Monica Barbaro, Anna Sawai, Keke Palmer, and Aaron Pierre Toast Youthful Hollywood at Vanity Fair and Instagram’s Vanities Party

Pierre, who had a busy 2024 in which he played Malcolm X in the miniseries Genius and voiced Mufasa in Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King, said he sees a through line in what his generation of actors is hoping to accomplish. “We share the sentiment, and that sentiment is committing to excellence, committing to making each project we attach ourselves to the best version of itself, and bringing our very best to each project,” he said. “It is enormously inspiring to be in a class of artists and a class of peers with that energy.”

Palmer, whose comedy One of Them Days opened in theaters in January, said she’s been inspired by many of this year’s Oscar-nominated performances, including Cynthia Erivo’s work in Wicked, along with Margaret Qualley in The Substance and Mikey Madison in Anora. “Everybody gave something different,” she said. Like many in her generation, Palmer has been building up a versatile career with work in different mediums, from film and TV to books and even her own digital network. It’s a path open to her generation, who were raised with social media and the ability to create content themselves. “Maybe I can be somebody that helps to democratize the industry just a little bit more,” she says. “I realized maybe I don’t really want to be Mickey Mouse—maybe I want to be Walt [Disney].”