Sex Education and Whitney Houston biopic stars nominated for BAFTA Rising Star Award
Public voting is now open.
BAFTA has announced the nominations for the annual EE Rising Star Award. This year’s nominees include stars of Sex Education as well as the Whitney Houston biopic, I Wanna Dance with Somebody.
Announced on Tuesday (17 January) the nominees will find out who has won at the BAFTA Awards on Sunday 19 February. The public can now vote for who they think should win.
Sex Education‘s Emma Mackey and Aimee Lou Wood are among the nominees. Both have starred in all three seasons of the popular Netflix series about a fictional high school and the students’ shenanigans.
Alongside them is Naomi Ackie, who plays the ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’ singer. The film sees the singer’s decades-long friendship and relationship with Robyn Crawford brought to the big screen.
Speaking to Attitude ahead of the film’s release in December 2022, Ackie said: “It deserves to be told. So, to be honest with you, if that wasn’t in the script, I don’t think I would have done the project because it feels like continuing a false narrative that doesn’t feel truthful.”
Also nominated this year is Sheila Atim, who was recently seen in The Woman King. She starred alongside Oscar-winner Viola Davis and previous BAFTA EE Rising Star winner, Lashanna Lynch.
Rounding off the nominations this year is Peaky Blinders star, Daryl McCormack. He also starred opposite Emma Thompson in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.
Speaking to Vanity Fair about his Leo Grande role last June, McCormack said he imagined his character, a sex worker, was queer.
Previous winners of the BAFTA EE Rising Star award include Black Panther‘s Letitia Wright and Spiderman: No Way Home‘s Tom Holland.
The Award has been running since 2005 and according to the voting page, “honours an emerging actor or actress who has demonstrated exceptional talent and ambition and has begun to capture the imagination of the British public.”
The winner of the EE Rising Star Award will be announced on Sunday 19 February.BBC One will be airing the BAFTA ceremony. Voting is open here.