Trivia: Though perhaps best-known internationally for playing tough-guy roles in Romper Stomper (1993), L.A. Confidential (1997), and Gladiator (2000), New Zealand-born actor Russell Crowe has proven himself equally capable of playing gentler roles in films such as Proof (1991) and The Sum of Us (1992). No matter what kind of characters he plays, Crowe's weather-beaten handsomeness and gruff charisma combine to make him constantly watchable: his one-time Hollywood mentor Sharon Stone has called him "the sexiest guy working in movies today."Born in Wellington, New Zealand, on April 7, 1964, Crowe was raised in Australia from the age of four. His parents made their living by catering movie shoots, and often brought Crowe with them to work; it was while hanging around the various sets that he developed a passion for acting. After making his professional debut in an episode of the television series Spyforce when he was six, Crowe took a 12-year break from professional acting, netting his next gig when he was 18. In film, he had his first major roles in such dramas as The Crossing (1990) and Jocelyn Moorhouse's widely praised Proof (1991) (for which he won an Australian Film Institute award). He then went on to gain international recognition for his intense, multi-layered portrayal of a Melbourne skinhead in Geoffrey Wright's controversial Romper Stomper (1992), winning another AFI award, as well as an Australian Film Critics award. It was Sharon Stone who helped bring Crowe to Hollywood to play a gunfighter-turned-preacher opposite her in Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead (1995). Though the film was not a huge box-office success, it did open Hollywood doors for Crowe, who subsequently split his time between the U.S. and Australia. In 1997, the actor had his largest success to date playing volatile cop Bud White in Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential (1997). Following the praise surrounding both the film and his performance in it, Crowe found himself working steadily in Hollywood, starring in two films released in 1999: Mystery, Alaska and The Insider. In the latter, he gave an Oscar-nominated lead performance as Jeffrey Wigand, a real-life tobacco industry employee whose personal life was dragged through the mud when he chose to blow the whistle on his former company's questionable business practices.In 2000, however, Crowe finally crossed over into the public's consciousness with, literally, a tour de force performance in Ridley Scott's glossy Roman epic Gladiator. The Dreamworks/Universal co-production was a major gamble from the outset, devoting more than 100 million dollars to an unfinished script (involving the efforts of at least half a dozen writers), an untested star (stepping into a role originally intended for Mel Gibson), and an all-but-dead genre (the sword-and-sandals adventure). Thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign and mostly positive notices, however, the public turned out in droves the first weekend of the film's release, and kept coming back long into the summer for Gladiator's potent blend of action, grandeur, and melodrama -- all anchored by Crowe's passionate man-of-few-words performance.Anticipation was high, then, for the actor's second 2000 showing, the hostage drama Proof of Life. Despite -- or perhaps because of -- the widely publicized affair between Crowe and his co-star Meg Ryan, the film failed to generate much heat during the holiday box-office season, and attention turned once again to the actor's star-making role some six months prior. In an Oscar year devoid of conventionally spectacular epics, Gladiator netted 12 nominations in February 2001, including one for its lead performer. While many wags viewed the film's eventual Best Picture victory as a fluke, the same could not be said for Crowe's Best Actor victory: nudging past such stiff competition as Tom Hanks and Ed Harris, Crowe finally nabbed a statue, affirming for Hollywood the talent that critics had first noticed almost ten years earlier.Crowe's 2001 role as real-life Nobel Prize-winning schizophrenic mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. brought the actor back into the Oscar arena. The film vaulted past the 100-million-dollar mark as it took home Golden Globes for Best Picture, Supporting Actress, Screenplay, and Actor and racked up eight Oscar nominations, including a Best Actor nod for Crowe. The film cemented Crowe as a top-tier leading man, and he would spend the following years proving this again and again, with landmark roles in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Cinderella Man, A Good Year, 3:10 to Yuma, Robin Hood, and State of Play.

