Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch 2026: Jaafar Jackson, Inde Navarrette

Creed-Miles was drawn to the latest big-screen adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic “Sense and Sensibility” because of Diana Reid’s writing. “I loved how funny the screenplay was,” she says. “Wit is such a skill. That timing and picking out moments where you can find the levity and humanity in an era that is so distant from us now, I really enjoyed that.”

But her audition process wasn’t so smooth. The actress, who portrays Marianne Dashwood, refers to her first read as “actually really bad” since it was so “intimidating and nerve-wracking.” The feedback wasn’t positive, but she was still brought in for a second reading, which went much better and led to a conversation with director Georgia Oakley.

“We spoke about our taste, the source material and what was special about the film to us, and we got on really well,” she says. At that point, Creed-Miles didn’t know Daisy Edgar-Jones, her 2018 film “Pond Life” co-star, had also been cast. “When I found out, it made me even more excited because I love her so much. Daisy and I had a chemistry read, and that went really well.”

While this adaptation features the love story between Marianne and John Willougby (Frank Dillane), the central love story is that between the sisters. Creed-Miles says creating that chemistry with Edgar Jones and “Outlander” star Caitriona Balfe came easily. “It just makes your job a lot easier when you’re fighting the tide of someone else’s work. You almost start to feel directed by their performances because when someone makes a choice, it influences your choice, and then you find something new and different,” she says. “I had so many moments of days where I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m actually doing something really good here,’ and that’s rare.” — Jazz Tangcay

Influences The women in her life, her sis-
ter Edie, her fiancé and Daisy Edgar-Jones
Reps Legal: Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern; Agents: Jessica Kovacevic (WME), Liv Harlow (Independent Talent Group)

Di Girólamo tried to become a midwife, but something else kept calling her. The Chilean actress grew up in a family of artists: a painter grandfather who worked in the country’s culture ministry, two visual-artist parents and an aunt, Claudia Di Girolamo, who ranks among Chile’s most celebrated actresses. “I tried to be another thing,” she says. “But it’s in my blood.”

Twelve years into a career launched by Pablo Larraín, who cast her in her breakout “Ema,” Di Girolamo takes her biggest swing yet in “Wild Horse Nine,” her first English-language film. Directed by Martin McDonagh, it dropped her onto Easter Island opposite veteran thespians

John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi and Parker Posey. “Watching them was so disappointing,” she deadpans, before turning sincere. “I worked very hard. This opportunity came to my life because I
was prepared.”

What surprised her most was her own composure, a quality she reached for a Spanish word to name: templanza. It means serenity. “I always was able to find that space in me to continue this journey.”

Set in Chile in 1973, the film reckons with the military coup that toppled Salvador Allende, and Di Girolamo, born in 1990 as the dictatorship was ending, does not carry that history lightly. Her grandmother worked in a human rights organization; friends of her parents disappeared. “It’s a day to remember, to not forget what happened, and not repeat what happened,” she says. Still, she sees the story as bigger than its politics. “The movie for me is about human relationships. It’s about friendship. It’s about loyalty.”

She calls her greatest achievement of the past year her most personal: becoming a mother to a now 6-month-old daughter. The fear of balancing a family and a career has given way to pride. “I was very afraid of that, and I’m doing it,” she says. As for what she wants audiences to take from the film, her wish is disarmingly simple: that they feel touched and maybe book a trip to Rapa Nui. “It’s expensive,” she admits, “but it’s worth it.” — Clayton Davis

Influences Claudia Di Girolamo, Pablo Larraín
Reps UTA; Management: MC Management

For Eleazar, the only moments her latest character truly felt at peace were when she sang.

“Misty, while she’s a good actress, it’s not
necessarily the right profession for her happiness,” Eleazar says. No kidding — in Chris Rock’s latest directorial effort, “Misty Green,” the title character, a performer whose star has faded, struggles with money and addiction as she chases a comeback. In her gig as a lounge singer and in her audition for a new version of “Dreamgirls,” though, Misty seems to shed all of her baggage. “She’s peaceful and pure in a way,” Eleazar says. “She seemed settled in that space. She didn’t seem settled in any other space.”

Indeed, Misty, racing against time to secure her place in Hollywood, is an exposed raw nerve, which allows Eleazar to show all she can do; following the film’s premiere at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival, Eleazar seems poised to compete in the best actress Oscar race. “Misty Green” presents audiences with a spiky, tough antiheroine, and Eleazar viewed it as her mission to explore the person behind the facade. “She is, seemingly, a very unlovable character,” Eleazar says, “and I’ve always been fascinated with finding humanity in really extreme characters. When people go out fighting in the world as she does, there’s an incredible amount of vulnerability to that.”

