Kaia Gerber, Kit Connor and More Stars on the Rise in 2024

Kit Connor

Connor is ready to break out beyond high school. He built his career as a child actor (see him as a young Elton John in Rocketman) before scoring the lead role in the high school rom-com series Heartstopper. This desire to graduate is part of what drew the Brit to Broadway, where he’s currently leading Romeo + Juliet with Rachel Zegler, bringing Shakespeare to the Gen Z masses. “It just felt ballsy,” Connor says. “It’s been what I’ve been trying to do with my career decisions recently, just try and do things that are a little bit more ballsy.” Connor, 20, isn’t sure if Heartstopper will return for a third season, but after the curtain goes down on his Broadway stint, he’ll start promoting his most adult role yet in Alex Garland’s A24 thriller Warfare. After that, he says, “I’d like to take a little break just so that I can kind of cleanse my mind and my palate, and then I’d like to do something completely different.” He adds, “I want to try and spend the next couple years just doing quite hard stuff so that I can try and force myself to get better.”

IF I WASN’T AN ACTOR I’D BE “I would first and foremost be a student due to my age. [My major] would probably be something like film studies, English or history, those are the subjects I found the most interesting in school because they were about people. I never did well with numbers. Still don’t.”

THE PERSON I AM DYING TO WORK WITH “I would love to work with Josh O’Connor. He and I are friendly, and every time I see him I think how I would love to see him at work.”

HOW I DECOMPRESS ON SET “I like my private time. On Warfare, we didn’t do that at all. Every night we did everything together and I wouldn’t have changed it at all. But a lot of time on jobs, I go home and just sit and listen to music.”

BEST ADVICE I’VE GOTTEN WORKING IN ENTERTAINMENT “Trusting the process. Quite a lot of my friends in the industry have given me that general advice.”

SONG OR ALBUM I HAVE ON REPEAT “David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. I used to, at the beginning of the run of the play, I was listening to a lot of music that would try to hype me up because I wanted to have a load of energy going into the play but then I started re-listening to that album‚ “Rock and Roll Suicide”, “Five Years”, “Moonage Daydream” — that put me in a good mindset for [the play].”

THE MOVIE OR SERIES I AM OBSESSED WITH “The Sopranos. I started watching it when I got to [New York] because I thought Jersey is just around the corner.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME “There is something pretty crazy about seeing your face on a billboard in any capacity.”

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Ryan Destiny

During Destiny’s first big role, Queen Latifah offered a piece of advice that would change the course of her career. Destiny was the lead of Lee Daniels’ musical drama Star when the elder actress took her aside. “She made it very clear to me that I should be clear with myself about what I want,” says Destiny. “That’s when I started conjuring.” Destiny made a mental list of the types of projects she’d like to be part of and kept coming back to the idea of a female sports movie. Then in 2020, while filming her recurring role on Grown-ish, she got the invitation to audition for the lead of The Fire Inside, a biopic about Olympic boxer Claressa Shields from screenwriter Barry Jenkins. “I knew I owed it to myself to try for this,” she says. “And ultimately I learned that even as a lead, I don’t have to be afraid to make mistakes.”

IF I WASN’T AN ACTOR I’D BE “An interior designer. I’d like to say an architect, but that would be really crazy.”

HOW I DECOMPRESS ON SET “I listen to music. It really calms me and then puts me in my own little bubble and world.”

SONG OR ALBUM I HAVE ON REPEAT “One song that really calms me is ‘Skin Tight’ by Ravyn Lenae and Steve Lacy.”

BEST ADVICE I’VE GOTTEN WORKING IN ENTERTAINMENT “Not to be afraid of taking up space. I don’t like any problems or any issues, so I like to stay neutral. And I think that there’s a time and place for that and there’s a time to not do that.”

