# Empire Award for Best Newcomer

The Empire Award for Best Newcomer (formerly known as Best Debut) was an Empire Award presented annually by the British film magazine Empire to honor a director with a breakthrough film or an actor who has delivered a breakthrough performance while working within the film industry. The Empire Award for Best Newcomer was first introduced at the 1st Empire Awards ceremony in 1996 with Bryan Singer receiving the award for his direction of The Usual Suspects and last presented at the 16th Empire Awards ceremony in 2011. Winners were voted by the readers of Empire magazine.
Since its inception, the award has been given to two male directors, eight actors, seven actresses and one film crew. Gemma Arterton was the only individual to be nominated two times, at the 13th and 14th Empire Awards ceremonies in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Twice two awards were handed out at the same year. The first time was at the 5th Empire Awards ceremony in 2000 where there was a tie between Carrie-Anne Moss and the crew of East Is East and the second time was at the 12th Empire Awards ceremony in 2007 where the award was split to Best Male and Best Female newcomers. Chloë Grace Moretz was the last winner in this category for her roles in Kick-Ass and Let Me In.

## Award history

The award was named "Best Debut" between the 1st Empire Awards in 1996 and the 7th Empire Awards in 2002 and was changed to "Best Newcomer". In 2000, 2007 and 2012, the category was split to "Best Male Newcomer" and "Best Female Newcomer".

## Winners and nominees

In the list below, winners are listed first in boldface, followed by the other nominees. The number of the ceremony (1st, 2nd, etc.) appears in parentheses after the awards year, linked to the article (if any) on that ceremony.

### 1990s

| Year | Actor | Film |
| 1996 (1st) | Bryan Singer | The Usual Suspects |
| 1997 (2nd) | Ewen Bremner | Trainspotting |
| 1998 (3rd) | Gary Oldman | Nil by Mouth |
| 1999 (4th) | Vinnie Jones | Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels |
| 1999 (4th) | Cate Blanchett | Elizabeth |
| 1999 (4th) | Charlize Theron | The Devil's Advocate |
| 1999 (4th) | Denise Richards | Starship Troopers |
| 1999 (4th) | Shane Meadows | Twenty Four Seven |

### 2000s

| Year | Actor | Film |
| 2000 (5th) | Carrie-Anne Moss | The Matrix |
| 2000 (5th) | The crew of | East Is East |
| 2000 (5th) | Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick | The Blair Witch Project |
| 2000 (5th) | Haley Joel Osment | The Sixth Sense |
| 2000 (5th) | Jewel | Ride with the Devil |
| 2000 (5th) | Tim Roth | The War Zone |
| 2001 (6th) | Jamie Bell | Billy Elliot |
| 2001 (6th) | Nick Park and Peter Lord | Chicken Run |
| 2001 (6th) | Sam Mendes | American Beauty |
| 2001 (6th) | Sofia Coppola | The Virgin Suicides |
| 2001 (6th) | Spike Jonze | Being John Malkovich |
| 2002 (7th) | Orlando Bloom | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring |
| 2002 (7th) | Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring |
| 2002 (7th) | Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
| 2002 (7th) | Keira Knightley | The Hole |
| 2002 (7th) | Sharon Maguire | Bridget Jones's Diary |
| 2003 (8th) | Rosamund Pike | Die Another Day |
| 2003 (8th) | Cillian Murphy | 28 Days Later |
| 2003 (8th) | Neil Marshall | Dog Soldiers |
| 2003 (8th) | Martin Compston | Sweet Sixteen |
| 2003 (8th) | Parminder Nagra | Bend It Like Beckham |
| 2004 (9th) | Martine McCutcheon | Love Actually |
| 2004 (9th) | Andrew Lincoln | Love Actually |
| 2004 (9th) | Eli Roth | Cabin Fever |
| 2004 (9th) | Fenella Woolgar | Bright Young Things |
| 2004 (9th) | Mackenzie Crook | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl |
| 2005 (10th) | Freddie Highmore | Finding Neverland |
| 2005 (10th) | Bryce Dallas Howard | The Village |
| 2005 (10th) | Matthew Vaughn | Layer Cake |
| 2005 (10th) | Sienna Miller | Alfie and Layer Cake |
| 2005 (10th) | Zach Braff | Garden State |
| 2006 (11th) | Kelly Reilly | Mrs Henderson Presents |
| 2006 (11th) | Georgie Henley | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe |
| 2006 (11th) | James McAvoy | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe |
| 2006 (11th) | Leo Gregory | Stoned |
| 2006 (11th) | Nathan Fillion | Serenity |
| 2007 (12th) | Brandon Routh | Superman Returns |
| 2007 (12th) | Alex Pettyfer | Stormbreaker |
| 2007 (12th) | Dominic Cooper | Starter for 10 and The History Boys |
| 2007 (12th) | Paul Dano | Little Miss Sunshine |
| 2007 (12th) | Rian Johnson | Brick |
| 2007 (12th) | Eva Green | Casino Royale |
| 2007 (12th) | Abigail Breslin | Little Miss Sunshine |
| 2007 (12th) | Elliot Page | Hard Candy |
| 2007 (12th) | Rebecca Hall | Starter for 10 and The Prestige |
| 2007 (12th) | Vera Farmiga | The Departed |
| 2008 (13th) | Sam Riley | Control |
| 2008 (13th) | Gemma Arterton | St Trinian's |
| 2008 (13th) | Saoirse Ronan | Atonement |
| 2008 (13th) | Shia LaBeouf | Transformers |
| 2008 (13th) | Thomas Turgoose | This Is England |
| 2009 (14th) | Gemma Arterton | |
| 2009 (14th) | Hayley Atwell | |
| 2009 (14th) | Jim Sturgess | |
| 2009 (14th) | Robert Pattinson | |
| 2009 (14th) | Toby Kebbell | |

### 2010s

| Year | Actor | Film |
| 2010 (15th) | Aaron Johnson | Nowhere Boy |
| 2010 (15th) | Anna Kendrick | The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Up in the Air |
| 2010 (15th) | Carey Mulligan | An Education |
| 2010 (15th) | Katie Jarvis | Fish Tank |
| 2010 (15th) | Sharlto Copley | District 9 |
| 2011 (16th) | Chloë Grace Moretz | Kick-Ass and Let Me In |
| 2011 (16th) | Gareth Edwards | Monsters |
| 2011 (16th) | Jaden Smith | The Karate Kid |
| 2011 (16th) | Jennifer Lawrence | Winter's Bone |
| 2011 (16th) | Mia Wasikowska | Alice in Wonderland |

## Gender and role superlatives

| Role | Wins | Nominations |
| Male Directors | 2 | 14 (+2) |
| Female Directors | 0 | 2 |
| Actors | 8 | 26 |
| Actresses | 7 | 29 |
| Groups | 1 | 3 |