Every few years, a new generation of actors begin to make waves, catching the eye as they surface on Hollywood's ever-watchful radar. It's been just four years since Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were the new kids on the block; now they're veritable veterans, with Oscars and franchises under their belts. Such rapid growth in the industry is commonplace: already the likes of Heath Ledger, Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon and Thora Birch are no longer newcomers but old hands. So, here is our pick of this year's crop of stars-in-the-making:

Orlando Bloom
BORN: Canterbury, Kent, England
AGE: 25
After his near-silent but very deadly performance as the blonde archer Legolas in the first episode of Lord of the Rings, Orlando Bloom's career has lived up to his name. Aside from returning for the second and third parts of Jackson's epic, Bloom has already been seen in Ridley Scott's military drama Black Hawk Down - as the luckless rookie who falls from a helicopter and breaks his back (a fate that, coincidentally, the actor suffered himself several years back). Bloom realised he wanted to act from an early age - when he discovered that Superman was actually played by Christopher Reeve. Training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he made his screen debut in literary biopic. With delicate features, making him perfect casting for one of Tolkien's elves, he's often described as classically handsome; something, undoubtedly, that will have no bearing whatsoever when he is seen opposite Heath Ledger next year in Gregor Jordan's Ned Kelly story, The Kelly Gang.