Trivia: German-born, Irish-raised actor Michael Fassbender first caught many viewers' attention with the role of Sergeant Burton Pat on the HBO-produced WWII series Band of Brothers in 2001. He would make waves again with roles on a number of popular British TV series, like Murphy's Law and Hex, but Fassbender would ingrain himself in the minds of American audiences when he was cast in the role of Spartan warrior Stelios in the 2006 blockbuster 300, even uttering the iconic line "Then we will fight in the shade." Fassbender would continue to find exciting roles in film, appearing in movies like the critically acclaimed Hunger, and Quentin Tarantino's World War II epic Inglourious Basterds. He quickly became one of the most sought-after and respected young actors in the business earning rave reviews in 2011 for his work as a sex-addict in Shame, and that same year played Magneto in the successful X-Men prequel. The next year he continued to work with revered directors, playing an assassin in Steven Soderbergh's Haywire, and landing a lead role in Ridley Scott's sci-fi summer film Prometheus.In 2013, he re-teamed with his Hunger and Shame director Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave, earning Fassbender his first Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actor. He reprised his role of Magneto in X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014. The following year, he tackled "the Scottish play," playing Lord Macbeth opposite Marion Cotillard's Lady Macbeth, and earned rave reviews (and a second Oscar nomination) playing Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

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: With a long-limbed elegance and the voice of a serpent crossed with an angel, Jeremy Irons has long been described as swoon fodder for the thinking woman. Tall, brooding, and impossibly well-spoken, Irons has often been cast as a haunted aristocrat, but has on occasion used his well-heeled attributes to more sinister effect, most notably in David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers.Born September 19, 1948, on the Isle of Wight, Irons was educated at Sherborne. While a student there, he formed a band with four of his friends called the Four Pillars of Wisdom. Irons played drums -- badly, by his own estimation -- and the band attained a limited fame playing at various parties. After failed attempts to enter veterinary school, Irons decided to become an actor and received classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. His training there led to a two-year stint with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company, where Irons performed in a large number of plays. On the side, he supported himself by doing odd jobs, including busking (singing on the streets), and it was thanks to his musical inclinations that he got his big break in the 1972 London production of Godspell. Singing for his supper alongside David Bowie, Irons won acclaim for his portrayal of John the Baptist and was soon a respected figure on the London theater scene. Irons made his screen debut in the 1980 film Nijinsky, but didn't find true fame until the following year, when he starred in the 11-part television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. As part of a glittering cast that included Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud, and Claire Bloom, Irons won raves on both sides of the Atlantic for his portrayal of the lovelorn, conflicted Charles Ryder. Following this success, the actor was in demand as a romantic lead and could soon be seen starring opposite Meryl Streep in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981). After trying his hand at playing a Polish laborer in Moonlighting (1982) and an adulterous lover in Betrayal (1983), Irons again played a tortured aristocrat in Swann in Love (1984).Following work in a few minor films and a Tony Award for his 1984 Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, Irons once again struck gold with his role as a conscientious missionary in The Mission (1986), in which he starred opposite Robert De Niro and received a 1987 Golden Globe nomination for his work. He next went completely against type, playing insane twin gynecologists in David Cronenberg's 1988 thriller Dead Ringers, a dual performance that both shocked his longtime fans and won him some new ones. For his portrayals, he garnered a New York Film Critics Circle Award, acclaim that was to be heightened two years later with his Oscar-winning turn as millionaire murder suspect Claus Von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune. Irons also won a Golden Globe for his work and settled into a real-life role as one of the most respected actors on both sides of the Atlantic.Throughout the 1990s, Irons' career was one of great variety and sometimes varying quality. Less acclaimed work included 1992's Waterland, in which he starred with his wife, Sinéad Cusack; the star-studded 1993 adaptation of The House of the Spirits; and The Man in the Iron Mask, a big-budget 1998 historical action piece in which Irons appeared to be competing with Gabriel Byrne, John Malkovich, and Gérard Depardieu to see who could wear the worst wig. Irons' more acclaimed films included Louis Malle's psychological drama Damage (1992); Disney's animated The Lion King (1994), to which Irons lent his voice as the villainous Scar; the following year's Die Hard With a Vengeance, in which Irons once again explored his sinister side, as a terrorist; Stealing Beauty (1996), which cast the actor as a dying artist; Chinese Box (1997), in which he portrayed yet another dying man; and Adrian Lyne's controversial adaptation of Lolita (also 1997), in which Irons gave a subtle, heartbreaking performance as Humbert Humbert. In 2000, Irons' relatively small role in the ultimately mediocre adaptation Dungeons & Dragons was once again noted as one of the highlights of an otherwise so-so film. Shortly afterward, Irons played the leading role in The Fourth Angel, which featured the actor as a magazine editor-cum-freedom fighter after his wife and three children were killed when their airplane was hijacked by terrorists. Though his performance was generally viewed as good, few Americans would enjoy it -- the original (and uncanny) plan for a United States theatrical release in fall of 2001 was canceled after the 9/11 attacks. Luckily for Irons and his loyal fan base, the 2002 releases of The Time Machine and the musical drama Callas Forever were not similarly hindered. In the same year, Irons would play the role of F. Scott Fitzgerald in director Henry Bromell's biographical feature Last Call with great success. 2003 was a busy year for Irons' vocal chords, as he provided one of the starring voices in the lavish, multi-episode television documentary Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites. Irons appeared in two small but well-received 2004 releases, taking a role alongside screen legend Al Pacino in Michael Radford's The Merchant of Venice, and showing up in the comedy drama Being Julia with Annette Bening and Sheila McCarthy. However, the following year, he could be seen in director Ridley Scott's big-budget box-office dud Kingdom of Heaven, an historical film about the Crusades that failed to find an audience in the wake of similar pictures such as Troy and Alexander. Irons once again snared great notices for his work in the period drama Elizabeth I opposite Helen Mirren, winning the Golden Globe for his supporting work in that television production. He next displayed his remarkable versatility by appearing in two very different motion pictures, the fantasy action film Eragon and David Lynch's Inland Empire.An Englishman to the last, Irons has resisted the temptation to settle in Hollywood and continues to reside in England. He starred with one of his two sons, Samuel, in the 1989 television adaptation of Roald Dahl's Danny, the Champion of the World.In 2008, Irons took on the role of a cold-hearted rancher in actor/director Ed Harris' western Appaloosa, and joined the supporting cast of The Pink Panther 2 in 2009. Irons was praised for his vocal skills once more in 2011, when he narrated The Last Lions, a sweeping nature documentary. The same year, Irons took on the role of Pope Alexander VI in Showtime's historical drama series The Borgias, and co-star in Margin Call, a paranoid thriller following an investment firm analyst who becomes privy to extremely sensitive information.

