We’ve seen quite a few young actresses be nominated in recent years, if we just look at the last two years we have Abigail Breslin for her supporting role in Little Miss Sunshine, Saoirse Ronan for her supporting role in Atonement and Ellen Page for her starring role in Juno. We will however not really look at them seeing they didn’t actually win and because they were nominated not that long ago. So what it will do to their career in the long run isn’t really known yet.

So lets take a look at a young actress who won an Oscar not that long ago. Anna Paquin won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her part in The Piano in 1994, she was only eleven years old making her the second youngest winner ever behind Tatum O’Neal. So what happened for Anna Paquin after the Piano?

In all reality she isn’t doing half bad, being part of major movie franchises like X-Men. Movies like She’s All That and Finding Forrester didn’t do too shabby either, there however is one thing about her biggest movie successes after The Piano. She won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and that’s the thing she does in most of her movies. She’s rarely the sole female lead in a movie.

Right now she has a couple of smaller movie projects going but her most notable role of the year is the lead role in the vampire themed series True Blood on HBO. Despite it also getting some cheap publicity due to several nude love scenes on the show it also gets good critical reviews. In fact Anna has just been nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama. Quite a mouthful it shows that the Oscar might be her biggest prize to date she’s hardly doing bad. It’s not like she completely disappeared off the map after winning it.

The thing is just that she can never live up to it. When you talk to someone about Anna Paquin it’s usually “who?”, a lot of people don’t know who she is until you tell them that it’s the girl who won an Oscar when she was eleven years old. That’s now almost fifteen years ago, almost seems like forever when you consider that Abigail Breslin wasn’t even born yet when Anna won her Oscar. So she’ll always be the young Oscar winner even though most actors would kill to have a career like Anna since then.

For the coming Oscars there is only one teenager in contention for an award; as mentioned before on this site Miley Cyrus is a contender for the Oscar for Best Original Song. She wrote the song I Thought I Lost You together with Jeffrey Steele for the Disney animated movie Bolt. She already has the Critics Choice Award and Golden Globe nomination so an Oscar nomination wouldn’t be a very big surprise. By some media outlets she’s even being pinned as the favorite for the award.

So if Miley was to win an Oscar in February, would she be known as a young Oscar winner as well? I don’t think so, you can’t even compare the situations of Anna and Miley. For one it’s for a completely different award, even though it’s an Oscar the ones for acting are held in higher regard by the general public than the ones for music. Not to mention that before Anna won an Oscar no one knew who she was, if you don’t know Miley yet you must have been living under a rock.

Abigail Breslin didn’t win an award two years ago but right now people still see her as an Oscar nominee. Thing just is that none of the roles she played so far were able to live up to that Oscar nomination. Of course Abigail is only twelve years old so she still has plenty of time to form her career. In ten years people might still remember that she was nominated but if she had won it would have been dragged along much further.

So is an Oscar at a young age something bad? Not really, it might be a stigma somewhat at times but it doesn’t mean people don’t have a career afterwards. An Oscar might give someone a buzz for a while but in the end it all depends on the career choices they make. Even if they’re at a lower level than Oscar nominated movies that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Like Miley Cyrus said about her Golden Globe nomination that she doesn’t do things because she wants an award, she does it because she loves it; awards are just little extras that keep her going.

Lets start with the bad examples of last year, it’s always best to start with the bad news. LLrocks.com, Lindsay Lohan’s official site still hasn’t received a single update. A last update on the 27th February 2005 was bad enough last year now it’s even worse, I can’t even imagine how little they care about her web presence. Yes of course she has more important things to take care off, she has to try and rebuild her career but a good web presence could be a sign to people that she really is serious about it. Though the Lohan family doesn’t take the internet serious anyway, they’re trying to launch Aliana Lohan’s career but her site is probably even worse than Lindsay’s, no information there whatsoever.

Another site that hasn’t received a single update in the past year is Abigail Breslin’s site. Just like last year it still mentions that she’s nominated for an Academy Award, this time last year we already know she didn’t win it. Looking at the website of Sofia Vassilieva who’s now Abigails co-star in My Sister’s Keeper it’s even worse. Not a single update in about seven years on a website for a girl that’s just fifteen. So her site hasn’t been updated for pretty much half her life, not the mention the very old school internet background music on the site. They don’t have to be active on the internet themselves, that might cause more trouble than it’s worth. But they should remember that they have a fanbase that does go online, they care and don’t like things like this. A good web presence shows that a celebrity cares about their fans, of course it doesn’t mean that Sofa and Abigail don’t but it’s not that big an effort.

To illustrate that I can give the example of the official websites for Kay and Danielle Panabaker. Both their sites are basically the same, a very simple design, they just have different graphics. The core design is identical, they’re sisters so why not let someone design two sites in one go. The sites aren’t overflowing with information, news or pictures but they are up to date. At least it shows that they are aware of their web presence, they’re both in college and have acting careers on the side so I can understand that they don’t waste too much time on updating a website.

