Which actors will breakout in 2023?

Newton has done some notable stuff, such as starring in the cult horror comedy Freaky and being a non-famous actress in Big Little Lies. However, 2023 is going to be a massive leap for Newton. They recast Scott Lang’s daughter Cassie for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania for a reason. Newton is about to hit the MCU in a major way.

Will Evil Dead Rise be a big success? Well, the original trilogy is adored, and this film seems likely to hit a bit more than the reboot from a few years ago. Sutherland, who you may know from Vikings, is starring in Evil Dead Rise, and being the face of a successful horror film can do a lot for your career.

Funnily enough, Fortson was the original Cassie Lang. However, she’s exchanged a tertiary role for a leading one. Fortson will be playing the titular character in an adaptation of Judy Blume’s iconic YA novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. She’s Margaret, for the record, not God.

If you know Broadway, you may know Feldman, but not everybody is attuned to that realm. We assume you know Jennifer Lawrence, though. Well, Feldman is her costar in her new movie No Hard Feelings. This will likely attract a lot of new eyes to the actor, and if the movie is a hit, it could be a breakthrough on the screen for those unfamiliar with the stage.

Ashton has never really done anything populist before, but that’s about to change. The Marvels brings together some notable MCU characters, including Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel. However, somebody has to be the villain, and that’s where Ashton steps in.

Mariduena has had some success in TV, such as on Parenthood and Cobra Kai, but he’s about to make his film debut. Oh, and he’s playing Blue Beetle. Blue Beetle is not the biggest DC character, but Mariduena is starring as a superhero in a movie from DC. That’s definitely grounds for a breakout performance.

If you conflate Poulter with Nicholas Hoult, you might think he’s already broken through. However, Poulter is a young actor who is probably still best remembered as “the kid from We’re the Millers." Now, he will be playing Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. No disrespect to The Maze Runner: The Death Cure, but this will bring a lot of new attention to Poulter.

So far, we’ve relied on one big opportunity for all these actors. This time, Reid has a few bites at the apple. She is a scene-stealer as Zendaya's younger sister in Euphoria. She's starred in 2018's A Wrinkle In Time and, more recently, a couple of episodes of The Last of Us, and she’s going to be in a movie called Missing. However, she’s also costarring in The Nun 2, and that whole Conjuring universe is a proven hit machine.

Did you know a new Hunger Games movie is coming out? Indeed, the prequel book The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is being turned into a film. In that movie, Blyth is playing a young Coriolanus Snow. The original series of films made stars. Maybe Songbirds and Snakes will as well.

Will the reboot of Night Court work? Maybe, maybe not. The original show was a hit and won John Larroquette a few Emmys. Talwalkar is playing Neil in the new series, and if the reboot of Night Court is more, say, The Conners than Murphy Brown, it could help mint a couple of sitcom staples.

AMC’s adaptation of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire has gone swimmingly, which is encouraging in terms of Mayfair Witches , another Rice adaptation. Among the main and recurring cast, Chirisa’s name is the least well-known for the most part. The Zimbabwean actor has a chance to lock down a role on a hit AMC series, and look what that has done for actors like Aaron Paul and Rhea Seehorn in the past.

We mentioned The Last of Us. That video game was huge. The HBO adaptation is massively hyped. It’s going to be a thing when it drops. Ramsey is playing Ellie, one of the lead roles. If this isn’t a breakthrough role, we’ll be genuinely surprised.

Howey is playing the role of Harry in the TV adaptation of True Lies . You know, the role played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the hit James Cameron film? The series is a CBS joint, so there is a good chance it will air for a long time. Maybe you never watch it. Maybe the only people you know who watch it are your parents. You think Mark Harmon cares about that? Or that Queen Latifah is bummed cashing those Equalizer checks? Howey might be about to star in a hit TV show for a decade — a situation he's used to after his runs on Reba (2001-07) and Shameless (2011-21). 

The CW and DC properties have a long history of success. Now, they try their hand with Gotham Knights. The show is centered on Bruce Wayne’s adopted son joining forces with Batman’s enemies to figure out who killed Wayne. Morgan is playing Turner Hayes, said the adopted son. This is a juicy premise, so the possibilities intrigue, to be sure.

The cult of Ahsoka Tano is already strong, and now the Jedi warrior is getting her own show on Disney+. Also, she’s played by Rosario Dawson. Under Ahsoka’s umbrella, the biggest secondary character in the past has been Ezra Bridger. Esfandi is playing Bridger.

We feel like we’ve been waiting for Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai for half a decade. Maybe that isn’t a good sign. We don’t care. This animated prequel seems fun on the surface, and we’re excited for it to finally hit HBO Max. Wang is voicing the lead character Sam Wing. Sam gets to hang with Gizmo in 1920s Shanghai, no less, which sounds cool to us.

Kal-El Tuck is playing a kid named Kevin in the TV adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits. If you know the movie, you know Kevin is effectively going to be the lead. His name will also make this child actor a little easier to remember.

Disney+ is bringing us an — get this — original story in 2023. American Born Chinese is an action-comedy we’re hyped for partially because Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan are in it, and they were great together in Everything Everywhere All At Once. That being said, Wang is the lead of the show, and unlike the living icon Yeoh, he has a chance to break through.

Ben-Adir has some role in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie, which we are intrigued by, but that’s not why he’s here. It's because he’s playing Gravik in the limited series Secret Invasion. Look, we don’t love how much of this list is people in comic book stuff, but that’s the modern entertainment landscape. It would be disingenuous not to acknowledge superhero movies and TV shows as the number-one source of potential breakthrough roles.

If you watch Shakespeare on Broadway or American Horror Story, you may know Rabe. However, for everybody else, 2023 could be a big-time introduction. Love and Death is an HBO limited series that has the potential to hit the zeitgeist. It stars Elizabeth Olsen and Jesse Plemons about an actual murder. True crime and beloved actors? Yeah, we think Love and Death will be a hit. Rabe plays Betty Gore, who is – spoiler alert, maybe? – the murder victim in the story.