Trivia: Throughout his acting career, Albert Finney has impressed critics with his protean ability to step into a role and wear a character's persona no matter the age, nationality, or métier. In stage, film, and television productions over more than 40 years, Finney has portrayed a Polish pope, a Belgian detective, an Irish gangster, a British miser, a gruff American lawyer, a Scottish King, a German religious reformer, and an Roman warrior -- all with convincing authenticity. Finney was born on May 9, 1936, in the working-class town of Salford, Lancashire, England. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1955, he performed Shakespeare and quickly earned a coveted spot as understudy for the great Laurence Olivier in Shakespeare productions at Stratford-upon-Avon. On one occasion, he stepped into Olivier's shoes to play the lead role in Coriolanus, a play about the downfall of a proud Roman soldier, and won recognition that led to film roles.Finney's upbringing in Lancashire, a region of mills and smokestacks, exposed him to the kind of social injustice and economic hardship that helped prepare him for his role as a nonconformist factory worker in the 1960 film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, a milestone in the development of British realist cinema. Critics -- who hardly noticed him in the bit-part role he played in his first film, The Entertainer -- universally praised his vibrant performance in Saturday Night. This success earned him the lead role in director Tony Richardson's 1963 film Tom Jones, adapted by screenwriter John Osborne from the Henry Fielding novel of the same name. As the wenching country boy Jones, Finney was a bawdy, rollicking, uproarious success, helping the film win four Academy awards.Rather than abandon live stage drama, Finney continued to pursue it with the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic in London, performing in Shakespeare productions and plays by other authors. He won Tony nominations for Luther and A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, as well as a best actor Oliver for Orphans. When he made his next film in 1967, he starred opposite Audrey Hepburn in Stanley Donen's Two for the Road, a comedy-drama about marital mayhem, and again won high critical praise.If there was a pattern to the types of roles he selected, it was that there was no pattern. For example, after playing a 20th century art enthusiast in 1969's Picasso Summer, he took on the role of a 19th century Dickens character in Scrooge (1970), then played a bickering husband in Alpha Beta (1973), Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (1974), a Napoleon-era Frenchman in The Duellists (1978), a werewolf hunter in Wolfen (1981), and a plastic surgeon/murder suspect in the ludicrous Looker (1981).After winning an Academy award nomination for his performance in 1982's Shoot the Moon, Finney delivered another outstanding performance in Peter Yates' 1983 film The Dresser, which earned five Oscar nominations, including a nomination for Finney as best actor. In the film, Finney plays a boozing Shakespearean actor whose life strangely parallels the tragic life of one of the characters he portrays, King Lear. In 1984, Finney won still another Oscar nomination, as well as a Golden Globe nomination, for his role as a self-defeating alcoholic in director John Huston's Under the Volcano. In the same year, critics praised him highly for his dynamic portrayal of Pope John Paul II in an American TV production.Finney continued to take on diverse and challenging roles in the late 1980s and during the 1990s, primarily in small, independent productions. Among the films that earned him more accolades were the Coen brothers' gangster epic Miller's Crossing (1990) -- for which Finney replaced actor Trey Wilson after his untimely death -- as well as A Man of No Importance (1994), The Browning Version (1995), and Simpatico (1999). Also in 1999, he won the BAFTA TV award for best actor for his role in A Rather English Marriage. 2000's Erin Brockovich exposed Finney to the widest audience he'd seen in years: playing the hangdog attorney Ed Masry, Finney proved to be the perfect comic foil to Julia Roberts' brassy heroine, and in the process secured himself Golden Globe and Academy award nominations for best supporting actor. Though a Golden Globe Award eluded him that year, he returned in two years and won for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in the made-for-television film The Gathering Storm.2003 saw Finney in his biggest role since Erin Brockovich. In Tim Burton's Big Fish, he played Edward Bloom in present-day scenes, while Ewan McGregor assumed the role of the eccentric storyteller in flashbacks. The actor once again proved to be a favorite of the Hollywood Foreign Press when he received yet another Golden Globe nomination for his work.2006 found the now veteran actor appearing in the Ridley Scott dramedy A Good Year, in which he played the uncle to a younger version of Russell Crowe through flashbacks. He also signed on to appear in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, a thriller staring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Marisa Tomei. In 2007 he was cast as the mastermind behind the program that created Jason Bourne in The Bourne Ultimatum, a roll he reprised five years later in The Bourne Legacy.Over the years, Finney saw the end of two major performances in his personal life: his first marriage to Jane Wenham (1957-61) and his second marriage to Anouk Aimée (1970-1978). He has one son, Simon, from his first marriage.

