Meryl Streep. Amy Adams. Christoph Waltz. Reese Witherspoon. Sound familiar? Might as well start engraving the Oscar statuettes for them.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Alicia Vikander. Randall Park. Lily James. Nothing? Just give them a few months, because these actors are moving into the spotlight and are poised to unseat the Hollywood establishment.

LILLY JAMES

A natural brunette, Lily James was happy to dye her hair blond when she landed the role of Lady Rose MacClare on the hit drama "Downton Abbey" - she just had no idea how much her makeover would change her life.

When James auditioned to play one of the stepsisters for Disney's upcoming big-screen adaptation of "Cinderella," the casting director noticed her new hair color and offered her a suggestion: "You should just read for Cinderella while you're here."

James read a few lines, figuring her mostly unknown name had no shot at such a coveted leading role. Can you guess what happened next?

"Cinderella," opening in March, stars James, 25, as one of the most famous fairy-tale figures of all time. Cate Blanchett plays the Evil Stepmother, and Helena Bonham Carter is the Fairy Godmother.

By coincidence, James's next upcoming starring role is also playing an iconic character - with a twist. She stars as Elizabeth Bennet in "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," based on the novel that infused sci-fi into the classic Jane Austen love story.

RANDALL PARK

Randall Park, an actor who spent the past decade in small parts in commercials and TV comedies ("The Mindy Project" and "Veep"), couldn't believe his luck when he landed the biggest role of his career: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Sony's buzzy "The Interview." Starring alongside Seth Rogen and James Franco in a film scheduled for Christmas? Sign him up.

We saw how that turned out. Angered that the movie revolved around Kim's assassination, a hacker group threatened an attack against anyone who saw the film.

Where does all of this uproar leave Park? We interviewed him for this story weeks before the threats started; his representatives did not return requests for his updated thoughts. At the time, he sounded thrilled that his career was on the upswing after years of hard work.

After gaining steam in sitcoms, commercials, film shorts, Web series and everything in between, a director recommended him to Rogen for the part of Kim. He got the role almost immediately.

Park has another big role to look forward to: Starting in February, he stars in ABC's comedy "Fresh Off the Boat." The series is told from the perspective of an 11-year-old Asian-American boy whose father (played by Park) moves the family from Washington to Orlando so they can open a restaurant.

ALICIA VIKANDER

Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, 26, might be vaguely recognizable in the United States for a small part in "Anna Karenina" or for her role in the historical romance "A Royal Affair," both of which were released in 2012. Soon, Vikander will star alongside Michael Fassbender in "The Light Between Oceans," based on the best-selling book about a couple who find an abandoned baby at sea. Vikander also plays a hybrid witch-human in the sci-fi epic "Seventh Son." She headlines the 17th-century drama "Tulip Fever" with Christoph Waltz and Judi Dench, not to mention the spy movie "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." with Henry Cavill.

Also filming next year and primed to make a big splash in 2016: Tom Hooper's "The Danish Girl." Vikander stars as the artist wife of Eddie Redmayne's Einar Wegener, the Danish painter who was the first person to have sex-reassignment surgery.

GUGU MBATHA-RAW

Gugu Mbatha-Raw sounds thrilled to be in Pittsburgh. Following a breakout year, in which the 31-year-old British actress dazzled in the lead roles of two somewhat under-the-radar movies, she has become a nomad, going wherever the work is. Now, the work is in Pennsylvania, and it's on a higher-profile project, starring opposite Will Smith as his wife in a still-untitled movie about the doctor who discovered the long-term effects of concussions on professional football players.

The good fortune has been a long time coming. Mbatha-Raw graduated from London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art a decade ago and has been working mainly in British television and onstage. A pivotal moment was securing the role of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the real-life woman born in 1761 to an enslaved African mother and a white father in the British Navy.

Mbatha-Raw took home the best-actress trophy for her work in "Belle" at the British Independent Film Awards.

You'll have plenty of other opportunities to see Mbatha-Raw. First up in 2015, she has a role in "Jupiter Ascending," the Wachowski siblings' intergalactic adventure starring Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum.

Mbatha-Raw also will appear alongside Keanu Reeves and Renée Zellweger in "The Whole Truth," a legal thriller. The actress can't reveal too much about the movie, but she admits she will be playing "the moral compass of the story."