Winning or being nominated for an Oscar can open all kinds of doors in Hollywood, but usually the buzz around an actor or filmmaker begins long before Oscar night. That’s why several of this year’s Oscar winners, like Ke Huy Quan and Brendan Fraser, already have buzzy projects debuting in the next few months, or why nominees like Hong Chau and Brian Tyree Henry are busier than ever. The Oscar class of 2023 will be hard to miss in the year ahead—here’s where to find them. 

A guide to Hollywood’s biggest races

The Wakanda Forever star will appear in Netflix’s Damsel, which was filmed last year. Starring Millie Bobby Brown, the fantasy film centers on a damsel who marries a handsome prince only to discover it was all a trap. She’s also voicing a role in Laika’s upcoming film, Wildwood. The sixth season of her Fox series, 9-1-1, began airing in September but has yet to be renewed or canceled for the seventh season. —Rebecca Ford

When I spoke to Blanchett for Vanity Fair’s Awards Insider cover story just months ago, she told me, “I think it’s time to be quiet,” adding she’d just said no to a couple of things and is taking a much-needed break after the consuming experience of making Tár. But she’d already gotten a few juicy parts in the can, including a lead in Alfonso Cuarón’s upcoming Apple TV+ thriller, Disclaimer, opposite Kevin Kline, and parts in the studio comedy Borderlands (also featuring fellow 2023 Oscar nominee Jamie Lee Curtis) and the Australian drama The New Boy. Plenty more Cate to enjoy for now. —David Canfield

His Apple TV+ series, Masters of the Air, which reunites him with his Elvis costar Tom Hanks, won’t premiere in time for this year’s Emmy season, but will likely be out sometime this year. The best-actor nominee may be able to lay low for a bit, but Dune: Part Two, in which he plays the villainous Feyd-Rautha, will arrive in theaters November 3, preceded by a huge press tour—but maybe less chatter about his voice this time. —Katey Rich

Between The Menu, The Whale, and the Cannes premiere Showing Up (hitting US theaters next month), best-supporting-actress nominee Chau had a huge 2022. When I interviewed her last fall, she didn’t seem too concerned about keeping up the pace, though, after such a breakthrough year. Still, one of the most in-demand actors right now can’t stay out of the limelight entirely: She’s part of the massively starry company for Wes Anderson’s summer release, Asteroid City, as well as the second of Yorgos Lanthimos’s two completed projects—And, led by Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. —D.C.

The rom-com/thriller Ghosted, which reunites the best-actress nominee with her Knives Out costar Chris Evans, debuts April 21. She’s also recently been filming Ballerina, a John Wick spin-off in which she plays a young assassin bent on revenge. Keanu Reeves recently confirmed he’ll have a cameo appearance in the film, which doesn’t have a release date yet. —K.R.

The Banshees actor will appear in the thriller In the Land of Saints and Sinners which also stars Liam Neeson as a newly retired assassin. Netflix has the rights to the film, which is in postproduction. She’ll next film horror thriller Night Swim, in which she’ll star opposite Wyatt Russell. The Universal film is centered on a hidden source of terror found in a backyard swimming pool. —R.F.

The newly minted best-supporting-actress Oscar winner has a role in the aforementioned video game adaptation Borderlands, costarring Cate Blanchett and written by The Last of Us’s Craig Mazin. She’s also in the starry ensemble of Disney’s summer adventure, Haunted Mansion, a new adaptation of the theme park ride that surely has 2023’s best credit block: “with Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto as the Hatbox Ghost.” —K.R.

The mega-winners of Oscar night, who took home prizes for original screenplay, directing, and best picture, haven’t announced what they’ll work on next when it comes to film, but they are attached to a TV project, a half hour comedy called Mason for A24 and Showtime. The pair will direct and executive produce, and Minari star Steven Yeun is also attached. The duo signed two notable first-look deals: with A24 for TV and with Universal for film. We’ll wait with bated breath to see where this wild ride takes them next. —R.F.

Farrell is currently shooting the HBO Max series The Penguin in New York in which he plays the infamous Batman villain. He previously played the role in the 2022 film The Batman. He’s not officially attached to any other films, but recently told Vanity Fair he hopes to work with his After Yang director Kogonada again soon, and is also attached to a film that will be directed by Andrew Haigh about Norman Mailer and Jack Henry Abbott. —R.F.