The Disney people like Ashley Tisdale and Miley Cyrus still have their things in order as well. Not really sites that are overflowing with things but they’re up to date. Though in Miley’s case there of course is also Mileyworld.com where you have to pay to join (I haven’t been able to see it for myself but people that have joined seem to like the regular updates in videos and pictures, just forgetting the whole concert ticket deal for now). That site receives daily updates but Mileyworld also have a staff of people taking care of that. I’m not going to discuss all other pages again though, most of them pretty much stayed the same, some received regular updates and others less regular.

But we should also come to the positive news at some point. Emma Watson finally launched an official website last year; though she might have had one before but if she did it wasn’t noticeable. Her new site is a sleek flash design but unlike a lot of flash sites it also contains a lot of information. There is a sort of diary on there but it really doesn’t add a lot, Emma doesn’t really posts that often and if she does the messages are quite short. But the news section on the site is more up to date than any other official website linked on starletlinks.com.

Sadly Emma’s website is the only real positive change that is to be found, for the rest the sites either didn’t really change that much and just received some updates. That besides the large number of sites that didn’t receive any updates at all. Especially the lack of updates on diaries is annoying, having a diary section suggests that at some point that celebrity was planning on keeping the site up to date but at some point just lost interest or got too busy. In that case they should just shut down that section of the website, just leave static content. It’s better to give the impression of an up to date website than a website that looks like it has been left all alone on the internet and no one is taking care of it. I’m not a master web designer but I could do a better job than what has been done on some of those sites. Lets hope that there will be an improvement one year from now. I also hope that more of them will make official websites, most of them still don’t.

I have to make clear that I support the writers (I’m trying to be one myself so I have to really), though I also understand the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers). The main point of argument is the compensation for online content, so when they’ve made a TV show or movie and it’s also streamed on the internet. Of course the writers want to be paid for this but no one knows how the internet market will develop.

It’s a time where developments go really quickly, you can’t actually know how much money the internet content will make over the years. So it’s understandable that the studios were very hesitant, though pretty much paying them nothing at all is a bad idea when going into talks. At some times the strike got a bit silly though, there were some AMPTP and WGA mud slinging matches.

The real victims right now aren’t the big actors though, they have plenty of money to live of, it’s the production crews that are suffering. Studios responded to the strike by firing the “common” man working in their studios. So in that regard it will take some time until the industry recovers, some people have left to get other job because they need to eat. That’s not really what this site is about though, so lets take a look at what consequence it has had on our featured actresses in particular.

The strike pretty much meant that production halted on movie projects and TV shows. The damage to movies is actually limited because it sometimes takes years before a movie gets from script to actually finished movie. Except for projects that have shorter production times, we’re talking popular projects that require a fast production time before it becomes unpopular again. In our case there’s only one clear victim: Disney.

Shooting for High School Musical 3 and the Hannah Montana Movie should almost have started already but they won’t. Simple reason is that their scripts aren’t done yet, they’re in the rough draft stage and they still need some work. It will probably mean that High School Musical 3 will be delayed until late 2008 while it’s very likely that the Hannah Montana Movie will be delayed until 2009. They don’t want both movies in theatres at the same time so even if they did rush them they’ll have a hard time fitting them into 2008 without them interfering with each other.

So in that regard it’s only a problem for people like Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale and other High School Musical Stars. For other movie projects our actresses are featured in it’s not really a big problem. They’re more long term projects and the ones that are planned for this year are already done or are already in the shooting stage so those should be released on time.

For TV it’s a bigger problem, the production time on TV shows is a lot shorter. Several TV shows have already run out of episodes, some even weeks after the strike started. Main victim of that was probably Kaley Cuoco when The Big Bang Theory stopped production just weeks into the strike (Not that it’s a show that would be missed on TV, I’m not too fond of it but that’s beside the point). Who knows when that will go back into production, it will be one very short season that much is certain.

Again Disney has to deal with it, production on a lot of their Disney Channel shows stopped. They seem to be trying to stretch their seasons until they have new episodes, new episodes of Hannah Montana have slowed to under one new episode per month. They’re done shooting season two but they probably want to stretch it until they can start production on season three (and the movie). Not that Miley Cyrus has had much trouble with it, she simply extended her concert tour by a month. Co-star Emily Osment has been keeping busy shooting a TV movie for Disney, so they’ve been doing fine. Though Hannah Montana fans are upset with the lack of new episodes.

For some shows I don’t actually know how many shows they have on reserve, for example Medium. It didn’t start its season until 2008, they probably produced most of the shows in advance but not all. Sofia Vassilieva has once stated that they get their scripts about two weeks before shooting so the time between writing ans production is very short. That also means that once the strike is over they can go back into production quite quickly again, depending on whether they can get all their support staff back.

One of the other most notable victims is Heroes, they’ve only put out eleven episodes this season. They planned to do the season in two halves which probably will save them, seeing they can go into a third season without real continuity problems. It does mean that people like Hayden Panettiere haven’t been really busy so far, even though she signed on to a new movie project, that just hasn’t started shooting yet.

