Four for the future

The Regus London Film Festival is a breeding ground for new talent. Here are four of the hottest stars you can catch this year.

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Age: 24

Background: Attended the National Youth Theatre, then LAMDA, dropping out to appear in Steven Speilberg's Amistad.

Screen form: Not much. Has been too busy in the theatre, where he played acclaimed Romeo at the National and won an Evening Standard best Newcomer award for Blue/Orange.

Festival film: Dirty Pretty Things. Weds Nov6 and Thurs Nov 7.

What's the story?: Much-touted Stephen Frears thriller, featuring Ejiofor as a Nigerian working night shifts in a seedy London hotel.

What they said about him: According to Stephen Frears, "He is phenomenal!"

Stardom assured: Stephen Frears's early film My Beautiful Launderette made a star of a certain Daniel Day-Lewis, Ejiofor should follow suit.

Brittany Murphy

Age:24

Background: Born in Atlanta but raised in New Jersey. She was on TV by the age of 13.

Screen form: Made her film debut in Clueless. Excelled as a suicidal in Girl, Interrupted; Drew Barrymore's best friend in Riding In Cars With Boys and a catatonic with a secret in Don't Say a Word.

Festival film: 8 Mile, Fri Nov15 and Sat, Nov16.

What's the story?Brittany plays Eminem's girlfriend.

What she says: I think this represents a piece of our nation that hasn't been shown on film yet. And to be the only girl with all those silly guys wasfun and crazy.

Did you knowShe provides the voices for Luanne Platter and Joseph John Gribble in King of the Hill.

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Age: 24

BackgroundBorn in LA, the daughter of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and older sister of Jake. Maggie studied English in New York and trained briefly at RADA.

Screen form: Made a powerful impression as Raven in John Waters' kitsch melodrama, Cecil B. Demented. Played Jake's sister in Donnie Darko.

Festival film: Secretary.Mon Nov18 and Tues Nov19.

What's the story?: In her first leading role she plays a young woman with a tendancy towards self-debasement, who gets a job as a scretary to domineering lawyer James Spader, with whom she embarks on a sado-masochistic yet strangely loving relationship.