Trivia: A former teacher, burly Irish actor Brendan Gleeson spent the 1990s earning an increasing amount of acclaim for his work in a variety of films, most notably John Boorman's The General (1998). Gleeson, who made his feature film debut in Jim Sheridan's The Field (1990), first made an impression on audiences in the role of Hamish, William Wallace's hulking ally in Braveheart (1995).In 1997, the actor was given his first crack at a starring role in I Went Down, a likeable black comedy that cast him as a thick-skulled hitman. The role brought him a greater dose of recognition and respect on both sides of the Atlantic, but it was Boorman's The General (shot right after I Went Down wrapped) that truly demanded -- and received -- international attention. The story of real-life Irish criminal Martin Cahill, the film featured Gleeson in its title role, and his cocky, assured portrayal of Cahill was widely deemed the best part of an altogether excellent film. The numerous plaudits he won for his performance included awards from Boston and London film critics.His career flourishing, it was only a matter of time before Gleeson had the opportunity to expand his resumé to include the occasional Hollywood blockbuster. That opportunity came by way of John Woo's Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), which cast Gleeson, surprisingly enough, as one of the film's resident villains. After carefully balancing his roles between the mainstream and the more low-key, character-driven films in later 2000 and into 2001 (he gained notice for his starring role as a philanderous, boozing TV chef turned sensitive amnesiac in the romantic comedy Wild About Harry [2000]), Gleeson headed back to Hollywood with his lively turn as Lord Johnson-Johnson in Steven Spielberg's A.I. Appearing in Trainspotting director Danny Boyle's zombie thriller 28 Days Later the following year, it wasn't long before Gleeson was once again gracing stateside cinemas with appearances in such high-profile films as Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002) and the Kurt Russell police detective thriller Dark Blue (2003).Gleeson remained a presence in high-profile films over the ensuing two years. In 2004 he could be seen in both the M. Night Shyamalan brain-bender The Village and the sweeping historical epic Troy. The following year found the actor in another pair of big-budget Hollywood films, the box-office dud Kingdom of Heaven and the fourth installment in the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Subsequent years found him re-teaming with 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy for the Neil Jordan comedy Breakfast on Pluto and reprising his role of Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).He had a memorable turn in the Irish comedy In Bruges in 2008. Two years later he returned as Mad Eye for the final Harry Potter movie. That same year he turned in one of his best performances in The Guard. He played opposite the Oscar nominated Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs in 2011, and enjoyed roles in a couple of high-profile Hollywood films - The Raven and Safe House the next year.

