Trivia: Perhaps the ultimate thinking man's sex symbol, Helen Mirren is also one of the most respected actresses of British stage, screen, and television. With classical training, years of work on the London stage, an acclaimed television series, and dozens of films to her name, Mirren has proven herself an actress of talent, versatility, and unforgettable presence.Born Ilynea Lydia Mironoff on July 26, 1945, in London, Mirren is a descendant of the White Russian nobility. Her father was a member of an aristocratic Russian military family who came to England during the Russian Revolution, but while Mirren was growing up, he worked in turn as a violinist with the London Philharmonic, a taxi driver, and a driving instructor. His daughter, on the other hand, knew her true calling by the age of six, when she realized she wanted to become an actress, in the "old-fashioned and traditional sense." After trying to please her parents with a stint at a teacher's college, Mirren joined the National Youth Theatre, where she first made her mark playing Cleopatra. The acclaim for her performance led the way to other work, and she was soon a member of the vaunted Royal Shakespeare Company, with whom she performed a wide range of classics. Her stage career thriving, Mirren made her screen debut in 1968 in the somewhat forgettable Herostratus. The same year, she made a more auspicious appearance as Hermia in Peter Hall's lauded adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and her screen career soon took off. She worked steadily throughout the late '60s and '70s, starring in 1969's Age of Consent and working with such directors as Robert Altman on The Long Goodbye (1973) and Lindsay Anderson on O Lucky Man! (also 1973). In 1977, Mirren earned permanent notoriety for her work in Caligula, a mainstream porn offering from the powers at Penthouse that also starred such notables as Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud, and Malcolm McDowell.During the subsequent decade, Mirren continued to work on the stage, and she also broadened her cinematic resumé and fan base with such films as Excalibur (1981) and Cal (1984). Her portrayal of an older woman in love with a younger man in the latter film earned her a Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival and further established her reputation as an actress willing to explore the kind of unconventional relationships often ignored on the screen. The actress' willingness go beyond safe conventionality was demonstrated with her work in such films as The Mosquito Coast (1986), Pascali's Island (1988), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989), and The Comfort of Strangers (1991). She again took on the role of an older woman in love with a younger man in Where Angels Fear to Tread in 1991, proving that seven years after Cal, her powers of attraction had been in no way tempered by time.At the beginning of the 1990s, Mirren began appearing on the television series Prime Suspect. Her character, Jane Tennison, a hard-boiled detective, proved immensely popular with viewers and critics alike, and she stayed with the series for its seven incarnations. Mirren also continued to do acclaimed work for the stage and screen, earning a Cannes Best Actress award and Oscar and BAFTA nominations for her work in The Madness of King George in 1994, and making her Broadway debut in Turgenev's A Month in the Country in 1995. The following year, she earned further acclaim for her work in Some Mother's Son, in which she played the mother of a Belfast prison hunger striker. In 1997, Mirren found the time to marry producer/director Taylor Hackford before signing on to provide the voice of the Queen in the Disney animated film The Prince of Egypt (1998). In 1999, she played the titular teacher in Kevin Williamson's disappointing Teaching Mrs. Tingle, earning the only good reviews given the movie, and she again won over critics with her title role in the made-for-television The Passion of Ayn Rand, earning an Emmy for her performance. Back on the big screen, Mirren continued with a lighthearted role as a master gardener in Greenfingers (2000), turned up in director Hal Hartley's comic monster fable No Such Thing (2001) and earned her second Oscar nomination for her re-teaming with Altman in the director's acclaimed comedy Gosford Park (2001).This pattern solidified for Mirren as her career moved through the new millennium. She was well received for her performance in yet another quirky British sleeper in 2003, with Calendar Girls. In it she played a middle-aged woman who raises money (as well as eyebrows) for a Women's Institute by posing nude with her peers. She also made notable appearances in movies like the thriller The Clearing (2004) and the romantic comedy Raising Helen (2004), before awing audiences with a performance in Shadowboxer (2005) as an assassin who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. 2005 would prove to be a special year for Mirren as September of that year would kick off a full 12 months of nonstop praise and excitement. Two of Mirren's projects would emerge during this period that would usher her into the upper tier of cinema's lead actresses -- a place that critics and fans had known she belonged all along. Coincidentally, these two projects would find her playing two different English monarchs who shared the same name. First, her performance as Queen Elizabeth I in the BBC miniseries Elizabeth I aired in September 2005, blowing viewers away with her ability to convey the full power and command of perhaps the most important crowned head in British history, all while confined to the small screen. Immersing herself into the opulent 16th century costumes and sets, Mirren tackled the Virgin Queen as a leader, a woman, and a human being, leaving such an impression that the miniseries was later aired in the U.S. By September 2006, the commotion over Mirren's performance had died down just enough for her to make an even bigger splash with her acclaimed role as Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears' film The Queen. Despite the shared name, playing the modern-day figure was as different from her earlier role as it could be. Taking place in 1997 after the death of the globally beloved Princess Diana -- whose divorce from Prince Charles had been a source of epic tabloid controversy -- The Queen found Mirren playing a monarch who wielded little-to-no executive power, but whose title derived all its meaning from tradition, symbolism, and national pride. Mirren handled this queen with gentle attention to detail, following her on confused journeys both personal and in the national consciousness, showing her surprise and bewilderment as the stoic exterior on which a queen's public face had always been built suddenly caused her to be reviled. Mirren's two Elizabeths were both honored with Golden Globe wins, one for Best Actress in a Drama, and one for Best Actress in a TV Movie or Mini-Series. She was further rewarded for her efforts by capturing the Oscar for Best Actress in The Queen.In the next year she appeared in the blockbuster sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets, but in 2009 she starred opposite Christopher Plummer in The Last Station as the wife of the dying Leo Tolstoy. For her work in that drama Mirren garnered acting nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, the Independent Spirit Awards, and the Academy. Substantial roles continued to rack up honors and acclaim for the actress in 2010, as she played an intriguing role as a former Mossad agent in The Debt, and no-longer-retired secret agent in Red, and none other than the leading role in William Shakespeare's The Tempest - with the gender of the part changed to female. Mirren would then make a comic turn in the 2011 remake of Arthur alongside British comedian Russell Brand, before delving back into drama once more with the reflective 2012 film The Door.

