Abigail Breslin

Although her winning work as an awkward but optimistic aspiring beauty queen in the lauded 2006 indie Little Miss Sunshine constituted her breakthrough, this tween actress already had quite a résumé. Following in the footsteps of her older brother, The Kid's Spencer Breslin, she began acting at age 3, appearing in commercials before making her film debut as a super-serious 6-year-old in Signs. Invariably playing quirky youngsters, Breslin appeared in a number of TV guest spots and movies, including three films alongside her brother (Raising Helen, in which they played siblings, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause). But her hilarious and heartbreaking performance in Little Miss Sunshine, in which she hid her innate cuteness behind glasses and padding, separated her from her peers, while also earning her SAG and Oscar nominations.