Britain has always had a great tradition of turning out great actresses stars such as Helen Mirren and Judi Dench have graced the big screen for years turning in award winning performances.
In recent years a new breed led by Kate Winslet and, more recently, Keira Knightley have carried on this fine tradition... but now there is a new generation.
- Carey Mulligan - to say that 2010 has been a big year for Mulligan would be a little bit of an understatement as she burst onto the scene in a big with An Education.
And while she may have made her big screen debut in Pride and Prejudice several years ago it was with the Lone Scherfig that she really grabbed everyone’s attention.
The coming of age story, which was set in the 1960s, saw her pick up her first Best Actress Oscar nomination, losing out to Sandra Bullock, as well as rave reviews.
With Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, which was released earlier this month, she enjoyed major box office success as she teamed up with Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf and filmmaker Oliver Stone.
She will next be seen on the big screen in the New Year with Never Let Me Go, an adaptation of the Kazuo Ishiguro novel of the same name.
The movie, which is directed by Mark Romanek and also stars Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield, is already attracting Oscar attention.
Mulligan is currently filming Drive alongside Ryan Gosling and she has been linked to an adaptation of Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach.
- Hayley Atwell - while Atwell has already enjoyed big screen success in recent years 2011 could be her big breakthrough year.
Next year she is all set to take on the role of Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger, which stars Chris Evans in the title role.
The movie is the first big budget blockbuster for the actress and it looks set to be one of the must see movies of next summer.
It’s been quiet on the movie front this year for Atwell as she has moved into television with The Pillars of the Earth, which is currently being shown on channel four.
The actress has been linked to the Laureate, the latest film from William Nunez.
- Sally Hawkins - is an actress who already has a Golden Globe under her belt but Happy Go Lucky was, sadly, a movie that went largely unnoticed in the UK.
But she won over the critics in American with her performance as the upbeat Poppy in the Mike Leigh directed movie.
She has since gone on to appear in It’s A Wonderful Afterlife and Happy Ever Afters but it is her recent performance in Made In Dagenham that has caught everyone’s attention.
Hawkins takes on the role of Rita O’Grady as Nigel Cole brought the real life story of the 1968 strike at the Ford car plant to the big screen.
And the work has flooded in for the actress as she has already completed work on Never Let Me Go, Jane Eyre and Love Birds.
She has also been linked to Down and Dirty Pictures, which also stars Andy Serkis and Matthew Perry, and The Roaring Girl.
- Jamie Winstone - not content with having one actor in the family Jamie has followed in her father’s footsteps.
She made her big screen debut back in 2004 when she appeared in Bullet Boy before going onto Kidulthood, totally Frank and Vincent.
She moved genres in 2008 to horror with Donkey Punch before turning her hand to television in the critically acclaimed drama Five Daughters.
But she was back on the big screen earlier this autumn with Made In Dagenham alongside Sally Hawkins.
She has already completed work on Eve and Anuvahood and is all set to start filming Elfie Hopkins and the Gammons.
- Alice Eve - much like Jamie Winstone actress Alice Eve has followed her father, Trevor Eve, into the acting business.
And she has enjoyed a successful year with She’s Out Of My League and Sex and the City 2. She has already completed work on The Decoy Bride and is currently filming ATM.
She has also been linked to The Raven, which is set to star John Cusack as Edgar Allen Poe.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Hayley Atwell Carey Mulligan