THE MOVIE OR SERIES I AM OBSESSED WITH “I did just see The Substance and I am pretty obsessed with it, especially the tone and how it looks. I just want to kiss the cinematographer on the cheek.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME “It would probably be Beyoncé coming up to me in a party. I was just so nervous that I didn’t really have a lot of words, so I just kept saying ‘hi’ and smiling and thanking her for her compliments. That was a peak for me. Nothing else I need.”

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Kaia Gerber

While Gerber initially followed in the professional footsteps of her supermodel mother, Cindy Crawford, appearing stone-faced on runways for Valentino and Celine, the 23-year-old has spent the past two years shifting her energy toward acting, building an impressive list of comedy credits (Bottoms, Palm Royale, Saturday Night) while appearing opposite heavyweights like Kristen Wiig. Even she is a little surprised. “I always thought that to do comedy you have to be really funny,” she says. “But it actually works to my advantage that I treat it like it’s serious. The type of comedy I do is to believe what you’re doing, no matter how ridiculous it is.” Audiences will next see her alongside Anne Hathaway in A24’s Mother Maryand Keanu Reeves in Apple TV+’s Outcome. As the co-founder of the popular book club Library Science, Gerber is always keeping her eye out for a potential adaptation, with producing possibly in her future. “Even if there was a book that I didn’t see a role for myself,” she says, “I could still see myself wanting to watch that come to fruition.” 

IF I WASN’T AN ACTOR I’D BE “I would be a librarian. I don’t have a degree in library science, so technically I’m not a librarian yet. However, I do curate libraries for people, so I would say librarian adjacent.”

THE PERSON I AM DYING TO WORK WITH “Halina Reijn.”

HOW I DECOMPRESS ON SET “I read a book. Shocker. On set, I tend to read short stories because they’re easier to pick up and put down.”

BEST ADVICE I’VE GOTTEN WORKING IN ENTERTAINMENT “Always be on time. That was from my mother. She gets very upset if I’m not on time, so I have learned.”

SONG OR ALBUM I HAVE ON REPEAT “Brat because I am not willing to let go of having a Brat summer yet, even though we’re well into fall.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME “Probably that Pamela Anderson was the crossing guard at my elementary school. She wore the yellow safety vest and everything. I didn’t know how good I had it then.”

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David Jonsson

David Jonsson left his first big role just when things were getting really good. The actor broke out on Industry, the risqué HBO finance drama that started out as a cult hit before becoming an out-and-out sensation, but quickly noticed he was getting typecast as quiet, intellectual characters. When he eventually chose not to return for the third season, it seemed like a gamble to some, but it was, according to him, a leap of faith. “My whole career is a risk,” says Jonsson, 31. And his decision already is paying off in spades. This summer, he fronted Alien: Romulus alongside Cailee Spaeny; the film grossed more than $330 million at the box office, cementing its stars as highly bankable. Jonsson is poised to play Sammy Davis Jr. in a biopic about his relationship with Kim Novak, the directorial debut from Colman Domingo and the latest in a series of lead roles for Jonsson (he heads the Stephen King film The Long Walk, expected next year). “I’m learning quickly how to lead a set,” he says. “As always, the rule is: Don’t be a dick.”

IF I WASN’T AN ACTOR I’D BE “I would probably be in the army. Or doing something like astronomy. Those are two very different things. I’m interested in a lot of things as you can tell, which is probably why I am an actor.”

THE PERSON I AM DYING TO WORK WITH “Ayo Edebiri. We met at the BAFTA Tea Party and she screamed my name across the room. I turned around and it was her and she gave me a big hug. It was the first time I met her and she has such a beautiful, generous energy.”

HOW I DECOMPRESS ON SET “I meditate. I always take a couple of minutes in my trailer to sit and have some silence.”

BEST ADVICE I’VE GOTTEN WORKING IN ENTERTAINMENT “Don’t take it so seriously. And that came from Collin Firth. I was on my first film and he gave me such gems but one of the things he gave was: Laugh, it’s all a bit of fun.”

