From Luca Guadagnino’s latest muse to a new prog-rock sensation. Discover the actors, writers, directors and artists whose TV shows, movies, books and music will be capturing our attention and defining the cultural sphere over the next few months.

Being tapped for a Luca Guadagnino project is a career pinnacle for most. But popstar-turned-actor Omar Apollo had racked up a pretty impressive list of accolades before his cameo in Queer came along. There’s the Grammy nomination for his debut album, Ivory, support slots for both Billie Eilish and SZA on their world tours and his record-breaking sophomore album God Said No (featuring an appearance from his good friend Pedro Pascal), which was released last September to critical acclaim. This year, catch the solipsistic sensation as he embarks on his headline tour, and pops up in a handful of high-profile, to-be-announced acting projects.

Once in a blue moon, an actor makes their debut in a show that has the whole world talking – and gives a performance so heart shattering it floors you for weeks. Newcomer Owen Cooper in Adolescence does exactly this. Cooper’s portrayal of Jamie Miller – an impressionable 13-year-old radicalised by social media and the toxic manosphere – has brought comparisons to an early Leonardo DiCaprio and has established him as one of the most exciting rising stars in the industry. Already, Saltburn director Emerald Fennell has snapped him up to play the younger version of Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliff, in her highly anticipated remake of Wuthering Heights alongside Margot Robbie, no less... Then, later this year, he’ll flex his comedy chops in the BBC romcom Film Club, penned by The White Lotus and Sex Education breakout star Aimee Lou Wood.

William Rayfet Hunter had worked as an NHS junior doctor for six years when their searing debut novel Sunstruck scooped Stormzy’s Merky Books New Writers’ Prize in 2022. Written between hospital shifts, and finally published for the world to read this summer, it’s a deft and compelling portrait of race, class, wealth, privilege and power. Their astute and poignant penmanship extends also to non-fiction – often inspired by their work in the health service and specifically Accident & Emergency departments, Rayfet Hunter writes for publications including Vice and The New Statesmen.

For poet-musician Mustafa Ahmed, art and activism are inseparable. By his early teens, Ahmed was writing poetry and missives in response to the crime endemic of his hometown Regent Park, Toronto. He went on to become a fixture in the city’s spoken word circuit, catching the attention of artists such as The Weeknd and Drake. Ahmed’s third album, Dunya, is a chronicle of the beauty and brutality of life with almost unbearable intimacy, featuring collaborations with Jamie XX and The National’s Aaron Dessner.

Few TV series have captured the world’s attention quite like The Last Of Us – a North Star-of-a-show in the world of the small screen and a career pipedream for most actors. It’s no surprise, then, that rising star Young Mazino has won the role of Jesse – a trusted friend to Bella Ramsey’s Ellie and linchpin of the next season. Mazino delivered an Emmy-nominated performance as Paul Cho, the self-loathing millennial, alongside Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, in Beef, solidifying him as a talent to watch. Before The Last Of Us drops, catch Mazino in A24-produced Opus alongside Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich – another unexpected performance that shows that he is just getting started.

In a saturated industry, few bands have made as immediate and indelible a mark as the genre-defying Squid. This quintet of musical behemoths came up in the vibrant UK music scene around 2016, making waves with their singular sound. Last month, they released their third album, Cowards, an ambitious musical melange of folk, kosmische, psychedelia, jazz and electronic melodies. Readers, it worked: next month they kick-off their first sell-out US tour, hitting some cult venues, including Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown and Neumos in Seattle.

It takes masterful talent to slip between stage and screen as seamlessly as Andrew Burnap. With an Tony under his belt for his performance in The Inheritance, as well as supporting roles in two primetime shows, Under The Banner Of Heaven (with Andrew Garfield) and WeCrashed (with Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway), it’s safe to say the Yale Drama School-trained star has conquered both mediums. This month Burnap will play Jonathan, Snow White’s love interest in Disney’s live-action movie – and will tread the boards once more in the off-Broadway production of Othello alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Denzel Washington, no less.

