Here at BNH we believe that all actresses are created equal, some just had a better 2013 than others… Case in point these 10 talented ladies who’s dazzling breakthroughs are still the talk of the town.
1. Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years A Slave – When we first meet Kenyan-born Nyong’o’s Patsy in Steve McQueen’s harrowing film, her frail beauty and sparkling eyes hint that perhaps she does not fully grasp the horrors of her situation. Soon however, thanks to the Yale Drama School graduate’s delicately nuanced, incredibly immersive performance, we become privy to a warrior spirit as unconquerable as it is inextinguishable. Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Solomon Northrup may be the film’s horrified conscience, but this talented young starlet is without a doubt, its bleeding heart.
2. Adèle Exarchopoulos – Blue Is The Warmest Color – there are breakthrough performances, and then there are breakthrough performances… As Adèle, the naïve French schoolgirl who’s world is rocked when she falls for an older art student (Lea Séydoux) Excarchopolous doesn’t so much act her part as allow it to inhabit every cell in her body. Sure the sex is graphic, and the controversy with her director, Abdellatif Kechiche, continues, but none of that can touch this intimate masterpiece, a soaring tribute to the agony and ecstasy of first love crowned by Exarchopoulos’s unforgettable performance.
3. Brie Larson – Short Term 12 – At only 24-years-old, Brie Larson has already amassed a resume in this town that would make actresses half her age green with envy. Sure, you might not remember films like 2004’s Sleepover and 2006’s Hoot, but the actress has been working steadily since the 90’s (that’s a long time when you were born after the Reagan Administration) and continues to impress critics and fans alike with her maturity and staggering talent. This year, her performance as Grace – a dedicated counselor at a short term care facility for troubled kids whose own demons remain frighteningly close to the surface- in Deston Cretton’s gut punch of a film, should ensure that young Brie stays in pictures for as long as she likes.
4. Kaitlyn Dever – Short Term 12 – Think Brie Larson’s the only emerging starlet whose performance makes this riveting pic easily one of the best of the year? Think again! Best known as one of Tim Allen’s three daughters on the ABC sitcom Last Man Standing, Devers shakes off any vestige of network posturing to play a severely struggling teen with issues that cut much deeper than mere boy trouble or backstabbing. And don’t expect a pity party here… In Dever’s more than capable hands, Maggie emerges as a bruised live wire; one whose emotional scenes with Larson represent some of the high points of a spectacular film.
5. Ruth Wilson – Saving Mr. Banks – Mary Poppins scribe, P.L. Travers wasn’t the easiest person to get along with. In fact, she could be stubborn, critical, and often cantankerous… just ask Mr. Disney. But she was also fiercely loyal, proudly dedicated to her vision, and believe it or not, quite funny. It’s a testament to the unimaginably talented Emma Thompson that all these qualities emerge in John Lee Hancock’s charming crowd pleaser of a film. But it’s also a tribute to British beauty Wilson, who plays the emotionally scarred mother of the iconic author in brutally poignant flashbacks that provide startling insight into the eventual mind and manners of the one and only Mrs. Travers.
6. Sophie Kennedy Clark – Philomena – Much has been made about Judy Dench’s sure-to-be-Oscar-Nominated starring role as fierce and funny Irish grandmother, Philomena Lee, in Steven Frears’ heartbreaking latest film… And naturally, the Dame doesn’t disappoint. However it’s Kennedy Clark, playing a young Philomena at the moment of the tragedy that will change her life forever, who truly captures the injustice and unimaginable loss that this miraculous woman is able to overcome. It’s a tricky pitch to hit, but the Scottish beauty knocks it right out of the park.
7. Julianne Nicholson – August Osage County– Any film that lists Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep in the opening credits is no doubt going to have a decidedly A-list heft. Throw in Pulitzer Prize-Winning dramatist, Tracy Letts and his sidewinder of a family saga and you know the pressure is on to generate some serious dramatic sparks as well. Yet for the talented Nicholson, it’s the intimacy of stilted expression that truly carves the deepest gash. As middle daughter, Ivy, hers might not be the loudest performance in the cast, but it is certainly the most heart-wrenching.
8. Selena Gomez – Spring Breakers – No, the movie wasn’t great, and neither, to be honest, was Franco’s Vanilla Ice meets Kid Rock creep fest, but Harmony Korrine’s trash-tastic ode to booze and bad babes in neon bikinis did prove one thing: Selena Gomez is a movie star. We always knew that the camera loved her, but who could have guessed that the girl had such a gift for drawing an audience in? In doing so, she creates the only three-dimensional portrait in a film that wholeheartedly sacrifices substance for style.
9. Katie Chang – The Bling Ring – And speaking of substance and style, Sophia Coppola’s gorgeously underrated examination of the notorious exploits of a group of status-obsessed LA teens who were responsible for masterminding one of the biggest crime sprees in Hollywood history has it all: unforgettable fashion montages, pretty young things behaving badly, and even the original Queen of celebussessed culture, Paris Hilton. But it’s the actual attention starved youths, led by newcomer Chang’s mesmerizing portrayal of tragically detached ice princess, Rebecca, who never let the audience forget the real price of looking only towards the stars. 
10. Elizabeth Debicki – The Great Gatsby – Baz Lurhman’s flashy multimillion dollar, 3D extravaganza wasn’t so much an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous Jazz Age novel as an explosion of the very exuberance and manic energy that have made this period, and this story so indelible. And who best sums up the hope, the glamour, and the relentless ambition of Gatsby’s New York than Fitzgerald spitfire, Jordan Baker? Debicki, a long limbed, cupie-eyed Aussie stunner instantly makes the part her own, stealing scene after scene , until one is left only with the unrequited wish that she just had more screen time.