdom before moving to Arlington County, Virginia with his diplomat father, Adoga Onah. Onah graduated from ...

32. Thora Birch

Actress | Ghost World

For some people, oatmeal starts the day off right - for Thora Birch, it launched a healthy career in front of the camera. It's hard to believe that the actress, who slunk into stardom with her turn as the disillusioned daughter in American Beauty (1999), is even related to the apple-cheeked blonde ...

33. Finn Wittrock

Actor | American Horror Story

Finn Wittrock was born in Lenox, Massachusetts. Finn grew up near the stage of Shakespeare and Company, where his father worked. He moved to Los Angeles at 12 years old and attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA). After high school he took a year off and pounded the ...

34. Danny Glover

Actor | Lethal Weapon

Actor, producer and humanitarian Danny Glover has been a commanding presence on screen, stage and television for more than 35 years.

Glover was born in San Francisco, California, to Carrie (Hunley) and James Glover, postal workers who were also active in civil rights. Glover trained at the Black ...

35. Jonathan Majors

Actor | The Harder They Fall

Jonathan graduated from the Yale School of Drama with an MFA in acting. Jonathan is a recipient of the National Society of Arts and Letters (NSAL) National Drama Competition. Jonathan made his screen debut starring in the ABC miniseries "When We Rise" and has since landed strong roles, cementing ...

36. Rob Morgan

Actor | Mudbound

Rob Morgan was born on February 24, 1973 in New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina, USA. He is an actor, known for Mudbound (2017), Don't Look Up (2021) and Bull (2019).

37. Tichina Arnold

Actress | Little Shop of Horrors

Tichina Arnold was born on June 28, 1969 in Queens, New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Everybody Hates Chris (2005) and Martin (1992). She was previously married to Rico Hines and Lamon Brewster.

38. Mike Epps

Actor | Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Mike Epps was born on November 18, 1970 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Friday After Next (2002) and The Hangover (2009). He has been married to Kyra Robinson Epps since June 23, 2019. They have two children. He was previously ...

39. Wendi McLendon-Covey

Actress | Bridesmaids

Actor, comedian and producer Wendi McLendon-Covey has been captivating audiences throughout her career.

Recently wrapping her 10-season run on "The Goldbergs" on ABC (for which she earned two Critic's Choice nominations), Wendi is jumping straight into another series. "St. Denis Medical" is a new ...

40. Shia LaBeouf

Actor | Honey Boy

Shia LaBeouf's natural talent and raw energy have secured his place as one of Hollywood's leading men.

Most recently, LaBeouf starred alongside Vanessa Kirby and Ellen Burstyn in Kornel Mundruczo's Oscar® nominated Pieces of a Woman. In the critically acclaimed film, a grieving couple (Kirby/LaBeouf...

41. Lucas Hedges

Actor | Manchester by the Sea

Lucas Hedges is an American actor, known for playing Patrick Chandler in Manchester by the Sea (2016), which earned him an Academy Award nomination.

Hedges was born in Brooklyn Heights, New York, the second child of poet and actress Susan Bruce and Oscar-nominated screenwriter and director Peter ...

42. Maika Monroe

Actress | It Follows

Santa Barbara-born Maika Monroe's initial desire was to pursue a career in professional freestyle kiteboarding (kite surfer). Following in her father's footsteps, she started the sport at the age of 13. She moved to the Dominican Republic's north coast of Cabarete in her senior year of high school ...

43. Natasha Lyonne

Actress | Orange Is the New Black

Natasha Lyonne is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated producer, actor, writer, and director.

Lyonne co-created Netflix series Russian Doll (2019), which received three Emmy awards, a total of 13 Emmy nominations including Comedy Series and Lead Actress for Lyonne, a Gotham Award nomination, and a ...

44. Martin Starr

Actor | Adventureland

Martin Starr was born on July 30, 1982 in Santa Monica, California, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Adventureland (2009), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Knocked Up (2007).

45. Jack Kilmer

Actor | The Nice Guys

Jack Kilmer is an American actor who rose to prominence with his portrayal of 'Teddy' in the 2013 film 'Palo Alto,' which marked the beginning of his career as an actor. Although he was born to actor parents, Jack never intended to become an actor. He initially had an interest in music and might ...

