AP Breakthrough Entertainers

The AP names its five Breakthrough Entertainers of 2023

This year’s five Associated Press Breakthrough Entertainers of the Year includes actors and musicians who flowered in 2023.

Ayo Edebiri is rising to the top, and she’s bringing her friends along

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Kris Bowers, quickly scoring the title of Hollywood’s favorite composer

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Reneé Rapp has always known what she wants — and isn’t afraid to say no

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Charles Melton thinks it’s good it took years to make it in Hollywood

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Lily Gladstone is standing on the cusp of history

Lily Gladstone is the anguished heart and compassionate conscience of Martin Scorsese’s Osage tragedy “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Sadie Sink smiles through drama

NEW YORK (AP) — When Sadie Sink joined the cast of “Stranger Things” in its second season, the then 14-year-old was already a fan of Netflix’s megahit show.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Tobe Nwigwe lives with purpose

NEW YORK (AP) — Tobe Nwigwe didn’t expect to be nominated for best new artist after he submitted his music to the Grammys, but he’s learned to embrace the unexpected.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Simone Ashley finds her voice

DETROIT (AP) — Simone Ashley was busy working and traveling when “Bridgerton” debuted on Netflix in December 2020 and was an immediate smash with viewers.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Iman Vellani, in marvelous form

DETROIT (AP) — With countless auditions, constant rejection and a calendar that’s often in flux, acting professionally can be anxiety-inducing.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Stephanie Hsu, now everywhere

NEW YORK (AP) — Dressed as Elvis and nonchalantly walking a pig on a leash, Stephanie Hsu made a memorable big screen impression this year.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Daryl McCormack’s grand year

Daryl McCormack is having a busy and rewarding year with appearances on TV in brutal period drama “Peaky Blinders” and dark comedy thriller “Bad Sisters.”

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Tenoch Huerta, a global hero

Audiences watching “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” have been greeted with an exhilarating new superhero in Namor, played by Tenoch Huerta.

The AP names its nine Breakthrough Entertainers of 2022

This year’s nine Associated Press’ Breakthrough Entertainers of the Year includes actors and musicians who flowered in 2022.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Joaquina Kalukango, in paradise

NEW YORK (AP) — Winning a Tony Award as best lead actress in a musical cemented Joaquina Kalukango’s place in the Broadway firmament.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Danielle Deadwyler goes all in

In Chinonye Chukwu’s “Till,” Danielle Deadwyler gives one of the most powerful and subtly expressive performances of the year.

The AP names its Breakthrough Entertainers of 2021

If 2020 was a pandemic-induced pause, 2021 was when things started up again, albeit slowly and timidly.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Sydney Sweeney is taking charge

LOS ANGELES (AP) — As she pursued her dream to become an actor, Sydney Sweeney’s family lost their home, her parents got divorced and she spent countless nights crying herself to sleep because of the constant rejection.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Anupam Tripathi of ‘Squid Game’

Anupam Tripathi said his grandfather sometimes read his palm and told him he’d be rich one day. He jokingly responded: “Where is my money!”

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Rauw Alejandro, higher level

He started off wanting to be a star soccer player, but instead Rauw Alejandro has become a breakout Latin music sensation.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Icy queen Saweetie ready to win

Bay Area-rapper Saweetie wants to win a Grammy for the West Coast. Nominated for best new artist and best rap song, the icy queen with the sharp lyrics has taken the rap game by storm and has been named one of the Associated Press’ Breakthrough Entertainers of 2021.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Adrienne Warren, Broadway baby

NEW YORK (AP) — Adrienne Warren had studiously avoided ever touching a Tony Award her entire stage career. Her motto was that she’d only hold one if she deserved to.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: ‘Shang-Chi’ star Simu Liu

NEW YORK (AP) — When little-known actor Simu Liu tweeted in 2014 asking Marvel for an Asian American superhero, he wasn’t vying for a job — he was venting at Hollywood’s status quo.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Rachel Zegler’s baptism by fire

In another timeline, Rachel Zegler would have had her breakthrough moment last December.

That was when Steven Spielberg’s rendition of “West Side Story” was supposed to open and introduce the world to the New Jersey high school student who responded to an open call on Twitter and beat out thousands for the part of Maria. But the pandemic had other plans.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: ‘Snowfall’ star Damson Idris

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Damson Idris transformed from his real life British-speaking Nigerian persona into a canny drug kingpin character with a West Coast accent on FX’s popular crime drama “Snowfall.”

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Finneas finds his lane in music

NEW YORK (AP) — Onstage, Finneas and Billie Eilish come across like a seasoned, veteran musical duo.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer Sarah Cooper: TikTok to Netflix

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The video couldn’t have been simpler: A woman in her apartment, lip-syncing audio of President Donald Trump as he expounded on possible coronavirus treatments.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer Yahya Abdul-Mateen II: Dreamer

NEW YORK (AP) — If Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was told nearly a decade ago that he’d trade in reading blueprints for movie scripts while he worked as a city planner in the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community, he’d start checking his watch.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Daisy Edgar-Jones helps connect

LONDON (AP) — When 22-year-old Daisy Edgar-Jones ditched her British accent for the dulcet Irish tones of Marianne in “Normal People,” the actor’s stardom hit a new trajectory.

AP Breakthrough Entertainer Anya Taylor-Joy living in Narnia

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a span of seven months this year alone, Anya Taylor-Joy played a meddling British brat in “Emma,” a Russian mutant with teleportation powers in the latest “X-Men” film, and an American orphan who turns out to be a chess phenom who can checkmate grown men by the time she’s 8 in

The AP names its Breakthrough Entertainers of 2020

Making a breakthrough in pop culture during any year is hard. Doing it during a global pandemic is an entirely different thing.

PHOTOS: Kaitlyn Dever

AP Breakthrough Entertainers 2017

For the first time, The Associated Press is spotlighting key entertainers who had that breakthrough moment in 2017.

PHOTO GALLERY: Kumail Nanjiani

PHOTO GALLERY: SZA