“House of the Dragon” star Emma D’Arcy has received the IMDb Breakout STARmeter Award, joining the ranks of previous honorees like “Bridgerton’s” Simone Ashley and Regé-Jean Page, TheWrap can exclusively announce. The database also unveiled its top 10 breakout and star lists, the latter of which is led by “Blonde” actress Ana de Armas.
IMDb determines its definitive top 10 lists using data from IMDbPro STARmeter rankings, which are based on the actual page views of the more than 200 million monthly visitors to the site.
D’Arcy, who uses they/them pronouns, broke out with their performance as Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen in the “Game of Thrones” prequel, which ranks as one of the Most Popular TV Shows on IMDb this year. They have been a strong performer this year on the IMDbPro STARmeter chart, spending three weeks in the No. 1 spot and an additional eight weeks in the Top 10. D’Arcy also ranked No. 2 on the overall Top Stars of 2022 list, and is followed by their costar Milly Alcock, who plays the younger version of Rhaenyra in the series.
Previous recipients of the award include Eiza González, Alexander Skarsgård, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, John David Washington, Anya Chalotra and D’Arcy’s onscreen rival Olivia Cooke, who plays Queen Alicent Hightower.
“I feel so grateful to the fans of House of the Dragon for welcoming me and the rest of the cast into what is their universe,” D’Arcy told IMDb. “I have been amazed and very humbled by the love with which us Westerosi newcomers have been met! I have never before had the privilege of sharing a loved character with a fanbase—it felt like borrowing a treasured possession from a friend. I am so grateful to have been trusted with it.”
After D’Arcy and Alcock, the breakout top 10 includes, in order, Joseph Quinn (“Stranger Things”), Austin Butler (“Elvis”), Zoë Kravitz (“The Batman”), Jamie Campbell Bower (“Stranger Things”), last year’s winner Ashley (“Bridgerton”), Alan Ritchson (“Reacher”), Tatiana Maslany (“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law”) and Jessica Darrow (“Encanto”). The top stars are as follows: de Armas, D’Arcy, Alcock, Quinn, Julia Garner (“Inventing Anna,” “Ozark”), Millie Bobby Brown (“Stranger Things”), Butler, Lily James (“Pam & Tommy”), Kravitz and Bower.
“Fans and professionals around the world once again turned to IMDb this year to discover and learn more about the emerging and established stars of fan-favorite titles,” Col Needham, founder and CEO of IMDb, said. “We congratulate these top stars on their breakthrough career moments and thank the global community of entertainment professionals, companies, and other trusted contributors who submitted millions of updates to IMDb this year, helping us reach customers across more devices, services, locations, and languages than ever before.”
View the lists here.