Trivia: British director Guy Ritchie frequently attributes the success of his unorthodox crime films -- 1998's Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, 2000's Snatch -- to the fact that his offbeat miscreants are more than believable, they are real. Preferring to cast for authenticity rather than resumé, Ritchie handpicks many of his actors from the true-life cult figures and rascals of London's underbelly. Actor Jason Statham is among the best of them.A one-time Olympic diver, fashion model, and black-market salesman, Statham came to acting by way of commercials and "street theater" -- a euphemism for hustling tourists on London's Oxford Street. Raised in Syndenham, London, he was the second son of a lounge singer and a dressmaker turned dancer. Although Statham had the familial background to go immediately into entertainment, he excelled first on the high dive. He was a member of the 1988 British Olympic Team in Seoul, Korea, and remained on the National Diving Squad for ten years. In the late '90s, a talent agent specializing in athletes landed Statham a gig in an ad campaign for the European clothing retailer French Connection. This led to an appearance in a Levi's Jeans commercial and a fledgling modeling career. Meanwhile, Statham had also earned local fame as a street corner con man, selling stolen jewelry and counterfeit perfume out of a briefcase. Thus, when French Connection's owner became one of the biggest investors in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, he naturally introduced the diver/model/hustler to knave-hunting Ritchie.Intrigued by Statham's past and impressed by his modeling work, Ritchie invited him to audition for a part in the film. The director challenged Statham to impersonate an illegal street vendor and convince him to purchase a piece of imitation gold jewelry. Statham was evidently so persuasive that Ritchie bought four sets. When the director attempted to return his worthless acquisition -- pretending that the gold had turned to stainless steel -- Statham was so graciously inflexible that Ritchie hired him.This unorthodox audition resulted in Statham's big screen debut as Bacon, one of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels' four primary characters engaged in a risky get-rich-quick scheme to repay a massive gambling debt. Bacon supplies a streetwise discipline and restraint that the other characters lack and a sense of humility crucial to Ritchie's film. In the director's follow-up crime comedy, Snatch, Ritchie rehired Statham to play Turkish, a smalltime hood vainly trying to break into the world of underground boxing. As this amateur but respectable hoodlum, Statham is attractive, urbane, immaculate, and smart enough to be bewildered by even his own laughable criminal ineptitude. The role began as a small supporting part in Snatch's star-filled ensemble cast but expanded throughout shooting. By the time of the film's theatrical release, Statham received top billing as its narrator and chief anti-hero.The Guy Ritchie oeuvre that supplied his breakthrough performances is not Statham's only acting arena. In 2000, he made his American film debut as a British drug dealer in Robert Adetuyi's Turn It Up starring Pras Michel. By 2001, he had finished shooting John Carpenter's sci-fi thriller Ghosts of Mars and joined Delroy Lindo in the cast of the Jet Li vehicle The One. A chance to reteam with former Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrel co-star Vinnie Jones proved too fun an opportunity to resist, and Stratham would round out a particularly busy 2001 with his role in the prison-bound sports remake Mean Machine. Just as audiences were finally standing up to take notice of the amiable tough-guy, Stratham stepped into his own as the action lead of the explosive 2002 adrenaline ride The Transporter. A sizable hit that would earn Statham increasingly prominent roles in such high profile pics as The Italian Job, and Cellular, The Transporter established Stratham as a bankable international action star and was eventually followed by a 2005 sequel that miraculously managed the improbable feat of upping the ante of the previous installment's over-the-top cartoon violence. A starring role in Ritchie's 2005 crime thriller Revolver found Stratham re-teaming with the director who launched his career with decidedly mixed results, and the following year it was off to race the clock and rescue the girl as a reformed assassin looking to make good in the hyper-intense action entry Crank. The positively outrageous Crank: High Voltage upped the ante (and the ampage) in every possible way in 2009, but not before Statham got behind the wheel for Resident Evil director Paul W.A. Anderson for the 2008 remake Death Race, discovered just how far a foolproof heist could go awry in The Bank Job, and once again put the pedal to the metal in The Transporter 3. All of this left little doubt that Statham had quickly become one of the most bankable action stars of his generation, and in 2010 he teamed with none other than Sylvester Stallone for the all-star action flick The Expendables. The action just kept coming in The Mechanic, Blitz, Killer Elite (which paired him with screen legend Robert DeNiro), Safe, and the super-sized The Expendables 2 in 2012. Statham next joined another franchise, making a cameo appearance in Fast & Furious 6. He also reprised his role in The Expendables 3. In 2015, Statham appeared in Furious 7 and flexed his comedy chops in Spy, opposite Melissa McCarthy, earning favorable reviews and opening him to another genre.

