EXCLUSIVE: In a development that puts him near the top of young actors to watch, Tye Sheridan just won the starring role in the Steven Spielberg-directed adaptation of Ready Player One, which is being made by Warner Bros, Village Roadshow Pictures and DreamWorks. He plays the protagonist Wade, opposite Olivia Cooke and Ben Mendelsohn, who plays Nolan Sorrento. Zak Penn is adapting the screenplay.

For Sheridan, it’s the latest in a short career full of landing showy roles and making the most of the opportunity. He made his debut in the 2011 Terrence Malick-directed The Tree Of Life. The Texas-born teen followed starring opposite Matthew McConaughey in the Jeff Nichols-directed Mud, for which he shared the Robert Altman Award at the Independent Spirit Awards. He has several upcoming films that include playing the young Cyclops in the Bryan Singer-directed X-Men: Apocalypse. So we’ll grant him a mulligan for Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse, which he starred in last fall.

Landing Spielberg for Ready Player One was a big coup for Warner Bros and its production chief Greg Silverman. It’s based on the Ernest Cline cult favorite novel, and the film’s being produced Spielberg, De Line Pictures’ Donald De Line, Dan Farah, and Spielberg’s longtime collaborator Kristie Macosko Krieger. Daniel Lupi and Bruce Berman are exec producing. Silverman and Jesse Ehrman are overseeing for Warner Bros.

Sheridan is repped by WME, Mosaic and attorney Mitch Smelkinson.