46. Geraldine Viswanathan

Actress | Blockers

Geraldine is an Australian multi-hyphenate who recently wrapped the co-lead alongside Margaret Qualley in Ethan Coen's DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS for Working Title and Focus Features. She wrapped the Apple feature THE BEANIE BUBBLE with Zach Galifianakis, Sarah Snook, and Elizabeth Banks as well as Susanna ...

47. Jake Gyllenhaal

Actor | Nightcrawler

Jake Gyllenhaal was born on December 19, 1980 in Los Angeles, California as Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal, the son of producer/screenwriter Naomi Foner and director Stephen Gyllenhaal, and the younger brother of actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. He is of Ashkenazi Jewish (mother) and Swedish, English, and ...

48. Toni Collette

Actress | The Sixth Sense

Toni Collette is an Academy Award-nominated Australian actress, best known for her roles in The Sixth Sense (1999) and Little Miss Sunshine (2006).

Collette was born Toni Collett (she later added an "e") on November 1, 1972, in Blacktown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She is the first of three...

49. John Malkovich

Actor | Being John Malkovich

John Gavin Malkovich was born in Christopher, Illinois, to Joe Anne (Choisser), who owned a local newspaper, and Daniel Leon Malkovich, a state conservation director. His paternal grandparents were Croatian. In 1976, Malkovich joined Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, newly founded by his friend Gary ...

50. Billy Magnussen

Actor | Game Night

William Gregory Magnussen is an American actor. He has been featured in the films Into the Woods (2014), Birth of the Dragon (2016), Game Night (2018), and Aladdin (2019), and has had supporting television roles in Get Shorty (2017) and Maniac (2018). In 2021, Magnussen starred in the sci-fi series...

51. Natalia Dyer

Actress | Stranger Things

Natalia Dyer is an American actress known primarily for her role as Nancy Wheeler in the Netflix science-fiction drama series Stranger Things (2016). Her career began around the age of 12 in 2009 in the family comedic drama Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009), starring Miley Cyrus. It was not until ...

52. Daveed Diggs

Actor | Hamilton

Daveed Daniele Diggs is an actor, singer, producer, writer and rapper. He is the vocalist of the experimental hip hop group Clipping. Diggs originated the role of, and won a Grammy and Tony for, the Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson in the 2015 musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

53. Rene Russo

Actress | Nightcrawler

Rene Russo was born in Burbank, California, to Shirley (Balocca), a barmaid and factory laborer, and Nino Russo. Her father, a sculptor and mechanic, left the family when Rene was just two, and thus her mother raised Rene and her sister, Toni, as a single mom. Her father was of Italian descent, and ...

54. Mckenna Grace

Actress | Gifted

Mckenna Grace is an American actress and singer from Grapevine, Texas who is known for playing Phoebe Spengler from Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Jasmine from Crash & Bernstein, Faith Newman from The Young and the Restless and Mary Adler from Gifted. She also acted in I, Tonya, Amityville: The Awakening...

55. Viola Davis

Actress | Fences

Viola Davis is a critically revered actress of film, television, and theater and has won rave reviews for her multitude of substantial and intriguingly diverse roles. Audiences across the United States and internationally have admired her for her work- including her celebrated, Oscar-nominated ...

56. Allison Janney

Actress | The Help

Allison Janney is an award-winning actress who has earned a solid reputation in stage productions and in many supporting roles on screen, and who more recently has become prominent by portraying one of the major characters in the popular TV series The West Wing (1999).

Entertainment Weekly magazine ...

57. Jim Gaffigan

Actor | Chappaquiddick

Jim Gaffigan is a six-time Grammy nominated comedian, actor, writer, producer, two-time New York Times best-selling author, three-time Emmy winning top touring performer, and multi-platinum-selling recording artist. He is known around the world for his unique brand of humor, which largely revolves ...

58. Malin Akerman

Actress | Watchmen

Malin was born in Stockholm, Sweden and raised in Toronto, Canada. Her mother, Pia (Sundström), is a model and aerobics instructor, and her father, Magnus Åkerman, is an insurance broker. They moved to Toronto when she was age 2. At age 5, she began appearing in TV commercials. Her parents divorced...

59. Shea Whigham

Actor | Take Shelter

Born in Florida, educated at the State University of New York-Purchase, and coming from the NYC based theatre scene, Shea Whigham's big break came when director Joel Schumacher cast him opposite Colin Farrell in Tigerland (2000). He has worked opposite Robert DeNiro, Anthony Hopkins, Christian Bale...