Trivia: Handsome actor Ryan Reynolds may be best known to television viewers for his role in the popular Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, though if it weren't for his close friend Chris Martin, Reynolds' star may have not risen quite as smoothly as it did. Born in 1976, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to a food wholesaler father and a retail store saleswoman, Reynolds harbored an affection for acting from his early youth, and was undeterred after failing a drama class at the age of twelve. Making his television debut two years later on the Nickelodeon show Fifteen, the aspiring youngster crossed the border and relocated to Florida for the taping of the show, moving back to Vancouver soon after production ceased in 1991. Turning up in numerous television series such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch and made-for-TV movies in the following years, Reynolds soon grew despondent that his career was not moving along as smoothly as he wished. Recognizing his friend's frustrations, fellow actor Martin suggested that the two pick up and head for the Hollywood hills. Crashing in a cheap hotel and having his jeep stripped and rolled down a hill did little to raise Reynolds' spirits, though the determined actor carried on, landing his role on Two Guys in 1997. The only actor to read for the role of Berg, Reynolds won the favor of the producers and was soon on his way to success in the States. Following with roles in the teen horror comedy Boltneck (1998) and later Dick (1999) and Finder's Fee (2000), Reynolds soon began assuming his position among the hot young actors of the early millennium, taking the lead in 2001 for Van Wilder.Prominent roles in more high-profile films followed, including the part of Hannibal King in 2004's Blade Trinity, and the lead role of George Lutz in the 2005 remake of the classic horror movie The Amityville Horror. He soon followed this up with starring roles in two comedies: 2005's Waiting and Just Friends. With his career on a meteoric path upward, he continued to branch, snagging starring roles in films like the supernatural thriller The Nines, and the romantic comedy Definitely Maybe, eventually signing on to play the character of Deadpool in the next installment in the X-Men franchise X-Men Origins: Wolverine, as well as starring alongside Sandra Bullock in the romantic comedy The Proposal. Officially having made the transition into Leading Man Actor, Reynolds took a few unexpected roles in smaller films, playing supporting characters in 2009's Adventureland and making a quirky comedic turn in 2010's Paper Man. By 2011, however, Reynolds was ready to get back in the game, taking the lead in the super hero movie Green Lantern. The next year he appeared alongside Denzel Washington in the action thriller Safe House. He made cameo appearances in two Seth MacFarlane films, Ted and A Million Ways to Die in the West, and voiced a character in the animated film The Croods.

