Trivia: Not to be confused with the right-wing U.S. political commentator of the same name, the distinguished-looking Australian character actor Jason Clarke burst onto the scene in the early 2000s with a series of critically praised and somewhat edgy roles. He began down under, opposite Aussie superstar Bryan Brown, in the crime thiller Risk (2000), and was particularly memorable two years later as a slimy constable in the politically tinged period docudrama Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002). Clarke then took on a four-episode guest role the Sci-Fi Channel's Farscape (2003), playing Jenek. After that, he signed for a lead role -- local politician Tommy Caffee -- in the acclaimed Showtime series Brotherhood, opposite Jason Isaacs. Over the coming years, Clarke would remain an active force on screen, appearing in films like Public Enemies, Trust, and Texas Killing Fields.

Trivia: In the early 2000s, New Zealand helped Hollywood find some of the film industry's new and exciting talent. In addition to offering high-profile efforts by such visionary directors as Peter Jackson and Lee Tamahori, the South Pacific island country was also the birthplace of talented actor Martin Henderson. A native of Auckland who stumbled into acting when a popular local TV show held a casting call at his school, the 13-year-old soon realized his true calling. He landed the part on Strangers and soon thereafter was cast in the popular hospital drama Shortland Street -- a role which earned the up-and-coming star a Best Male Dramatic Performance award at the 1993 New Zealand Film and Television Awards. Henderson moved to Sydney, Australia, where he stepped into the lead as an athlete with Olympic aspirations in Sweat. By this point, he was beginning to court international recognition, and made his feature debut with a supporting role in 1999's Kick. Henderson opted to hone his craft further at the New York Playhouse, where he appeared in a number of stage productions. Though he was lost in the shuffle with a small supporting role in John Woo's ill-fated World War II drama Windtalkers (2002), things soon began to look up for Henderson in Hollywood. With the release of The Ring later that year, the actor had both more screen time and a character that afforded him a better opportunity to exhibit his talent. Indie romance followed when Henderson was cast opposite Piper Perabo in the 2002 drama A Piece of My Heart (adapted for the screen by playwright Matt Cooper). Then, in an unpredictable move, the rising star received positive notice for his role in the Swedish romantic drama Skagerrak (aka Sweet Dreams). In 2004, Henderson rode fast and furious in the motorcycle action thriller Torque, which offered him his first lead in a large-scale Hollywood production. He also appeared later that year in the U.K. musical comedy Bride and Prejudice, a Bollywood-style adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. AFI nominated for a "Best Supporting Actor" trophy as a result of his affecting role as a disabled man drawn into a dangerous crime sceme in the 2005 Australian crime drama Little Fish, Henderson could next be seen taking to the sides as an American pilot helping his French allies fight the good fight in the World War I adventure Flyboys. He had a small part in Smokin' Aces, and had a major role in the political drama Battle in Seattle. He also had a major part in the 2010 WWII film Home By Christmas.

Trivia: Radio, film, stage and TV actor. Was brought up near Newcastle-upon-Tyne and often acted in amateur performances at the People's Theatre. Took an active role in student drama at university. Originally trained as a primary school teacher after graduating from university, but opted to be an actor after a year of teaching. Began his professional career in the theatre. Played Vronsky in a BBC Radio 4 production of Anna Karenin in 2002. Revealed he was a descendant of John Lilburne, after being confirmed to portray him in a 2008 production of The Devil's Whore. After performing in Enron in 2009, he reunited with director Rupert Goold in Earthquakes in London in 2010. Is a patron of Scene and Heard, a charity based in London that aims to improve the prospects of children through mentoring and courses in drama skills.

Trivia: Prolific character actor John Hawkes earned a new level of recognition with his role as Bugsy, the slow-witted fisherman who provides Wolfgang Petersen's The Perfect Storm (2000) with a degree of comic relief. Hailing from Austin, TX, Hawkes, who bears a vague resemblance to Tom Selleck, began his career as an actor and musician. After relocating to Los Angeles, where he moved to do further stage work, the actor wrote and performed Nimrod Soul, a one-man show staged at the Theatre at the Improv. He subsequently found work on television and broke into film in the late '80s. In addition to doing supporting turns in a large variety of films, including Flesh and Bone (1993), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), Hawkes also did guest work on such long-running TV shows as E.R. and The X-Files. In 1999, he was cast in one of his first leading roles in A Slipping-Down Life, a well-received big screen adaptation of Anne Tyler's novel of the same name that also starred Lili Taylor and Guy Pearce. With his casting the following year in The Perfect Storm, a summer smash that featured him acting alongside the likes of George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, and John C. Reilly, it seemed that Hawkes' career was entering a new and possibly more lucrative phase. Over the next several years, he would appear in a number of films, like Identity, Miami Vice, American Gangster, Winter's Bone, and Higher Ground.

