Announcing the NewTeeVee Top 10 Breakout Video Stars of 2008

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Jessica Lee Rose

Admit it — you probably raised an eyebrow at us picking Jessica Rose for this list. “After all,” you’re muttering to yourself, “she was the star of the first breakout web series ever! She’s been Internet famous since 2006! She was on the cover of Wired! She’s freaking lonelygirl15! Did you guys just wake up from a coma?”

But while the young lass from New Zealand has been one of online video’s iconic faces for years, 2008 saw the actress step out of EQAL’s shadow and pursue her own projects. Not only did she continue her oldteevee success via ABC Family’s hit series Greek, but she also took on starring roles in two high-profile web series — the Big Fantastic/Warner Bros.-produced Sorority Forever and HBO’s vlogger-fest Hooking Up — as well as the upcoming 60Frames series Blood Cell. One actress being spread across multiple web series — you don’t see that too often. In a very short time span, Rose has gone from being like the typecast Angelina Jolie of the 1990s to something like the versatile Angelina Jolie of the 2000s. Except, you know, on the Internet.

Will 2009 be the year Rose breaks into the Hollywood mainstream? Maybe, maybe not. But she’s proven her ability to hold an audience and anchor a series — now, more than once.

Sorority Forever: Episode 1 “Sisterhood”

(L.S.M.)

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