Header illustration courtesy of Alice Stockli (@Alicesartbin).
Entertainment Weekly (EW) honored the hottest new rising stars in both film and television at their annual “Breaking Big” Panel on October 30 at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. The uber-talented honorees included Tyriq Withers (“Him,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer), Grace Van Patten (“Tell Me Lies,” “The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox”) Tonatiuh (“Kiss of the Spiderwoman,” “Jane the Virgin”), Tati Gabrielle (“The Last of Us,” “You”) and Julia Butters (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” “Freakier Friday”) with EW’s editor-in-chief Patrick Gomez moderating the panel.
Between sharing inspiring stories about how their respective big breaks felt, a heartfelt costar reunion and one particularly funny discussion about Vine—the stars did not disappoint. In case you missed it this year, here are the top five best panel moments from each of EW’s “Breaking Big” honorees.
Tonatiuh’s story of resilience and passion
One of the highlights of the hour long discussion, was an inspiring truth Tonatiuh shared about the audition process—and why perseverance is key.
The 30-year-old actor recalled a number of stories about his time as a working actor, but none resonated as much as when he explained the ratio of auditions he’s had to success. Of 1130 total, only 20 resulted in booking the job. Not to mention, only five out of the 20 jobs actually influenced his career. He made sure to remind the audience that rejection is one of the biggest things a young actor has to grapple with.
“If you don’t get comfortable as students now with the word no, please leave,” he joked.
His advice on auditioning was simple. “It’s not sprint. For some people, it’s their first audition, they skyrocket, and it’s amazing,” he said. “You need a strong ‘why.’ You need a strong ‘why’ to push you through it.”
Grace Van Patten’s sweet co-star reunion
When asked about someone in the industry that each honoree would like to emulate, Grace Van Patten was quick to point out one of her legendary co-stars on Netflix’s hit series, “The Perfect Couple.”
“I would say just in the fact of pure work ethic, I worked with Nicole Kidman—who is at the top of everything and [has] some the most amazing movies and most amazing performances,” she said. “The fact that she still works as hard as she did as when she started, is so inspiring to me—and I hope I continue to work this hard forever.”
But when she turned it over to her former “Tell Me Lies” co-star, Tyriq Withers, his answer caught the actress by surprise.
“I’m very new to this. And you know, you don’t remember what everyone always says to you. You always remember how they make you feel. And Grace has always shown me nothing but love, acceptance, and she’s included me in like group chats with the series regs of the show,” Withers said.
Tati Gabrielle’s process to become her “The Last of Us” character
Considering the megawatt success of HBO’s adaptation of the video game, it’s no surprise Tati Gabrielle dove into what it was like to embody her character of Nora during the panel. Gabrielle told the audience that despite “The Last of Us” showrunner, Craig Mazin’s advice not to play the game beforehand, she played it regardless in an attempt to acquaint herself in the post-apocalyptic world.
“As far as Nora, I acknowledged, I’m going to give her own life. All I need are the elements of the world that she’s living in,” she said. “I talked to Craig a lot about as far as what she was representing as sort of an idea on a spectrum serving the story—the story of revenge and morality.”
The actress also spoke about how her spirituality affects the way she plays different characters.
“I’m a very spiritual person too, I treat all of my characters as if they are real souls in the ether, and I just offer them a vessel,” Gabrielle said. “And so in that way, I’m focusing just there and wanting to tell their story to the best of my ability, then that is bound to touch someone.”
Julia Butters’s role as a kidnapped child helped her catch the acting bug
Despite being the youngest honoree on the panel, Julia Butters’s recollection of how she decided she wanted to be an actor is an age old one: she was an extra on a crime procedural. Although most actors have joked about being on Law & Order: SVU, Butters made her onscreen debut in an episode of the equally beloved, “Criminal Minds.”
The 16-year-old actress and recent star of Disney’s “Freakier Friday” had a close connection to the “Criminal Minds” that helped her land the role.
“It was my mom’s friend that we considered an aunt, and she was just like, ‘hey, this is crazy last minute. We need someone four years old to play kidnapped in Criminal Minds. Do you think she’d be down to play pretend for a while?’” Butters said. “And I did it, and that was going to be it. And then I said, ‘Oh, wait, I really love this. I’m doing this again.’ And my parents were like ‘we have an actor now.’”
Tyriq Withers’s social media success to stardom
As one of the resident Gen Z honorees and a viral sensation online, it’s clear that Tyriq Withers’s talents extend far beyond acting. Along with his football prowess (showcased in both “Him” and as wide receiver for Florida State University’s storied team), he also stated that prior to getting to acting, he turned to social media for self-expression.
“Being from Florida, you don’t really have a direct path to the arts, from my experience,” he said. “And, you know, I just kind of always found a way to express myself through social media or, you know I started making my own Vines, and that was like my first step into, like filmmaking on a very much smaller scale.”
Vine, the now defunct shortform video platform, came up in conversation once more during a conversation surrounding the use of social media in the spotlight.
After Van Patten urged the audience to find their reasoning behind using certain platforms, Withers followed up with: “Do it for the Vine”—to which the audience broke out into a fit of laughter. The 27-year-old actor also quoted a line from Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb” during the discussion which elicited a similar response from the mainly student audience.
For more of EW’s “Breaking Big” honorees:
Tonatiuh: “Kiss of the Spider Woman” in theaters now.
Grace Van Patten: “The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox” (miniseries) now streaming all episodes on Hulu. “Tell Me Lies” (season three) episodes one and two streaming on January 13, 2026 (also on Hulu).
Tati Gabrielle: “The Last of Us” (season two) now all episodes on streaming on HBO Max.
Julia Butters: “Freakier Friday” streaming on Disney Plus on November 12, 2025.
Tyriq Withers: “Him” in theaters now.