Trivia: Onscreen performer Michael Kelly specialized in slightly rough-hewn, working-class character roles. Kelly premiered on the big screen with occasional bit parts in the late '90s, but achieved much greater prominence by playing a security guard in the 2004 supernatural horror remake Dawn of the Dead, and by essaying one of the supporting roles in the Ericson Core-directed inspirational sports drama Invincible (2006), starring Mark Wahlberg and Greg Kinnear. Kelly also acted regularly on the small screen, with numerous guest roles as well as a longer stint on The Sopranos as FBI agent Ron Goddard. In 2007, Kelly signed to appear in Tooth & Nail, a post-apocalyptic thriller about a courageous band of holocaust survivors who hole up in a hospital and try valiantly to defend themselves from invading cannibals. He had a major part in Clint Eastwood's period drama Changeling as well as a small part in the thriller Law Abiding Citizen. In 2010 he appeared in the political biopic Fair Game, and the next year he had a major part opposite Matt Damon in The Adjustment Bureau. He was in the sci-fi hit Chronicle in 2012.

Trivia: The versatile American character actor Mark Derwin initially launched himself as a late '80s soap opera heartthrob, with two roles that many housewives will count as unforgettable: that of A.C. Mallett on Guiding Light, and that of Adrian Hunter on The Young and the Restless. Allegedly a rebel during his early years, Derwin evinced limited interest in high school sports and attended the State University of New York at Cobbleskill, where he engaged in some undisclosed acts of "bad boy" mischief that prompted the university to boot him out. Stints at IBM (where his family worked), at a nursing home, and in carpentry and landscaping followed, but the actor felt a deep and lingering dissatisfaction that prompted him to seek out his one great passion: acting. Commercials followed -- for Nike, Toyota, Nissan, Fiesta Cigarettes (on Mexican television) -- then the soap opera period, which Derwin used as a kind of personalized workshop to develop and hone his acting craft. Prime-time viewers will invariably associate Derwin with his collaborations with Bonnie Hunt. Beginning in the mid-'90s, he joined the casts of two of the actress/comedienne's sitcoms: the short-lived Bonnie Hunt Show (1995) and the slightly more successful Life With Bonnie (2002). After that program received the pink slip, Derwin branched out into big-screen features. These included the teen comedies Dirty Deeds (2005) and Accepted (2006) and the psychological drama Laura Smiles (2005).

Trivia: With soulful, saucer-like eyes and a coy smile that hints at playfulness, Oscar-nominated actress Emily Watson burst onto the scene with her shattering performance in Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves, a role that almost went to period-piece queen Helena Bonham Carter. Born the daughter of an architect and an English professor in Islington, a borough of London, England, in January 1967, a sheltered upbringing initially led Watson to seek studies in English Literature. After studying in Bristol for three years, Watson made her first bid for drama school only to face disheartening rejection. After three years of working as a waitress and a secretary, she was eventually accepted into the London Drama Studio. It was during this early phase in her career that Watson would meet future husband Jack Waters.Launching her career upon joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1992, Watson soon set her sights on film. Fate intervened when actress Helena Bonham Carter pulled out of director Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves at the last minute due to the film's explicit sexuality. Despite her lack of big-screen experience, Watson landed the female lead in the film after only one brief screen test. Playing a spiritually driven woman whose oil-rig worker husband (Stellan Saarsgaard) becomes paralized, she exhibited a brash, religiously transcendent sexuality, stunning art-house audiences and recieving an Oscar nomination in the process. Though the subsequent marriage dramedy Metroland proved to be a nostalgia trip by comparison, Watson's honest performance again earned accolades. Watson's reputation continued to grow with her intimate, conflicted portrayal of the Multiple Sclerosis-stricken concert cellist Jacqueline Du Pre in Hilary and Jackie (1998), for which she was again Oscar-nominated, as well as when she played the love interest of an eccentric chess champion in The Luzhin Defence (2000).After joining the talented ensemble of Robert Altman's acclaimed comedy-mystery Gosford Park, Watson made serious inroads into Hollywood, first in 2002 as the love interest of a temperamental (to say the least) small-business owner played by Adam Sandler in Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love. That same fall also saw her playing the love interest of a murderous psychopath in Brett Ratner's Hannibal prequel Red Dragon, and re-teaming with Metroland co-star Christian Bale in the little-seen sci-fi action vehicle Equilibrium. After doing voice work for Tim Burton's animated gothic Corpse Bride -- alongside the very woman she replaced in Breaking the Waves, Helena Bonham-Carter -- she returned to the British art-house scene with strong performances in such films as Separate Lives and director Richard E. Grant's autobiographical Wah-Wah.She appeared in the biopic Miss Potter, and the family fantasy film The Water Horse. In 2008 she was part of Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut Synecdoche, New York. Three years later she played the mother of a boy devoted to his beloved equine mate in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of War Horse, and in 2012 she appeared in Joe Wright's adaptation of Anna Karenina. The following year, she appeared in the film adaptation of the popular book The Book Thief. In 2014, she played Jane Hawking's mother in The Theory of Everything.

