The best British female actors to catch at Vue

Here's what our best and brightest British talent's been up to lately.

Felicity Jones

First, we had the excellent Daisy Ridley play Rey in The Force Awakens. Now, the new Star Wars films are delivering us another outstanding female lead in the form of Felicity Jones.

The Birmingham-born actor will be playing Rogue One lead Jyn Erso this December – and it’s not like anything she’s ever done before: "I was training every day and doing kung fu rehearsals on a daily basis," she told Total Film Magazine. Jones also stars in A Monster Calls, out early next year, which by all accounts provoked a whole lot of audible sniffling from the audience at the 2016 Toronto Film Festival.

Did you know that... Jones counts her The Tempest (2010) co-star Helen Mirren as her mentor.

Catch her at Vue in Rogue One, out 15 December; get times and tickets here. A Monster Calls, out January 2017.

Rachel Weisz

Weisz has built a formidable resume over the 20 or so years of her career, to put it mildly – and 2016 isn’t looking too bad for the Academy Award winning actor either.

Weisz currently stars alongside Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander in director Derek Cianfrance’s (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines) heart-wrenching drama The Light Between Oceans. When a dinghy washes up on shore with a baby inside, Tom (Fassbender) and Isabel (Vikander) decide to keep her and raise her as their own – until Hannah (Weisz), the child’s biological mother, turns up, and things get a bit complicated….not to mention pretty damn emotional.

Did you know that... Weisz and Daniel Craig met on set of their 2010 movie Dream House and wed just six months after dating.

Catch her at Vue in The Light Between Oceans, out now. Get times and tickets here.

Tilda Swinton

So chameleon-like is Swinton that when she played Amy Schumer???s orange-skinned boss in Trainwreck last year, some people didn???t even notice it was her. The Scottish actor shifts effortlessly between arthouse and mainstream projects; she's currently starring in Doctor Strange, and in??classic Swinton style, she plays a character who???s traditionally portrayed as male: The Ancient One, a mystical, bald-headed guru who teaches Benedict Cumberbatch how to hone his magical powers.??

Did you know that...??Swinton was initially considered for the role of Bridget Jones.

Catch her at Vue in??Doctor Strange, out now. Get times and tickets here.

Here???s what our best and brightest British female actors have been up to recently and what to catch them in over the coming months.

Emma Thompson

Any list of top British female actors would not be complete without mentioning the multi-Oscar-winning Emma Thompson. Luckily for us, the actor's been pretty busy recently. Thompson co-wrote and appeared as a deadpan doctor in Bridget Jones’s Baby. Next year, she lends her voice to Disney’s live-action reboot of Beauty and the Beast as the matriarchal talking tea-pot Mrs Potts.

Did you know that… In 1993, Thompson was nominated for TWO Academy Awards at the same time (Best Actress for The Remains of The Day and Best Supporting Actress for In The Name of the Father.)

Catch her at Vue in Beauty and the Beast, out March 2017.

Emma Watson

Speaking of Beauty and the Beast: Emma Watson will be taking the lead role as bookworm Belle. We can’t imagine a character more suited to the brainy Brown graduate. Watson and Thompson are joined by a stellar cast, too: Dan Stevens plays the Beast, Ian McKellen plays Cogsworth, and Ewan McGregor plays Lumiere. Everyone across Britain has been rooting for the Hermione actor to be blessed with a leading role worthy of her talents since the final instalment of Harry Potter; could this be the part that properly cements her stardom?

Did you know that… J.K. Rowling reportedly supported Watson for the role of Hermione after her very first screen test.

Catch her at Vue in Beauty and the Beast, out March 2017.