Golden Globes welcome new crop of actresses

updated 5:35 p.m. ET Dec. 13, 2007

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - You’ve got your Tom Hanks, your Julia Roberts. Denzel and Clooney and Angelina. Even young actors like Ryan Gosling and Keira Knightley have already been there and done that.

But amid all those Hollywood stars who heard their names called during Thursday’s Golden Globe nominations — with “Atonement” receiving a leading seven — there emerged an intriguing crop of up-and-comers whose work this year turned them into overnight sensations.

They’ll be vying in an awards season that’s wide open — to the degree that Globe voters wound up picking seven dramatic picture nominees instead of the usual five because of a fifth-place tie in voting. Besides “Atonement,” up for the Jan. 13 prize will be “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood,” “American Gangster,” “Eastern Promises,” “The Great Debaters” and “Michael Clayton.”

In the musical/comedy category, the picture nominees were “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Across the Universe,” “Hairspray,” “Charlie Wilson’s War” and “Juno.”

Of course, you could look at the contenders during any awards season and find a combination of old and new. But there’s something about these performances that have a fresh appeal.

And the people responsible for them will never be the same:

—Nikki Blonsky, best actress in a comedy or musical for “Hairspray.” The curvy, diminutive Blonsky had dreamed of playing the irrepressible Tracy Turnblad from the first time she saw the John Waters musical on Broadway. She got her chance with this latest film version of “Hairspray,” singing and dancing opposite big-name stars John Travolta (also a nominee Thursday for his cross-dressing turn as her mother), Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah and Christopher Walken.

“Just think,” said “Hairspray” producer Craig Zadan. “She was in high school last year. For her to have an actress nomination is unbelievable.”

—Marion Cotillard, best actress in a comedy or musical for “La Vie En Rose.” If you saw the gorgeous French star opposite Russell Crowe in the romantic comedy “A Good Year,” you could not possibly imagine how she’d ever make us believe she could play Edith Piaf. She completely transformed herself to become the frail but feisty “Little Sparrow,” from her hair to her voice to her shuffling, hunched-over demeanor. Adding to the impressiveness of the performance is that she’s essentially playing three different parts through various stages of Piaf’s brief, doomed life.

—Amy Ryan, best supporting actress for “Gone Baby Gone.” Ryan had done years of TV and stage work — the two-time Tony nominee even played Stella Kowalski opposite John C. Reilly in “A Streetcar Named Desire” on Broadway — before earning raves as a drug-addicted mother whose daughter disappears. She’s fierce, selfish, makes questionable choices, but Ryan is so good she ultimately makes you sympathize with her.

“It is an honor, and to be lumped with these women, oh my God. I only dream to be considered in the likes of those. It’s wild,” Ryan told the AP after being nominated.

Next up for her: Clint Eastwood’s “The Changeling.” “I’m going to work at 8 a.m. with Mr. Clint Eastwood and Angelina Jolie,” she said. “So maybe Angelina and I will have a holler and a hoot together.”

—Saoirse Ronan, best supporting actress for “Atonement.” As the jealous kid sister whose false accusation sets the film’s fateful events in motion, this Irish 13-year-old left a haunting impression. She was totally self-possessed opposite her more seasoned co-stars, Knightley and James McAvoy. But she also dictated much of the movie’s tone: Romola Garai, who plays the part as an 18-year-old, and Vanessa Redgrave, who plays her as an aging writer, had to align their performances to stay in synch with hers.

“We’re all jumping around at the moment. It’s just fantastic,” Ronan said Thursday. “I’m working today, so I don’t know whether I’ll be able to celebrate, but we’ll probably have a nice dinner when we get home from work.”

—Amy Adams, best actress in a comedy or musical for “Enchanted.” Yes, Adams was just nominated for a supporting-actress Oscar two years ago for “Junebug,” but that was an indie comedy that the whole world didn’t exactly see. (She also played Ricky Bobby’s lady love in “Talladega Nights.”) As the unflagglingly optimistic Giselle, an archetypal Disney princess who goes from fairy-tale animation to the harsh realities of New York City, Adams absolutely dazzled. And the film exposed her to a much wider audience: “Enchanted” opened at No. 1 at the box office and is on its way to becoming a $100-million hit.

—Ellen Page, best actress in a comedy or musical for “Juno.” As a pregnant high school student, this fresh-faced Canadian was the kind of teenager we all wish we could have been: sweet, confident and frighteningly quick-witted. Page showed the same presence in the little-seen “Hard Candy,” but it was clear from the film’s debut on the fall festival circuit that this would make her a star.

Video   Golden Globe nominations Dec. 13: Entertainment Weekly's Dave Karger talks on TODAY about the nominations, which were announced on Thursday by stars Hayden Panettiere, Ryan Reynolds and Quentin Tarantino. Today Show Entertainment

And while we’re talking about “Juno” — and who hasn’t been lately? — it also earned a nomination for its script from Diablo Cody, the stripper-turned-screenwriter who has become as famous as the film itself.

“We all came together because Diablo Cody had written such an amazing script,” Page told AP Television. “People threw their hearts into it.”

Cody herself said she was “totally honored to be nominated.”

“You know, it was really weird,” she told the AP Thursday. “I couldn’t find CNN quickly enough, and (director) Jason Reitman called me, because we wanted to experience the awards together in real time, and that way we could share in our sorrow or our joy. And when they said my name, I just started shrieking like a little schoolgirl.”

Anyone can be overwhelmed during awards season — even one that’s overshadowed by the writers strike throwing the status of its ceremonies into doubt.

Despite receiving an Oscar nomination for 2006’s “Half Nelson,” Gosling was in awe of his competition for best actor in a musical or comedy at the Globes. Gosling, nominated as a social recluse living a fantasy romance with a life-sized doll in “Lars and the Real Girl,” joked that he wants to parlay his awards success into long-term friendships with fellow nominees such as Hanks and Johnny Depp.

“They’re all guys at some point or another I tried to sneak into restaurants they were in or parties, and now they’re stuck with me,” the 27-year-old said. “I’ve never met any of them. I’m a huge fan, and now they’ll have to deal with me. It would be rude not to.”

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