Trivia: Australian-born actor Sam Worthington got his first break in the Belvoir Street Theatre production Judas Kiss, shortly after graduating from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art. He eventually made the transition to the screen, appearing in the Australian movie Bootmen. Worthington earned small roles in other films such as Hart's War, and eventually won the lead in the drama Dirty Deeds opposite Toni Collette. He later earned a prominent role in the critically acclaimed Somersault, which won a slew of awards, including an AFI for Worthington in the category of Best Actor. In 2006, he joined many young men of the acting community in going up for the role of James Bond, and while the legendary part went to Daniel Craig, Worthington took the title role in a modern retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth, garnering the 30-year-old actor a lot of attention. He caught the eye of director James Cameron, who cast Worthington as the lead in his sci-fi thriller Avatar. That film would become one of the biggest box-office successes in movie history and he would follow up that newfound celebrity with turns in another effects-laden extravaganza Clash of the Titans, as well as the indie drama Last Night. In 2012 he returned to the role of Perseus for Wrath of the Titans, and starred in the thriller Man on a Ledge. In 2013, he appeared in the Australian film Drift, followed by another Australian film, Paper Planes, in 2014. The following year, he appeared in Cake, opposite Jennifer Aniston, and in the disaster film Everest.

Trivia: Pixie-ish British actress Keira Knightley went from a relative unknown to a blockbuster leading lady after 2002's sleeper soccer flick Bend It Like Beckham caught on with an international audience. Born in Teddington, London, England, in 1985, young Knightley was enticed by the lure of cinema at an early age. Playwright mother Sharman McDonald and actor father Will Knightley were at first reluctant to let their daughter follow them into show business. Although they would accommodate her wish three years later, their strict demand that their daughter study through school holidays and only take jobs that didn't interfere with her education ensured that Keira would keep her priorities straight.Trained in dance from an early age, Knightley made her film debut when she was 12 in Moira Armstrong's romantic drama A Village Affair. Gradually climbing the credits with subsequent roles in Innocent Lies (1995) and the made-for-TV features Treasure Seekers (1996) and Coming Home (1998), she got her first big break when cast as the decoy queen in the eagerly anticipated Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Knightley resembled the actual queen (portrayed by Natalie Portman) so much that her mother couldn't distinguish the two and some fans still insist both were portrayed by Portman. Returning to non-decoy status for the television miniseries Oliver Twist (2000), Knightley stayed with the small screen as Robin Hood's daughter in the 2001 adventure Princess of Thieves. Although audiences would truly begin to take note of her talent in the thriller The Hole that same year, her star-making turn in the sleeper comedy drama Bend It Like Beckham endeared her to audiences everywhere and ultimately served as her breakthrough starring role. Playing the best friend to Parminder K. Nagra, Knightley proved that she could turn what might have been little more than a noteworthy supporting role into a truly spunky, scene-stealing performance. As Lara Antipova in the 2002 miniseries Doctor Zhivago, Knightley gracefully slipped into a role that was previously made famous by Julie Christie, and the timeless romantic drama proved a hit with U.K. television viewers. With the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, however, the actress was catapulted into an entirely new realm of popularity. Opposite Johnny Depp's truly eccentric portrayal of pirate Jack Sparrow, Knightley charmed as the beautiful young maiden whose blood may hold the key to life for a group of undead pirates.While King Arthur (2004) and Domino (2005) were high-profile flops, Knightley's status as a movie-star on both sides of the pond was firmly cemented in early 2006 when she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her role in 2005's Pride & Prejudice. 2006 also saw the release of the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which was shot back-to-back with the franchise's third entry, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which was scheduled for release in 2007. In the meantime, Knightley forged ahead on the period drama Silk, opposite Michael Pitt. As the decade wore on, Knightly remained a fixed presence on screen, appearing in such films as The Duchess, London Boulevard, A Dangerous Method, Anna Karenina, and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.Knightley appeared in a pair of indie films in 2014, {Laggies and Begin Again, as well as the big-budget action film Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. However, she earned the most praise that year for her supporting turn in The Imitation Game, playing a woman who helps crack German codes during WWII. She garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her work in that film, which also scored Best Picture and Best Actor nods.

