For the 11th year running, the Casting Guild of Australia has turned the spotlight onto ten young local talents who are already making a place for themselves on the world stage.
This year, the body has named Clare Hughes, Ioane Sa’ula, Joseph Zada, Lily LaTorre, Roxie Mohebbi, Stacy Clausen, Tanzyn Crawford, Tharanya Tharan, Xavier Molyneux and Zoe Phillips as CGA Rising Stars of 2025.
Clare Hughes graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 2022 and was immediately cast in a lead role for ABC’s TV adaptation of “Ladies in Black,” before starring in season two of “Ten Pound Poms,” also for the ABC.
Ioane Sa’ula is a Samoan-Australian actor born in Griffith, set to lead the upcoming series “The F Ward” on Stan, as well as the final series of the popular Netflix series “Heartbreak High” and the upcoming second season of “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” for Apple TV+. He’s previously starred in TV series like “Bump” and “Last King of the Cross,” and film appearances in “The Fall Guy” and “The Deb.”
Joseph Zada is set to lead the upcoming “The Hunger Games” prequel “Sunrise on the Reaping” as a young Hamish Abernathy, a role previously played by Woody Harrelson. Lily LaTorre recently starred in the lead role of the beloved book adaptation “Runt,” as well as “Rebuilding,” “Run Rabbit Run” and “The Clearing.”
Roxie Mohebbi has starred in series produced by ABC, Stan, BBC and Netflix and is set to star in two upcoming series, Binge’s limited series “Run” and Stan’s “He Had It Coming.” Stacy Clausen is starring in as-of-yet unannounced feature films for Netflix, Sony and Causeway Films, but won a Logie for his performance in the 2023 series “Crazy Fun Park.”
Tanzyn Crawford has a blend of Australian and international roles already under her belt, having led “Swift Street” on SBS alongside Cliff Curtis, and a role in the upcoming HBO series “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”
Tharanya Tharn is set to star in Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming “Voltron” film, and also boasts credits in series for ABC, Paramount+ and Stan. Xavier Molyneux debuted in “Take My Hand” on Netflix, before appearing in “Neighbours” and the upcoming Amazon MGM Studios historical epic “Bloodaxe.” And finally, Zoe Phillips will star in Netflix’s adaptation of “East of Eden” and a titular role in “My Sister Charlotte.”
Previous names on the CGA Rising Stars list include Milly Alcock (“House of the Dragon”), Eliza Scanlan (“Little Women”), Katherine Langford (“13 Reasons Why”), Zoe Terakes (“Talk to Me”), Olivia De-Jonge (“Elvis”), James Majoos (“Heartbreak High”) and Alexander England (“The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart”).
Each actor will feature in a ten-day series on CGA’s Instagram page in interviews with Australian casting directors before the official awards ceremony in Melbourne on Friday, November 21.