Trivia: One of the most original, versatile, and steadily employed actors in Hollywood, Philip Seymour Hoffman made a name for himself playing some of the most dysfunctional characters in movie history. Although he had been acting for years, most audiences were first introduced to the actor in the award-winning Boogie Nights, where he played a nebbishy soundman with a jones for Mark Wahlberg's Dirk Diggler. Imbuing his character with both humor and poignant complexity, Hoffman was one of the more memorable aspects of an unforgettable film.Born in Fairport, NY, in 1968, Hoffman trained at New York's Tisch School of Drama. Before breaking into film, he did a host of theater work, performing in New York, Chicago, and on a European tour. He made his film debut in the 1992 film Scent of a Woman, a critically acclaimed picture starring Al Pacino and Chris O'Donnell. Roles in a number of films of varying quality followed, including My New Gun (1992) and When a Man Loves a Woman (1994). The actor then nabbed a sizable role in Jan de Bont's 1996 tornado thriller Twister and the same year began an ongoing working relationship with Paul Thomas Anderson by appearing in his directorial debut Hard Eight. The crime drama, which also starred Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L. Jackson, received positive critical attention, although it didn't create more than a minor blip at the box office. However, Hoffman's next feature and second collaboration with Anderson, Boogie Nights (1997), was both a critical and financial success, scoring a host of Academy Award nominations and simultaneously reviving the careers of some of its stars, such as Burt Reynolds and Mark Wahlberg, while providing a breakthrough for others, such as Heather Graham and Hoffman himself. He next appeared in the Robin Williams comedy Patch Adams (1998), and the same year starred in two critically acclaimed independent films, Todd Solondz's Happiness and Brad Anderson's Next Stop Wonderland. The prolific actor added an appearance in The Big Lebowski (also 1998) to his already impressive resumé. In addition to his burgeoning acting career, Hoffman won favorable notices for his directing debut with the off-Broadway In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings. Hoffman came into his own with three notable performances in 1999. He reunited with Paul Thomas Anderson to play empathic hospice nurse Phil Parma, one of the emotional anchors in Magnolia. His portrayal of upper-crust snob Freddie Miles in The Talented Mr. Ripley earned him strong notices from many critics. Hoffman's peers awarded him with a Screen Actors Guild nomination for his role as a cross dresser in Flawless opposite Robert De Niro. He returned to the Broadway stage with fellow Anderson regular John C. Reilly to play very different brothers in Sam Shepard's True West. They took a risk by switching the lead roles every three days. Their hard work earned critical raves, and each was nominated for a Tony award. In 2000, Cameron Crowe cast Hoffman as Crowe's childhood hero Lester Bangs in Almost Famous, and David Mamet tapped him to be part of the impressive ensemble in State and Main.Hoffman maintained his status as one of the most respected and hardest-working actors in the new decade by delivering an excellent supporting turn in Red Dragon as an unctuous tabloid reporter. That same year he co-starred in Spike Lee's 25th Hour, and played the bad guy for old collaborator Paul Thomas Anderson in the offbeat romantic comedy Punch-Drunk Love. 2002 also saw the release of Love Liza, a very low-budget film scripted by Hoffman's brother and directed by actor Todd Louiso that starred Phil as a grieving husband addicted to huffing gas fumes. The next year found Hoffman starring as a gambling addict in the small scale Canadian drama Owning Mahowny, and turning in a memorable supporting performance as an amoral preacher in the big screen adaptation of Cold Mountain. Hoffman was in theaters again at the beginning of 2004 as the best friend in the Ben Stiller comedy Along Came Polly. He was also part of yet another outstanding ensemble in the small screen adaptation of Richard Russo's Pulitzer prize-winning novel Empire Falls.In 2005, Hoffman took the role of a lifetime when he assumed the title role in Bennett Miller's Capote. The film had critics in agreement that Hoffman's portrayal of complex and idiosyncratic real-life author Truman Capote was the stuff of Hollywood legend. Hoffman not only mastered the character's distinct body-language and speech but also hauntingly interpreted the subtle psychological and emotional self that made the character whole-leading many to declare that he very nearly made the film everything it was. The performance earned him the Oscar for Best Actor, as well as a Golden Globe and countless other accolades. The attention also provided a boost in profile for the actor who had for so long proved his worth in the background. After playing the bad guy in the third Mission Impossible movie opposite Tom Cruise, Hoffman had a remarkable 2007, a year that saw him play a central part in three well-regarded films. His conniving brother in Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead was a model of self-loathing fermenting into fatal action. In addition to a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor, his highly-educated, emotionally fractured brother to Laura Linney's neurotic sister in The Savages offered him the chance to play numerous subtle and sharply observed scenes with her, the first meeting of these two revered performers. But it was his turn as the intense CIA operative in Charlie Wilson's War that won Hoffman the most widespread praise including Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor.Hoffman continued to solidify his status as one of his generation's finest actors in 2008 with two very different roles. By choosing to play the lead in Charlie Kaufmann's directorial debut Synecdoche, New York, Hoffman again displayed his fearlessness, as well as his desire to work with the very best writers and directors he can find. That willfully difficult film never connected with mainstream audiences, but that was not true at all for Hoffman's other picture of 2008, Doubt. John Patrick Shanley's cinematic adaptation of his own award-winning play earned acting nominations for Hoffman and his three costars (Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis) from both the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy.Over the following years, Hoffman would continue to appear in a variety of interesting films, like Pirate Radio, The Ides of March, and Moneyball. In 2012 he again collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson, playing a cult leader in the drama The Master opposite Joaquin Phoenix. For his work in that movie, Hoffman got a Best Supporting Actor nomination from both the Screen Actors Guild and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The following year, he appeared in the smash The Hunger Games: Catching Fire as rebel Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee. Sadly, personal problems cut his illustrious career short, as Hoffman was found dead in his apartment of an apparent drug overdose at age 46.

