Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave.

Five up and coming actors were nominated for this year's EE Rising Star Award by the British Academy. The EE Rising Star nominees represent five actors and actresses who have “demonstrated exceptional talent, and are destined to be bright stars in the future of cinema.” The award is the only category voted for by the public at the EE British Academy Film Awards taking place February 16.

This year's five include Lupita Nyong'o who co-starred in NYFF51 feature 12 Years A Slave. Nyong'o received a Supporting Role Golden Globes nomination for her role in the film, in which she stars opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender. Also vying for Rising Star is French actress Léa Seydoux, who starred in Cannes Palme d'Or and NYFF premiere Blue Is The Warmest Color by Abdellatif Kechiche as well as Dane DeHaan who played opposite Daniel Radcliffe in John Krokidas' Kill Your Darlings, which played as a first-run film at Film Society at the end of 2013. He's nominated for the Breakthrough Award by the Golden Globes.

Previously known as the “Orange Rising Star” award, the prize will be given out for the 9th time next month. The award was created in honor of Mary Selway, the BAFTA-winning casting director whose career spanned three decades and over ninety films before passing away in 2004.

Voting is now open. The winner will be announced at the EE British Academy Film Awards on Sunday February 16.

BAFTA Rising Star nominees follow with information provided by the British Academy:

Dane Dehaan became one of the most talked-about young actors in Hollywood, thanks to his highly praised stage and television roles, including Jesse in HBO drama In Treatment. He gained more plaudits for his starring role in the camcorder superhero film Chronicle in 2012. Last year, he featured in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, starred opposite Ryan Gosling in The Place Beyond the Pines and DeHaan was recently seen in Kill Your Darlings opposite Daniel Radcliffe. Next summer, Dane will line up alongside Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, as Peter Parker’s old friend Harry Osborn.


John Krokidas' Kill Your Darlings.

George Mackay began his film career aged 8, when he landed the role of Curly in PJ Hogan’s Peter Pan. A series of impressive roles followed and in 2009, George earned nominations from the British Independent Film Awards and the Critics’ Circle Awards for his performance in Scott Hicks' The Boys Are Back. George featured in three acclaimed films released in a single month, in October 2013. He took the lead role in musical Sunshine on Leith; he played a tortured survivor in For Those in Peril for which he won a British Academy Scotland Award ; and he played Eddie in Kevin Macdonald’s apocalyptic tale How I Live Now.

Lupita Nyong'o was born in Mexico, raised in Kenya and educated in the USA, where she graduated from the Yale School of Drama's acting program. She made a stunning feature debut as Patsey, in Steve McQueen's unflinchingly brutal 12 Years a Slave. This breakthrough performance was honoured with the New Hollywood Award and helped to cement her place on Variety’s admired annual 10 Actors to Watch list. As well as acting, Lupita is also an award-winning film-maker. She wrote, directed, and produced In My Genes; a fascinating documentary about the treatment of Kenya’s often misunderstood albino population.

Will Poulter made his feature debut in the quirky British comedy Son of Rambow, where he gained critical acclaim and earned himself a nomination for most promising newcomer at the 2007 British Independent Film Awards. He has proved to be as comfortable with Hollywood A-listers as he is with small-budget Brit flicks. He recently starred alongside Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston in the outrageous We’re the Millers, and more recently took the lead in Dexter Fletcher’s gritty UK independent film, Wild Bill. This performance saw Will pick up a nomination for young British performer of the year at the London Critics’ Circle Awards.

Léa Seydoux is a young actress with an enviable array of accolades from French cinema and television. Now she’s gaining worldwide attention for her roles in high-profile international films, including Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood and Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris. She has recently taken on her first action role in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and played the lead character in Farewell My Queen – which went on to win the Louis Delluc Prize for best French film. This year, Léa shared the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival alongside director Abdellatif Kechiche and co-star Adele Exarchopoulos, for her intense and powerful performance in Blue is the Warmest Color.