Top 10 Breakout Acting Debuts Of The Past Decade (2015-2024)

While most actors spend years, sometimes decades, perfecting their craft before landing their breakout role, a rare few burst onto the scene with debut performances that leave a lasting impression on the film industry. The past decade has featured great roles from up-and-coming stars, and it’s remarkable just how many instant classics have featured first-time performers.

Some of the best acting of recent times has come from newcomers in their very first film. Whether that’s intense dramas, hilarious satires, or spooky horror movies, all of these actors delivered great work with very little experience and proved that there is no shortage of raw talent in cinema today.

Florence Pugh In The Falling (2014)

While Florence Pugh gained widespread acclaim for powerful performances in movies like Lady Macbeth and Midsommar, her talents were on full display in her acting debut, The Falling. Appearing opposite Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams, this British period drama explored the experience of teen students at a strict English girls’ school as a tragedy unfolded.

Pugh brought intensity to her role as Abbie Mortimer and was even nominated for the BFI London Film Festival Best British Newcomer Award. The Falling stands as a thought-provoking exploration of friendship and hysteria that was elevated by strong acting performances from all involved.

Sasha Lane In American Honey (2016)

American Honey was a powerful road movie starring Sasha Lane as a young girl named Star who flees her troubled home to run off with a traveling sales crew. As an unconventional take on classic coming-of-age themes, Lane gained widespread acclaim for channeling a unique taste of Americana through a millennial lens.

With Star having fallen under the spell of a charismatic older man named Jake (Shia LaBeouf), American Honey stood out as a raw exploration of the lines between freedom, rebellion, and exploitation. As an extraordinary debut, the success of American Honey saw Lane later join the Marvel Cinematic Universe as she appeared in the Disney+ series Loki.

Yalitza Aparicio In Roma (2018)

One of the most extraordinary debuts of recent years that doesn’t get nearly enough attention is Yalitza Aparicio in Roma. Set in 1970s Mexico, Aparicio starred as the family maid Cleo in a story that taps into the complex experiences of an upper-middle-class household while quietly exposing the deep social inequalities of its era.

Aparicio received an Academy Award nomination for her powerful performance in Roma, which became one of the most talked-about movies of 2019. With writer-director Alfonso Cuarón delivering some of his very best work, Roma stood out as an intimate exploration of the grand poignancy of everyday life and ordinary struggles.

Roman Griffin Davis In Jojo Rabbit (2019)

It’s not easy to lead a film at any age, let alone at just 12 years old, like Roman Griffin Davis was in Jojo Rabbit. Having gained the role over more than 1,000 hopeful auditionees, Davis proved himself the perfect candidate to bring Taika Waititi’s satirical WWII comedy to life.

Davis played the title role in Jojo Rabbit, which followed the experiences of a 10-year-old Hitler Youth member whose imaginary friend was a wacky version of Adolf Hitler. This is the kind of material that could have been offensive if not handled incredibly well, and Davis brought emotion, humanity, and humor to his role.

Felix Kammerer In All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

It’s always a risky endeavor when filmmakers try to remake classic movies, and the original 1930 version of All Quiet on the Western Front is about as iconic as it gets. Despite being nearly a century old, Lew Ayres’s original performance as Paul Bäumer has remained as harrowing and impressive as ever, meaning Felix Kammerer had a lot to live up to.

Thankfully, the Austrian star Kammerer managed to excel in his acting debut, bringing a level of emotional intensity to the role that captured the power of Ayres’s performance while adding something new. All Quiet on the Western Front stands as one of the greatest war movies of the 2020s and was elevated by Kammerer’s outstanding performance.

Cooper Hoffman In Licorice Pizza (2021)

One of Hollywood’s greatest losses came with the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman in 2014. Known for his incredible collaborations with director Paul Thomas Anderson, film lovers got a glimpse of his legacy renewed as Cooper Hoffman has stepped into the spotlight, carrying forward his father’s talent with a quietly powerful debut in Anderson’s Licorice Pizza.

While Cooper’s striking resemblance to his father made for sentimental viewing, it was his performance that showcased him as a worthy successor to his dad. Cooper’s career has gone from strength to strength in the years since, as he recently gave a standout performance in the 2025 adaptation of Stephen King’s The Long Walk.

Dominic Sessa In The Holdovers (2023)

The Holdovers managed to achieve something very few festive films can manage, as it immediately stood out as a Christmas classic that’s sure to become an annual viewing for countless households in the years to come. While Paul Giamatti as the curmudgeonly Paul Hunham was great, it was Dominic Sessa in his acting debut that gave the film its heart.

Sessa delivered a breakout performance as Angus Tully, a rebellious student stranded at boarding school over Christmas in 1970. What began as a portrait of a defiant troublemaker evolved into a deeply affecting study of a lonely, wounded boy yearning for connection, showcasing Sessa’s remarkable depth and emotional range in his first screen role.

Anya Taylor-Joy In The Witch (2015)

In roles like The Queen’s Gambit and Furiosa, Anya Taylor-Joy has built up a reputation as one of the most exciting up-and-coming actors working today. With an impressive resume already behind her, it’s remarkable how well her unique talents emerged fully formed in the modern classic horror film The Witch.

Taylor-Joy was just 18 years old when filming The Witch and managed to deliver a performance that will go down in horror history for its haunting intensity and quiet vulnerability. The way Taylor-Joy captured a slow descent into paranoia and madness highlighted a maturity well beyond her years.

Jacob Tremblay In Room (2015)

While Jacob Tremblay had some very small roles in film and television prior, it was his performance as a child born in captivity in Room that brought him to mainstream attention. As the five-year-old son, Jack Newsome, Tremblay captured the harrowing realities of not understanding any concept of existence outside of the four walls which were unknowingly his prison.

The way that Room mimicked real-life scenarios, such as the Josef Fritzl case, only added to the intensity of this performance as Tremblay embodied both the innocence and resilience of an abused child. While Brie Larson rightfully won an Oscar for her performance as Jack’s mother, the fact that Tremblay wasn’t even nominated represents a grave oversight by the Academy.

Frankie Corio In Aftersun (2022)

The gut-wrenching emotional power of Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun owes much to Frankie Corio’s astonishing debut as 11-year-old Sophie Patterson. As the film follows an older Sophie reflecting on a childhood holiday with her father, Corio’s honest, heartfelt performance perfectly captured the innocence and quiet heartbreak of a child sensing more than she can comprehend.

While Paul Mescal gave a fantastic Oscar-nominated performance as the troubled father Calum, it was Corio who acted as Aftersun’s emotional anchor as she brought an authenticity, intensity, and emotionality to this harrowing exploration of love and loss. There have been plenty of great debuts over the past decade, but Corio’s performance was truly something special.