Trivia: At once earthy and modern, yet effortlessly capable of projecting the aura of a glamorous, silent-era film starlet, French actress Marion Cotillard has achieved fame in her home country with substantial roles in such high-profile blockbusters as the Taxi series, and such critically acclaimed arthouse hits as Jean-Pierre Jeunet's A Very Long Engagement and Olivier Dahan's La Vie en Rose. The Paris native got in tune with her desire to become a performer early in life, and soon began honing her talents as both an actress and a singer. As fate would have it, Cotillard's parents were both active members of the Paris theater community who lovingly nurtured their daughter's creative talents and encouraged her to pursue a career on the stage and screen. Cotillard debuted onscreen at just 16 years old, in the 1994 Philippe Harel romance The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed. While Cotillard's sensitive performance in the film indeed marked the arrival of a skilled young actress, it wasn't until the release of Taxi in 1998 that audiences truly perked up to the promise of this emerging talent. Cotillard was nominated for a Most Promising Actress award at the 1999 César ceremonies thanks to her performance in that movie. She went on to appear in the second and third installments of the series while simultaneously drawing notice for performances in Haute Tension director Alexandre Aja's 1999 debut, Furia, and Gilles Paquet-Brenner's dark family drama Pretty Things -- which earned Cotillard her second César nomination. While the elusive César award had been well within her grasp twice before, Cotillard finally won the coveted trophy as the result of her role in Amélie director Jeunet's A Very Long Engagement. Cast as a vengeful prostitute who sets out to punish the person responsible for the death of her love, Cotillard was awarded the Best Supporting Actress César in 2005, cementing her arrival as a formidable onscreen talent.At this point in her career, Cotillard was an increasingly familiar face to stateside film fans thanks to supporting roles in such films as Tim Burton's Big Fish and Jeunet's international arthouse hit, yet as with any great actress, she was still willing to take the kind of risks needed to take her career to the next level. Subsequent roles in Guillaume Nicloux's A Private Affair and Abel Ferrara's Mary proved that she was most certainly up to the task, serving nicely to offset the mainstream sweetness of efforts like the airy 2003 romance Love Me If You Dare. In 2006, Cotillard was back on stateside screens, this time opposite international superstar Russell Crowe in director Ridley Scott's A Good Year. If anyone at this point had doubted Cotillard's abilities as an actress, those reservations would be put to the ultimate test when she assumed the role of a lifetime in the 2007 Edith Piaf biopic La Vie en Rose. Cast as the enigmatic French songstress who went from being a common street busker to a national icon, Cotillard found the perfect cinematic vehicle to combine her duel interests in acting and music (though audio recordings of Piaf were used in the film), and drew near unanimous praise from critics both foreign and domestic. In addition to netting another César, she captured a host of year-end accolades in the States including Best Actress awards from the Golden Globes and the L.A. Film Critics, as well as a nomination from the Screen Actors Guild. Most impressive of all, Cotillard won the much-coveted Best Actress Oscar, launching her into another level of international success and marketability. Her next roles were of the prestigious Hollywood variety, in the Michael Mann period crime drama Public Enemies, opposite Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, and the Rob Marshall musical drama Nine, alongside Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz.In 2010 she showed up as the woman of Leonardo DiCaprio's nightmares in Inception for director Christopher Nolan - and earned a spot in 2012's The Dark Knight Rises in the process. 2011 saw the Oscar winner tackling both Steven Soderbergh's killer virus thriller Contagion as well as Woody Allen's Oscar winning comedy Midnight in Paris. In 2014 she scored strong reviews in a pair of dramas that included The Immigrant and Two Days, One Night. Her work in the latter film garnered a number of year-end accolades including an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

Trivia: After a couple of minor ingenue roles in her native Australia, actress Abbie Cornish attained instant superstardom down under with a hypnotic, evocative, and multi-layered lead performance in director Cate Shortland's well-received psychological drama Somersault. That film -- about a fragile young woman who comes completely unhinged while trying to build a new life for herself in a snowy Australian town -- spoke volumes about Cornish's raw ability and foreshadowed a long and successful career for the young dramatist. She reinforced these notions with an equally demanding and harrowing turn as an art student who slides backward into heroin addiction in Neil Armfield's justly praised Candy (2005). Dissatisfied with the limitations of the Australian film industry, Cornish then jumped ship and went Hollywood, where she tackled supporting roles in such features as the 2006 A Good Year (opposite fellow Aussie Russell Crowe) and the 2007 period piece Elizabeth: The Golden Age. She kept up her period piece bona fides in 2008's Bright Star, but that same year she played in the Iraq War drama Stop-Loss. She had a very busy 2011 with parts in the fantasy action film Sucker Punch, a supporting turn in the box office hit Limitless, and the lead in the Madonna directed period drama W.E.

Trivia: Unlike some Englishmen who have been known to play against type (portraying Americans et al.), unconventionally attractive British actor Tom Hollander banked off of his Anglo roots and accent by building up an impressive resumé of English characterizations, Cockney and otherwise. He earned some of his first screen credits on the cult sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, then moved quickly into feature work, hitting both highs (Gosford Park, Pride & Prejudice) and lows (Paparazzi) -- though nearly always in supporting capacities. In 2007, Hollander essayed memorable roles as Sir Aymas in the Cate Blanchett period film Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Cutler Beckett in the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced farce Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Trivia: Supporting actor Cranham first appeared on screen in 1968.

