Screen UK & Ireland Stars of Tomorrow 2025

Source: Peter Searle / Screen International / Ben Trivett / Shutterstock

Screen UK & Ireland Stars of Tomorrow 2025

Screen International has revealed the 2025 line-up for Stars of Tomorrow, which spotlights 20 rising stars across acting and filmmaking in the UK and Ireland.

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Now in its 22nd year, the annual talent programme has an unparalleled track record for identifying emerging UK and Irish talent, both in front of and behind the camera, since its launch in 2004.

This year’s Stars of Tomorrow cohort comprises 11 actors and nine filmmakers. Among the actors selected are Owen Cooper, a Primetime Emmy winner for Adolescence; Rivals star Bella Maclean; Daniel Quinn-Toye, set to lead $100m science-fiction feature Voltron; and Tut Nyuot, who appeared in Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk.

Filmmakers include Pillion producer Tobi Kyeremateng; Shalini Adnani, who wrapped her Film4-backed feature directing debut earlier this year; Ted Evans, whose debut feature Retreat is a thriller told entirely in British sign language; and Jess O’Kane, who wrote Saoirse Ronan-starrerBad Apples which premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

The 2025 edition was the last overseen by Screen’s former executive editor, reviews and new talent Fionnuala Halligan, who departed this summer to become director of international programs for Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival.

Halligan had overseen Stars of Tomorrow for 15 editions, starting in 2011, with talent selected during her tenure including John Boyega (2011), Jack Lowden and Phoebe Waller-Bridge (2014), Florence Pugh and Jodie Comer (2016), Michaela Coel and Jessie Buckley (2017), Niamh Algar (2018), Ncuti Gatwa, Paul Mescal and Emma Corrin (2020), Daryl McCormack (2021), Rosy McEwen (2022), and Kit Connor, Mia McKenna-Bruce and David Jonsson (2023).

Last year’s cohort included Bridgerton star Florence Hunt, Hoard lead Saura Lightfoot‑Leon and Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd.

Screen’s editor-in-chief Matt Mueller said: “Our new cohort of UK & Ireland Stars of Tomorrow demonstrates yet again Finn Halligan’s outstanding eye for selecting brilliant and exciting new talent on the rise, and I have no doubt the class of 2025 will reach giddy heights in their careers for many years to come. And while this year’s line-up is the last to be chosen by Finn, I am beyond thrilled that Charles Gant will be taking the reins from here.”

Gant, Screen International’s awards and box office editor, will take over as curator of the UK & Ireland Stars of Tomorrow programme starting with its 2026 edition.

Gant said: “Finn’s departure means the Stars of Tomorrow curatorial torch is now being passed on, and I am its proud and humbled recipient. I share Finn’s passion for championing new talent, and I’ve been lucky to have been given that opportunity over the past couple of decades in various capacities on both Bafta Film Awards juries and the Bifas. Finn and her Stars of Tomorrow predecessor Patricia Dobson have bequeathed an outstanding legacy – one I hope to live up to.”

All of this year’s UK & Ireland Stars of Tomorrow were celebrated in a special event in London on September 24 at the Century Club.  Spotlight was the sponsor for this year’s edition.

Applications for 2026 UK & Ireland Stars of Tomorrow will open next year.

Click on the names below for profiles of each star.

Actors

Filmmakers

Profiles by  Jessie Buers, Ellie Calnan, Ben Dalton, Leif Findlay, Charles Gant, Jamie Graham, Ian Haydn Smith, Helen O’Hara, Orlando Parfitt, Mona Tabbara, Amon Warmann

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