As the son of the late James Gandolfini, Michael Gandolfini spent his formative years visiting the set of The Sopranos, watching his father craft patriarch Tony Soprano into one of the most iconic characters of all time. It made perfect sense, then, that Gandolfini junior would be asked to portray a young Soprano in 2021’s award-winning The Many Saints Of Newark – a performance that showcased his serious promise. Following memorable parts in the Russo brothers’ Cherry, alongside Tom Holland, and Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid, alongside Joaquin Phoenix, this year is a tipping-point one for Gandolfini. Not only is he starring in Marvel’s blockbuster production Daredevil: Born Again, he will take a major role in Alex Garland’s (Ex-Machina, Civil War) Warfare, a harrowing tale of a platoon of Navy Seals on a tour in Iraq.

Whether he’s ruling the streets of 1980s Los Angeles in Snowfall, braving a dystopian battlefield in Outside The Wire or strapping into a Formula 1 car to race Brad Pitt for his upcoming blockbuster F1, Damson Idris is one of the most versatile and thrilling actors of Hollywood’s rising generation. Although football was Idris’ first love, a chance encounter with actor Cathy Tyson diverted him towards the Identity School of Acting (whose alumni include Letitia Wright and John Boyega) and then on to Hollywood. F1 – from Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski – is tipped to be the blockbuster of the summer, with Idris’ performance being said to outshine even Pitt’s…

From the smoky backrooms of Peaky Blinders to the sun-drenched criminal underbelly of LA in Animal Kingdom, Cole has become known for playing complex characters with dark ambitions – all the while scene-stealing from his Hollywood-heavyweight co-stars such as Cillian Murphy and Margot Robbie (in Dreamland). Now, Cole finds himself enjoying top-billing alongside Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu in Last Breath, a survival thriller based on the true story of diver Chris Lemons (Cole), who finds himself stranded on the ocean floor with just a few minutes of oxygen remaining after his support vessel drifts away. His crewmates (Harrelson and Liu) must race against the clock to save him. Next up, he will star with Jasmine Jobson (Top Boy) in the highly anticipated biopic of British boxer Ramla Ali, In The Shadows.

When Hacks exploded on to screens in 2021, so did the inimitable Carl Clemons-Hopkins with their side-splitting performance as Marcus, the long-suffering career advisor and confidante to faded comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart). It has earned Clemons-Hopkins both Emmy and Sag nominations and their character something of a cult following, having been crowned the world’s latest internet boyfriend. When Hacks returns to screens for its fourth season in early April, all eyes will be on Marcus’ storyline as he embarks on an interesting career pivot.

Adam DiMarco garnered plaudits as the adorably green Stanford-grad Albie Di Grasso caught in the crossfire of generational toxic masculinity in season two of The White Lotus. Now, DiMarco is moving beyond his nice-guy credentials with Overcompensating. Created by Benito Skinner, exec-produced by Jonah Hill – and with cameos from Charli XCX and Kaia Gerber – DiMarco plays “campus-legend” Peter, who is offering guidance to Benny, the younger brother of his girlfriend, as Benny grapples with his sexuality. Then, after Overcompensating wraps, DiMarco will end the year at the helm of a newly announced Duffer Brothers (Stranger Things) thriller, Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, alongside Daisy Jones & The Six’s Camila Morrone.

Brandon Sklenar’s career kicks up another notch this year, with a few thrilling releases. The actor, whose previous credits include Mapplethorpe, Vice and It Ends With Us, returns to his leading role in the next season of western drama 1923 (prequel to Yellowstone), with Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. He also stars opposite Meghann Fahy (The White Lotus, The Perfect Couple) in the nail-biting new Blumhouse horror, Drop. Sklenar plays the charming Henry, who goes on a date with Violet (Fahy), a widowed mother who comes under terrifying threat – as do others around her – via chilling anonymous messages to her phone. And, later this year, he’ll appear in psychological thriller The Housemaid, with Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried.