Every so often, the stars will align in one particular year for an actor who'll at last see their movie star status go supernova. In 2011, it was Ryan Gosling's turn - as Drive, The Ides Of March and Crazy, Stupid, Love. finally tipped him over into superstardom - as well as Michael Fassbender's, with X-Men: First Class, Jane Eyre and Shame bringing the Irish actor to the attention of the moviegoing public at large. In 2015, it looks as though the year will belong to Tom Hardy. Already an actor of considerable acclaim amongst critics and serious cinema fans, Hardy's impressive-looking line-up of upcoming projects this year should see his fame hit peak levels, as all the talk of him being "the best actor of his generation" at last reaches the masses. It's been coming for a while - Hardy hasn't really stopped working since he was the surprising standout in 2010's Inception, after which he proceeded to churn out movie after fascinating movie. It all had to pay off at some point; Hardy's shown a commitment to working with interesting filmmakers on roles in which he's given his all. Here are just eight reasons why Hardy is going to be the biggest actor of 2015.
Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1