Trivia: Born in early 1992, British performer Freddie Highmore shot to fame as a child star, via plum roles -- usually leads -- in family-oriented contemporary classics such as the 2004 Finding Neverland (as Peter Llewelyn Davies), Tim Burton's 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (as Charlie Bucket), and the 2006 Arthur and the Invisibles (as Arthur). From time to time, he also essayed child parts in adult-oriented films, such as Ridley Scott's gentle, heartfelt drama A Good Year and the music-themed drama August Rush, which co-starred Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Keri Russell, and Robin Williams. In 2007, Highmore opted for a unique turn as identical twins in Mark Waters' hotly anticipated, family-oriented fantasy The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008). He voiced Astro Boy in the 2009 movie of the same name, and appeared in the big-screen adaptation of Master Harold…and the Boys the next year.

Trivia: Raven-haired actress Archie Panjabi claimed a unique, exotic, and alluring look that spoke to her Indian ancestry -- and that opened up a myriad of doors in Hollywood productions, usually in a supporting capacity. Raised in Britain, Panjabi first broke through to international acclaim as tomboy Meenah in the Damien O'Donnell-directed Miramax comedy East Is East (1998), then graced the cast of one of the preeminent sleeper hits of 2002, the soccer comedy Bend It Like Beckham. Additional assignments included a small supporting turn in Fernando Meirelles' political thriller The Constant Gardener (2005), a portrayal of Gemma in the Russell Crowe/Marion Cotillard-headlined, Ridley Scott-directed romantic comedy drama A Good Year (2006), and a role in the grueling docudrama A Mighty Heart (2007) as Asra Nomani, a journalist and friend of the Pearl family, who helped in the investigation of his disappearance and murder. In 2006, Panjabi signed with the BBC to portray Maya Roy in the sci-fi-tinged police drama series Life on Mars. In 2008, she appeared opposite Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce in the summer thriller Traitor. She was cast in the CBS drama The Good Wife, in the part of Kalinda Sharma, and that well-reviewed award-winning show kept her busy for a few years.

Trivia: Named after the title character in Francis Beaumont's The Knight of the Burning Pestle, played by his father Timothy Spall in a 1981 Royal Shakespeare Company production, and then by himself in a 2005 revival. Encouraged by his father to join the National Youth Theatre at age 15. At 19, unhappy with the "fat boy" parts he was being offered, began dieting and exercising and eventually lost nearly 80 pounds. Bared it all for his first leading role in 2006's The Chatterley Affair. Acted opposite his real-life dad, playing father and son, in a 2007 British television adaptation of E. M. Forster's A Room With a View. Worked out for his role in the romantic comedy I Give It a Year, saying he wanted to look convincing enough for co-star Rose Byrne to conceivably fancy him.

Trivia: The second youngest of five sons. Admits to having a stubborn streak. Didn't set out to become an actor. He became hooked in college when, to kill time, he joined the drama society. Took a year off after college to raise funds for drama school. Among his efforts: writing letters to celebrities asking for help. Some, such as Anthony Hopkins, sent donations. One who didn't: Clint Eastwood, who replied with a handwritten note saying "no"; he's since framed that letter. Enjoys 1970s-era funk music, especially Stevie Wonder's; and rejects digital music in favor of vinyl. Big fan of sports, especially golf, rugby and soccer. He supports the Sheffield Wednesday club. Favorite books include Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman.

Trivia: Grew up in Buckhurst Hill, Epping Forest District of Essex, London, United Kingdom. Likes boxing sports. Is a fan of the Leyton Orient football team. Appeared in the music video of one of his favorites rock bands, Feeder, in 2012. Participated in the BGC Charity Day representing the Haven House Children's Hospice in September 2019.

Trivia: Spent her summers in Ibiza during her youth.Plays the wife of Russell Crowe's character in Gladiator (2000) and Body of Lies (2008).Appears in most of Ridley Scott's films since Gladiator in 2000.Often collaborates in projects with her husband Ridley Scott, either as a producer or an actor.Best known for her work in Gladiator (2000), Kingdom of Heaven (2005) and Body of Lies (2008).

Trivia: Is of French and Italian descent.Moved to France with her family in 1973.Was raised in an artistic environment.Enrolled in acting lessons at a young age.In 1983, she made her debut as an actress in theaters.