Born in London, Eleazar studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and is best known for her role on Apple TV’s “Slow Horses.” She also appeared in “The Personal History of David Copperfield” and in the Netflix miniseries “Missing You.” Eleazar is at home on the stage; she notes that, immediately after wrapping “Misty Green” in L.A., she flew to the U.K. to play a very different actress in the surrealist play “Small Hotel,” opposite Ralph Fiennes. “There was some bleeding of character,” she says. “I don’t think I’ve ever gone straight into a character as quickly as that.”

But then, Misty, with her protective armor that only falls away when she sings, was hard to shed. “She is thrumming at all times, from every part of her body,” Eleazar says. “She’s an all-or-nothing sort of character. It was incredibly exhausting, because she’s operating on such a high frequency — but what a gift
for me!” — Daniel D’Addario

Reps Agency: WME; Management:
Principal Entertainment
Influences Michelle Williams, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Don Cheadle, Sandra Hüller

Guitarricadelafuente makes the crossover from music to film in his acting debut as Sebastián, a man who escapes an attack on his village in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, in the Netflix film “La Bola Negra.”

Directed by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, better known as Los Javis, the film explores Spain’s queer history through three interconnected stories. It draws inspiration from an unfinished play by Federico García Lorca.

When the directors approached him to play the role, Guitarricadelafuente says his response was “very instinctive.” He elaborates, “I immediately felt there was something in Sebastián that was very close to what I had been exploring in [album] ‘Spanish Leather’— desire, identity, masculinity, this idea of someone coming from a small place and suddenly discovering the world and things about himself.”

The experience deeply changed him. “I thought I was going there to play a character, and I didn’t expect Sebastián to stay with me in such a personal way,” he says. “Los Javis made me work from very personal emotions and memories, and at some point, I stopped feeling like I was simply learning how to act. It was also my first experience of what cinema is like.”

While this is his first acting role, the process made him both reflect on the past and think forward to the future. “I wouldn’t want to act just for the sake of being in a film. I’d need to feel there was something there I really wanted to enter and understand,” he says. “Something that scares me a little, that I don’t completely understand yet, but where I recognize something emotionally.”

Acting is also a world away from music. Even in collaborations, he says, “there are moments when you’re completely alone with what you’re creating.” But with film, it’s all a team sport.

“Everything depends on everybody else — the person you’re acting with, the camera, the light, the costumes, the whole crew. I found that really beautiful,” he says. “Seeing the finished film was quite overwhelming. There is so much desire to live in it, even though it’s surrounded by death, war and repression. You spend months making all these little pieces without really knowing what they will become, and then suddenly, you watch the film and understand the whole thing. It made me want to live more, somehow.” — Jazz Tangcay

Influences His grandparents, family and filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar
Reps Scott Melrose (The Team)

Carrie White isn’t a role that just anyone could take on. But Howell didn’t know that when she auditioned. In fact, she hadn’t even heard of the 1974 Stephen King novel or the Sissy Spacek-led film that followed two years later.

“It was all pretty brand new to me,” the actress says. When she landed “Carrie,” Mike Flanagan’s Prime Video series, she asked if she should read the book or see the film. “He said no. He decided it was better if I just continued to create the version I was doing. He loved my tapes and the fresh take on Carrie I was bringing.”

After she wrapped filming and took some time to get out of Carrie’s head space, she dove into the 1976 film. “It is different, but it was so interesting seeing all the parts and the iconic moments that we kept and how it’s so expanded, that was a very fun experience for me, having filmed the whole show and seeing where she came from.”

This adaptation includes Carrie’s telekinetic abilities but leans more into present-day high school bullying in the age of social media. Howell went to public school and could relate, especially since she’d been gone for long periods while filming.

“I felt different. I felt out of place in school,” she says. “I witnessed what high school can do to you and how awful that can be. How you start treating each other, even when you don’t really feel that way, you’re just trying to fit in and get through it. I connected with Carrie because she’s trying to get out into the world. She’s so excited, at least my version. She’s been in her house her whole life. For me, it’s ironic, but it felt like I was in school, trying to get out into the world and continue acting and live my life.”

Growing up in Manitoba, Canada, Howell “had a crazy imagination,” and recorded videos with her brother and their Webkinz. “We were very creative kids,” she remembers. Then, they heard a casting call for a commercial happening in Winnipeg.

“I ended up chickening out of this toothpaste commercial, but I would help him with his lines over the years,” she recalls. “When I was 7, I auditioned for ‘Curse of Chucky,’ and I got it. It was my third audition, and my brother decided to stick to soccer, and now he’s an engineer, so he’s doing great. I became the actor of the family.”— Emily Longeretta

Influences Her mom, Adam Hurtig

Reps Agency: The Characters Talent Agency;
Management: Link Entertainment

Jackson grew up wanting to play golf. “I was more in the sports world, and then I got drawn into music,” says Jackson, who taught himself piano and songwriting under the guidance of his father, songwriter-musician Jermaine Jackson. Acting came later and almost by accident, in his mid-20s, when producers approached him about a project called “Michael.”