That’s another thing with the strike, pilot season is coming up as they call it. It’s when production companies make pilot episodes of new shows, based on those episodes they decide whether to take a show into their programming or not. The main problem right now is; there are no pilot scripts so there’s nothing to shoot. It might very well mean that there will be no to very few new TV shows for the 2008-2009 season. It’s also good news for people that fear their favourite show might be cancelled though, the studios will be more likely to renew existing shows.

So that’s good news for people that enjoy shows like Medium (Sofia Vassilieva) and One Tree Hill (Sophia Bush and others); they’ve been renewed on a season to season bases in recent years. The strike might have improved their chances of renewal considerably. It also means that a lot of the crappy new shows (somehow all new sitcoms that came along this TV season were horrible to complete crap) might get renewed as well. So it might very well be a very boring 2008-2009 TV season, just a good thing that the movies coming out this and next year haven’t been influenced a lot.

I just hope that something like this doesn’t happen again, a lot of behind the scenes people have suffered from the strike and will probably need some time to recover from it. Three months without income is a disaster for any family with a normal income. Good thing the DGA (Directors Guild of America) has already agreed on a deal so they won’t be striking. However the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) is coming to an end and they have similar issues with the AMPTP as the WGA had, so lets just hope it doesn’t lead to another strike.

I’ll only be addressing the top ten this week, next week I’ll address the bottom ten; I won’t bother discussing everyone in between.

10. Megan Fox
Her performance in Transformers might not have been an acting challenge she still made a name for herself doing it. She already has the sequel to Transformers lined up for 2009 and she doesn’t seem to be out of work for 2008 so she’s pretty much working her way up in Hollywood. Of course this isn’t a guarantee for long term success, she hasn’t really proven herself in roles that are more challenging acting wise.

9. Sophia Bush
Best known for her role in the struggling the CW drama One Tree Hill but besides that she also has a steady stream of movies coming out. Though none of these movies might be gems of cinematography she still seems to be getting quite popular with the younger scene. This isn’t a guarantee for a very long career but she won’t be out of work for a while.

8. Emma Watson
Or should we call her Hermione Granger? Not anymore, she started doing other roles outside of the Harry Potter universe. She’s starting small which is a wise choice.

7. Natalie Portman
She’s getting out of the starlet age though I’m still mentioning her here. 2007 might not have been her most successful year to date but she’s still moving along. She does the roles she wants and doesn’t just go for the big paycheck. She’s slowly building towards the point where she’ll always be assured of work in Hollywood. For 2008 we of course have The Other Boleyn Girl to look forward to where she’s co-starring with Scarlett Johansson.

6. Abigail Breslin
After her success year of 2006 she only had one movie coming out this year. Because of her work in 2006 she managed to get Academy Award and BAFTA Award nominations in 2007. I personally don’t look at awards that much but big movie studios do so it sure is good for a career. 2008 might very well become Abigail’s year with four movies lined up with some impressive casts.

5. Keira Knightley
Pirates of the Caribbean is her obvious success of 2007, her main failure is the movie Silk which simply flopped. However she has announced that she wouldn’t do blockbusters anymore; because of that she ranks high with me. She does she wants and puts her art before money.

4. AnnaSophia Robb
This seeding might seem strange to some people looking at some the people that are ranked lower. Her main success Bridge of Terabithia pissed off a lot of fantasy fans because it pretended to be something it isn’t it still showed that the girl can act. The Reaping is pretty similar in that regard though it wasn’t as successful; she did keep up with Oscar winner Hilary Swank. She also has a decent line-up for 2008 so I see a bright future for her.

3. America Ferrera
To be completely honest I’ve only seen her in one movie and I’ve never seen a single episode of Ugly Betty. Still 2007 is her year with the massive success of Ugly Betty in the USA and abroad, it has made her name in Hollywood. Not the mention the numerous awards she received for that role. In 2008 she will continue with Ugly Betty of course and she’ll also star in The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2; the last thing is the main reason why she only ranks number three. I can’t see that movie having major success.

2. Ellen Page
Pretty much a blank page (no pun intended) to the big audience; if people would know her it’s mainly for her roles in X-Men: The Last Stand and in Hard Candy though I doubt a lot of people could name her in that case. 2007 however brought her Juno a movie that’s loved by critics all around and is certain to win awards (it already won a couple actually). So in that regard 2007 has been her real breakthrough; 2008 will bring her a mix of smaller and bigger budget movies so her name will probably be spread even more.

1. Miley Cyrus
No shocker here; you couldn’t ignore Miley in 2007 it’s simply impossible. Even though her acting abilities are questionable at times (she’s young, she still has a lot to learn) she still manages to have the most successful show in Disney Channel history. Just a TV show doesn’t make her number one of course, the fact that she had another number one album in 2007 and the most successful concert tour of the year besides that makes her number one. She also became the youngest artist ever to have two number one albums withing one year; both of her albums are still moving strong in the Billboard charts. In 2008 we’ll see more Hannah Montana, the Hannah Montana Movie and probably one or two more albums. She still has to venture outside of the Disney family but it’s probably just a matter of time before we see her in more grown up movie productions. She has to venture into other movie productions actually, otherwise she’ll be Hannah Montana forever.