Zooey Deschanel

Age: 22

Unique Selling Point: Corners the market in small-town-girl-chafing-against small-town-restrictions roles; does a pout to rival Avril Lavigne.

Where You Might Have Seen Her: Played the young hero's smart-talking sister in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous.

Where You'll See Her Next: Serially steals scenes from Jennifer Aniston in small-town drama The Good Girl, as a disaffected shop girl prone to disparaging PA announcements. Also stars in Abandon, a missing-person drama, with Katie Holmes and Benjamin Bratt.

They say: 'Zooey's a natural. She's real smart. And they terrifying thing is, she's just getting started.' (Jennifer Aniston)

She says: 'People say: "Oh yeah, jobs for the boys." I wish. You've got to fight even harder with a family like mine.'

Incidentally: She's alluding to the fact that her family are in the business; her dad Caleb is a cinematographer, and her mum Mary Jo and sister Emily are actresses. She's named after J.D. Salinger's novel Franny and Zooey. Oh, and she plays ukelele in a band named If All The Stars Were Pretty Babies. No, really.