FILM: The Rising Stars BAFTA Forgot

BAFTA have done the unthinkable: following the outrage which greeted the Beeb's all-male Sports Personality of the Year shortlist, they've decided to go ahead and publish an all-male shortlist for their Rising Star award. While we can't redraft the list of nominees, we can show them the error of their ways:

Jessica Chastain

Let's start with the blindingly obvious. Chastain starred in no less than SEVEN films in 2011, a lot of them good, one of them excellent (Malick's The Tree of Life). If you didn't see her in something and weren't captivated by her radiant and scene-stealing performances, like BAFTA, you probably weren't paying much attention.  

Jennifer Lawrence

Lawrence's star is certainly on the rise. She excelled in the haunting Winter's Bone (2010), followed it up with X Men First Class in 2011, along with two well-received independent projects, and takes the lead in hotly-anticipated teen dystopian flick The Hunger Games in 2012. One to watch, even if BAFTA didn't spot her.

Rooney Mara

Rooney Mara has made a job of impressing Hollywood in 2011. When it came to choosing an actress for the much sought after part of Lisabeth Salander for his remake of The Girl of the Dragon Tattoo, Fincher passed over a host of world-famous actresses vying for the part in favour of Mara. Terence Malick was equally impressed, casting her alongside Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett for 2013's Lawless. BAFTA clearly overlooked what Fincher and Malick couldn't.

Andrea Riseborough

Riseborough is by now a familiar face to British television audiences, starring in political comedy Party Animals and playing a young pre-Streep Margaret Thatcher in The Road to Finchley. In 2011 she began her film career in earnest, following an acclaimed performance in Brighton Rock in 2010 with Owen Sheer's penned historical drama Resistance alongside Micheal Sheen and, most recently, a convincing portrayl of Wallis Simpson in Madonna's entertaining but flawed W.E. With three further projects scheduled for 2012, perhaps BAFTA are sitting tight for another year before giving Riseborough the recognition she deserves.

Did we, BAFTA-style, fail to mention a well-deserving female star on the rise? Tell us in the comments below.

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