60. Liana Liberato

Actress | If I Stay

Liana Liberato is an actress born in Galveston, Texas. She's been working professionally since she was 9 years old. Most notably known for her roles in Trust, Best of Me, If I Stay, and To the Bone. At 14 she won the Silver Hugo Award Best Actress at the Chicago International Film Festival for her ...

61. Tony Hale

Actor | Arrested Development

Tony Hale was born on September 30, 1970 in West Point, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Arrested Development (2003), Veep (2012) and Toy Story 4 (2019). He has been married to Martel Thompson Hale since May 24, 2003. They have one child.

62. Adelaide Clemens

Actress | Rectify

Born and raised in Brisbane, Australia. Daughter of a British father. Adelaide Clemens began working as an actress on Australian television while in high school. She guest-starred in a 2006 episode of Blue Water High (2005) as Juliet, and in 2007, she starred in the children's series Pirate Islands...

63. Rashida Jones

Actress | Parks and Recreation

Rashida Jones was born in Los Angeles, California, the younger daughter of media mogul, producer, and musician Quincy Jones and actress Peggy Lipton. She has an older sister, Kidada Jones, and five half-siblings by her father's other relationships. Her father is African-American and her mother is ...

64. Peter Sarsgaard

Actor | Shattered Glass

Boyish-looking Peter Sarsgaard was born on March 7, 1971, at Scott Air Force Base, in Bellville, Illinois, to Judy Lea (Reinhardt) and John Dale Sarsgaard, an engineer who worked for the Air Force and later Monsanto and IBM. He is a graduate of St. Louis' Washington University, where he majored in ...

65. Tony Revolori

Actor | The Grand Budapest Hotel

Tony Revolori was born Anthony Quinonez in Anaheim, California, and is the younger brother of actor Mario Revolori. He began acting when he was 2 years old. He is known for playing Zero Moustafa in Wes Anderson's critically acclaimed film The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). Revolori also played Flash ...

66. Sanya Malhotra

Actress | Ludo

Sanya Malhotra was born on February 25, 1992 in Delhi. She is an Indian actress and a trained contemporary and ballet dancer. She is recognized for her noteworthy debut as Babita Kumari in a sports biopic film 'Dangal (2016)' starring alongside Aamir Khan and Fatima Sana Shaikh which ranks among ...

67. Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Actor | Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Nawazuddin Siddiqui (born 1974) is an Indian film actor who has appeared in some of Bollywood's major films including, Black Friday (2004), New York (2009), Peepli Live (2010), Kahani (2012), Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) and Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 2 (2012).

Early life and education

Nawazuddin ...

68. Tye Sheridan

Actor | Mud

Tye Sheridan was born on November 11, 1996 in Palestine, Texas as Tye Kayle Sheridan. Having been named 1 of Variety's 10 Actors to Watch, he has emerged as 1 of Hollywood's most sought after young talents. He has been seen in Ready Player One (2018) as the lead character Wade Watts. He also ...

69. Jeff Goldblum

Actor | Jurassic Park

Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum was born October 22, 1952 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of four children of Shirley (Temeles), a radio broadcaster who also ran an appliances firm, and Harold L. Goldblum, a doctor. His father was of Russian Jewish descent and his mother was of Austrian Jewish ancestry.

...

70. Eiza González

Actress | Baby Driver

Eiza González Reyna is a Mexican actress and singer. She was born on January 30, 1990 in Mexico City, Mexico, to Carlos González and Glenda Reyna. Her mother is a yesteryear Mexican model. She has one elder brother, Yulen. She lost her father in a motorcycle accident when she was just 12. Later in ...

71. Danielle Macdonald

Actress | Patti Cake$

Danielle Macdonald was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. At the age of 18, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting full-time.

Audiences know Danielle for her breakout role as 'Patti' in Fox Searchlight's Patti Cake$ as well as the title character opposite Jennifer Aniston in Dumplin'. ...

72. Emma Roberts

Actress | We're the Millers

Emma Roberts was born in Rhinebeck, New York. She was a baby when her parents separated, and she grew up living with her mother, Kelly Cunningham. She was educated at Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles, California.

Emma is the daughter of Oscar-nominated actor Eric Roberts, and the niece of ...

