Carey Mulligan stars on the London red carpet

There was one undisputed star of the red carpet at the London Film Festival last night - the 24-year-old actress Carey Mulligan who has the lead in An Education, based on journalist Lynn Barber's memoir, which received its British premiere ahead of general release on October 30.

The film is set in the 1960s. Mulligan plays schoolgirl Jenny who must choose between going to Oxford or giving up her conventional life for a glamorous fling with an "older man", twice her age, played by Peter Sarsgaard.

There has been a buzz about the film, and especially about Mulligan's performance, ever since it was shown at the Sundance festival in January. The Los Angeles Times and Time magazine are among those who have suggested she's a clear candidate for an Oscar nomination.

Announcing earlier this month that "a star is born", Richard Corliss wrote of Mulligan in Time: "She seems assured of a career breakthrough and an Oscar nomination for An Education, both because she's at the centre of this appealing movie from first to last and because, through her craft and force of personality, she exudes the sorcerer's ability to make the camera and the audience adore her."

Nick Hornby, who wrote the script for An Education based on Barber's book, attended Sundance and has said that, within hours of the screening, Mulligan was being called "the Sundance It gir" and "the new Audrey Hepburn".

Emma Thompson (above left, with Mulligan and co-star Dominic Cooper), who plays Jenny's headmistress in the film, said in Leicester Square last night: "Carey's wonderful. She's the real thing."

She may be the real thing, but success has not come easily until now. She was turned down by all three drama schools she applied to as a 17-year-old and she told reporters yesterday that she was still considereding reapplying to drama school. "I was in New York last week and walked past Juilliard and I sort of pined for it," she said. "It's worked out well but I would love to have gone and I might still go."

She now lives in New York and has a film star boyfriend - Shia LaBeouf, who is starring in Oliver Stone's Wall Street sequel, currently shooting in the city. Because of her performance in An Education, Mulligan has been cast by Stone to play the daughter of Gordon Gekko, the character Michael Douglas made famous in the the original 1987 film.