Yahoo! Movies has named some of the biggest breakout stars of 2014 and the list contains some very familiar faces.
Popular fandom actors were a huge factor in the 2014 list of Breakout Stars from Yahoo! Movies. The popular entertainment site showed lots of love to fandom favorties Ansel Elgort (DIVERGENT, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS), Dylan O’Brien (THE MAZE RUNNER), Theo James (DIVERGENT), and Dave Bautista (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY)!
Ansel Elgort
This 20-year-old actor made teen fans swoon, sob, and follow him en masse on Twitter as the charming cancer survivor (then, spoiler!, un-survivor) Gus in ‘TFiOS.’ Add to that a role in another YA blockbuster ‘Divergent,’ and a meaty, meditative part in ‘Men, Women & Children,’ and Elgort was this year’s go-to drama boy. “Now I have all these people supporting me,” he told Yahoo Movies in October. “No matter what I do creatively, I’ll have an audience, and people will care about what I do. So many opportunities have opened for me.”
Dylan O’Brien
With ‘Maze Runner’ hauling in $338 million worldwide and guaranteeing he’ll be back for a sequel, 23-year-old O’Brien rose to the leading-man ranks and solidified his spot as the new YA star on the block. “I see my face and I can’t believe I was that skinny,” O’Brien told USA Today in September of his breakout movie role. “Clearly I was sprinting in a hot box for eight weeks straight.”
Theo James
For his first leading role on the big screen, the 30-year-old British actor could have done a whole lot worse. In the inaugural ‘Divergent’ movie, based on the popular YA book trilogy, the Theo James succeeded in pleasing fans with his stoic portrayal and smoldering good looks as Four — which is good news, considering he’ll be playing that role until 2017. “I’m definitely a joker,” James revealed of his on-set demeanor to InStyle in February. “It’s important to find the fun in these kind of films or it can become a bit heavy. So there were a lot of pranks and water bottles on set.
Dave Bautista
By far the elder statesman on this year’s list, the 45-year-old pro wrestler moved from the ring to the silver screen with impressive ease as the muscle-bound enforcer Drax in ‘Guardians.’ “There was so much improv [during the shoot]… I really learned to let my inhibitions go,” he said of his steep learning curve on set