Hard work seems to have paid off for Australian actress Danielle Macdonald, who spent two years practising being able to rap in a New Jersey accent for a role in acclaimed coming of age film Patti Cake$ (released September 1).

The 25 year old's performance in the drama was one of the highlights of this year's Sundance Film Festival, and the drama - in which she plays Patricia Dombrowski (a.k.a. Patti Cake$), a young woman on an unlikely quest for glory in her downtrodden hometown - was immediately snapped up by Fox Searchlight in a $9.5m deal. Now Macdonald has been signed to talent agents CAA and is being described as Hollywood's next big thing.