73. Milla Jovovich

Actress | Le Cinquième Élément

Milla Jovovich is a Ukrainian-American actress, supermodel, fashion designer, singer and public figure, who was on the cover of more than a hundred magazines, and starred in such films as The Fifth Element (1997), Ultraviolet (2006), and the Resident Evil (2002) franchise.

Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich...

74. Jeremy Irvine

Actor | War Horse

Jeremy Irvine is an English stage and screen actor. He was born Jeremy William Fredric Smith in Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire, England. He attended one year of drama school at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before catching Hollywood's eye starring in Steven Spielberg's 2011 epic war film ...

75. Mark Duplass

Actor | Safety Not Guaranteed

Mark Duplass was born on December 7, 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Safety Not Guaranteed (2012), Creep (2014) and The One I Love (2014). He has been married to Katie Aselton since August 26, 2006. They have two children.

76. Ray Romano

Actor | Everybody Loves Raymond

Ray Romano grew up in Forest Hills, Queens. He performed in the NYC comedy club circuit before landing a guest spot on The Letterman Show. It was here that he propelled his TV show Everybody Loves Raymond.

He was also the voice of the Mammoth in the extremely successful Ice Age Series Movies.

He is ...

77. Aisling Franciosi

Actress | The Nightingale

Aisling Franciosi is an Irish-Italian actress known for "The Fall" (2013), "Game of Thrones" (2011), and "The Nightingale" (2018). She was born in Dublin in 1993, moved with her family to Italy soon after, and returned to Ireland four years later with her mother. She attended acting classes as a ...

78. Baykali Ganambarr

Actor | The Nightingale

Baykali Ganambarr was born on August 30, 1993 in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. He is an actor, known for The Nightingale (2018), The Furnace (2020) and The Royal Hotel (2023).

79. Emma Thompson

Actress | Sense and Sensibility

Emma Thompson was born on April 15, 1959 in Paddington, London, into a family of actors - father Eric Thompson and mother Phyllida Law, who has co-starred with Thompson in several films. Her sister, Sophie Thompson, is an actor as well. Her father was English-born and her mother is Scottish-born. ...

80. Mindy Kaling

Actress | The Office

Vera Mindy Chokalingam is an Indian-American actress, comedienne, producer, writer and director from Cambridge, Massachusetts known for playing Kelly Kapoor from The Office, Disgust from Inside Out and creating The Mindy Project. She also acted in Wreck-It Ralph, Despicable Me, The 40-Year-Old ...

81. Amy Ryan

Actress | Gone Baby Gone

Amy Ryan was born on May 3, 1968 in Queens, New York City, New York, USA as Amy Beth Dziewiontkowski. She is an actress, known for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), Gone Baby Gone (2007) and Escape Plan (2013). She has been married to Eric Slovin since August 23, 2011. They ...

82. Megalyn Echikunwoke

Actress | Night School

Ebubennem Megalyn Ann Echikunwoke was born May 28, in Spokane, Washington. Her father was Nigerian and her mother is of English and Scots-Irish descent. Her last name, "Echikunwoke", means "leader of men" and Megalyn is the granddaughter of a Nigerian tribal leader of the Igbo, which technically ...

83. Max Casella

Actor | Tulsa King

Max Casella was born in Washington D.C. to David Deitch, a fiercely political journalist and second-generation Jewish immigrant to The Bronx, and Doris Casella, a social worker and activist from Long Island and daughter of Italian fashion designer John Casella.

His father's writing for The Boston ...

84. John Lithgow

Actor | The World According to Garp

If "born to the theater" has meaning in determining a person's life path, then John Lithgow is a prime example of this truth. He was born in Rochester, New York, to Sarah Jane (Price), an actress, and Arthur Washington Lithgow III, who was both a theatrical producer and director. John's father was ...

85. Hugh Dancy

Actor | Hannibal

Talented British actor Hugh Dancy is one of the UK's most noted young talents.

Hugh Michael Horace Dancy was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, to Sarah Ann (Birley), who works in academic publishing, and Jonathan Peter Dancy, a philosophy professor and writer. He has a brother, Jack (b...

86. Lupita Nyong'o

Actress | 12 Years a Slave

Lupita Amondi Nyong'o was born March 1, 1983 in Mexico City, Mexico, to Kenyan parents, Dorothy Ogada Buyu and Peter Anyang' Nyong'o. Her father, a senator, was then a visiting lecturer in political science. She was raised in Kenya. At age 16, her parents sent her back to Mexico for seven months to...