Taking on Michael Jackson would rattle anyone. (not to mention that Michael is his uncle). Doing it without acting a day in his life was another thing entirely. “I told producer Graham [King], ‘I need a couple days to really process this,’” Jackson recalls. “If I try something, I want to commit all the way.” Once he decided the story had to be told the right way, the fear gave way to something steadier. “I felt some confidence in myself. If I commit, I know I can do this, without knowing if I can act.”

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, “Michael” connected with audiences around the world — the kind of reach Jackson still sounds amazed by. “It could be 5-year-olds, 8-year-olds, [people] in their 20s, 40s, 60s, grandparents,” he says of the fans who stop him on the street. The film’s conclusion, the “Bad” number, which was shot on his very first day of production, is the moment he felt most free. “They threw me right in the deep end,” he says. He insisted the crew crank the concert speakers until he could feel the bass in his chest, the same way his uncle did. “That’s what dictates the moves.”

Weaned on epics like “Titanic” and “Twister,” Jackson now models himself on the shapeshifters, admiring the heavy hitters like Christian Bale and Daniel Day-Lewis. He’s currently shooting a role opposite Will Smith that he calls the opposite of “Michael.” He dreams of composing a film score someday. And when asked whether he would jump into the superhero world — maybe like a live-action Miles Morales — he responds, “I’d suit up!”

The one thing he refuses to be is in a box. “It’s fine when people say, ‘He can only play Michael.’ That excites me more,” he says. “Wait till I show you something else.” — Clayton Davis

Influences Christian Bale, Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, Denzel Washington

Reps Agency: CAA; Legal: Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern

Madeley has always been ready for the big stage. She came up worshipping Bette Midler and Julie Walters, “strong females who had fire and who were funny as well.” But she noticed a void in her role models: “I didn’t have any disabled reference points to look to,” she says. “There was such a stark contrast between my experience and the lack of experience being shown on screen.”

She helps close that gap in “Being Heumann,” her first Hollywood lead, playing the late disability rights icon Judy Heumann for “CODA” director Siân Heder. Madeley, a British actor with more than a decade of credits at home, felt the role in her bones. “Me and my imposter syndrome walk hand in hand into every room,” she says. “We’re a pair.” She stayed in an American accent for the entire shoot, to the point that much of the crew assumed she was American. She also endured a period wheelchair “from the ’70s, so not designed for comfort.” She saw herself in Heumann’s “unwavering defiance,” and insisted on the vulnerabilities too. “She wasn’t perfect.”

The movie features an intimate encounter between Heumann and a non-disabled partner that Madeley and Heder believe may be among the first of its kind played by a disabled actor. “Disabled characters are so often desexualized,” she says. “To be able to do that, do it justice, and have it be truthful, that was Judy’s experience. It wasn’t just a sex scene. It was a moment of truth.”

Heumann, who died in 2023, was a constant presence on set, in spirit. “I’d find myself talking to her on my way to work,” Madeley says. “You’ve got to help me get this right. Don’t leave me on my own.” What she wants to carry forward is not just the activist’s steel but her joy. “She was joyful. She was funny. She cared so much about every person she met.”

Now Madeley wants the range her heroes had. “I’m unashamedly ambitious,” she says. “Disabled actors have to be seen for all manner of roles, because we’re all manner of things.” Top of the wish list? A great villain. “I’d love to play someone really sinister at some point. That’d be really good.” — Clayton Davis

Influences Bette Midler, Julie Walters
Reps Curtis Brown Group; Legal: Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher

Though she began making a name for herself on television in drama series like “13 Reasons Why” and “Superman & Lois,” Navarrette has since risen to superstardom in the acclaimed horror film “Obsession.” Written and directed by Curry Barker, the film has become one of the highest-grossing horror films of all time. The reaction has stunned Navarrette. “It has been bigger than any of us could have ever imagined,” she says. “It has been such a gift to experience these past few months.”

“Obsession” follows Baron “Bear” Bailey (Michael Johnston), who has a crush on his friend Nikki Freeman (Navarrette). Desperate to get Nikki’s attention, Bear uses a “One Wish Willow” to try and capture her heart. However, becoming the object of Nikki’s desire takes him down a dark, sinister road he never could have anticipated.

Navarrette took the role because it allowed her to be a chameleon. “I love characters that give me the opportunity to look completely different from myself,” she says. A horror fan herself, the actress drew inspiration from several sources as she hones her craft. She credits Natalie Portman for showing her what she could achieve on the big screen. “Watching ‘Léon: The Professional’ when I was younger really made me feel like I could be young and star in a grounded role,” she says.

