Trivia: To be deceived by actress Rosamund Pike's seemingly fragile beauty and theatrical background may indeed be a fatal mistake, especially if your name is James Bond. As the mysterious Miranda Frost, Pike proved a fierce fencing competitor to the screen's most beloved spy in her feature debut Die Another Day (2002). Though English television viewers may be familiar with Pike for her numerous small-screen roles during the millennial crossover, stateside filmgoers were blind-sided by her role as a Bond girl in the super-spy's 20th outing. Pike, born in London, England, in January 1979, is the child of professional opera singers. As a student studying English literature at Oxford, the bookish Pike began to discover her passion for theater and would subsequently appear in many of the school's plays. After refining her talents on-stage, the burgeoning actress would abandon her field of study upon graduation to appear in a series of BBC productions. Making her television debut in 1998 with A Rather English Marriage, Pike soon began accepting a steady stream of roles consisting mostly of period dramas before making the journey stateside as a prospective Bond girl. Though admittedly intimidated by appearing alongside such luminaries as Pierce Brosnan, Judi Dench, and Halle Berry in her mainstream debut, the confident actress seemed well fit for her role in one of the longest-running celluloid franchises in cinematic history. Though Pike raised a few eyebrows by remaining relatively silent during the press conference for Die Another Day, the actress' decision to let her well-known co-stars do most of the talking indicated that she is a smart actress who chooses her words, as well as her roles, with careful consideration. In the coming years, Pike would maintain a steady presence on screen, appearing in everything from Pride & Prejudice to Doom, from An Education to Surrogates. She would also find particular success in Wrath of the Titans. However, she had her true breakthrough with American audiences in 2014 when she was given the plum role of Amy Dunne in David Fincher's adaptation of the best-selling novel Gone Girl. The movie was a hit at the box office, and Pike earned a number of year-end accolades including an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

Trivia: While still a student at Cuba's National Art School, was selected by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón to star in Una rosa de Francia. Held a Spanish passport due to her Spanish grandparents; moved to Madrid aged 18 to find more challenging roles. Moved to Los Angeles in 2014 despite having no English; enrolled in an intensive English language class for three months before auditioning for parts. In 2016, underwent intense physical training for the five-month Blade Runner 2049 shoot in Budapest.

Trivia: Holds American and Swedish citizenships. His mother is Swedish and his father is American. Went to high school in Texas for one year. One of his sisters, Melinda Kinnaman, is an actress in Sweden. Won the 2010 Guldbagge Award in the Best Supporting Actor category for his work in Snabba Cash.

