Why Jack O'Connell is Going to be the Next Big Thing

Jack O'Connell's career reaching the breaking point. Every day, the beats of his career gets a little louder, a little more set to explode. The 24-year-old actor is still largely unknown in America by the populace, but audiences in the UK know him well. He's one of England's shining young stars — the next Tom Hardy, who has already shown at a young age what it means to have intelligence and talent "beyond your years."

O'Connell has already proven himself a formidable dramatic actor. He was the best thing about a handful of forgettable films over the past few years (United, Private Peaceful, The Liability) as critics frequently singled him out for attention. 

He was also one of the stars of the popular UK series, Skins, which helped launch the careers of co-stars Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class) and Joe Dempsie (Game of Thrones). O'Connell has done a lot in a short amount of time, crafting a resume for a career that's destined for something bigger.

That something is Unbroken, the film that will put O'Connell on the map here in America this Christmas. But there's another movie that debuts this week in the States that needs to be discussed first.

Starred Up is, frankly, one of the most intensely violent, and sensational films of 2014 thus far. O'Connell stars as Eric, a young man who's a raging cauldron of hostility. The movie begins as Eric is sent to lockup for an unspecified crime. 

Soon, we learn it's exactly where he belongs as he nearly kills another inmate for a mistake and takes on the prison's riot squad by himself. But Eric's father is locked up as well, and even though the two barely know one another, they share a family bond and must learn to coexist.