Trivia: Born in England circa 1945, actress Charlotte Rampling is the daughter of a British colonel who went on to become a NATO commander and relatively successful painter. After attending the Jeanne d'Arc Académie pour Jeunes Filles in Versailles and the prestigious St. Hilda's school in Bushley, England, Rampling worked as a model before making her film debut as a water skier in The Knack...and How to Get It (1965), director Richard Lester's acclaimed sex comedy. Her breakout role, however, wouldn't come until a year later, when she performed opposite Lynn Redgrave as the bitchy but beautiful roommate of the title character in Georgy Girl (1966). Georgy Girl set the standard for Rampling's further work, which, while not always popular with mainstream audiences, could never be conceived of as mundane. Quite the contrary, in fact -- from her role as a hitchhiker in Vanishing Point (1971) to her portrayal of Ann Boleyn in Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972) to her performance as a woman in love with a chimpanzee in Max My Love (1986), Rampling became notorious for her bold, meaningful characters. Luchino Visconti's The Damned (1969) is no exception to the rule (the incestuous political drama was originally rated X in the United States); neither was her work with Sean Connery in John Boorman's sci-fi adventure Zardoz (1973). That said, Rampling's most intense role was, arguably, that of a concentration camp survivor who is reunited with the Nazi guard (Dirk Bogarde) who tortured her throughout her captivity in 1974's The Night Porter.In 1975, Rampling starred opposite Robert Mitchum in the post-noir detective thriller Farewell, My Lovely, and offered a passionate rendering of a violent heiress confined to a mental institution in the French/Italian/German collaboration La Chair de l'Orchidée. The actress' success continued to grow throughout the latter half of the 1970s, and in 1980, Rampling played a lead role alongside Woody Allen in Stardust Memories, the follow-up to the much-hailed Manhattan. Shortly afterward, Rampling could be seen as the deceitful Laura in director Sidney Lumet's courtroom drama The Verdict (1982) with Paul Newman. Rampling spent much of the mid-'80s filming in Europe; one of her most notable performances during that time was as the mysterious mistress of a murder victim in the French crime thriller On Ne Meurt Que Deux Fois, though she would return to America for Alan Parker's Angel Heart. The heavily praised voodoo-themed crime thriller featured Rampling as an ill-fated woman whose heart is irrevocably extracted from her body.Though her fondness for murder mysteries and historical political dramas still manifested itself through her performances in Paris by Night (1989) and Invasion of Privacy (1996), Rampling also found luck in several moderately well-received comedies, including Time is Money (1994) and Asphalt Tango (1997). However, her name was launched back into the A-list after her performance as a complicated aunt in the multi-award-winning The Wings of the Dove with Helena Bonham Carter. In 2000, Rampling was nominated for her own Oscar; her portrayal of a phenomenally distraught widow in Under the Sand was praised by critics and audiences alike as one of the best performances of the year. After participating in several documentaries and the espionage thriller Spy Game (2001), Rampling starred as a conservative mystery writer in director François Ozon's Swimming Pool -- the role would win her an award for Best Actress from the European Film Academy in 2003. After her success with Swimming Pool, Rampling went on to play supporting roles in The Statement (2003) and Immortel Ad Vitam (2004).Rampling continued to work in both English and French language projects, playing the Countess Spencer in The Duchess (2008), and later reunited with co-star Keira Knightley for Never Let Me Go (2010). In 2011, she appeared in Lars von Trier's Melancholia; the following year, she earned an Emmy nomination for her work in the BBC miniseries Restless. In 2015, she nabbed her first Academy Award nomination for her work in 45 Years.

