On Friday 16th August voting opened for West End Frame's 'Best West End Debut' Award. Every year many actors join their first West End show so our latest award is a celebration of some of the most spectacular West End debuts which have been made over the past year. Nine incredible actors have been nominated, some of whom are established performers and some who have only recently graduated from drama school. You can find out everything you could possibly want to know about the nominees below.
Jared Gertner was also a member of the original Tony Award-winning Broadway company of The Book of Mormon. He began as stand-by Elder Cunningham and eventually took over the role before joining the US Tour. His other theatre credits include: Spelling Bee at the Circle in the Square Theatre and Ordinary Days at the Roundabout Theatre. Gertner has also been seen on TV in Ugly Betty and The Good Wife.
American actress Jill Winternitz, recently played Baby Houseman on the Dirty Dancing UK Tour. Jill trained at RADA and her theatre credits include: Ophelia in Hamlet and The Prioress in The Canterbury Tales (Queen Mary 2), Wounded (Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble), Nina in The Seagull (MXAT) and Sunday in the Park with George (Interlochen Center for the Arts).
Kristen Beth Williams joined the cast of Top Hat directly from the Broadway production of Nice Work If You Can Get It and previously Anything Goes, both directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. She has also appeared in the Broadway production of Promises Promises directed by Rob Ashford. She has been a regular performer in the City Centre Encores! seasons performing in Follies, Applause, Face The Music and The Marvellous Wondrettes. On tour in the US she has been seen in White Christmas, Turn of the Century, Singin' in the Rain and Chicago.
Oliver Tilney graduated from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2012. His theatre credits include: Banquo in Macbeth directed by Paul Warwick (China Plate Theatre, UK tour), Captain Phoebus in The Hunchback of Notre Dame directed by David Calvitto (Selby Abbey, Belt-Up Theatre) and Oliver in Some Small Love Story directed by Joseph Hufton (Flanagan Collective, South Hill Park). 
Rebecca Herszenhorn recently graduated from Bird College with a BA Hons in dance and musical theatre. Credits while training included: White Christmas, A Chorus Line and West Side Story.
Rufus Hound previously played Francis Henshall in the UK tour of One Man, Two Guvnors. He is best known as a comedian, TV and radio personality, where his work includes seven series of the award-winning Celebrity Juice, the BBC sitcom Hounded, 8 out of 10 Cats, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and ITV1 primetime hit comedy show Mad Mad World. His radio credits include Act Your Age and My Teenage Diary for BBC Radio 4, as well as his own comedy show What’s So Funny. Hound’s film credits include Wedding Video and My Big Fat Gypsy Gangster. In addition Hound has presented Top of the Pops, Glastonbury Live and Out Take TV, all for the BBC.
Sam Lupton’s theatre credits include: Princeton/Rod in the UK tour of Avenue Q, Greg in Single Sex and Gena Hamlet in Galka Motalka (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), Harry in Love On The Dole, Young Collector/Sailor in A Streetcar Named Desire (Bolton Octagon) and in the TMA award-winning production of The Hired Man (Bolton Octagon).
Seth Numrich recently received critical acclaim on Broadway for his role in Golden Boy directed by Bartlett Sher (Lincoln Center Theater) and as Albert Narracott in the Lincoln Center Theater’s heralded production of War Horse. He made his Broadway debut in 2010 opposite Al Pacino in The Merchant of Venice (The Public Theater). Off Broadway Numrich has appeared in numerous productions: Slipping, Blind, Yosemite, On the Levee (LCT3), Iphigenia 2.0 (Signature Theater), Too Much Memory, Favorites, Break My Face On Your Hand (Rising Phoenix Rep), Gates of Gold (59E59) and Dutch Masters (LAByrinth). Numrich has also appeared on television in Gravity, the critically acclaimed CBS legal drama The Good Wife (CBS) and will soon appear in Turn (AMC). Film credits include: Private Romeo and How to Kill a Mockingbird. 
Croatian born Zrinka Cvitešić, a theatre, film and television actor, has been a member of the Croatian National Theatre since 2005 where her roles included Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Irina in Three Sisters, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Gwendoline in The Importance of Being Ernest, Lulu in Shopping and Fucking and Jenny in The Threepenny Opera. For her performance in What is a Man Without a Moustache? she won several awards including The Heart of Sarajevo Award and Best Actress Awards at the Sarajevo Film Festival, the Golden Arena Festival and the Pula Film Festival. For her performance as Luna in the award-winning On the Path she was named the Croatian Shooting Star at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival and also received a nomination in the Best Actress category at the 2010 European Film Awards. Her other film credits include: The Horseman and most recently she won the Bernhard Wicki Award for Best Actress at the 2012 Münich Film Festival for her role in My Beautiful Country. In 2010 Cvitešić won Ples sa zvijezdama, the Croatian version of Dancing with the Stars.
Voting for Best West End Debut must close at 3pm on Thursday 29th August 2013. The result will be announced on Friday 30th August.
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