SONG OR ALBUM I HAVE ON REPEAT “I’m listening to a British band called Dearie, they are this wonderful shoe-gaze-y band. Also a bit of Artic Monkeys, Skepta, and Cocteau Twins.”

THE MOVIE OR SERIES I AM OBSESSED WITH “My Private Idaho by Gus van Sant.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME “Getting a kiss from someone in an elevator at an awards ceremony, which was really friendly but surprised me. I won’t say who but it was very Hollywood.”

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Katy O’Brian

“This has been an insane year,” O’Brian says, reviewing her calendar. In 2024 alone, she had the Sundance standout Love Lies Bleeding and the summer tentpole Twisters and already has filmedMission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, the queer zombie movie Queens of the Dead and a Christy Martin biopic, appearing opposite Sydney Sweeney. And there isn’t a lot of downtime in her future. When O’Brian, 35, sits for this interview, she only has a day in Los Angeles before leaving to film Edgar Wright’s remake of 1987’s The Running Man. And though the roles might be getting bigger, O’Brian says her approach to work hasn’t changed much. “Attention to detail is something that I strive to remind myself to do,” she says. “It matters so deeply.”

IF I WASN’T AN ACTOR I’D BE “I would probably want to be a fighter, which would be really scary and I’d be bad at it, but it’d be fun.”

THE PERSON I AM DYING TO WORK WITH Lily Gladstone.

HOW I DECOMPRESS ON SET “I, unfortunately, talk to everyone on the crew and probably bother them while they’re trying to do their jobs.”

SONG OR ALBUM I HAVE ON REPEAT “My wife’s listening to Chappell Roan right now, so that’s what I have to listen to all the time. It’s great, but it’s constant.”

THE MOVIE OR SERIES I AM OBSESSED WITH “I just started The Franchise and it’s really funny and it feels very real and close to home.”

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Aaron Pierre

“I’ve given myself permission for maybe the first time in my journey, in my career, to enjoy the moment,” the 30-year-old star says. And what a moment it is. After Pierre’s Netflix flick Rebel Ridge went to No. 1 on the streamer, he next appears in Disney’s massive Mufasa: The Lion King, voicing the titular lion, then season four of cornerstone Apple TV+ series The Morning Show (during which, he reveals, he shares scenes with Jennifer Aniston, Billy Crudup and Marion Cotillard). “I’m doing what I love to do best, and I’m just being a student,” he says of working with the star-studded cast. He recently was announced as one of the newest members of the DC Universe, playing John Stewart in HBO’s Green Lantern series. He is sworn to secrecy but promises, “I will do my best to serve this character.” Going forward, Pierre has one dream role in mind: Troy Maxson in August Wilson’s Fences, a role that’s been tackled by the actor’s “greatest inspirations and heroes,” James Earl Jones and Denzel Washington.

IF I WASN’T AN ACTOR I’D BE “I would be a track and field athlete or an athlete of some description. Who knows how much success I would have, but I would definitely do my best to pursue that as a career.”

THE PERSON I AM DYING TO WORK WITH “Sarah Polley. I think she is a phenomenal filmmaker.”

HOW I DECOMPRESS ON SET “On set, and in life, I drink tea.”

SONG OR ALBUM I HAVE ON REPEAT “The album that I’m listening to right now on vinyl is Marvin Gaye, I Want You. It’s a beautiful, beautiful album. And there’s something about listening to any album, but specifically that album, on vinyl. You don’t have the option to skip, you don’t have the option to rewind, [you are] just listening to it as Marvin Gaye and his creative team intended for you to listen to it.”

THE MOVIE OR SERIES I AM OBSESSED WITH “I love docuseries. I’m late to the party, but it’s Receiver on Netflix.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME “Honestly, the most Hollywood thing that’s ever happened to me is arguably not particularly exciting to other people: The first time that I ever went to a [studio] lot in LA to work, not to have a meeting or not to have a coffee. It was to go to work. And I had a pass and all of the things that come with that. There was an assigned parking spot. That was a really special moment.”

