Trivia: A prolific English actress with a marked flair for period drama, Helen McCrory accepted one of her first roles as a New Orleans prostitute in Neil Jordan's gothic horror opus Interview with the Vampire (1994); though this merely constituted a bit part, McCrory gradually ascended to higher billing in outings such as Witness Against Hitler (1995), The James Gang (1997), and Split Second (1999), before tackling the lead role of Anna Karenina in director David Blair's 2001 miniseries adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's seminal novel, and signed for another lead in the humorous made-for-television crime thriller Dead Gorgeous (2002), adapted from the novel On the Edge by Peter Lovesey. McCrory maintained a higher profile and netted more widespread global recognition as the title character's mother in Lasse Hallström's Casanova (2005) and as Cherie Blair, the wife of British prime minister Tony Blair, in the 2006 docudrama The Queen. McCrory then signed for a plum role as Narcissa Malfoy in the fantasy Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2008).

Trivia: All that glitters is not Hollywood gold, Scottish actress Lindsay Duncan believes. Although she could easily command million-dollar paychecks for performing in big-budget American films, she prefers acting in new or vintage stage plays and in screen adaptations of classic novels. So she does Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Henry Fielding, and Oscar Wilde. But her loyalty to literary giants such as these is not without its rewards: She won the 2002 Olivier Award as best actress for her performance in Noël Coward's Private Lives, a 1988 London Evening Standard Award as best actress for her performance in Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and a 1987 Tony nomination as leading actress for her performance in Pierre Cholderlos de Laclos' Les Liaisons Dangereuses. However, she is not averse to accepting an occasional fun role in a major Hollywood film. For example, she was the voice of protocol droid TC-14 in Star Wars, Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. For her ability to bring to life characters of every description, whether futuristic robots or here-and-now reprobates, critics agree that she is one of Britain's most talented actresses. Duncan was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on November 7, 1950. After studying at London's Central School of Drama, she labored in mostly unheralded theater roles before graduating to television productions in the 1980s. These productions included On Approval (1982), Reilly: The Ace of Spies (1983), Dead Head (1985), and Traffik (1989). In the 1990s, well seasoned and ready for limelight drama, Duncan picked herself a bouquet of choice roles that put her on prestigious London stages, in movie theaters from Liverpool to Los Angeles, and in the living rooms of television viewers throughout the English-speaking world. One well-known production that exhibits her talents is the 1999 TV miniseries Oliver Twist, in which she portrays Elizabeth Leeford, a woman so evil that the devil himself would fear her. Duncan also appears in the 1999 film adaptation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park in dual roles as the heroine's mother and drug-addicted aunt, in the 1997 TV miniseries A History of Tom Jones: A Foundling as Lady Ballaston, in the 1996 film adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream as Hippolyta and Titania, and in the 1993 TV miniseries A Year in Provence as the wife of author Peter Mayle. Her real-life husband, Hilton McRae, is also an actor. They have one son, born in 1990.

Trivia: A classically trained British actor who nearly became the successor to the James Bond franchise, handsome and talented James Purefoy made himself known to stateside audiences with roles in such high-profile releases as A Knight's Tale (2001) and Resident Evil (2002). Born James Brian Mark Purefoy (his surname meaning "good faith" in Norman French) in Taunton, Somerset, England, in 1964, Purefoy received his early education at the all-boys Sherbourne School (alma mater to such actors as Jeremy Irons) before later refining his acting abilities at the London School of Drama. After receiving his Actor's Equity Card following a stage performance of Equus, Purefoy joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and essayed stage roles in performances of such classics as King Lear and The Tempest. It wasn't long before Purefoy began to hunger for something more, and after making his small-screen debut in The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (1990), a career in television and films soon followed. Alternating between the small (Sharpe's Sword [1995], The Tide of Life [1996]) and silver (Jilting Joe [1997], Mansfield Park [1999]) screens for the majority of the 1990s, Purefoy began to gain more prominent roles in such romantic comedies as Bedrooms and Hallways (1998) and Maybe Baby (2000) around the time of the millennial turnover. The inevitable Hollywood becoming too much to resist, the talented actor began to turn up in such big-budgeted fare as A Knight's Tale and Resident Evil soon thereafter.

Trivia: First role was on a BBC radio play called Kai Mei Sauce in 1993. Was nominated for a British Independent Film Award for his supporting role in Dirty Pretty Things. Made his West End stage debut in 2013 in Chimerica.

Trivia: British actor Julian Bleach specialized in roles of an otherworldly nature, and thus maintained a particularly strong presence in the fantasy and science fiction and horror genres. One of the many co-founders of the multimedia-driven theatrical revue christened Shockheaded Peter (which combined music, puppetry, pantomime, and other forms for a series of surrealist visual displays), Bleach began to land high-profile big-screen work in the mid-2000s, starting with roles in a pair of adult-oriented fantasy films: Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm (2005, as Letorc) and Tarsem Singh's The Fall (2006, as a mystic). Bleach also portrayed Frankenstein's monster in ITV's 2007 revisionist production of Mary Shelley's seminal horror novel.

Trivia: Best known for playing girlfriends and professional women with a slightly distinguished edge, Australian-born actress Anna Torv first made her name in her native homeland, with regular roles on Aussie network series including Young Lions, McLeod's Daughters, and The Secret Life of Us. Following a multi-episode turn on the BBC series drama Mistresses, and roles in the thrillers Traveling Light and The Book of Revelation, Torv moved toward Hollywood stardom with a regular role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the series Fringe by Lost progenitor J.J. Abrams.