The next Emma Watson? Atonement star Saoirse Ronan is all grown-up at The Way Back premiere

Now that is leaving her Harry Potter day behind her, there is an opening in the market for a young British actress set to take Hollywood by storm.
And it seems Saoirse Ronan could be just the girl.
The 16-year-old actress, who first rose to fame when she appeared alongside Keira Knightley in 2007's Atonement, was all grown-up last night as she attended the premiere of her new movie The Way Back alongside Colin Farrell and Ed Harris.

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All grown up: Saoirse Ronan at the premiere of The Way Back in London last night, and at the premiere of Atonement in 2007

Wearing a chic black and white lace dress, with opaque tights and heels, Saoirse looked worlds away from the innocent little girl in the long white dress and flat pumps at the Atonement London premiere.
After her role in Atonement, for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, Saoirse also appeared in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones, an adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel.
And Saoirse is already being tipped for an Oscar for her role in The Way Back, which tells the story of soldiers who escaped from a Siberian gulag in 1940, and is based on Slawomir Rawicz's memoir The Long Walk.

Co-stars: Saoirse poses up with co-star Colin Farrell at the premiere

Taking to the red carpet: Ed Harris (left) and Jim Sturgess also appear in the film

She can soon be seen in Hanna, alongside Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana, and is rumoured to have won a part in the highly-anticipated The Hobbit: Part 1, also directed by Peter Jackson.
But it was her role in Joe Wright's Atonement that led Saoirse to know 100 per cent that she was meant to be an actress.
She said in a recent interview: 'When I got to the stage of Atonement,  it really tested and challenged me. I was working with some really top-class people.

Fledgling: Saoirse in the 2007 Joe Wright film Atonement

'And Joe is a really great director. From that point onward I thought, "Maybe this should be my job. I know I can’t give it up now." I felt that passionate about it. I couldn’t imagine leaving it.'
And as well as impressing film critics, Saoirse has also left an impression on her castmates, including Ed Harris, with whom she stars in The Way Back.
He said: 'She was so present in a cool way and really mysterious. I loved working with her. She was just 16 when we made it, I think, a little bit older than my daughter. She had a wonderful work ethic, really friendly, always in good spirits, charming, pretty.
'I felt a little bit protective of her, though she didn’t really need that. We had a really nice thing. I loved just being totally simple and honest with her. She’s living and breathing in the moment and you’re able to just experience that with her.'
The Way Back is released in the UK on December 26th.