Les Miserables Newcomer Samantha Barks Earns Hollywood Spotlight Award

The Les Miserables movie has yet to even hit theaters, and already the film's 22-year-old star Samantha Barks is attracting awards attention. 

Barks is among six honorees who will receive a Hollywood Spotlight Award, which honors the most promising young film stars of the year. The awards will be given out at the 16th annual Hollywood Film Awards (the first major awards show of the 2012 Oscar season) on October 22, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Barks will be honored for her starring role as Eponine in the highly-anticipated Les Miserables movie-musical. Also receiving awards for their performances are Bella Heathcote (Not Fade Away), Tom Holland (The Impossible), John Magaro (Not Fade Away), Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) and Kelly Reilly (Flight).

Previous recipients of the award (which were first handed out in 2008) include Robert Pattinson, Jean Dujardin, Mila Kunis, Leighton Meester, Elle Fanning, Anton Yelchin and Shailene Woodley.

Barks’ big break came when she finished in the top three of Andrew Lloyd Webber reality casting show I’d Do Anything, a TV search launched to cast Nancy in Oliver! She played the role of Eponine in the London production of Les Miserables at Queen’s Theatre in 2011, as well as in the recent 25th anniversary concert, both alongside How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying star Nick Jonas.