Trivia: A suave, darkly handsome actor reminiscent of the young Sean Connery in looks and charisma, Clive Owen first came to international attention with his sinuous, understated portrayal of the amoral protagonist of Mike Hodges' Croupier (1998). A flop in Britain, where Owen had long been a staple of various BBC TV series, the film was a sleeper hit in the States, its success duly generating a flurry of interest in the relatively unknown actor who lent the film its seductive intensity. A product of Coventry, Warwickshire, Owen got a bumpy start in his chosen career, living on the dole for two years after he left school. Fortunately, respite arrived in the form of an acceptance to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1984, and following his graduation from RADA, the young actor joined the Young Vic Theatre Company, where he performed a number of the classics. Owen broke into TV in 1986 with a guest appearance on the series Boon, and subsequently made his film debut in Beeban Kidron's Vroom (1988), a road movie co-starring David Thewlis and Diana Quick. More television work followed in the form of Chancer, a popular miniseries that cast Owen as its heroic protagonist. The actor also found himself increasingly busy with big-screen performances, turning in a complex portrayal of a man involved in an obsessive and incestuous relationship with his sister (Saskia Reeves) in Close My Eyes (1991). Owen received one of his biggest roles to date in Sean Mathias' 1997 screen adaptation of Martin Sherman's Bent, a Holocaust drama in which Owen starred as a bisexual concentration camp inmate who falls in love with a fellow prisoner (Lothaire Bluteau). Although the film earned a substantial degree of critical acclaim and boasted the talents of such luminaries as Ian McKellen and Mick Jagger, it failed to garner much commercial notice. Owen finally broke through to an international audience with Hodges' Croupier, earning almost unanimous acclaim for his portrayal of a struggling writer who becomes caught up in an intricate scam after taking a job in a casino. He subsequently starred as a prisoner who takes up gardening in Greenfingers, a comedy that also starred Helen Mirren and had its premiere at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival. The actor also remained active on the stage, even as his screen work thrived, starring in the original 1997 London production of Patrick Marber's highly feted Closer, and performing alongside Rachel Weisz and Paul Rhys in Sean Mathias' acclaimed revival of Noël Coward's Design for Living at London's Donmar Warehouse.The new millennium saw Owen appearing in an eclectic range of projects. In 2001, he starred as the only recurring character in BMW's Hire series of ambitious short films by directors such as Ang Lee and Guy Ritchie and also appeared in Robert Altman's acclaimed Gosford Park. Following a memorable supporting performance opposite Matt Damon in 2002's popular The Bourne Identity, Owen moved up to a starring role as an international relief worker who has an affair with Angelina Jolie in 2003's Beyond Borders. The next year, he took on the title role in King Arthur, Antoine Fuqua's non-fantasy retelling of the legendary story, with then it-girl Keira Knightley as his Guinevere. Both Beyond Borders and King Arthur failed to garner much of an audience, with the latter especially disappointing in light of its 120-million-dollar budget. Despite buzz about the possibility of Owen taking over the James Bond role in the iconic series, his prospects as a Hollywood leading man seemed to be faltering. Also in 2004, Owen appeared stateside in a smaller-budget U.K. film from Croupier director Mike Hodges called I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, about a former gangster investigating the mysterious death of his younger brother. Starring an impressive cast that included Charlotte Rampling, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, and Malcolm McDowell, the film was well-received by critics but relegated to only small arthouse exposure in the States. Later that year, Owen appeared in the big-screen adaptation of Closer, directed by Mike Nichols and co-starring such big names as Julia Roberts, Jude Law, and Natalie Portman. In 2005, Owen joined an even more star-studded cast with a role in Robert Rodriguez' adaptation of Frank Miller's comic Sin City, and he would also star opposite Julianne Moore in Savage Grace and Jennifer Aniston in Derailed.His biggest success to date came in early 2006, when he played the criminal mastermind behind a savvy bank heist in director Spike Lee's first blockbuster genre picture, The Inside Man. He would follow that with Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men, a futuristic thriller where Owen plays a man protecting a pregnant woman at a time when no human beings have been born in nearly two decades. Owen also took a part in Shekar Kapur's Elizabeth: The Golden Age, a sequel to his Oscar nominated biopic Elizabeth.Owen would spend the following several years enjoying his leading man status with films like Killer Elite, Shadow Dancer, and Blood Ties.

Trivia: Best known for his individualistic promulgation of jazz-rap during the 1990s -- a decade when gangsta rap threatened to take over much of the urban music scene -- underground rapper Common attained recognition for the sophisticated lyrics and ever-present political subtexts in his raps. Something of a critics' favorite, Common also achieved commercial success with such albums as Can I Borrow a Dollar? (1992, his debut), Like Water for Chocolate (2000), Electric Circus (2002), and Be (2005). During the first 15 years or so of his career, the Chicago native's filmed activity remained generally confined to music videos, performance films, and also urban and rap-themed documentaries such as the 2003 Soundz of Spirit, the 2004 Letter to the President, and 2005's jubilant Dave Chappelle's Block Party. By 2007, Common began branching out into dramatic roles. That year, the rapper landed supporting parts in such films as Joe Carnahan's darkly comic action thriller Smokin' Aces and Ridley Scott's period crime drama American Gangster.In 2008 he appeared in Wanted, and the next year he landed a role in the high-profile sequel Terminator Salvation. He played the part of an scary bad guy in the comedy Date Night in 2010, the same year he played the lead opposite Queen Latifah in the romantic comedy Just Wright. He was one of the many members of the ensemble cast in 2011's New Year's Eve, and lent his vocal talents to Happy Feet Two that same year. In 2012 he appeared in the family fantasy film The Odd Life of Timothy Green.

Trivia: Studied with the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin as a child. Got an agent at 15 in order to get into acting full-time. Left school while studying for her final exams in 2003 to star in a six-week tour of the Druid Theatre's production of Sive. Dropped out of university after three weeks to pursue acting. Nominated for the Leonardo's Horse Award for Best Female Acting Performance at the Milan International Film Festival in 2011 for her role in I Am You.

Trivia: Actor Sam Spruell made one of his earliest film appearances in Kathryn Bigelow's Hollywood actioner K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), then followed it up with work on numerous British television series including The Ghost Squad, Rosemary & Thyme, and Silent Witness. Spruell received an international crossover role with his turn as a nasty hoodlum in Paul Andrew Williams' big-screen urban thriller London to Brighton (2006), then tackled a bit part in Shekhar Kapur's arthouse period drama Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and a supporting role in Lisa Gornick's offbeat comedy drama Tick Tock Lullaby (2007). In 2008, he appeared in the Edward Zwick WWII drama Defiance, starring Daniel Craig.