Sinners and One Battle After Another actors nominated for EE Rising Star award at BAFTA

The future of cinema Archie Madekwe, Chase Infiniti, Miles Caton, Posy Sterling and Robert Aramayo were revealed as this year’s Rising Star nominees, the only category at the EE BAFTA Film Awards voted for by the British public. They follow in the footsteps of Florence Pugh, Tom Hardy and James McAvoy.

Stars of movie hits Sinners and One Battle After Another have been nominated for the prestigious 2026 EE Rising Star Award.

Archie Madekwe, Chase Infiniti, Miles Caton, Posy Sterling and Robert Aramayo were revealed as this year’s Rising Star nominees, the only category at the EE BAFTA Film Awards voted for by the British public.

The event has a rich history and just getting a nomination has offered leg-ups for many household names of stage and screen over the years including Florence Pugh, Tom Hardy, Tom Holland, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Emma Mackey, Lashana Lynch and James McAvoy.

Already on the road to A-list status, Chase Infiniti has won plaudits for her role as Willa in the film One Battle After Another alongside Leonardo DiCaprio. Meanwhile Miles Caton is a breakout American actor known for his film debut in the 2025 supernatural horror film directed by Ryan Coogler. He first rose to fame as a backing singer for stadium star H.E.R.

Three of the nominees attended the launch at the Savoy hotel in London this week including Robert Aramayo, a familiar face from TV hits Game Of Thrones, Rings Of Power and his BAFTA tipped movie, I Swear about a real life Tourette’s sufferer. Asked how he reacted when he learned of his nomination Rob said: “I told my parents and there was a lot of crying and jumping.”

Archie Madekwe is probably best known for his role in Saltburn but his latest psychological thriller Lurker is making waves on both sides of the Atlantic.

“The film is about a young man Matthew who meets this musical Idol and the way he manipulates into his inner circle and the push and power between the two of them,” said Archie. “The thing that stands out (from making it) is I was promised there would be no musical element, then I made an entire album and had to play live shows which was the scariest thing.”

Posy Sterling might be the favourite to land the Rising Star prize thanks to her incredible performance in Lollipop.

“When I found out my agent called me and said ‘where are you?’ And I replied ‘on top of a mountain’,” recalled Posy when she learned of the nomination but had to keep it secret. “I was with two friends when I found out, cried then had to not say anything on the walk down…feeling on top of the world.”

Lollipop has earned a 100% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes movie reviews site, with huge praise going to Posy: “I play Molly Brown in Lolipop a single mum who just been released from prison and can’t get her children back unless she’s got somewhere to live. That’s a Catch 22 a lot of women face coming out of prison. She meets a childhood friend and they decide to take destiny into their own hands.”

Working with kids on the role was eye opening for Posy and the little ones stayed in character even before they started shooting: “We we went on a bonding day and took the children to Hackney city farm looking at the chickens, it was really sweet. Then I decided to climb over this fence and Luke, who is six, said, ‘mum stop you’ll end up going back to prison!’ I stopped and looked out at all these people watching me.”

Mia McKenna-Bruce, who won the 2024 Rising Star Award was also on hand to offer the nominees a few tips ahead of her next role as Maureen “Mo” Starkey (née Cox), the first wife of Ringo Starr, in Sam Mendes’ upcoming quartet of Beatles biopics.

Voting is now open via ee.co.uk/BAFTA and across EE social channels, with audiences also able to cast their vote on WhatsApp , marking a world first for a public film award. The winner will be crowned at the EE BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday 22 February.

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