The BAFTA Awards Rising Star honor is the one award the British public gets to vote on and in the nine years it's been handed out, their choices have, at times, been surprising. Well, at least to those of us on this side of the Atlantic.
Previous winners include familiar faces such as James McAvoy, Eva Green, Kristen Stewart, Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy. The last three winners might not be so recognizable. Three years ago British actor and rapper Adam Deacon defeated Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Chris O'Dowd and Eddie Redmayne. Juno Temple won over Elizabeth Olsen, among others, in 2013. And last February found Will Poulter defeating Dane DeHaan, Lupita Nyong'o and Léa Seydoux.
BAFTA announced this year's class a day earlier than the rest of its nominees and, frankly, it's the most competitive group of nominees the category has seen in some time. Without further ado, the 2015 Rising Star Award nominees are…
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Jack O'Connell
Margot Robbie
Miles Teller
Shailene Woodley
Teller partially earned his nomination because of his impressive work in “Whiplash,” but he finds himself at odds with his “Divergent” and “Spectacular Now” co-star Shailene Woodley. The duo are the only American nominees this year. Aussie Margot Robbie probably should have been nominated for “The Wolf of Wall Street” last year, but considering her upcoming slate (“Focus,” “Z for Zachariah”) she certainly warrants the attention. Brits Jack O'Connell (“Unbroken”) and the very deserving Gugu Mbatha-Raw (“Beyond the Lights,” “Belle”) round out the field.
The complete list of BAFTA Award nominations will be announced at 11:35 PM PST Thursday night, 2:35 AM EST Friday morning. Oh, and that's 7:35 AM London time for our friends across the pond.