Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Hemsworth Among BAFTA Rising Star Nominees (PHOTOS)

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts released its long list of nominees for the Rising Star Award, putting the spotlight on eight up-and-coming actors whose career outlooks are quite good, including Chris Hemsworth and Jennifer Lawrence.

The other six actors on the long list are Jessica Chastain, Adam Deacon, Tom Hiddleston, Felicity Jones, Chris O'Dowd, and Eddie Redmayne. Voters can now help whittle down the list to five nominees, which will be announced on Jan. 11, according to the BAFTA Web site.

Chastain played a younger version of Helen Mirren's character in the action film The Debt, had a leading role in The Help, and starred alongside Brad Pitt in The Tree of Life. She is reported to play the late Princess Diana in a film next year.

Deacon, an actor and rapper, has done a great deal of television work in the UK over the past few years. He has also done film, and wrote, directed and starred in the movie Anuvahood.

Aussie hunk Hemsworth made an international splash in the fantasy action movie Thor. He will co-star with Kristen Stewart in the highly anticipated Snow White and the Huntsman.

English beauty Felicity Jones can be seen on the big screen in Like Crazy opposite Anton Yelchin, for which she has received rave reviews. She has worked extensively in British television and starred in a TV adaptation of Northanger Abbey.

Hiddleston starred alongside fellow Rising Star nominee Hemsworth in Thor and The Avengers. He's done extensive television work in the UK and played author F. Scott Fitzgerald in the Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris.

Lawrence received rave reviews - and an Oscar nomination - for her role in the film Winter's Bone. She will be seen in the highly anticipated post-apocalyptic drama The Hunger Games, playing the lead role of Katniss Everdeen.

O'Dowd's career has had more of a comic route. He played Kristin Wiig's sweet-hearted cop boyfriend in the hit comedy Bridesmaids and a foppish soldier and suitor to Emily Blunt's princess character in the film Gulliver's Travels.

Redmayne can be seen in the film My Week With Marilyn. He is slated to play Marius in a musical film version of Les Misérables.

Here are photos of some of the nominees for the Rising Star Award.