Trivia: Born in Spain to a Catalan mother and Brazilian-born German father, and was subsequently raised in Germany and spent summers in Spain. Got his start on the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe in 1995. Speaks several languages; in Joyeux Noël, he speaks German, French and English. Owns a Spanish tapas bar, Bar Raval, in Berlin.

Trivia: Born Kate Noelle Holmes on December 18, 1978 in Toledo, OH, Katie Holmes shot to fame as angst-ridden tomboy Joey Potter on the WB network's Dawson's Creek. Holmes grew up as part of a close-knit family in Toledo and first acted in high-school productions. Participation in a national model and talent convention landed her a trip to Los Angeles when she was 16, and it was there that Holmes auditioned for a role in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm. The film, which was released in 1997, won critical acclaim, and Holmes' role caught the attention of Kevin Williamson. Williamson, known for his screenplays for such movies as Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, was casting roles for his new TV series, Dawson's Creek. Holmes was asked to audition, and did so via videotape. She won the part of Joey Potter, and the series, which premiered in January of 1998, met with a positive reception from both critics and television viewers. Soon the series' young stars were in hot demand, with Holmes in particular receiving attention for her measured and insightful performance as Joey.It was not long before Holmes appeared in more filmns, like 1998's teen thriller Disturbing Behavior, and 1999's Go. In 2000, Holmes made high-profile turns in Curtis Hanson's Wonder Boys and Sam Raimi's The Gift. The actress would play both teen and adult roles during this period, with films like Abandon, Phone Booth, and First Daughter, but the actress caught more press than ever in 2005, when her five year relationship with actor Chris Klein came to an end and the actress began dating Tom Cruise. Cruise had recently become publicly outspoken about his beliefs in Scientology, making volatile statements about the use of anti-depressants, and making several eratic public apperances that caused the media to question his mental stability, stirring speculation about cult-like themes in Scientology. These ideas were greatly exacerbated by Cruise's seemingly manic enthusiasm for his new love of Holmes, making a now infamous appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show in which he bounced up and down on the couch and vigorously shook the talk show host by the arms while proclaiming his happiness.In addition to this most curious public display, the pair were surrounded by additional rumors when Holmes, who had been a lifelong Catholic, converted to the church of Scientology and took on a Scientologist advisor to stay by her side through many of her daily activities. The couple's rumor-generating behavior was believed by some to be a publicity stunt, as the actors prepared to release Batman Begins and War of the Worlds, respectively. Regardless,t Holmes certainly found success as the female lead in the reinvigorated Batman franchise, as the film was a huge critical and commercial smash. Cruise and Holmes would soon becom engaged, and Holmes would give birth to a baby girl named Suri in April of 2006, just a few weeks before the release of Cruise's Mission: Impossible III. Just as much speculation and curiosity surrounded the event. There were whispers of dangerous or inadvisable methods of childcare and feeding mandated by the practices of Scientology, but Holmes said little publicly of her new relationship, religion or role as a mother. After the birth, the couple finally set their date wedding, and were married in early July. Holmes would continue to act, and numerous films would fill her resume over the coming years, including Thank You For Smoking, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, and Jack and Jill. She and Cruise would announce they were divorcing in 2012.

Trivia: Is of Ukrainian, Polish, German, Austrian and Romanian heritage. Began dancing at the age of 4 and started acting in community theater at age 9. Was on the first place team at the 2002 Canadian Improv Games (National Tournament). Lived briefly in Los Angeles, but ultimately chose to base her acting career in Toronto. Is an ensemble member of General Fools Improvisational Theater, a Regina-based improv troupe.

