Breakthrough Entertainer: Stephanie Hsu, Now Everywhere 

Stephanie Hsu arrives at the Governors Awards on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. (AP)
Stephanie Hsu arrives at the Governors Awards on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. (AP)
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Breakthrough Entertainer: Stephanie Hsu, Now Everywhere 

Stephanie Hsu arrives at the Governors Awards on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. (AP)
Stephanie Hsu arrives at the Governors Awards on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. (AP)

Dressed as Elvis and nonchalantly walking a pig on a leash, Stephanie Hsu made a memorable big screen impression this year. 

Hsu actually had two roles in "Everything Everywhere All at Once," playing both a sullen teen and an intergalactic supervillain for a film that can best be called a fantastical science fiction comedy-drama. 

With Michelle Yeoh joining Hsu as her onscreen mother, the indie film has garnered critical acclaim, hit over $100 million in global ticket sales and has sparked Oscar buzz. 

"The movie is so special because we could not have possibly expected this to have happened and so we were really able to just throw paint at the wall," Hsu said. "It came from a very raw place with zero expectations, only trying to tell the story as deeply and honestly as we can." 

Hsu's performance — combining deep hurt with a real skill with nunchucks while rocking sequin-lined eyes — has made her one of The Associated Press’ Breakthrough Entertainers of the Year alongside Joaquina Kalukango, Sadie Sink, Tenoch Huerta, Iman Vellani and more. 

"I have been working for a really long time and I guess that’s what a breakout is: You chip away and then all of a sudden, there’s one thing that everyone is like, ‘That’s the thing that put you on the map.’" 

Hsu was a Broadway veteran with a few TV credits when she worked with the writing and directing duo of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for an episode of "Norah From Queens." 

Working with Kwan and Scheinert — know as The Daniels — was a revelation for Hsu and when they contacted her about "Everything Everywhere All at Once" she never hesitated. 

"We’re like artistic soulmates in so many ways," she said. "When I read the script, in so many ways, it actually made a lot of sense to me weirdly enough. I don’t know what that says about me." 

The film begins with Yeoh as a struggling laundromat owner who is being audited by the IRS and has a strained relationship with her daughter. The story gets surreal when she discovers she has to connect with parallel universes to prevent cataclysmic destruction, also involving her daughter. It's also a family drama, with richness in the complex love between relations. 

"This movie, in so many ways, embodies what I love to do as an artist. So it feels like the most honest handshake I could make with Hollywood," she said. 

"I think art at its very best offers some help in processing or helping us move through a very confusing world and offer some healing. And that is ultimately the type of work that I want to make." 

Hsu began her acting career on Broadway, where she played Karen the Computer in "SpongeBob the Musical," and Christine Canigula in "Be More Chill." She was born in California and moved to New York to study at New York University, graduating in 2012. 

She showed off her work ethic by combining a punishing eight-show-a-week Broadway schedule with filming "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" on Mondays, her only day off. 

"The discipline that forced me into, I think, really prepared me for everything that has happened since. And I feel really grateful that I was given the opportunity to work that hard," she said. 

Hsu will next be seen in Rian Johnson’s Peacock anthology series "Poker Face," alongside Natasha Lyonne and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. She’ll also star opposite Ashley Park in "JFC," a raunchy, R-rated comedy directed by Adele Lim. 

"What I’m excited to do next, honestly, is to develop more of my own work," she said. "In order to make this career sustainable and joyful is to be able to dig in and not always just fill shoes for someone else." 



New Spielberg, Nolan Films Teased at CinemaCon

US actress Scarlett Johansson presents the film 'Jurassic World Rebirth' onstage during CinemaCon. VALERIE MACON / AFP
US actress Scarlett Johansson presents the film 'Jurassic World Rebirth' onstage during CinemaCon. VALERIE MACON / AFP
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New Spielberg, Nolan Films Teased at CinemaCon

US actress Scarlett Johansson presents the film 'Jurassic World Rebirth' onstage during CinemaCon. VALERIE MACON / AFP
US actress Scarlett Johansson presents the film 'Jurassic World Rebirth' onstage during CinemaCon. VALERIE MACON / AFP

Hollywood studio Universal Pictures on Wednesday teased new movies from Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan, while showcasing footage from its upcoming sequels "Jurassic World Rebirth" and "Wicked: For Good" at the CinemaCon event.

Spielberg "is currently shooting a film that promises to be a return to form, in the spirit of his monumental classics," said Universal executive Jim Orr, at the movie theater industry summit in Las Vegas.

The untitled film, out June 2026, is widely rumored to be a blockbuster sci-fi. Orr promised it would contain "a propulsive, modern, out-of-this-world twist," without sharing further details.

Meanwhile, Nolan is in the Mediterranean shooting his star-studded version of "The Odyssey," based on the millennia-old Ancient Greek epic saga written by Homer.

It is due July 2026, starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, alongside Tom Holland, Zendaya and Anne Hathaway, AFP said.

In a prediction bold even by the standards of Hollywood marketing, Orr suggested the film "will be a once-in-a-generation cinematic masterpiece that Homer himself would, quite frankly, be very proud of."

The comments came at CinemaCon, an annual week-long summit at which Hollywood studios present their biggest upcoming movies to theater owners and press.

A theme of this year's event has been a drive to get studios to commit to keeping new movies in US theaters for at least 45 days before they appear on streaming.

A source with knowledge of the talks told AFP Wednesday that three of Hollywood's six biggest studios have committed.

Universal, which has in recent years brought many of its films to on-demand streaming very soon after they debut in theaters, has not yet agreed to the new 45-day "window," the source said. The studio did not immediately comment.

But its efforts to court movie theater owners Wednesday included showing extended new footage and A-list stars from the next Jurassic movie -- out this July.

It comes from the writer of the original 1993 "Jurassic Park." The action returns to that film's island setting.

Unlike the "Jurassic World" films where dinosaurs freely roamed the globe, the fearsome reptiles are now once again scarce, surviving in a few remote spots.

Star Scarlett Johansson said the film would "put the scares back into Jurassic" by keeping the dinosaurs hidden and ratcheting up the suspense.

Universal's presentation ended with surprise appearances from Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, whose second and final "Wicked" film will hit theaters November.

CinemaCon concludes Thursday with presentations from Paramount and Disney.