Lakeith Stanfield, Letitia Wright Among BAFTA Rising Star Nominees

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced the nominees for the 2019 BAFTA Awards Rising Star this morning and there were some familiar and, well, established names among the mix. The five standouts include Lakeith Stanfield, Letitia Wright, Jessie Buckley, Cynthia Erivo and Barry Keoghan.    

First handed out in 2006, previous winners have included James McAvoy, Eva Green, Shia LaBeouf, Kristen Stewart, John Boyega and Tom Holland.  Last year’s winner was “Get Out’s” Daniel Kaluuya.

READ MORE:  Boots Riley’s visionary “Sorry To Bother You” debuts at Sundance [Review]

Lakeith Stanfield has starred in “Atlanta” the past two seasons and toplined Boots Riley’s “Sorry To Bother You” this past summer. Letitia Wright was a stand out on “Black Mirror” and had a global breakthrough in both “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War.”

Cynthia Erivo won a Tony Award for her performance as Celie in the musical version of “The Color Purple” in 2016, but had her big screen debut last fall in Steve McQueen’s “Widows” and Drew Goddard’s “Bad Times at the El Royale.” Barry Keoghan is a somewhat strange situation. His big break came in Yann Demange’s “’71” in 2014 and appeared in Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” and Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” in 2017. Last year he appeared in the indies “American Animals” and “Black ’47,” but an odd inclusion after so much work in larger films before 2018.

Jessie Buckley may not be a familiar name to American moviegoers, but she received critical acclaim for her performance in Michael Pearce’s “Beast,” which was released in the UK and stateside this past year. She also starred alongside Tom Hardy in FX’s “Taboo” in 2017.

The public can vote for the Rising Star winner here.

The nominees for the 2019 BAFTA Awards will be announced on Jan. 9.

The 2019 BAFTA Awards will be handed out on Feb. 10.