Sarah Jones

AGE 30 HOMETOWN New York City HER BREAKOUT MOMENT This season's must-see stage show was Bridge & Tunnel, Jones' one-woman ode to the immigrant experience. She played a Pakistani poet, a Jewish grandma, and 12 more straight-from-the-melting-pot characters. LESSONS LEARNED FROM TOILING IN OBSCURITY Be flexible. ''I worked as a restaurant hostess — my job was to wear slinky clothes and make people feel inadequate. They said [in a dead-on Brit lilt], 'We mostly hire British girls,' so I spoke like this for four months.'' RUN, SARAH, RUN! ''When Bush won, I kept thinking, 'He can run a mile in seven minutes?' Now I'm obsessed with the treadmill. I see him, Cheney, and Condi Rice next to me, and I think, 'I'm gonna dust you!' It's motivation for Operation: Regime Change 2008.'' WHAT'S NEXT Thanks to over-the-moon reviews (and the aid of producer Meryl Streep), Bridge & Tunnel hits Broadway this spring.