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: Took dance lessons from the age of three. Auditioned unsuccessfully for the Central Junior Television Workshop at the age of eleven, but was recalled one week later when another child dropped out. Rejected places at the Royal Ballet and the Italia Conti School because her family couldn't afford the tuition fees, so decided to pursue a career in acting. Continued attending the Central Television Workshop in Nottingham and met Samantha Morton, who mentored her and helped launch her acting career. Appeared in music videos for Plan B's "She Said" with Kaya Scodelario in 2010 and Jake Bugg's "Two Fingers" in 2012. Starred in various short films for the cosmetics brand Illamasqua in 2012, including one titled Born Again. Took part in the Alzheimer's Society Memory Walk for the second time in 2012, which raised over £20,000 for the charity. Met boyfriend Jonny Owen on the set of the film Svengali in 2012, which the two were both starring in. Nottingham Express Transit has named a tram after her. On her maiden trip, was offered a free ride and then accused of fare-dodging because she didn't have a ticket.

Trivia: In 1983, appeared in the music video for Yes's "Owner of a Lonely Heart." Made his film debut in 1984 as David in A Year of the Quiet Sun. Starred as Sgt Dennis Tucker in Land Girls between 2009 and 2011. In 2011, won the Off West End Award for Best Actor, for his role in Blasted. Appeared as Professor Edwin Hobb in the Channel 4/AMC show Humans between 2015 and 2016.

Trivia: Though actor David Bradley is perhaps best known to younger generations as the craggy-faced Argus Filch, irascible caretaker of the Hogwarts Academy, in each of the Harry Potter adaptations, that role succeeded Bradley's lengthy and formidable career as a character actor in predominantly British films and television productions. The dramatist officially debuted on-camera in the early '70s, but his activity proliferated during the 1990s and 2000s; as time rolled on, Bradley increasingly specialized in played sadistic headmasters, wizened barristers, or other figures with a slightly nasty authoritarian bent. Outside of Potter, Bradley's projects included the miniseries Our Mutual Friend (1998), the features Tom's Midnight Garden (1998) and Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), and the telemovie Sweeney Todd (2005).

Trivia: Formed a standup comedy double-act with Andrew Buckley between 2000 and 2010. Made his voice-over debut in the 2007 series Bunnytown. In 2011, was nominated for the Peter Sellers Award for Comedy for his performance in Skeletons. As of 2019, has provided voices for the revived series of Danger Mouse since 2015. Wrote and starred in short film Chips in 2016.

Trivia: As co-creator of the original, British iteration of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Steve Knight could have easily lived out the rest of his life on the no doubt considerable residuals from the international-smash game show. Instead, he used his small-screen victory as a launching pad for an entirely different career path, as a screenwriter of distinctive, socially conscious dramas and thrillers. Born in Marlborough and raised in Birmingham, England, Knight got his start in advertising and radio upon graduation from college. Freelancing for television in the late '80s and '90s -- during which time he also wrote three novels -- he hit upon his greatest success with Millionaire. In 2002, his first screenplay, Dirty Pretty Things, was brought to the screen by director Stephen Frears; a tale of economic injustice and underworld corruption among London's illegal immigrant community, it garnered much acclaim, not to mention a respectable box-office take. The well-received abolitionist period drama Amazing Grace followed, as did a contemporary take on similar subject matter: Eastern Promises, a look at the criminal underbelly behind human trafficking in London. Knight then set to work adapting one of his own novels, the New York-set Alphabet City, for the screen.