The closest thing we’ll probably ever get to a Tár sequel, the short film The Fundraiser, played during a special event at the Berlin Film Festival and may very well never be seen again. Given that there were 16 years between Tár and Field’s previous feature, Little Children, we’re not assuming we’ll hear anything soon—though if a best-director and best-picture nomination aren’t enough to get funding for whatever he wants to do next, then truly, what are we doing here? —K.R.

The best-actor Oscar winner will be back very soon with a role in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which many are eyeing for a Cannes premiere in May. He’s also got a role opposite Peter Dinklage and Josh Brolin in Brothers, a comedy from Palm Springs director Max Barbakow. And given how often the idea of a fourth Mummy movie came up on his press tour for The Whale, we wouldn’t rule out that possibility, either. —K.R.

The Banshees star is busy filming Joker: Folie à Deux, the Warner Bros. Joker movie starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. His character is being kept under wraps, as is much about the film, but Gleeson has said he joined the project because he was “in awe” of Phoenix’s performance. —R.F.

Henry had already made the jump to big movies by the time his lauded turn in Causeway came along—on the docket, he’ll be in another Godzilla vs. Kong movie currently filming, provide a voice on the next Spider-Verse animated film, and appear in Rachel Morrison’s biopic Flint Strong. Before all that, though, we’ll get the Emmy-nominated Atlanta star in another intriguing TV role, leading Tom Rob Smith’s FX thriller, Class of ’09, bowing on Hulu this May, just in time for Emmy eligibility. —D.C.

The 88-year-old Fabelmans star made Oscar history with the 41-year gap between his first and second nominations, both for best supporting actor. He’s currently got the lead role in the indie comedy iMordecai, in theaters now and headed to VOD in April, and he’s part of the large ensemble on the Apple TV+ series Extrapolations, which debuted March 17. He’s also got a key but memorable role in the upcoming Showing Up with his Fabelmans costar Michelle Williams. Is it possible the oldest of this year’s acting nominees is also the busiest? —K.R.

Hsu just returned to the SXSW film festival in Austin for the premiere of her next film, Joy Ride, a raunchy comedy that Lionsgate will release this summer. She also is reuniting with her Everything Everywhere All at Once costars Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan for Disney+’s new action-comedy series American Born Chinese, which hits the streamer in May. She will also appear in The Fall Guy, Universal’s movie adaptation of the 1980s adventure TV series that will star Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. In it, she’ll play an assistant to a movie star, who is being played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. —R.F.

Before his Banshees of Inisherin performance captured the hearts of Oscar voters (and much of Twitter), Keoghan made a little cameo in a little movie called The Batman as a little character called the Joker. Nothing is confirmed yet, but his entrance into that cinematic universe is expected to only mark the beginning of his tenure. In the meantime, he’s just been cast opposite Paul Mescal in the Gladiator sequel (more on that shortly), and he also replaced Mescal in the Mubi-backed Bring Them Down. More immediately, he’s leading Emerald Fennell’s upcoming Promising Young Woman follow-up Saltburn, a surefire end-of-year play. “It’s going to be fecking amazing,” Keoghan told me last year on Little Gold Men. And does a “fecking” ever lie? —D.C.

Martin McDonagh may have once referred to himself as the “laziest filmmaker in the world,” but he’s proven pretty prolific of late, directing seven (!) actors to Oscar noms in five years and earning a handful himself during that time period. No doubts at this stage that most of Hollywood wants to work with him. No details on what’s next for the Banshees of Inisherin writer-director; for now, his Olivier-winning play Hangmen just made its world premiere in his beloved Ireland. —D.C.

If a breakout star came out of this year’s nominations—and with so many first-time nominees, there were a lot of candidates—best-actor nominee Mescal may have emerged as the biggest choice of all. He’s caught the eye of Ridley Scott and Richard Linklater—he’s leading both of their upcoming films, though the latter’s will be over a decade in the making when all is said and done—and already with buzzy, awards-season-bound projects directed by the likes of Andrew Haigh and Garth Davis locked in and likely set to debut later this year. “Gladiator was one of my favorite films growing up. It’s beyond strange,” Mescal told me of starring in Scott’s sequel. “This all feels more dumbfounding than the Oscar nomination to be honest.” —D.C.

