Faces to Watch in ’95 : We’re Counting on Them : MOVIES

Some of them you know. Some you don’t. But the following artists, entertainers and executives have one thing in common: We’re counting on each to mae a significant impact or difference in their respective fields this year. Sure, there will be thers who make a splash, but after we talked with dozens of people who work in entertainment and the arts, these were the names mentioned most often. You might say that Jim Carrey was a face to watch in ‘94, and you would be right. But, based on “Ace Ventura,” “The Mask,” and “Dumb and Dumber,” Carrey’s ’95 should bear watching. Another pair of familiar faces--Jay Leno and David Letterman--appear on our list. Why? Haven’t we looked at these guys enough? Well, truth be told, how do you know what’s going to happen to them this year? Fame can be sooooo fleeting.

Linda Fiorentino

Why can’t a woman be more like a man? As Linda Fiorentino demonstrated in “The Last Seduction,” she can be--and when she is, she scares the bejesus out of everybody.

She was voted this year’s best actress by the New York Film Critics Circle for her portrayal of a classy killer in the low-budget film noir hit directed by John Dahl. The Philadelphia-born actress made her film debut in Harold Becker’s “Vision Quest” (1985), starring opposite Matthew Modine; she has since won parts in 11 films, including Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours.”

The New York-based Fiorentino, 34, is now about to start a new chapter of her career; she’ll next be seen opposite David Caruso in William Friedkin’s “Jade,” as a clinical psychologist who moonlights as a prostitute who’s suspected of murdering her pimp. In a sense a reprise of her hard-boiled character in “The Last Seduction,” “Jade” is based on a script by Joe Eszterhas, who will never be accused of subtlety.