Introducing PEOPLE's Ones to Watch 2017: Rising Stars You Need to Know

When Kelly Marie Tran told her Vietnamese immigrant parents she wanted to act, they hated the idea. “They said, ‘You need to do something real!’ ” she says. But after the San Diegan, 28, was cast as rebel Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, they came around. “Now I just want to do the film justice,” Tran says of the role of a lifetime. “It’s such an honor.”

J Lee, 34, never thought working as a receptionist for Family Guy would lead to a starring role on Fox’s The Orville. But he rose up the network’s ranks, eventually becoming a writer on The Cleveland Show. The St. Louis native still can’t believe he found the courage to come to Hollywood to pursue his dreams: “Moving across the country with no money? That was the hardest thing.”

Having Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan as parents might make you feel entitled, but not for the Logan Lucky actor, 25. “I was too awkward to function!” he says of his teen years. Still, “they support me, because they know having an acting career can be done.”

Two years ago she was a high school student on Oahu. Then she was plucked from obscurity and cast as the feisty heroine in Moana. Now Cravalho, 16, is living in New York City and starring in NBC’s high school drama Rise. “Moana absolutely changed my life,” she says, though she’s still shocked when fans stop her on the street: “At this point, I just answer to ‘Moana!’ ”

The Singaporean was a TV travel-show host when he got a call asking him to audition for Crazy Rich Asians, based on the mega-bestseller. “Uh, yeah!” he replied. Golding, 30, beat out the competition to star as smoldering Nick Young; now he’s on a new mission: “I just hope to continue breaking the boundaries of Asian leading men,” he says. “It’s a step in the right direction, for sure.”

Growing up in L.A., “I would watch makeup artists get my mom ready for events,” says the 18-year-old beauty vlogger and daughter of actress Lori Loughlin. “But my page isn’t just beauty, it’s also lifestyle. I’m still in high school, so I’m just trying to be a relatable teenager.”

The star of ABC’s The Mayor once conceived of a dream role. “I wanted to be on a show where I could rap and also talk about issues important to me,” Hall, 24, says. Then came the casting call for a show about a political rapping mayor. “I was like, ‘Oh snap!’ ” he says. “To support things I believe in? It’s been really humbling.”

“At first it was intimidating!” says Storm Reid, 14, who stars in next year’s adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time opposite Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling. “They’re all so respected. But they’re also just great people,” says the Atlanta native. “They taught me, no matter how big you get, no matter what you’re doing, just always stay the same.”

The Newsies alum, 23, was back working at a Dunkin ’ Donuts when he learned he’d been cast as a jock balancing sports with theater in Rise — a story much like his own. “If I wasn’t in football practice, I was doing competition dancing,” Gillespie says of his teen years. “So it’s interesting to see a little bit of my life in the show.”

The Torontonian explains why Canadians are funny: “We love making fun of ourselves! Self-deprecation is our No. 1 pastime.” Now starring in NBC’s Superstore, Ash says folks up north couldn’t be prouder: “Mom makes posters for my show and hangs them at her office.”

Though the Canadian, 32, says he interviewed a few mediums to play one in NBC’s supernatural drama Midnight, Texas, he’s not a believer. “I’m a bit of a skeptic,” he says. Still, the actor reveled in the possession scenes: “I got to go to a certain extreme.”

Though her dad, Carlos, is a famous musician, Santana says she was never interested in music as a career. “Then one day I woke up like, ‘Why am I resisting this?’ ” Now working on an R&B-tinged album, she has no qualms about comparisons to Dad: “He’s him, and I’m me!”

“I never thought this could be my career,” says the Jurassic World actor, 22, who got his start in community theater in Seattle and will next star in the gay coming-of-age film Love, Simon. “The strength of Simon is the gay character isn’t a stereotype. It subverts the genre.”

The Californian started a garage band at 12 “to get girls,” but fame came later, when his mash-up of Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” and “Style” earned 35 million YouTube views. Now 28, he’s got his own hit, “All on Me.” How does he feel about the ride? “It’s unreal.”

Joining The Walking Dead made it hard for actor and singer Kinney, 32, to go about her daily routine in New York City once she was done filming in Atlanta. “I used to go down to my coffee shop in glasses and pajamas,” says the Nebraska native, who now stars on ABC’s Ten Days in the Valley. “And then people were like, ‘Oh my God, it’s … ’ I realized, ‘Awww, now I have to get dressed.’ ”

“Adam Sandler made it okay for people to be weird,” says Buck, 29, who grew up idolizing the comic. Now he’s busier than ever, appearing on Chicago Med, Nat Geo’s The Long Road Home and the upcoming Netflix movie The Week Of, which happens to costar Sandler. He can’t believe his luck: “He gave me permission to be my full self in front of people.”

The “Every Little Thing” singer was a teen performer in Dollywood before she tried her luck in Nashville. “I always believed that I was meant to do this,” Pearce, 27, says. “It’s been so much work, so to finally start to see it pay off is mind-blowing.”

After an acting job as a child paid him 100 pounds, the Londoner says, “I never realized people got paid to act!” Now as Superman’s hard-bodied grandfather in SyFy’s Krypton, Cuffe is busy working on appearances. “My girlfriend said, ‘Stop posting gym pictures!’  ” he says. “But it’s the only place I go.”

Briga Heelan, 30, didn’t think she could ever top acting in Judd Apatow’s Netflix series Love until she was cast in the NBC sitcom Great News. “I’m exhausted!” says the new mom to daughter Bennet, 6 months. “But that’s because everything I’ve ever wanted in life has happened!”

The stage actor from New Jersey, 30, still can’t quite believe his very first film role was Cyborg in 2016’s Batman v Superman, which he’ll reprise in this year’s Justice League. Even weirder? Seeing an action figure of himself: “When somebody hands it to you? It’s kind of freaky!”

Known for her impressions on SNL and playing Aziz Ansari’s girlfriend in Master of None, the actress, writer and director from Texas, 30, is now adding singer to her résumé. “Nobody expected me to do music,” she says. “But I love it. I call it lullabies for adults.”

The actor, 17, says that much like his Black-ish alter ego, Andre Jr., he was “very into grades growing up.” But an acting class changed the course of his life. “Comedy came naturally to me,” he says. “But I’d also love to do a drama. And hopefully someday be a superhero.”

Millions watched 11-year-old Paris speak at her father Michael’s memorial service in 2009. She shied away from the spotlight for nearly a decade and thought about becoming a psychologist. Not anymore. The 19-year-old has thrown herself into acting and modeling gigs and is now an ambassador for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. She’s only getting started: “I realized it would be a shame to waste the platform I was given.”

The self-described nerd and Yale School of Drama grad says he studied religiously to play the villain M’Baku in Black Panther, the first Marvel film to star a black superhero. “When I found out I got the part, I just started sobbing because it meant so much.”

“We’re all in shock,” says Shannon Purser, 20, of how her family reacted to the massive following she developed after starring as the tragic Barb on Netflix’s Stranger Things. Now on the CW’s Riverdale and taking on film roles, she’s excited to branch out: “I’m so thankful. But I’m not going to be Barb for the rest of my life.”

The songwriter, 23, crafted hits for everyone from Britney Spears to Justin Bieber before releasing her Top 20 single “Issues.” Going from writer to pop star has been an exciting transition. “I get to have a voice now,” she says. “I’ve never felt like I had one before. It’s pretty cool.”