Trivia: Made his professional debut in 1997 comedy movie Fierce Creatures. Between 2002 and 2004, appeared as PC Alan Allen in BBC sitcom Wild West. Between 2004 and 2019, starred as PC Mark Mylow in ITV Drama Doc Martin. In 2008, co-wrote and starred in BBC Radio 4 production Strangers on Trains, playing 28 characters. In 2018, wrote and starred in Award-winning short dramedy Knights of the Realm.

Trivia: Appeared in productions of DNA and The Miracle at the National Theatre. Played the recurring role of Owen in the first season of the BBC's Being Human. Didn't get to know Kidnap and Ransom costar Trevor Eve until the second time they worked together.

Trivia: One of the most promising directors of the late '70s, Ridley Scott displayed stylistic flair and remarkable storytelling abilities in such films as The Duellists (1977) and his landmark Alien (1979). Although he remained a respected director on both sides of the Atlantic, his career suffered repeated blows throughout the 1980s and '90s with a series of critical and commercial missteps, beginning with the costly and unsuccessful 1492: Conquest of Paradise.Born in 1937, in Northumberland, England, Scott was educated at the West Hartlepool College of Art and London's Royal College of Art. After completing his education, he became a set designer for the British Broadcasting Company in the early '60s, eventually getting promoted to director of such popular BBC series as the long-running police adventure Z Cars. With the establishment of his own firm, Ridley Scott Associates, Scott was in on the ground floor of some of the most inventive European TV commercials of the 1970s.The director's transition to the big screen came with his direction of 1977's The Duellists, a visually striking Napoleonic war film that won the Jury Prize for Best First Feature at the Cannes Film Festival. Further success followed with 1979's Alien, which established Scott as both an important director and a shining knight for horror and sci-fi devotees. In 1982, the director found himself at the center of a storm around his production of Blade Runner. After repeated clashes with studio executives over the film's complex content and downbeat finale, Scott added a voice-over narration and a more positive ending. The results sparked an outcry from film purists, and Blade Runner fell victim to negative reviews and poor box-office results. It wasn't until the early '90s that the director's cut was finally released, theatrically and on video cassette, and the film was recognized as a science fiction masterpiece.In the meantime, Scott continued to direct such films as the 1986 fantasy Legend, starring Tom Cruise, and 1989's Black Rain, which featured Michael Douglas as a vice cop on a mission to Japan. In 1991, he encountered critical and commercial triumph with Thelma & Louise. Starring Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, the film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Director for Scott. After the film's success, it seemed that the director could do no wrong. Unfortunately, he did just the opposite with his next project, 1992's 1492: Conquest of Paradise. The film proved to be a complete flop, and for the next few years Scott relinquished his directorial duties in favor of producing such films as Monkey Trouble and The Browning Version (both 1994).Scott returned to the director's chair in 1996, with White Squall, an action-adventure film set on a boat full of troubled teenage boys. Unfortunately, the film performed poorly among critics and at the box office, and Scott's next feature, G.I. Jane (1997), suffered a similar fate. He then returned to producing, working on the 1997 TV series The Hunger, which was based on the 1983 movie directed by his brother, Tony Scott, who was best-known for such action fare as Top Gun (1986) and Enemy of the State (1998). After producing the 1998 black comedy Clay Pigeons, Scott returned to directing with Gladiator (2000), a Roman epic starring Russell Crowe as its titular hero. Budgeted at 100 million dollars and weighing in at 154 minutes, the film was hailed by some critics who saw it as a return to grand-scale moviemaking, while others saw it as merely overblown. Regardless of the critics' opinions, Gladiator was undoubtedly wildly popular, earning five Oscars, including Best Picture, at the 73rd Annual Academy Awards.In 2001, Scott applied his icy-cool visual style -- but little else of note -- to Hannibal, the much-anticipated sequel to 1991's Silence of the Lambs. Although the film broke the box-office record for the largest opening weekend for an R-rated film, critics were less than pleased with Hannibal's combination of smug, stuffy disaffection and vomit-bag-worthy gore. Scott's skills as a director of action were better put to the test later that year with Black Hawk Down, the account of the United States' unsuccessful 1993 attempt to take down the regime of a brutal Somalian warlord. Though there was no contesting the helmer's adroit camera and editing choices in the film's visceral, tactically challenging battle scenes, some critics objected to Black Hawk's simplified portrayal of the U.S. military involvement in the region. Still bruised from the tragic events of 9/11, however, the American public lined up in droves for the flag-waving Jerry Bruckheimer production, which would also garner Scott his third Best Director Oscar nomination.Recoiling from the high-profile prestige projects for a spell, Scott turned his focus to the big-screen adaptation of Matchstick Men, a dysfunctional-con-man tale starring a tic-laden Nicolas Cage as well as up-and-comers Sam Rockwell and Alison Lohman. Though hardly a blockbuster, the heist comedy garnered mixed but generally positive reviews, most noting Scott's ability to evince vivid performances from his trio of actors.In 2005, the director helmed the would-be epic Crusades historical film Kingdom of Heaven with a Gladiator-esque budget and all-star cast. Unfortunately, the film was a dud both with critics and audiences, so Scott returned to a more intimate kind of storytelling with the 2006 drama A Good Year. The film starred Russell Crowe as a hotshot broker who finds himself in the depths of a life-crisis when he inherits his beloved uncle's estate and discovers that the simple lifestyle it offers may give him more satisfaction than his fast-paced, high-power job. Over the course of the next few years Scott jumped genres from crime film (American Gangster) to globe-trotting terrorism thriller (Body of Lies) to pop-folklore (Robin Hood), though it was vague whispers of a return to sci-fi that really got some buzz building around the veteran director. In June of 2012, following months of effective viral marketing but precious few leaked details regarding the actual plot, Prometheus arrived in theaters worldwide -- sparking furious fan boy debates that reached to the furthest corners of the internet. Originally conceived as a prequel to Scott's 1979 sci-fi/horror masterpiece Alien, Prometheus ultimately evolved into something that simply "shares DNA" with its influential predecessor thanks in part to the late involvement of screenwriter Damon Lindelof, whose previous work in the genre included penning the screenplay for Cowboys & Aliens, and producing J.J. Abrams Star Trek. Truly epic in scope, the film brought up numerous heady questions about the origins of the human race, and folded them into a tense tale of space exploration highlighted by stunning cinematography and state-of-the-art special effects. The apparent first chapter in a new series of films (Scott voiced interest in directing a sequel during promotional interviews), Prometheus seemed to reinvigorate the director's love of sci-fi, and it wasn't long before Scott announced he was developing a new chapter to another of his most famous works -- the lush 1982 classic Blade Runner.

