Samantha BarksWhile it can't be said that there are very many actors who've come up that way ("The Namesake" star Jacinda Barrett was a graduate of "The Real World," and "Rock of Ages" lead Julianne Hough came to fame through "Dancing with the Stars"), there's still a certain stigma attached to being an actor or actress who was discovered in part through a reality TV series. But there's every chance the stigma might be lifted if Samantha Barks pulls off her key supporting role in Tom Hooper's film, "Les Miserables." 21-year-old Barks, who hails from the Isle of Man in the U.K., came to fame as a contestant on "I'll Do Anything," a 2008 Saturday night reality show that set out to find an actress to play Nancy in a new production of the musical "Oliver!," co-starring Rowan Atkinson. Barks was beaten at the last, placing third in the final, but was swiftly in demand in the musical theater world; she played Sally Bowles in a British tour of "Cabaret," and in the summer of 2010, landed the role of Eponine, the starving waif in love with Marius, in the long-running West End production of "Les Miserables." Off the back of that, she was selected to sing the part in a huge 25th anniversary all-star concert production of the show, and presumably impressed producer Cameron Mackintosh. Because when the film came to cast, Barks ended up beating out the rumored Taylor Swift for the same part. Among a cast that features Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Helena Bonham Carter and more, Barks is the least known, but her part's a dramatic one, and she gets one of the show's best-known numbers, "On My Own," so she's likely to make a serious impression. If she's able to land parts away from the musical world, this could be the creation of a massive new star.
