JAMES MCAVOY
Age 29
Last Seen In Atonement and Penelope
Career Box Office $1 billion
Asking Price $2 million
Not only has this Scottish actor grabbed coveted Oscar-bait roles opposite Keira Knightley (Atonement) and Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland), but his upcoming actioner Wanted, costarring Angelina Jolie, may cement him as one of the few serious actors who can headline a high-octane adventure. ''I can see him using Matt Damon as a career model, doing both franchise pictures as well as the big Oscar pictures,'' says one agent. ''And he seems to want that.'' McAvoy's neither rugged nor pretty, but is able to play both, and he looks like a man rather than a boy, which makes him ideal for romantic dramas. (It also helps that he's able to warp his heavy brogue into a persuasive American accent.) ''He's not a conventional leading man,'' says one studio exec, but ''he's going to have a long, interesting career.'' Need further proof? The Web was buzzing with the rumor (false, as it turned out) that McAvoy was cast as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit, directed by Guillermo del Toro. In the meantime, McAvoy needs to step back from the quirky indie roles and begin to build a solid fan base, committing to smart commercial fare instead.
NEXT UP FOR JAMES MCAVOY Wanted, followed by The Last Station, a biopic about Leo Tolstoy.
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