Trivia: Suffers from dyslexia, which was so severe at the age of 8 that he couldn't write his own name. Before becoming a model he worked as a bartender at a London restaurant called the Ark. Was discovered by famed photographer Mario Testino when he was walking down the street and arguing with his girlfriend. Has modeled for Burberry, Mango and Macy's INC. Made his film debut in 2004's Being Julia, which also starred his father, Jeremy Irons. Was nominated in 2009 for an Ian Charleson Award, which celebrates outstanding new talent in the theatre for British actors under the age of 30, for his role as Max Piccolomini in the play Wallenstein.

Trivia: Tall, sandy-haired British actor Charles Dance trained for a career in graphic design at Plymouth College of Art and Leicester College of Art. Dance developed a taste for the theatre by listening to the reminiscences of two elderly actors who ran a pub in his Dover neighborhood. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at the age of 29, and made his first film, the James Bond picture For Your Eyes Only, six years later. Dance's widest professional exposure came in 1984 when he appeared in "The Jewel in the Crown," a 14-part British TV production seen in the U.S. on Masterpiece Theatre. Charles Dance's best-remembered performances have been as D.W. Griffith in Good Morning Babylon (1987); the role of Meryl Streep's husband in Plenty (1985); the title part in the 1990 TV adaptation of Phantom of the Opera; and the displaced "imaginary" villain in Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Last Action Hero (1993).

Trivia: The daughter of educators, Elizabeth McGovern moved from her home town of Evanston, Illinois to Los Angeles when her father, a law professor at Northwestern, transferred to UCLA. Discovered for the movies while appearing in a high-school play, McGovern made an impressive screen debut as the girlfriend of emotionally disturbed teenager Timothy Hutton in the Oscar-winning Ordinary People (1980). The following year, she earned an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of notorious turn-of-the-century "kept lady" Evelyn Nesbit Shaw in Ragtime. She honed her acting skills at Julliard and the American Conservatory Theatre, then made her off-Broadway debut in a 1981 production of To Be Young, Gifted and Black; her later stage credits include Painting Churches and The Hitch-hiker. Carefully avoiding the make-work roles usually reserved for actresses of her generation, McGovern has opted for offbeat characterizations in such films as Racing with the Moon (1984) and Once Upon a Time in America. She seems unconcerned with the size of her roles, so long as she can make a lasting impression as witness The Handmaid's Tale (1991) in which she deftly handles her role with such formidable co-stars as Natasha Richardson and Robert Duvall with her brief appearance as self-deprecating lesbian prostitute Moira. Elizabeth McGovern also starred in the 1995 TV sitcom If Not for You.

