Zoe Saldaña! Daniel Craig! Nicole Kidman! After all the glamorous film festivals, here are the stars in the running for next year’s Academy Awards

Some might say it’s too early to think about the 2025 Academy Awards, which officially air on March 2 of next year. But the conclusion of film festivals at Cannes, Venice, Telluride and Toronto — and another Emmy Awards — can only mean one thing: the race for Oscar gold is officially on.

The coming awards season will be an especially starry one, considering the highly anticipated return of previous Oscar winners Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman and Adrien Brody, as well as A-listers overdue for a nomination, like Demi Moore, Daniel Craig and Zoe Saldaña. But watch out for the up-and-comers, including festival breakouts like Mikey Madison and Danielle Deadwyler, whose inspiring screen performances could make them awards season standouts.

Read on for our early predictions of which actors could — and should — be in the running for that coveted little gold man.

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The Women of ‘Emilia Perez’

(Left-right:) Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Karla Sofía Gascón in ‘Emilia Perez’.Shanna Besson/PAGE 114 – WHY NOT PRODUCTIONS/Netflix

Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz kicked off early Oscar buzz with a historic win at May’s Cannes Film Festival. The four Emilia Perez stars collectively received the Jury Prize for best actress, making the Spanish-born Gascón the first transgender performer to win a major award at the French fest.

The bold, Mexico-set musical from French writer-director Jacques Audiard then titillated Toronto festival audiences, who voted the film the runner-up for their People’s Choice Award. Academy prognosticators often look to that prize for clues of the race to come: previous winners, from last year’s American Fiction to Nomadland and La La Land, have gone on to earn nominations in top Oscar categories, including best picture.

Emilia Perez , which costars Édgar Ramírez and Mark Ivanir, will screen in U.S. theaters on Nov. 1 before its streaming debut on Netflix Nov. 13, putting it in prime position for awards attention.

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Adrien Brody

(Left-right:) Alessandro Nivola and Adrien Brody in ‘The Brutalist’.A24/Lol Crawley

Brody, 51, could make a triumphant return to the Oscars stage over 20 years after his win for 2002’s The Pianist. His role in Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist had Venice Film Festival audiences and critics raving despite the movie’s whopping runtime of three hours and 35 minutes.

A24’s historical drama film follows Brody’s László Tóth, a Hungarian-born Jewish architect emigrating to the U.S. after the devastation of WWII. Still awaiting a release date, it costars Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones, Alessandro Nivola and Joe Alwyn.

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Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig in ‘Queer’.A24

Fans of Craig, 56, may be surprised to learn he has never made the Academy’s shortlist. Could that change thanks to his heralded work in Luca Guadagnino’s Venice competitor Queer?

Adapted from William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novel of the same name, Queer finds the former James Bond playing an American expat in Mexico who establishes a romantic connection with a younger man — played by Outer Banks star Drew Starkey, whose sex scenes with Craig are already generating buzz for the A24 film with a to-be-determined release.

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Danielle Deadwyler

Danielle Deadwyler in ‘The Piano Lesson’.Courtesy of Netflix

The controversy surrounding the Oscars’ lack of recognition for Deadwyler, 42, for her work as Mamie Till-Mobley in 2022’s Till could propel voters to jump at the chance to honor her undeniable talent in her latest film. She’s sensational once again, this time as Berniece Charles, a matriarch and pianist contending with a haunted family heirloom in Malcolm Washington’s adaptation of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, in theaters Nov. 8 and streaming on Netflix Nov. 22. The film drew acclaim following its premieres at Telluride and Toronto.

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Colman Domingo

Colman Domingo in ‘Sing Sing’.A24

A24’s prison drama Sing Sing has technically been a 2025 awards contender since it premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival — but a rapturous reception following its July 12 theatrical release guarantees it’s in the running.

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Ralph Fiennes

Ralph Fiennes in ‘Conclave’.Courtesy of Focus Features

After decades of memorable performances, Fiennes, 61, remains Oscar-less, a fact that may shock voters enough to put him atop their shortlists. They’ll have two chances: Edward Berger’s Conclave (in theaters Oct. 25), in which Fiennes plays a cardinal choosing a successor to the Pope; and the British star’s reunion with The English Patient costar Juliette Binoche in Uberto Pasolini’s Odyssey adaptation The Return (in theaters Dec. 6). For the latter, The Daily Beast critic Nick Schager called Fiennes “one of cinema’s most versatile and adventurous actors.”

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Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix in ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’.Niko Tavernise

Todd Phillips’ sequel to Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscar-winning Joker (in theaters Oct. 4) has been destined for awards conversation since its announcement – even more so once Gaga, 38, was announced to play popular D.C. comics character Harley Quinn.

Following an acting nod and songwriting win for 2018’s A Star Is Born, it’s easy to imagine the pop superstar back at the Academy Awards. That’s especially true after strong reviews for the star from critics at the Venice Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter‘s David Rooney wrote, “Gaga is a compelling live-wire presence, splitting the difference between affinity and obsession.”

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Brian Tyree Henry

Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry in ‘The Fire Inside’.Amazon MGM Studios

It wouldn’t be awards season without a sports drama based on real-life athletes, and this year there are two: Jharrel Jerome and Jennifer Lopez’s Unstoppable (in theaters Dec. 6) and Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry’s The Fire Inside (in theaters Dec. 25).