Still, the actress didn’t solely get her inspiration from the big screen. Her biggest influence was much closer to home. “Growing up with a separated family, my older brother was the only constant I had in my life,” she explains. “He showed me how to play video games and never let me pity win. He taught me how to fight for myself and win. He single-handedly raised me to be tenacious and always see the next opportunity as a fresh start.”

Now, with talks about a possible Academy Award nomination and a forthcoming role in Marvel’s “X-Men” reboot, Navarrette is ready to stretch and expand even further. “My greatest achievement has been taking every opportunity to strengthen relationships to start conversations about projects,” she says. “I really want to be a part of this community and add my perspective to stories, whether that be in producing, acting or directing.” — Aramide Tinubu

Influences Her older brother,
Natalie Portman

Reps Agency: CAA: Management: Untitled Entertainment; Legal: HJTH

For a long time, Nicholson wanted nothing to do with the family business. “I really resented it growing up. I hated it,” he says of being three-time Oscar-winning actor Jack Nicholson’s son. “I was an angry kid. I didn’t want to be my dad.” He refused to watch his father’s films until he turned 18. Then he finally sat down with them. “I was like, oh, he’s kind of good at this,” Nicholson says, chuckling. “He might have a future.”

These days he’s done running from it. Asked to name an influence other than his father, he waves off the question entirely. “In my head, I want to be a combination of my dad, Fred Astaire and Marilyn Monroe.”

His path to “The Mosquito Bowl,” Peter Berg’s war drama about the Marines who played a brutal football game before shipping out to the Pacific, ran through an old-fashioned gesture. Nicholson
wrote Berg a letter, something he says he’s done maybe twice in his life. “I wrote how much the script meant to me and what I saw in it,” he says. Berg later told him it was what set him apart. That year, Nicholson asked his team for a sports movie and a war movie. This was both.

He plays Tony Butkovich, a real Purdue football star killed in combat, and the responsibility landed hard. When the university sent restored footage of Butkovich’s games, it arrived on the anniversary of his death. “The hair on the back of my neck stands up” even recounting it, he says.

Nicholson blew out his knee during filming, needed surgery, and was back the next day. “It’s not about you,” he remembers telling himself. “That was the North Star.”

After the horror film “Smile 2” and the action of “Novocaine,” the World War II drama was a pointed pivot. However, Nicholson resists the notion that the choice was entirely his.

“I don’t get to choose these roles. You get the opportunity, and luck comes, and you better be ready for it,” he says. His favorite of his father’s performances, the one that still undoes him, is “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” the first film of his he ever saw. “It’s the freedom of that spirit,” he says, his voice catching. “That’s him. That’s him.”

As for what’s next: “I hope this changes the perception of me. I’m here.” — Clayton Davis

Influences Jack Nicholson, Humphrey Bogart, Fred Astaire, Marilyn Monroe

Reps UTA; Manager: Untitled Entertainment; Legal: Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern

To say that Zada is having a big year would be an understatement. Although most were introduced to him in Prime Video’s “We Were Liars,” he will come barreling onto both small and big screens this year as Cal Trast in Netflix’s “East of Eden” adaptation then the highly anticipated “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” as Haymitch.

“Joining ‘The Hunger Games’ franchise means the world to me. It’s a franchise that’s been created by an immensely strong team of creatives,” says Zada. “It meant getting to work and spend time with heroes of mine and I will cherish the experience forever.”

Although he didn’t feel pressure in joining such a beloved franchise, the Australia native knows how important it is that he’s able to pull of the part. “But it’s the same pressure as any role,” he adds. “Just do the work and you’ll succeed.”

For Netflix’s “East of Eden,” Zada did the prep work, reading John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel “a couple times” — “my chapters several times. The episodes up to 100 times,” he says. “I was asked by [showrunner] Zoe [Kazan] to wait until we’d wrapped to watch the original film. She didn’t want me to subconsciously take anything from James Dean’s original portrayal. Zoe wanted me to keep it as personal to myself as possible and I’m glad I did.”

Zada was really attracted to the relationship his character has with his brother, played by Joe Anders, who Zada calls “a genius.” With three brothers of his own, he understood the dynamics. “I loved his intensity and his vulnerability and finding the balance between the two,” he says. “Also, Zoe Kazan is a hell of a writer.”— Emily Longeretta

Influences River Phoenix, Heath Ledger, Lucas Hedges, Florence Pugh. Robert Redford, Timothée Chalamet, David Jonsson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Paul Newman, Paul Mescal;
“my mum and dad”

Reps Agency: RGM Artists, CAA; Management: Untitled Entertainment; Legal: Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson, & Christopher