The 2026 Movie Star Rankings: 35 Under 35

The Big Picture

The Ringer

Tv & Film

4.2 • 5.9K Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2026

⏱️ 127 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sean and Amanda reconvene the movie star committee to rank the 35 most important movie stars under the age of 35. Before diving in, they declare that we’re officially back following the domestic box office hitting a post-pandemic high (0:48). Then, they make the case for why movie stars still matter (7:56); share their main takeaways from their new list, including the biggest winners and losers (22:54); and rank Hollywood’s biggest young actors based on a blend of what a star has done already, what they have on their slate next, and what they could turn into in the future (47:58). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Producer: Jack Sanders Production Support: Lucas Cavanagh Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the Personal Price Plan®️. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there®️. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Sean Fennacy.
0:16.7	I'm Amanda Dobbin.
0:17.6	And this is the Big Picture, a conversation show about movie stars.
0:20.9	It's been two full years since our last 35 under 35 movie star ranking. This is our fifth time at it. We started these rankings during the pandemic and have revisited them every couple of years. Stars age out. New names come in. The two biggest movies in this year's Oscar race featured new discoveries. Hollywood can still do that work and the most anticipated movies
0:39.3	of the year, Dune Part 3, The Odyssey,
0:41.3	Spider-Man brand-new day are loaded with young
0:43.4	stars. Let's take stock of them
0:45.4	right after this.
0:48.0	Okay, how did you feel about
0:49.3	my strategizing on the
0:51.3	schedule for the aftermath
0:53.0	of Project Hail Mary, the drama, the re-boom
0:58.4	of movies with this list that we're doing today.
1:01.0	It's wise.
1:01.7	It's also in anticipation of a spring to summer that is quite loaded, culminating in the Odyssey,
1:09.9	which I do think is sort of the one movie
1:13.9	litmus test of are you a movie star or not, is did you get cast in The Odyssey?
1:18.5	Yeah, weirdly, you don't need, we don't need stars to sell the Odyssey, and yet they're all in the
1:23.6	movie.
1:24.0	Right, but it's not about selling the movie.
1:26.1	It's about selling themselves.
1:27.1	It's like you really, you need at this point, not just the Nolan, but the Odyssey stamp of approval
	...

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