The latter film, from Oscar-winning writer Barry Jenkins and Oscar-winning cinematographer-turned-director Rachel Morrison, stars Destiny, 29, as Olympian boxer Claressa Shields and Henry, 42, as her coach Jason Crutchfield. Following his supporting nod for 2022’s Causeway, the charismatic Henry has Oscar momentum.

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Tom Hiddleston

Tom Hiddleston in ‘The Life Of Chuck’.TIFF

Life of Chuck has fresh swagger after taking the top prize at the Toronto International Film Festival. Does the surprise win mean the widely respected Hiddleston, 43, will get his first shot at Oscar gold? He stars — and pulls off a seven-minute dance sequence — in the titular role of Mike Flanagan’s Toronto winner The Life of Chuck, adapted from a Stephen King novella. The movie (which does not yet have a distributor or release date) costars the British star’s Marvel castmates Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan, as well as Annalise Basso and Mark Hamill.

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Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie in ‘Maria’.Pablo Larraín

Is Hollywood ready for the grand return of Jolie, 49, to the awards race? A strong campaign seems in the cards for the Girl, Interrupted Oscar winner, whose Maria Callas drama Maria (to be released by Netflix) earned raves in Venice and Telluride. The film is the third high-profile biopic in a row from Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín, who previously directed Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart to Oscar-nominated performances as Jackie Kennedy and Princess Diana, respectively.

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Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson in ‘Babygirl’.A24

Kidman, 57, has become one of Hollywood’s most prolific and hardworking actress-producers; few others have earned an acting prize at the Venice Film Festival in the same week as the debut of a hot new streaming miniseries (The Perfect Couple, now on Netflix).

A24’s erotic thriller Babygirl (in theaters Dec. 25), from director Halina Reijn, stars Kidman as a CEO engaging in a dangerous affair with an intern played by Harris Dickinson. Considering Kidman is a five-time nominee and one-time Academy Award winner, the 2025 Oscar ceremony looks likely for the Australian star.

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Mikey Madison

Mark Eydelshteyn and Mikey Madison in ‘Anora’.NEON

While this year’s Oscar race looks to be dominated by previous winners and big-name stars, the 25-year-old Madison is making a case for fresh faces. The Scream star’s work in the titular role of Anora (in theaters Oct. 18) included learning Russian and exotic dancing, and was helmed by filmmaker Sean Baker, who after Tangerine, The Florida Project and Red Rocket is no stranger to awards season. Anora won this year’s prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes, minting it an automatic contender.

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Demi Moore

Demi Moore in ‘The Substance’.Courtesy of MUBI

Coming off her turn in Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, Moore, 61, is earning some of her best reviews ever for The Substance (in theaters Sept. 20), which premiered at Cannes and won writer-director Coralie Fargeat a best screenplay honor. The story of a celebrity using a black-market drug to create a younger version of herself certainly isn’t your typical Academy fare, but that’s exactly how the Oscar-less Moore could shake up the awards race this fall.

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Saoirse Ronan

Saoirse Ronan in ‘The Outrun’.Sony Pictures Classics

Ronan, 30, has been an Oscar darling since becoming one of the youngest people to earn four nods in the awards’ history. Because the Irish-American actress has — inconceivably! — never won, voters are likely to welcome a chance to honor her impressive body of work.

Saoirse Ronan and Jack Lowden Step Out for First Red Carpet Date Night as a Married Couple at 2024 Emmys

While not much is yet known about her work in Steve McQueen’s WWII drama Blitz, which will open the BFI London Film Festival (and hit theaters Nov. 1 and Apple TV+ Nov. 22), the raves are already pouring in for director Nora Fingscheidt’s adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s memoir The Outrun (in theaters Oct. 4 from Sony Pictures Classics). Ronan’s gut-wrenching performance as a recovering alcoholic in the film has been on prognosticators’ lists since the drama’s Sundance premiere in January.

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Sebastian Stan

(Left-right:) Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve and Adam Pearson in ‘A Different Man’.Courtesy of A24

Stan, 42, is a tour de force in two separate films this fall. The Apprentice (in theaters Oct. 11) is an already controversial Donald Trump biopic, depicting the former president (Stan) during rise in the 1970s and ’80s. Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man (in theaters Sept. 20) tells a far different tale, focusing on a man (Stan) with neurofibromatosis whose life becomes enmeshed with another man (Adam Pearson) with the same condition. Both challenging indie roles could potentially launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe favorite into the Oscar race.

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Jeremy Strong

(Left-right:) Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan in ‘The Apprentice’.APPRENTICE PRODUCTIONS ONTARIO INC. / PROFILE PRODUCTIONS 2 APS / TAILORED FILMS LTD. 2023

With Stan as Trump and Maria Bakalova as his wife Ivana in The Apprentice, it’s Strong, 45, who some say steals the show as the real estate mogul’s mentor: infamous New York prosecutor Roy Cohn. Directed by Ali Abbasi and written by Gabriel Sherman, the film has been making headlines since its Cannes premiere. Fresh off Emmy and Tony wins, Strong is in prime position to jump into the Oscar fray.