Taylor Schilling

With only one screen-credit to her resume, the unknown Schilling's auditions so wowed producers of "Mercy" that they gave her the lynchpin role of the blue-collar, war-hardened nurse at the heart of the show's eponymous hospital. Catalyzed by a marked ability to render a character layered with surly grit, pathos and human vulnerability, Schilling's abrupt promotion into the limelight portended a big upside for a burgeoning thespian career.

She …