20 Underused Actors We Hope to See Break Out in 2017

Melonie Diaz in Fruitvale Station (2013), image courtesy of The Weinstein Company

15. Melonie Diaz

Why you should know her: Despite its modest budget and scope, Fruitvale Station has only grown more resonant with hindsight. The 2013 Sundance sensation, which observes the final day in the life of Oscar Grant, tackles issues of racism – particularly mass incarceration and police violence – with empathy and immediacy. It also announced the arrival of writer/director Ryan Coogler and catapulted actor Michael B. Jordan to fame. (That the Weinsteins chose to campaign Philomena for the Oscars instead says everything you need to know about Hollywood.)

When I first saw the movie, though, what really stood out to me was Diaz’s performance. Like Octavia Spencer, who plays Grant’s mother, she occupies a role that could easily be dismissed as one-dimensional: the wearily supportive girlfriend. It works partly due to Coogler’s naturalistic direction, which presents the characters with minimal judgment or sentimentality, and partly due to Diaz, who expresses layers of subtext with her eyes and body language. Even in her most dramatic scene (the one where Sophina tries to find out what is happening in the subway station), she refrains from showboating, letting the inherent emotion of the situation speak for itself. In an industry that tends to prize loud, intense acting, Diaz’s restraint is a breath of fresh air.

Upcoming projects: IMDb lists her among the star-studded cast of an untitled film directed by Joel Edgerton’s brother, Nash, and with Melanie Lynskey and Tony Hale in the teen drama And Then I Go.