Now that Dakota Fanning is all grown up who’s going to be America’s next sweetheart? We present for your consideration Nicola Peltz. In 2010’s live-action film The Last Airbender, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Peltz played Katara, a gutsy princess warrior. Airbender was based on a Nickelodeon original programming that was extremely popular with viewers. Her interpretation had fans gushing according to her Facebook page. Here’s what one of them said: “I loved what you brought to your character, playing Katara. She had a different feel to her than what I knew from the show, but it was everything I could ask for in a live action film. I really liked your interpretation of her, thanks! hoping for a sequel!”

And so it goes.

In 2006 Peltz appeared alongside Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick in Deck the Halls, a comedy directed by John Whitesell.

Peltz has no fewer than seven siblings and is the daughter of billionaire businessman Nelson Peltz, the tycoon who once owned the Snapple brand. I guess if acting does not work out, Nicola can always become a captain of industry like her father. But as it were, Peltz is sticking it out and in 2012 will appear in Eye of the Hurricane, a drama about a small community in the Everglades trying to put their lives together after a Hurricane devastated their region (see TRAILER below).

As always when I write this column, I can’t help but draw comparisons. Peltz reminds me of a cross between Angelina Jolie and Scarlett Johansson. What remains to be seen is whether she, like them, will also be able to get away with insubstantial acting thanks to her great looks or earn critical praise for bravura performances?

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