Trivia: Welsh native Jonathan Pryce switched from art studies to acting after winning a RADA scholarship, and quickly became both a critically viable and immediately recognizable screen presence. In numerous screen assignments, Pryce's subtle intensity and mania - deftly but not deeply buried beneath a placid exterior - could be parlayed with equal aplomb into roles as an angst-ridden everyman or a manipulative sociopath. In the majority of Pryce's characterizations, he projected a frightening degree of intelligence and sophistication almost by default.After a few seasons with the Liverpool Everyman Theatre, Pryce scored a London theatrical success in Comedians, winning a Tony award when the play moved to Broadway in 1976. Thereafter, he starred in the Broadway musicals Miss Saigon and Oliver!. Pryce's subsequent effectiveness in villainous roles threatened to typecast him as Machiavellian heavies, such as his icewater-veined personification of "reason and logic" in Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989). As time rolled on, however, Pryce began to demonstrate his ability to add layers of offbeat and intriguing eccentricity to roles that, in other hands, could easily become caricatures or stock parts - a gift apparent as early as Pryce's leading turn in Gilliam's Brazil (1985), as a beleaguered everyman enmeshed in a Kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmare. The actor was particularly arresting, for example, as James Lingk, a bar patron with not-so-subtle homosexual inclinations, who falls prey to the machinations of hotshot salesman Ricky Roma (Al Pacino), in James Foley's 1992 screen adaptation of the David Mamet play Glengarry Glen Ross. He commanded equally powerful screen presence as Henry Kravis, a cunning entrepreneur and the "master of the leveraged buyout" (who bilks corporate giant F. Ross Johnson for a fortune) in the Glenn Jordan-directed, Larry Gelbart-scripted boardroom comedy Barbarians at the Gate (1993). In 1995, Jonathan Pryce won a Cannes Film Festival best actor award for his portrayal of homosexual writer Lytton Strachey in Carrington, opposite Emma Thompson. In subsequent years, Pryce's screen activity crescendoed meteorically; he remained extremely active, often tackling an average of three to five films a year, and demonstrated a laudable intuition in selecting projects. Some of his more prestigious assignments included roles in Evita (1996), Ronin (1998), De-Lovely (2004) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007). The Brothers Grimm (2005) re-united the Welsh actor with Brazil and Baron Munchausen collaborator Terry Gilliam. In 2008, Pryce teamed up with George Clooney, Renee Zellweger and John Krasinski for a supporting role in the Clooney-directed sports comedy Leatherheads (2008); Pryce plays C.C. Frazier, the manager of a 1920s collegiate football player (Krasinski). Many American viewers may continue to associate Pryce with his television commercial appearances as the spokesman of Infiniti automobiles.

Trivia: One of the actresses most indelibly associated with the descriptor "fiery redhead," Frances Fisher has enjoyed a long career as a respected stage, screen, and television performer. In addition to her professional work, she also earned recognition for her long relationship with Clint Eastwood, by whom she had a daughter.Born in Milford on Sea, England, Fisher spent much of her childhood traveling all over the world, thanks to her father's job as an international oil refinery construction supervisor. After time spent in England, Colombia, France, Canada, Brazil, Turkey, and Italy, the family settled in Orange, Texas, where Fisher completed her schooling. Deciding to follow her interest in theatre, she eventually moved to New York, where she subsequently enjoyed a 14-year stage career in regional and off-Broadway productions. During this time, she also became involved with the Actors Studio, where she studied with the legendary Lee Strasberg. Fisher segued into screen work via television, getting her start with regular roles on a number of soap operas. She began her film career with some help from Henry Jaglom, for whom she made her 1980 screen debut in Sitting Ducks, and went on to star in his Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? (1983) and Babyfever (1994). Fisher spent the 1980s and 1990s appearing in a wide variety of film and TV productions, including the made-for-TV Lucy and Desi: Before the Laughter (1991), which cast her as Lucille Ball; Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992); the Texas Dust Bowl drama The Stars Fell on Henrietta (1995); James Cameron's Titanic (1997), in which she starred as Kate Winslet's mother; and The Big Tease (1999), a Scottish hairdressing mockumentary that featured her as a publicist in need of a new 'do.

Trivia: British supporting actor Henry Goodman has been involved with everything from classical theater to television mysteries to movie comedies. On stage, he performed with the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Goodman made his feature film debut playing a cabbie in Queen of Hearts (1989).

Trivia: Beginning in the early '70s, British actor Stephen Greif built up a substantial career for himself as a character player in films and also as a voice-over artist. In the vocal sphere, Greif's mellow, cultured, and unmistakably English speech quickly made him one of the most recognizable voices in U.K. advertisements. In terms of on-camera appearances, Greif came to specialize in portrayals of distinguished, articulate professional types such as physicians, businessmen, and heads of state, usually in a supporting capacity. Greif formally began his litany of dramatic assignments with work on British television, where he specialized in adaptations of the classics, then quickly expanded his focus to include occasional big screen efforts over the following decades, such as Franklin Schaffner's Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), Mike Binder's The Upside of Anger (2004), and Lasse Hallström's Casanova (2005). Greif remains best known for his work on series television, however, especially a memorable multi-episode portrayal of Travis on the British sci-fi series Blakes 7. In 2007, Greif contributed a key supporting role to the racially charged thriller Shoot on Sight.