How to Become (and Stay) a Movie Star in 2026

One of Hollywood’s favorite subjects to pontificate on over business lunches — landing somewhere between the latest layoffs and who should really be cast as the next James Bond — is the state of the movie star. Where to find them? How to make them? Do they even still matter?

In our annual Next Gen issue — which celebrates the future leaders of the entertainment industry, offscreen and on — The Hollywood Reporter has been doing our part to answer these questions, identifying a new crop of stars yearly. To compile this list, we trust our own instincts, certainly, but also survey executives, creatives and producers about the talent who excites them. This is how we tapped Sydney Sweeney well before her Euphoria fame and Glen Powell years ahead of his Top Gun ascent. More recently, we featured David Jonsson, who this summer stood on the Comic-Con stage taking on the mantle of Black Panther.

Since the beginning of the industry itself, Hollywood has always relied on a steady stream of youthful stars to put in front of the entertainment-imbibing masses, from Clara Bow to James Dean to the Brat Pack. The talent both dictated and fulfilled the needs of the current moment.

While Hollywood continues to slash content spends and M&A is laying waste to legacy studios, a potent combination of market forces and audience interests is working in favor of a certain type of young star. Despite all the turmoil, 2026 is actually a pretty good time to be an upwardly mobile talent. Call it entertainment’s very own K-curve.

But young stardom is achieved in 2026 in a much different way than even 10 years ago. In the late 2010s, IP begot stars, as was the case with Spider-Man initially catapulting the careers of Tom Holland and Zendaya in 2017. There was also a well-worn path where an auteur director could tap a talent, and then the film festival and awards circuit would cement their status, as was the case with Timothée Chalamet in Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name.

Then there was the prestige TV contingent. Anya Taylor-Joy had worked steadily in indie movies but only landed at the top of studio wish lists following the success of Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, while Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones had Hulu’s much-watched Normal People to thank for their rise.

As of late, a new class of stars has emerged, fully formed and ready for domination, from the recent spate of young adult series. Shows like The Summer I Turned Pretty, Sterling Point and Off Campus engendered fervent fan bases, building audiences for their leads seemingly overnight and creating immediate industry appeal for stars like Lola Tung and Stephen Kalyn, both a part of the Next Gen class of 2026. And while it may be difficult to remember a time before the omnipresence of Heated Rivalry, it has only been a year since that hockey show debuted, and leads Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams have leapfrogged to a level of fame that yields appearances everywhere from the Golden Globes to the Winter Olympics to a Monopoly Board.

As for film, Gen Z is readily responding to the siren call of Nicole Kidman and her pinstripe pantsuit. In the past year, zoomers became the most active moviegoing age demographic. It is a direct rebuke of the once-prevailing wisdom of theatergoing: Let the kids stream and leave the cinema to the adults. In the spring, Inde Navarrette, the breakout from Obsession, proved that stardom can still happen the old-fashioned way, one popcorn bucket at a time.

But once the fame has been achieved and the audience captured, the question quickly becomes: What’s next? Speaking to industry insiders working with and casting young talent, theatrical film is where these stars are advised to set their sights.

To even the most skeptical in the industry, theatrical films best prove staying power and earning potential. While a lead role in a streaming feature can up a talent’s quote, it is better to take a smaller role and be farther down the call sheet — ideally under battle-tested A-listers — on a film that is supported by a robust studio marketing department with a healthy P&A spend.

Talent must also now be extra cautious when signing on as the lead to a big-budget IP play. With superhero fatigue and interest among the sought-after Letterboxd generation in director-driven fare, a DC or Marvel lead is no longer a surefire king/queen maker, and not every toy-turned-tentpole is created equal (see: Supergirl and Masters of the Universe).

Young stars must show range. If you achieved success on a YA series, then a director-driven feature is a savvy next move. If you broke out in the latest hit horror, do not follow this with another thriller or else risk being pigeonholed by casting directors. At the same time, talent should not alienate those hard-won, recently amassed YA followings.

For the stars of 2026, the majority of this audience is likely made up of women.

Off Campus reached 36 million viewers worldwide in its first 12 days, according to Amazon, and is Prime Video’s most viewed series debut season of all time among the women 18-to-34 age demographic. After its finale, Warner Bros. Discovery said that Heated Rivalry earned 10.6 million U.S. viewers on HBO Max, with two-thirds of the audience being women.

Unfortunately, theatrical slates are not geared toward female audiences. Romantic comedies are seen as the domain of streamers, and the evidently requisite annual Colleen Hoover adaptation doesn’t offer an abundance of employment opportunities. Still, Off Campus‘ Belmont Cameli and Kalyn figured out a way to split the difference. Each will appear alongside the ever audience-conscious Sweeney in a studio film — Sony’s female-focused Sleepy Hollow adaptation from Barbie banner LuckyChap (Cameli) and Lionsgate’s sequel to The Housemaid (Kalyn).

Then there are the entertainment extracurriculars. Fashion and luxury brands are quicker on the draw to tap young talent into campaigns — wanting to capitalize on zeitgeisty names with big social footprints — than in previous eras.

In the short window since Storrie and Williams made their entrée into the collective public consciousness, Storrie landed a beauty contract with YSL and a jewelry ambassadorship with Tiffany & Co., while Williams fronted Balenciaga’s Summer 2026 campaign and was named a Bulgari brand ambassador. In the six months since Obsession‘s May release and $500 million box office haul, Navarrette has become the face of Gap’s Fall 2026 collection and David Yurman’s holiday campaign.

Plus, when you are making more money on a watch advertisement than you can expect from a paycheck on your sophomore feature, you can be choosier about where to place your time and talents. Just don’t wait too long.

It’s often said that Hollywood has been relying on the same 12 names for the past two to five decades, give or take, to get audiences into theaters. But when Tom Cruise can’t open a movie, then even the most risk-averse executives are looking for some new talent. On our list, they’ll find plenty to choose from.

Read more:

The Nine Fast-Rising Stars Everyone Is Fighting to Cast

Next Gen 2026: 35 Rising Hollywood Executives Under 35

This story appeared in the Nov. 12 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.