Trivia: A native of Brooklyn, NY, actor Michael Kenneth Williams fell into a typecast with repeated portrayals of hoods, toughs, and career criminals from project to project. Williams entered acting courtesy of professional dancing, which he began at the age of 22; in that arena, his unique and individualistic moves caught the attention of producers and landed him in a string of music videos. Williams subsequently decided to pursue classical training as an actor, which he received via participation in the National Black Theater Company and New York's La' MaMA Theatre Company, though his breakthrough arrived at the hands of the late gangster rapper Tupac Shakur, who discovered Williams and cast him as his own little brother in the Julien Temple-directed urban crime drama Bullet (1995). Work for Martin Scorsese followed, with a minor role in the grueling psychodrama Bringing Out the Dead (1999), though Williams scored much broader acclaim and exposure via participation in HBO's popular crime drama series The Wire, where he played stick-up man Omar Little for multiple seasons. Williams then moved back into features with a supporting turn as Devin in actor-turned-director Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone (2007), then starred opposite Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron in director John Hillcoat's post-apocalyptic thriller The Road (2008).

Trivia: Worked as a driver for tennis superstar John McEnroe when he was 19.Began his film and television career doing short films and directing behind the scenes EPKs (Electronic Press Kits).Perhaps best known internationally for playing the French dairy farmer accused of harboring Jews in the opening scene of 2009's Inglourious Basterds.Is also a skilled and passionate skateboarder and displayed his talents in a London chase scene on the Netflix series Spotless.Is a supporter of La Parole Libérée, an association dedicated to fighting abuse of children.

Trivia: Born to French parents. A founding member of the Vasistas Theatre Company. Was nominated for the Cesar Award for her performance in Fidelio, l'odyssee d'Alice. Starred in her husband's first English-languge film The Lobster.

Trivia: Born in Scotland and raised in England as the son of Egyptian parents, actor Khalid Abdalla drew from his own familial lineage to tackle Middle Eastern roles in Hollywood productions, but made a conscious and aggressive attempt to cut against the grain of associated onscreen stereotypes. He later expressed an understandable reluctance to take his first part when it was offered to him -- that of Ziad Jarrah, the Lebanese hijacker responsible for the takeover of United Flight 93 on September 11th -- in Paul Greengrass' docudrama United 93, but a tête-à-tête with maverick director Greengrass (who had no interest in perpetuating stereotypes or prejudices, but instead sought to capture the human side of each character presented) immediately changed Abdalla's opinion. Indeed, the actor received widespread critical kudos for his work in that acclaimed production. He followed it up with the lead in an equally promising film -- director Marc Forster's much-anticipated Khaled Hosseini adaptation The Kite Runner (2007), about a life-changing friendship that blossoms between two Afghani young men.

Trivia: While at drama school, lived with classmate Cate Blanchett. A week after graduating, cast as Juliet in Bell Shakespeare Company's 1993 production of Romeo and Juliet and as Jilly in the film The Custodian (1993). Met husband Justin Kurzel in 1996, when he was a set designer at the Sydney Theatre Company and she was in a Belvoir Street production of A View from the Bridge. Sprained her ankle, dislocated her knee and broke a rib doing stunts for Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.

Trivia: Middle name is Robilliard is after poet and artist David Robilliard, who was a friend of his mother.Raised by a single mother.Started his career in 2010, modelling for companies such as Next plc and Reebok.Credits include film, television, theater and music videos.Starred as the male lead in Marc Webb's The Only Living Boy In New York (2017), alongside Jeff Bridges and Kate Beckinsale.Plays Theseus Scamander, the older brother of Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander, in Warner Bros.' Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them sequel.

Trivia: Raised in Whitefield, Manchester, England, United Kingdom.Started acting when she was 5-years-old.Practices taekwondo​.Plays the piano.Younger sister is also dedicated to acting.

Trivia: Of Hungarian and Spanish descent.Was in the army when he was 18.Realized he was not in love with his biology profession during an expedition in the Amazon jungle.Studied acting at Casa del Teatro Nacional in Bogotá, Colombia; Shakespeare & company; HB Studios; and Stella Adler Theater Institute.Married Ana de la Lastra in the Spanish port town of Pinares de Lepe.Best known for his work in Colombian and Spanish soap opera productions.