Among a luminous English cast that includes stars Vanessa Redgrave and Keira Knightley, marvelous newcomer Saoirse Ronan more than held her own in Joe Wright's Atonement. As Briony, a precocious girl in a white dress with translucent skin and a page boy haircut, twelve-year-old Ronan gives a fierce and complicated performance. The entire plot hinges on her mistake, and Ronan is eerily convincing -- endearing and contemptible all at the same time.

Not surprisingly, the career of this young Irish actress is taking off. Sairose Roanan will next be seen in City of Ember, starring opposite Bill Murray, and she has recently been cast in the lead role of Peter Jackson's eagerly awaited adaptation of Alice Sebold's best-selling novel The Lovely Bones.