FACES TO WATCH 2009

MALIN AKERMAN

GETTING IN ON THE ACTION

The tag line for March film “Watchmen” is “Who watches the Watchmen?”

But the better question may be: “Who could keep their eyes off of Malin Akerman?” The superhero epic has a glowing blue man who grows to skyscraper size, but its most memorable image may be Akerman’s Silk Spectre tearing through a mob of convicts during a fiery prison riot -- all while in stiletto heels.

The 30-year-old is more than a curvy action figure; she caught the eye of moviegoers in “27 Dresses,” showed ribald bravery playing opposite Ben Stiller in “The Heartbreak Kid” remake and won praise in HBO’s “The Comeback.” “The thing that’s cool about Malin is that she not only has great comedic timing but she is a talented dramatic actor as well,” says “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder. “She is both beautiful and fearless.” Akerman goes back to comedy this summer in “The Proposal” with Sandra Bullock and in October in “Couples Retreat” with Vince Vaughan.

-- Geoff Boucher

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SAM WORTHINGTON

‘AVATAR’ STAR IS CAMERON-READY

It’s a tall order: Star for Hollywood’s record-setting director (James Cameron, in his first feature since “Titanic”) in a 3-D, hybrid live action-computer animated movie, playing somebody paralyzed from the waist down. Sam Worthington, the Australian actor at the center of Cameron’s “Avatar,” wasn’t content with just that heroic effort: The 32-year-old also stars in “Terminator Salvation” with Christian Bale and opposite Keira Knightley in “Last Night.”

“He’d never done a big film of any kind,” says Cameron, who says he was captivated by Worthington’s on-set determination. “He’s just game for anything -- he just walks in and says, ‘Throw something at me,’ ” Cameron says. “What you get is the unexpected -- a quality that is really real.”

Given that “Avatar” is a highly stylized fantasy, Cameron says it’s essential that his lead actor be simultaneously approachable and superhuman. “He has that quality of being a guy you’d want to have a beer with,” Cameron says, “and he ultimately becomes a leader who transforms the world.”

-- John Horn

CAREY MULLIGAN

‘EDUCATION’ HAS A FAST LEARNER

Carey Mulligan more than held her own opposite Kristin Scott Thomas and Peter Sarsgaard in the hit Broadway production of “The Seagull.” Now the British actor is poised to make an equally impressive run on the big screen, with four Mulligan films set for release in 2009.

After a small role in 2005’s “Pride & Prejudice,” Mulligan was cast as the lead in “An Education,” a coming-of-age drama set in 1960s London that will premiere in January’s Sundance Film Festival. Mulligan, 23, also has a part in Pierce Brosnan’s “The Greatest” (also at Sundance), plays opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in “Brothers” and will turn up alongside Johnny Depp in “Public Enemies.”

“Carey is in every scene -- and her development is amazing,” Lone Sherfig, the director of “An Education,” says of the movie based on a Nick Hornby screenplay. “She is very technical, but she never shows the audience that she knows what the director or writer wants. She has a wide, wide range. And there’s a big difference between being right for the part and being able to carry a film.”

-- John Horn

CHRIS PINE

CRUCIAL TO THE ENTERPRISE

This summer Chris Pine is going where only one man has gone before. As Capt. James T. Kirk in the J.J. Abrams “Star Trek” revival, the 28-year-old faces one of the year’s biggest acting challenges -- how can you portray Kirk without sliding into a William Shatner imitation?

The early footage suggests that the L.A. native and third-generation Hollywood actor has pulled it off with swagger and a twinkle in his eye, which is, well, very Kirk-like. “He’s delivered a real performance,” Abrams said, “and it was amazing to watch.”

Pine jumped off the screen in the 2006 hit-man extravaganza “Smokin’ Aces” and then starred with Alan Rickman in the wine-country tale “Bottle Shock.” He was set to star opposite George Clooney in the cinematic adaptation of author James Ellroy’s noir tale “White Jazz” before he beamed up to the “Trek” franchise. Abrams says he hopes his “Trek” flies as a franchise, suggesting Pine may be on more than a five-year mission as Kirk.

-- Geoff Boucher