Trivia: Citizen of United States, France and Spain Translator for the French Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Embassy, and for the film industry Played the part of Françoise "Fuffi" Drou in the film, Chocolat Received the 2017 International Book Award in Poetry for Life in Suspension Has authored 7 books as of 2019

Trivia: Supporting actor Nicholas Guest first appeared onscreen in the '80s. He is the brother of actor Christopher Guest.

Trivia: The latest in an illustrious line of actors to convince American audiences that the British make the cinema's most sinister and cold-hearted villains, Jason Isaacs earned the vicarious enmity and disgust of filmgoers everywhere in his role as the vile Colonel Tavington in the 2000 summer blockbuster The Patriot. Actually an incredibly versatile performer whose previous characterizations included a priest, a brilliant scientist, and a drug dealer, the tall, blue-eyed actor won admiration and respect for his performance, and soon found himself being hailed in the American press as one of the most exciting British imports of the early 21st century.The third of four sons of a Liverpool merchant, Isaacs was born in his father's hometown on June 6, 1963. He initially planned to go into law -- a white-collar profession that would have fit nicely with those of his brothers, who became a doctor, lawyer, and accountant -- but was swayed by acting early in the course of his law studies at Bristol University. Although he first became interested in acting in part because "it was a great way to meet girls," Isaacs soon found deeper meaning in the theater (in one interview he was quoted as saying "I could release myself into acting in a way that I was not released socially") and duly dropped out of Bristol to hone his skills at London's Central School of Speech and Drama. Once in London, Isaacs began landing professional work almost immediately, appearing on the stage and on television. He made his big-screen debut in 1989 with a minor turn as a doctor in Mel Smith's The Tall Guy and that same year won a steady role on the TV series Capital City. Isaacs exhibited his versatility in several more TV series and on-stage in such productions as the Royal National Theatre's 1993 staging of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America. He also began to find more work onscreen, receiving his first nod of Hollywood recognition in his casting in the Bruce Willis blockbuster Armageddon (1998). Initially called upon to take a fairly substantial role, Isaacs was eventually cast in a much smaller capacity as a planet-saving scientist so that he could accommodate his commitment to Divorcing Jack (1998), a comedy thriller he was making with David Thewlis. After portraying a priest opposite Julianne Moore and Ralph Fiennes in Neil Jordan's acclaimed adaptation of Graham Greene's The End of the Affair, Isaacs got his biggest international break to date when he was picked to portray Colonel Tavington, the resident villain of Roland Emmerich's Revolutionary War epic The Patriot. Starring opposite Mel Gibson, who (naturally) played the film's hero, Isaacs made an unnervingly memorable impression as a man whose pastimes included infanticide, rape, and church- burning, emerging as one of summer 2000s most indelible screen presences. Although his work in the film earned him comparisons to Ralph Fiennes' portrayal of evil Nazi Amon Goeth in Schindler's List and talks of a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, the actor was not content to be typecast in the historical scum mold. Thus, he logically signed on to play none other than a drag queen for his next project, Sweet November (2001), a romantic comedy-drama starring Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves. For his lead portrayal in the 2007 miniseries The State Within, Isaacs received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television. Over the next several years, Isaacs appeared in films like Green Zone and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Part 2. He would also star in TV series like Case Histories and Awake.