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Josh Rivera

After appearing in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story in 2021, Rivera was out of work for so long that he ran out of money and had to start bartending. “That was an interesting thing to internalize because it’s just like what the [actor’s] life is,” he says. “It’s just really full of opportunities at one time, and it’s completely barren at other times.” But Rivera, 29, says there have been career highs in the past couple of years, too — a particularly notable moment came when he watched an early screening of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. “A lot of stuff was going on in my life while we were filming, so it was hard for me to actually be present, but [the screening] brought back so many memories. It was a reminder that I was on the right path.” Now, Rivera is the latest young talent to be tapped by hitmaker Ryan Murphy, starring as former NFL tight end Aaron Hernandez in the new season of FX’s American Sports Story. 

IF I WASN’T AN ACTOR I’D BE “Probably a biologist. Something I do a lot is go down YouTube rabbit holes and do a lot of learning about microorganisms. I am so far outside out of those encouraged dedicated learning spaces, but if I went back to college, I would learn so much more. Or, even, high school. But I was the kid in school who never had a pencil. Do you remember the kid in school that was always asking for a pencil or a dollar? That was me.”

THE PERSON I AM DYING TO WORK WITH “I would love to work with Toni Collette. She is unbelievable. Also Ryan Gosling.”

HOW I DECOMPRESS ON SET “Play videogames. While I was on American Sports Story, I replayed all of the Halos. It was just what I did to separate myself from what was going on. And I eat a lot of crafty.”

SONG OR ALBUM I HAVE ON REPEAT “’How Deep is Your Love’ cover by Yebba and [PJ Morton]. That is my go-to shower song right now.

THE MOVIE OR SERIES I AM OBSESSED WITH “My comfort TV show is It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And I am rewatching Dragon Ball right now. It is making me very nostalgic.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME “I’ve had a few moments that have been, like, ‘Woah.’ My first film was West Side Story and I remember Steve Spielberg talking about Michael Jackson calling him to talk about the moonwalk. It’s such an unbelievable tale.”

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Dominic Sessa

When Sessa scored the leading role opposite Paul Giamatti in last year’s The Holdovers, he had one hope: to be good enough in the role that he could, someday, be in another movie. “I didn’t understand how any of this worked,” says the actor, who was plucked out of his own boarding school’s drama department to star in the Alexander Payne film. “I didn’t think it would change my life.” By the time the movie’s press cycle was over, he was preparing for his next role (in Tow, alongside Rose Byrne and Octavia Spencer) and has since booked parts opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in Michael Showalter’s upcoming holiday comedy Oh. What. Fun., as young Anthony Bourdain in a planned A24 biopic, and in the third installment of the Now You See Me franchise. “I’m not trying to create or predict the next groundbreaking film,” he says. “I’m trying to be part of projects that I, personally, would enjoy watching.”

IF I WASN’T AN ACTOR I’D BE “A teacher.”

THE PERSON I AM DYING TO WORK WITH “Jack Black. It seems like it would be a fun time being around him.”

HOW I DECOMPRESS ON SET “I read books. It also kills a lot of time when you are waiting around for stuff. And reality TV is easy to digest. My sister introduced me to Love Is Blind. I’ve watched the most recent one. I am fascinated by all of the shows because I could never imagine putting myself in that position, being viewed while trying to fall in love with somebody.”  

BEST ADVICE I’VE GOTTEN WORKING IN ENTERTAINMENT “For acting, specifically, it was to take as many kinds of opportunities as possible. Get yourself out of the kinds of boxes you put yourself in, subconsciously. Alexander Payne taught me that.”

SONG OR ALBUM I HAVE ON REPEAT “‘Southern Nights’ [by Glen Campbell]”

THE MOVIE OR SERIES I AM OBSESSED WITH Raising Arizona.