Trivia: Both parents were classically trained dancers, who moved the family from Paris to Melbourne when she was 5 years old. Learned ballet at a young age from her mother; switched to contemporary dance at age 16 because she was too tall to be a professional ballerina. Was the dux, the highest ranking student academically, of her high school. Cast in her first film, A Few Best Men (2011), three weeks after graduating from drama school. Was the face of jeweler Jan Logan's collection in 2012. Performed in the Sydney Theatre Company's production of The Maids, opposite Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert, in 2013.

Trivia: Rugged leading man Josh Brolin was raised on a horse ranch in California, a fact that would come to inform his persona as an actor in years to come. But when the 17 year old made his big-screen debut in 1985's The Goonies, most viewers knew him as the son of actor James Brolin. The younger Brolin didn't shy away from his Hollywood roots, and when he relocated to L.A. to pursue an acting career, he moved in with his dad while he studied the craft under the esteemed Stella Adler. He soon followed his appearance in The Goonies with a lead role in the series Private Eye, and though the show didn't last, Brolin decided to stay in TV, starring in the Western series Young Riders. The show ended its three-year run in 1992, when Brolin's marriage to Alice Adair ended as well, and Brolin seemed intent on flying under the radar for the next several years, pursuing mostly smaller, independent projects like My Brother's War and Mimic. In 2007, he caught on with a new core group of fans when he played the sinister Doc Block in Robert Rodriguez's instant cult favorite Planet Terror, one half of the Grindhouse double feature. Later that same year, however, he would be reintroduced to audiences on a much huger scale when he took the lead role in the Coen brothers' highly acclaimed No Country for Old Men. The sleeper film would become one of the biggest films of the year, winning the Oscar for Best Picture and making Brolin a household name for the first time in over a decade.Brolin next signed on to play the title role in W., Oliver Stone's satirical biopic about president George W. Bush. Buzz gathered around the project before so much as a trailer was released, praising the actor's complete transformation into what had originally seemed like a strange role for him to play. Although the buzz was that he would garner some awards for his role as the 43rd President, it turned out that a different political film from 2008 would bring him the biggest accolades of his career. His portrayal of Dan White, the man who assassinated Harvey Milk, in Gus Van Sant's Milk garnered Brolin his first Academy Award nomination, as well as a nod from the Screen Actors Guild.In 2010 he would play the title character in the adaptation of the comic book Jonah Hex, but he would find much greater success as the dastardly Tom Chaney in the Coen brothers remake of True Grit. He shares a very funny story in the 2011 documentary Woody Allen: A Documentary. In 2012 he stepped into the successful Men In Black franchise with MiB3, playing a younger version of Tommy Lee Jones's character. He next appeared in Gangster Squad, opposite Ryan Gosling, and took on the lead in the 2013 English language remake of Oldboy. Brolin joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing the villainous Thanos, first in Guardians of the Galaxy and later reprising his role in other films in the MCU. In 2014, he also appeared in the Sin City sequel A Dame to Kill For and Inherent Vice. He later took a role in the disaster film, Everest, based on the real-life disaster the occurred on the mountain in 1996.

Trivia: Is very active acting in theaters since he started his career.Stated that is very difficult for him to see himself acting on screen.Is discreet about his family and personal life.Is skilled at painting.Plays piano.

