Orange Rising Star Award announced
Story by Jack Foley
GAEL Garcia Bernal, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, James McAvoy and Michelle Williams have been nominated for their outstanding performances and exceptional talent at the new Orange Rising Star Award, for The Orange British Academy Film Awards in 2006.
The winners will be announced at this year’s Orange British Academy Film Awards on February 19, 2006.
The Orange Rising Star Award, created in honour of casting director Mary Selway, celebrates a young actor or actress of any nationality who has demonstrated exceptional talent and ambition and who has already begun to capture the imagination of the British public as a film star in the making.
Unlike any other award at The Orange British Academy Film Awards, The Orange Rising Star Award winner will be chosen by the public.
The winner can be voted for via the Orange website www.orange.co.uk/bafta, or via text message:
To vote Gael Garcia Bernal text ORVOTE1 to 81800
To vote Michelle Williams text ORVOTE2 to 81800
To vote James McAvoy text ORVOTE3 to 81800
To vote Rachel McAdams text ORVOTE4 to 81800
To vote Chiwetel Ejiofor text ORVOTE5 to 81800
A jury consisting of key senior industry figures, including Cate Blanchett and director Sir Alan Parker CBE, selected the five nominees from a long list of recommendations put forward by the film industry and BAFTA members.
Nominees must have featured in a film that qualified for this year’s Orange British Academy Film Awards, being released in the UK in 2005 or early 2006.
The Orange Rising Star Award is not intended to be a pure beginner’s award, and nominees will generally have already appeared in several feature films in their career so far.
The award replaces The Orange Film of the Year Award, the only award in previous years that was voted for by the public.
The Orange Rising Star Award has been created in honour of Mary Selway, the highly respected BAFTA-winning casting director whose career spanned three decades and over 90 films before she died in 2004.
Mary helped launch the careers of many stars in films as varied as Gosford Park, Master & Commander, Notting Hill and Withnail & I, among countless others. She worked with notable directors such as Steven Spielberg, Roman Polanski, Clint Eastwood and Ridley Scott, contributing to the creation of some of the silver screen’s most memorable characters.