87. Josh Gad

Actor | Frozen

Josh Gad is an American actor and singer who is well-known for voicing Olaf the Snowman in Disney's Frozen franchise. He was also in Beauty and the Beast as LeFou, Ghostbusters: Afterlife as Muncher, The Wedding Ringer, Ice Age: Continental Drift, Pixels, The Internship, The Rocker, 21 and The ...

88. Alexander England

Actor | Alien: Covenant

Alexander England is known for Alien: Covenant (2017), Gods of Egypt (2016) and Paper Giants: Magazine Wars (2013).

89. Zac Efron

Actor | High School Musical 3: Senior Year

Zachary David Alexander Efron was born October 18, 1987 in San Luis Obispo, California, to Starla Baskett, a secretary, and David Efron, an electrical engineer. He has a younger brother, Dylan. The surname "Efron", which is Hebrew and a Biblical place name, comes from Zac's Polish Jewish paternal ...

90. Lily Collins

Actress | The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Lily Jane Collins was born in Guildford, Surrey, England. Her father is English musician Phil Collins, while her mother, Jill Tavelman, who is from Los Angeles, California, was president of the Beverly Hills Women's Club for three terms. Lily moved with her mother to LA at the age of five, after ...

91. Haley Joel Osment

Actor | The Sixth Sense

Haley Joel Osment is an American actor who has proven himself as one of the best young actors of his generation. He is the first millennial male to have received an Academy Award nomination for acting.

Osment was born in Los Angeles, California, to Theresa (Seifert), a teacher, and actor Eugene ...

92. Kaya Scodelario

Actress | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Kaya Rose Scodelario was born in Haywards Heath, Sussex, England, to Katia (Scodelario) and Roger Humphrey. Her father was English and her mother is Brazilian, of Italian and Portuguese descent. Her surname comes from her mother's Italian grandfather. Thanks to her mother, Kaya grew up fluent in ...

93. Jim Parsons

Actor | The Big Bang Theory

Having grown up in Houston, and its northern suburb of Spring, he made his first stage appearance in a school play at the age of 6. Parsons then went on to study theater at the University of Houston. From there he won a place on a two-year Masters course in classical theater at the University of ...

94. Angela Sarafyan

Actress | The Immigrant

Angela Sarafyan is an Armenian American actress. She has appeared as a guest-star in several television series such as Judging Amy (1999) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997).

Sarafyan has acted in the feature films: On the Doll (2007), Kabluey (2007), The Informers (2008), A Beautiful Life (2008), ...

95. Jeffrey Donovan

Actor | Burn Notice

Jeffrey Donovan was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts, son to single mother Nancy Matthews. Nancy raised him and two of his brothers, while having trouble financially supporting herself and her family. They were reportedly living on welfare, had trouble paying electric bills, and often moved to a new...

96. Noma Dumezweni

Actress | The Little Mermaid

Noma Dumezweni was born on July 28, 1969 in Swaziland. She is an actress, known for The Little Mermaid (2023), Mary Poppins Returns (2018) and Dirty Pretty Things (2002).

97. Chiwetel Ejiofor

Actor | 12 Years a Slave

English actor, writer and director Chiwetel Ejiofor is renowned for his portrayal of Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave (2013), for which he received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations, along with the BAFTA Award for Best Actor. He is also known for playing Okwe in Dirty Pretty Things...

98. Joseph Marcell

Actor | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Joseph Marcell was born on August 14, 1948 in St. Lucia, Caribbean. He is an actor and director, known for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990), The Exorcism of God (2021) and The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019). He has been married to Joyce T. Walsh since June 1995. They have one child. He was ...

99. Aïssa Maïga

Actress | Les poupées russes

Aïssa Maïga is a Senegalsese actress working in France. She was born in Dakar, Senegal, in 1975 to a Senegalese-Gambian mother and Malian father, an acclaimed journalist. She moved with her family to France when she was 4. She discovered her vocation as an actress in middle school, and won various ...

100. Gurinder Chadha

Writer | Bend It Like Beckham

Gurinder Chadha was born in Kenya, and grew up in Southall, London, England. She began her career as a news reporter with BBC Radio, directed several award winning documentaries for the BBC, and began an alliance with the British Film Institute (BFI) and Channel Four. In 2001, Chadha set up her own...