Trivia: Critically acclaimed actor Viggo Mortensen made his feature-film debut playing Alexander Godunov's Amish brother in Witness (1985). The suave, handsome actor has subsequently portrayed a wide variety of characters, often unapologetic bad boys, opposite some of Hollywood's most popular actors, including Sylvester Stallone, Demi Moore, and Nicole Kidman.Born in New York City, on October 20, 1958, to an American mother and a Danish father, Mortensen spent his first years in Manhattan and the rest of his youth living in Argentina, Venezuela, and Denmark. Returning to Manhattan in the early '80s, he studied acting at Warren Robertson's Theatre Workshop and then embarked upon a stage career before moving to Los Angeles. There, he earned a Dramalogue Critics Award for his performance in a Coast Playhouse production of Bent and became a familiar figure on the L.A. punk scene (something that was aided by his brief marriage to Exene Cervenka, lead singer of the punk band X). Following his debut in Witness, Mortensen began working steadily in a number of diverse films, becoming a familiar but not instantly recognizable face to filmgoers. He did some of his more memorable work as a series of louts and villains, in such films as The Indian Runner (1991, written and directed by Sean Penn), which cast him as David Morse's morally questionable brother; Carlito's Way (1993), in which he played a paraplegic ex-con who tries to snitch on Al Pacino; and The Prophecy (aka God's Army) (1995), which required the actor, in the role of Lucifer, to rip out Christopher Walken's heart and then eat it. Mortensen finally attained a greater measure of recognition with his smoldering portrayal of one of Isabel Archer's (Nicole Kidman) suitors in Jane Campion's 1996 adaptation of The Portrait of a Lady. He then made another strong impression as Demi Moore's rough, tough, and buff training instructor in G.I. Jane (1997) and, the following year, he was one of the few redeeming features of A Perfect Murder, in which he supplied sexy menace (as well as his own art work) as Gwyneth Paltrow's murderous artist lover. He allowed his softer side to come through in Tony Goldwyn's acclaimed A Walk on the Moon (1999), which cast him as the hippie lover of a dissatisfied housewife (Diane Lane) in Woodstock-era upstate New York. His more romantic side was again in evidence in the romantic drama 28 Days (2000), in which he played recovering party girl Sandra Bullock's rehab honey. Replacing Irish actor Stuart Townsend in the role of Aragorn shortly after production had begun on director Peter Jackson's eagerly anticipated film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Mortensen secured a strong screen presence through 2003, with the release of the trilogy's final installment, The Return of the King. In 2004, he proved that he could carry a film on his own when he starred as Wild West adventurer Frank T. Hopkins in the horse-racing period film Hidalgo. In 2005, the actor won critical raves when he headlined the visceral David Cronenberg crime thriller A History of Violence, vis-a-vis Ed Harris and William Hurt; as Tom Stall, a seemingly open-faced small-town Hoosier whose dark and brutal past comes to light during a diner robbery, Mortensen lent the film a great deal of momentum and held audiences rapt. History received two Academy Award nominations, though Mortensen failed to net one for Best Actor.Mortensen returned to period adventures in 2006 when he played the titular solider-turned-mercenary in Agustín Díaz Yanes' Spanish-language film Alatriste, set during Spain's 16th century imperial wars. In 2007 Mortensen teamed up for a second time with David Cornenberg, playing a Russian mob enforcer in Eastern Promises. His impressive work in the film garnered him strong reviews as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Unfortunately for Mortensen, that year brought some stiff competition in the form of Daniel Day Lewis, who ultimately took home the award for his powerful performance in Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood. A grim trek through a post-apocalyptic wasteland followed when Mortensen took the lead in John Hillcoat's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road (2009), and in 2011 the actor continued his collaboration with Canadian auteur Cronenberg by playing none other than legendary psychologist Sigmund Freud (opposite Michael Fassbender's Carl Jung) in A Dangerous Method.

