1. Christopher Abbott
Think you never need to see another cancer drama? Or another portrait of a dissolute Manhattan hipster in self-destructive freefall? Just try averting your eyes from Abbott as he figuratively peels back layer upon layer of skin to expose his character’s panic in this thorny pas de deux with an equally riveting Cynthia Nixon as his dying mother. — David Rooney
2. Zac Efron
Having reaped unexpected raves for 2014's knockabout Neighbors, the High School Musical dreamboat exuded genuine movie-star charisma in Max Joseph's sun-dappled Boogie Nights homage. And while the picture's box-office returns didn't exactly pump up the volume, this 28-year-old Tyrone Power clone increasingly ranks among the most exciting American actors of his generation. — Neil Young
3. Idris Elba
In his multi-layered performance as Commandant, the charismatic leader of a battalion of child soldiers fighting a bloody African civil war, Elba manages to convey both fatherly warmth and sadistic, sexually twisted evil. This is the diabolical flipside of Elba’s Mandela portrayal, with just a hint of Brando’s Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. — Stephen Dalton
4. Rooney Mara
5. Ben Mendelsohn
6. Bel Powley
7. Geza Rohrig
8. Jason Segel
9. Maggie Smith
10. Kristen Stewart
11. Mya Taylor
12. Alicia Vikander
