Ariana DeBose

Theatre came first, and it shows in everything she does on camera. DeBose built a Broadway career in ensembles and supporting roles before film paid attention, picked up a Tony nomination along the way, and the filmed record of that period includes Company and an ensemble credit in Hamilton.

Anita in West Side Story is the performance the rest of the career is measured against, and reasonably so. She has an Academy Award, a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for supporting actress, plus two Primetime Emmy nominations and a place on Time's list of the hundred most influential people in 2022. What she brings to that part is not simply dancing ability, which is a given, but the way the dancing carries the argument: her Anita is furious and funny in the same number, and the film's political weight sits on her rather than on the leads.

The run since then has been busy and uneven, and the honest reading is that the material has not matched the performer. Wish gave her a Disney lead in voice, I.S.S. put her in a tense chamber thriller, and Argylle, Kraven the Hunter, House of Spoils and Love Hurts have taken her through action, horror and studio comedy without any of them finding the register West Side Story did. Television has treated her better in short bursts: Maya in Westworld, Emma Tate in Schmigadoon!, and Lucy Farinelli-Watson in Scarpetta. The stage instincts are intact; the right film role is still out there.