Trivia: With the blond, knowing looks of a choir boy gone wrong and a resumé boasting some of the more offbeat films and television series of the last decade, British actor Steven Mackintosh is one of the more versatile and unpredictable actors on either side of the Atlantic. Although largely unknown in the United States, Mackintosh has worked steadily in his native England since his first role at the age of 13.Born in Cambridge in 1967, Mackintosh got his start on the stage but segued into television in 1985, with parts in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 and The Browning Version. After touring with the National Theatre Company for two years, Mackintosh won his first screen role in 1987, as a minor character in the critically acclaimed story of playwright Joe Orton, Prick Up Your Ears. After secondary parts in two more features, 1989's Treasure Island and 1990's Memphis Belle, Mackintosh landed a leading role in Hanif Kureishi's London Kills Me (1991). Mackintosh, in his role as a hustler by the name of Muffdiver, was one of the odder and thornier aspects of an odd and thorny film. The actor's off-kilter versatility was further displayed via performances in subsequent films and television miniseries such as Roger Michell's 1993 miniseries The Buddha of Suburbia; Dennis Potter's final project, the comedy spoof Midnight Movie (1994); and an obscure 1995 film called The Grotesque, co-starring Alan Bates and Sting.In 1996, Mackintosh came to the attention of American art house audiences, first with his turn as Sebastian in Trevor Nunn's lavish screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Co-starring Helena Bonham Carter, Richard E. Grant, and Nigel Hawthorne, the film received favorable reviews which nicely complemented those garnered by Mackintosh's other outing, Different for Girls. Mackintosh co-starred with Rupert Graves as a prim transsexual in the comedy, which was remarkable for both its complex subject matter and the honesty with which such matter was dealt. The release of the film in such close context with that of Twelfth Night also gave Mackintosh further opportunity to display his startling flexibility, something he did again the following year with the World War II drama The Land Girls. After his turn as an amorous farmer, Mackintosh characteristically went in a completely different direction, with his hilarious portrayal of a ne'er-do-well pot grower in the 1998 film Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. The film, which was equal parts Quentin Tarantino and testosterone, was a smash hit in Britain, and made another offbeat addition to Mackintosh's already diverse resumé.

Trivia: Though his name has never become a household word, distinguished English character actor David De Keyser boasts one impressive resumé. Adventurous filmgoers will doubtless recall De Keyser as one of the three contributors (alongside Miranda Richardson and Mike Nichols) to David Hare's riveting "filmed theater" piece The Designated Mourner (1997), but even the most diligent cinephiles may be surprised to discover that De Keyser's work stretches back several decades prior to this. The thespian actually racked up an overwhelming litany of roles in well-respected, A-list features during the late '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s, typically playing colorful British or Jewish eccentrics. Throughout, De Keyser imbued his characterizations with multifaceted emotional and tonal nuances that more than rivaled the contributions of his onscreen contemporaries. Born in London, England, in 1927, De Keyser first attained recognition when he paired up twice with controversial filmmaker John Boorman, first as Zissell in that director's eccentric 1965 cinematic debut, Having a Wild Weekend (the Hard Day's Night-like screen venture of the Dave Clark Five), then as David in Boorman's failed, seriocomic social allegory Leo the Last (1970), alongside Marcello Mastroianni. De Keyser then contributed supporting roles to three key (albeit wildly different) British films of the '70s: he played physicians in Sean Connery's penultimate James Bond vehicle, Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and Melvin Frank's sleeper romance A Touch of Class (1973), and essayed the role of Joseph Schenck in Ken Russell's opulent, erotic period piece Valentino (1977), alongside Rudolf Nureyev and Leslie Caron. The '80s marked a less active but equally relevant time for De Keyser -- relevant because while his roles grew more infrequent, they were typically parts of greater critical estimation -- such as Rabbi Zalman in Barbra Streisand's underrated musical Yentl (1983) and Janet Suzman's father in Euzhan Palcy's apartheid drama A Dry White Season (1993). As indicated, however, De Keyser didn't really receive full audience recognition until Mourner in 1997. In that film -- a series of enigmatic, elliptical theater monologues written by Wallace Shawn and delivered straight into the camera -- the actor portrays Howard, a dissident poet at odds with the oppressive political regime that holds power, and the father-in-law of Mike Nichols' loveless egoist Jack. De Keyser's next major role arrived when he signed on to portray Emmanuel, the patriarch of the Sonnenschein clan of Hungarian Jews, in István Szabó's three-hour historical epic Sunshine (1999). De Keyser then lent a supporting role (as Dom André) to Norman Jewison's fine, overlooked political thriller The Statement (2003). David De Keyser is the father of the late actor Alexei de Keyser, who died in 2004.