The Living star and best-actor nominee spent part of 2022 filming Role Play, a thriller starring Kaley Cuoco, and he lent his voice to the animated feature Dragonkeeper, a Spanish and Chinese coproduction set to debut in theaters and eventually on Hulu in the United States. If that seems like a thin slate for a usually very occupied actor, maybe his Proust Questionnaire for Vanity Fair contains the answer; asked about his current state of mind, Nighy replied, “Easy, baby.” —K.R.

The Swedish director has been very vocal about his next film, The Entertainment System Is Down. He says he’s currently working on the script, which will center on a group of passengers aboard a plane that has lost its entertainment-system capabilities. “When iPads and phones start slowly charging out, these modern human beings have to deal with being bored,” he told Vanity Fair. —R.F.

Awards season is a lot. If your film premieres at a fall festival—as Polley’s Women Talking did—you basically sign up for a six-month marathon of cross-continental campaigning, split between the movie’s release, two phases of Oscar voting, and the many voter-outreach efforts squished in between. Polley was so fascinated by what she observed on the trail that she’s decided it’ll be the subject of her next movie—and having observed her a bit over the past year, I personally can’t wait to see what spin she puts on it. The news has been leaking rather quietly, but she confirmed her plans to me on Oscar Sunday, and well, winning an Oscar ups your cachet a bit. Let’s hope she goes all in. —D.C.

Quan has been open about his fears that his best-supporting-Oscar win could be the end of his comeback story: “I had a conversation with my agent,” he told Variety. “I’m so worried that this is only a one-time thing.” For audiences, however, Quan will be back very soon: He reunites with his Everything Everywhere All at Once costar Michelle Yeoh in the Disney+ series American Born Chinese, debuting May 24, and will return to Disney+ for the second season of the Marvel series Loki. He also has a role opposite Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt in The Electric State, a Netflix adventure directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, who were producers on Everything Everywhere. As Variety wrote, ominously, the day after the Oscars, “as of today, there are no other offers on the table.” But it seems reasonable to hope that will change soon. —K.R.

She made To Leslie in anonymity and even experienced that movie’s release without much notoriety—but after the shock and controversy of her best-actress nomination, it’ll be interesting to see how the chameleonic British star navigates her career going forward. As has been the case for her entire life in film, things look very different from one screen project to the next: There’s an American thriller called Geechee that she’s leading, and two very different Kate Winslet projects she’s got juicy smaller roles in: the dramatic Lee Miller biopic helmed by Ellen Kuras, and the satirical HBO limited series The Palace, coming from the producers of Succession. A little bit of every shade of Andrea, just the way she prefers it. —D.C.

Spielberg is executive producing and developing numerous projects at any time, and his upcoming work includes an EP credit on Apple TV+’s series Masters of the Air, which will star Austin Butler, and a documentary about John Williams. He’s also a producer on the new The Color Purple film and Bradley Cooper’s Maestro coming out later this year. As for what he might direct? That’s more up in the air. A year ago, he was attached to a new movie based on the Steve McQueen character Frank Bullitt that had Cooper attached, but there hasn’t been any recent news on this project. —R.F.

As you may have pieced together at this point in the list, Kelly Reichardt’s upcoming Showing Up, starring Williams—her fourth collaboration with Reichardt—has a true bonanza of 2023 Oscar nominees, with delectable supporting turns from Hong Chau and Judd Hirsch. Williams, who welcomed her third child in the fall, seems to be taking a bit of a break in the wake of the Fabelmans awards push, but based on her career thus far, it won’t be long before she’s busy again. —K.R.

Yeoh will soon be seen in Disney+’s series American Born Chinese, but we’ll be seeing a lot of the Oscar winner on the big screen very soon as well. She’s starring in Kenneth Branagh’s next Agatha Christie adaptation, A Haunting in Venice, which will also star Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, and Kelly Reilly and will be released in September. And she’s wrapped work on the next installment in James Cameron’s Avatar franchise, though we don’t know much about her character on the supersecretive franchise. She’s reuniting with her Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu for Wicked. Currently filming, she’ll star as Madame Morrible in the highly anticipated two-part adaptation for the Broadway musical. —R.F.