CRUSHWORTHY: Ezra Miller

My first introduction to this 18-year-old smart ass was in a few episodes of "Royal Pains" in '09. He played this lonely rich kid with daddy issues and a serious medical condition. He had a quick tongue and a rebellious streak. He was a scene-stealer. Miller sporadically reprised his role over the next year, but I didn't really get to see what he was made of until I finally got around to watching City Island on Netflix. His character was a chubby-chasing perv who disregarded school and disrespected his parents. There was nothing particularly likable about him. But I was impressed at Miller's bravery in taking the role. It wasn't easy. And it wasn't a star maker. But he made it more interesting than it would've been.

Lately, he's been carted around the world in promotion of his latest indie We Need to Talk About Kevin, which comes out in late January. In it, he plays a boy who went on a high-school killing spree. Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly play his grieving and bereft parents, who are left to not only make sense of why their son did this but take responsibility for it too. I'll be honest with you. I won't be watching that film. Having graduated from the generation where high school killing sprees were more common than education budget increases, it's not something I'd like to revisit. But I will be tuning in for his supporting role in the adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a romantic drama about "an introvert freshman who's taken under the wings of two seniors who welcome him to the real world." It stars Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson), Paul Rudd, Emma Watson, Nina Dobrev ("Vampire Diaries"), Mae Witman ("Parenthood"), Johnny Simmons (Jennifer's Body), Nicholas Braun (Prom), and Zane Holtz ("Make It or Break It").