A Salute to Rising Stars

It’s that time again to salute those actresses who are on the move, actresses who deserve a little extra attention for their latest work, those actresses who are rising stars. Landing that crucial role in a TV movie or guest appearance in a successful show or film makes all the difference for aspiring actors.

Let’s take a look at the next group of actresses who viewers should keep their eyes on:

Nicole Lecky

Nicole Lecky is a 30-something quadruple threat. She’s a series creator, a writer, an actress and a singer-songwriter. She grew up in England, where as a child she was “into everything artsy.” She loved to dance and sing. She wanted to do drama, and she “was drawing a lot.” She excelled in choir and singing lessons, signing with a theatrical agent by the time she was 18, which is when she joined a youth theatre. She followed that by going to King’s College for a short time before heading to drama school instead.

Throughout her school years she was always writing whether it was short stories, plays and poems. Nicole eventually ended up writing for the British soap opera EastEnders spin-off series E20 when she was still a teenager.

When she left drama school she turned her focus back to writing, which years later led to her 2019 one-woman show called Superhoe, which was the genesis of her newly minted BBC series Mood where she is the series creator, writer (of all six episodes), the lead actress and the singer-songwriter for the musical that is heavily featured in the musical drama that airs on BBC America here in the States.

Nicole has also appeared in the British series Doctors and Casualty and she appeared in the streaming series Sense8 [among other projects].

Nicole can be followed on Instagram @thelecky.

Mood debuted on BBC America on November 6, and will air new episodes each week on Sunday nights at 10 PM.

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Jenna Ortega

Jenna Ortega is a 20-year old actress who grew up in Coachella Valley in California in a big Mexican-Puerto Rican family. She has been acting since she was a child, appearing as young Jane in The CW comedy-drama Jane the Virgin as well as her role in the Disney Channel series Stuck in the Middle and providing her voice to Princess Isabel in the animated Disney Channel series Elena of Avalor.

More recently she has transitioned to more mainstream projects like the Netflix thriller series You and the Netflix movies Yes Day and The Babysitter: Killer Queen. She also had a role in the latest reboot of the popular Scream movie. But it will be her upcoming lead role in the Netflix series Wednesday (based on Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family) that will turn heads.

In addition to her acting, Jenna is a philanthropist, a brand ambassador for Neutrogena and is a supporter of Pride Over Prejudice, a campaign that promotes acceptance towards the LGBT community.

Jenna can be followed on Instagram @jennaortega.

Wednesday will debut online on Netflix on November 23.