Trivia: As the offspring of producer/writer Naomi Foner and director Stephen Gyllenhaal, it is not surprising that Jake Gyllenhaal has been acting since childhood. Raised in Los Angeles, Gyllenhaal acted in school plays and made his winsome screen debut when he was in the fifth grade, playing Billy Crystal's son in the blockbuster summer comedy City Slickers (1991). Keeping it in the family while acting with some of the industry's most notable talents, Gyllenhaal subsequently appeared in his parents' 1993 adaptation of the novel A Dangerous Woman with Debra Winger, and played Robin Williams' son in a 1994 episode of TV's Homicide that was directed by his father. Poised to make the transition from child to adult actor, Gyllenhaal earned rave reviews, heralding him as a star in the making, for his emotionally sincere performance as real-life rocket builder Homer Hickam in the warmly received drama October Sky (1999). Though he opted to stay in school and attend college at Columbia University, Gyllenhaal continued his creative pursuits, playing in a rock band and starring as the oddball title character alongside Drew Barrymore in the Barrymore-produced Sundance Film Festival entrant Donnie Darko (2001). Gyllenhaal could be seen later that same year as the titular character in the ill-fated Bubble Boy.After co-starring on the London stage in This Is Our Youth in spring 2002, Gyllenhaal was declared one half of Entertainment Weekly's "It Gene Pool" (with sister Maggie Gyllenhaal) for his aversion to taking the easy, teen flick route. In keeping with his preference for off-center work, Gyllenhaal coincidentally played the younger love object of choice in two consecutive indie comedies, appearing as Catherine Keener's sensitive boss in Nicole Holofcener's slyly witty Lovely & Amazing (2002) and Jennifer Aniston's enticing yet disturbed co-worker in Miguel Arteta's sardonic The Good Girl (2002). As further proof that he had the acting chops to go with his sad-eyed good looks, Gyllenhaal subsequently co-starred with Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon as a young man enmeshed in his dead fiancée's family in Moonlight Mile (2002).With his star on the rise and his status as a heartthrob all but cemented, it became impossible for Gyllenhaal to avoid the draw of a big summer blockbuster. In 2004, he starred alongside Dennis Quaid in the mega-budgeted The Day After Tomorrow, and the success of that film put him in another league altogether. What followed was an interesting, challenging mix of roles for the young actor. He could be seen in the fall of 2005 starring in no less than three high-profile prestige films, all of them adaptations: the delayed big-screen version of the Pulitzer-prize winning play Proof, with Gwyneth Paltrow; the Gulf War memoir Jarhead, directed by American Beauty wunderkind Sam Mendes; and Ang Lee's cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain. The first two films received an indifferent response by critics, even though Jarhead's opening-weekend gross confirmed Gyllenhaal's bankability. Lee's film, however, garnered the most acclaim of 2005, and offered him perhaps his riskiest, most rewarding role to date. Playing the closeted, romantically frustrated rancher Jack Twist, Gyllenhaal added heartbreaking shades of vulnerability to his usual frat-boy cockiness, and more than held his own opposite a memorably gruff, taciturn Heath Ledger. As praise was heaped out upon the film and its two male leads, Gyllenhaal found himself the recipient of a BAFTA award, a National Board of Review notice, and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Gyllenhaal would spend the next several years enjoying his status as a leading man, appearing in projects like Zodiac, Brothers, Love and Other Drugs, and Source Code.

Trivia: Wanted to become an actress at the age of 12 after seeing family friend, Vanessa Redgrave, in a production of The Cherry Orchard. Auditioned for the Bristol Old Vic at 17 but was turned down, so took a gap year and travelled throughout Africa and Asia, and volunteered in an AIDS hospice in South Africa. Was set to attend drama school in 2009, but took a job working in repertory at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton, England, instead, and appeared in plays by Arthur Miller, Henrik Ibsen and William Shakespeare. Made her London stage debut in Women Beware Women and her TV debut in BBC's The Hour in 2011. Was named one of Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow in 2011. Appeared as Princess Margaret in Netflix's 2016 production The Crown. Named by Variety magazine in 2016 as 'the outstanding stage actress of her generation, capable of the most unexpected choices'. Won the 2017 Glamour Awards for UK TV Actress and the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2018 for her role in The Crown.

Trivia: Became a model at age 14 after being spotted rollerskating by a photographer; worked in France and Japan before quitting the business and deciding to be an actor. Received three Daytime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Ingenue in a Drama Series for her work on the NBC soap Santa Barbara (1986-88); also chosen as Outstanding Heroine by readers of Soap Opera Digest in 1988. Her wedding to Sean Penn was attended by Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, and the best man was producer Art Linson (Fast Times at Ridgemont High). Shortly after marrying Penn in 1996, was carjacked in their Santa Monica driveway; neither she nor their children were hurt, and both perpetrators were apprehended. Was a juror at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival; ex-husband Sean Penn was the jury's president in 2008.

Trivia: Daughter of a Canadian father and a Brazilian mother.Moved to Brazil after she was born, returned to the U.K. at age 5, moved to Canada at age 10, and settled in London at age 12.Was discovered by fashion photographer Gemma Booth at the Underage Festival in London when she was 14.As a model, worked for brands like Vogue and Miu Miu.Started auditioning for films when she was 16.