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Sophie Wilde

Wilde thought 2022 horror film Talk to Me would be a small, local indie project — it wound up becoming her breakout role and A24’s highest-grossing horror film of all time. Before her big debut even hit theaters, she received the script for Halina Reijn’s Babygirl and was in awe of the director (whom she describes as “so fucking awesome”). The erotic thriller centers on an affair between a high-powered CEO (Nicole Kidman) and her much younger intern (Harris Dickinson), with Wilde playing Kidman’s assistant. “It was a dream to work with an icon like Nicole, whose work I’ve grown up watching,” she says of her fellow Aussie. The actress, 26, is in London shooting with another icon, Tom Cruise, for Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s highly secretive (and untitled) film. She’s grateful to be in so many prestige projects in swift succession but also notices that with career growth comes a lot of admin: “I now have so many more emails to answer.” 

IF I WASN’T AN ACTOR I’D BE A fiction writer. I was a big English girl in school, it was a toss-up between English and acting.

THE PERSON I’M DYING TO WORK WITH Robert Eggers. I just love all of his films — and I’m so excited for Nosferatu.

TO DECOMPRESS ON SET I listen to music. I create a character playlist for every job and I’ll play that in between scenes.

THE BEST ADVICE I’VE GOTTEN ABOUT WORKING IN ENTERTAINMENT IS about failure. That it’s important to fail and that your self-worth isn’t intrinsically tied to whether you succeed or not.

AN ALBUM I HAVE ON REPEAT RIGHT NOW Charli XCX’s remix album. My favorite song on that is Everything Is Romantic [featuring Caroline Polachek).

THE TV SHOW I’M OBSESSED WITH RIGHT NOW An HBO series called The Synanon Fix. I love a cult-y documentary.

THE MOST HOLLYWOOD THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME IS I went to the CFDA Awards, and I was standing on my own not knowing where to go, and suddenly there were 10,000 cameras taking photos of me. I realized Kim Kardashian was behind me. I was like, of course, let me step aside for the queen.

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D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai

After he “basically stumbled into” acting as a teenager, the 23-year-old landed his first Emmy nomination this year for his work on the final season of Reservation Dogs, an ending he admits was bittersweet. “There could have been so much more that we could have talked about,” says Woon-A-Tai, but notes that the role opened a lot of doors. Those include a gig in Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing and Alex Garland’s Warfare, starring with fellow Next Gen-er Kit Connor. Throughout his rise, Woon-A-Tai, who is of Oji-Cree descent, has kept his activist spirit alive, going viral in September for walking the Emmys red carpet with a red palm print — a symbol of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement — painted on his face. Woon-A-Tai credits his grandfather for the idea and hopes “doing that steered people toward bringing awareness to the issue and less of me — I don’t want that. Focus on the issue.”

IF I WASN’T AN ACTOR I’D BE “I would be a history teacher. I’m a big fan of history. I know that sounds a little lame and boring, but I never had a lot of inspirational teachers in my past who made me want to continue going to school, so being that person for some youth would be my dream.”

BEST ADVICE I’VE GOTTEN WORKING IN ENTERTAINMENT “One of the earliest coaches I had, they told me early is on time and on time is late. It’s not really a good example because I showed up 20 minutes late to this, but LA traffic, man.”

SONG OR ALBUM I HAVE ON REPEAT “The Woody Guthrie [song] ‘Two Good Men’.”

THE MOVIE OR SERIES I AM OBSESSED WITH “The Killer by David Fincher is something that’s been stuck in my head for a while. I love the fact that the soundtrack is just The Smiths.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME “I got a chance to go into a club just by somebody’s name. Not my name, but somebody else I was with. They got into the club with their name. Never experienced that before. Thought it was the coolest thing, but it wasn’t me. Shoutout to that person who got me into that club.” WHO WAS IT “Will Poulter. Shoutout to Will Poulter.”

This story appeared in the Nov. 20 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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