Trivia: BAFTA-winning veteran actor Bill Nighy gained international recognition in 2003 thanks to his role as a Keith Richards-esque former rock star in the hit romantic comedy Love Actually. Nighy had remained a relatively obscure figure even in his native England until a memorable turn as a controversial politician in series three of the acclaimed television comedy drama Auf Wiedersehen, Pet found him finally thrust into the spotlight in 2002. A Caterham, Surrey native, Nighy excelled in English language and literature early on; however, even though his journalistic instincts were strong, his lack of education prevented him from a career in the media. Work as a bike messenger for Field Magazine helped the aspiring writer keep his toes in the business, and a suggestion by his girlfriend that Nighy try his hand at acting eventually prompted him to enroll in the Guildford School of Dance and Drama. As the gears began to turn and his career as an actor started to gain momentum, Nighy was encouraged to stick with the craft after landing a series of small roles. Though British television provided Nighy with most of his early exposure, supporting roles in such features as Curse of the Pink Panther (1983) and The Phantom of the Opera (1989) found the actor honing his skills and laying the groundwork for future feature success. Though Nighy stuck almost exclusively to the small screen in the early '90s, his supporting role in the 1993 Robin Williams film Being Human seemed to mark the beginning of a new stage in his career, focusing mainly on features. A part in the 1997 film Fairy Tale: A True Story found Nighy climbing the credits, and the following year he joined an impressive cast including Timothy Spall, Stephen Rea, and Billy Connolly in the rock comedy Still Crazy. It was his role in Still Crazy that gained Nighy his widest recognition to date -- earning the up-and-coming actor the Peter Sellers Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy Performance. Nighy's role as a conflicted husband who embarks on a heated extramarital affair in 2001's Lawless Heart continued his impressive career trajectory, and later that same year he would land a role in The Full Monty director Peter Cattaneo's jailbreak comedy Lucky Break. A role in the long-running U.K. television series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet finally found Nighy earning some deserved recognition in 2002, and after a winning performance as the patriarch of an eccentric family in I Capture the Castle (2003), he continued to earned even more accolades for his performance in Love Actually. His part as an ancient vampire in the gothic action horror hit Underworld found Nighy's recognition factor rising for mainstream audiences on the other side of the pond, and before jetting into the future with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in 2005, the increasingly busy actor would appear in three feature films in 2004, including the horror comedy Shaun of the Dead, Doogal, and Enduring Love. By the time Nighy received an Emmy nomination for his role as a loved-starved civil servant falling for an enigmatic younger woman in the 2005 made-for-television romantic comedy-drama The Girl in the Café, television fans in both the U.S. and the U.K. knew well of Nighy's impressive range as an actor. Yet another small-screen role in that same year's Gideon's Daughter allowed Nighy a chance to play a serious role once again. Playing a burned-out PR agent who is forced to reevaluate his life when his adult daughter threatens to cease all contact with him, Nighy gave a performance that moved critics and audiences alike, later earning him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Mini-Series or TV Movie. Soon the actor was venturing into lands of fantasy once again, however, reprising his role as Viktor in Underworld: Evolution, and taking to the high seas as the legendary squid-faced sailor Davy Jones (captain of the Flying Dutchman) in director Gore Verbinski's big-budget summer extravaganza Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. That film, of course, became a predictable sensation (it grossed over one billion dollars worldwide) and (more than any of Nighy's prior efforts) launched the British actor into the public spotlight for audiences of all ages, who were understandably impressed with the presence he was able to exude onscreen despite the layers of makeup and CG it took to make him into a squid-man.Nighy stayed the course of big-budget fantasy, with a turn as Alan Blunt in that same year's Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker, then signed on for another turn as Davy Jones in 2007's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, co-starring this time with the inspiration for some of his previous characters, Keith Richards. Nighy would spend the next several years appearing in such acclaimed films as Valkyrie, Pirate Radio, and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.Nighy has maintained a life partnership with veteran British stage and screen actress Diana Quick since 1981. Though the two don't subscribe to the legal institution of marriage (much like long-standing Hollywood couple Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon), Nighy has been known to refer to Quick as his wife simply to avoid confusion. The couple's daughter, Mary Nighy, was born in 1984 and is also an actress.

Trivia: Welsh actor Rhys Ifans has not only one of the most distinctive names in the film industry but also one of its most idiosyncratic appearances. Tall, lanky, and snaggletoothed, Ifans can go from raving freak to persuasive romantic interest in less time than it takes to pronounce his name correctly.Ifans got his start acting in a number of Welsh language dramas and comedies, and he made his feature film debut in Anthony Hopkins' August (1996). The following year, he was part of one of the most successful films in Great Britain in 1997 when he starred in Twin Town. As one half of a set of twins (the other was portrayed by his real-life brother, Llyr Evans), he played what was undoubtedly one of the most riveting and revolting characters to come into contact with film audiences in years. The film's success opened the way for more work, and the following year he did a complete about-face, appearing as the charmingly errant father of Catherine McCormack's young son in Dancing at Lughnasa.The year after that, Ifans rejected grooming and general communication skills to play the role that was to give him international recognition, starring as Hugh Grant's hygienically challenged roommate in the romantic comedy Notting Hill. Many a critic agreed that Ifans virtually stole the show from his better-known co-stars, and that same year he had a chance to prove himself further in such diverse features as Heart, a black comedy in which he played a writer; and Rancid Aluminum, in which he starred as a man forced into business with the Russian mob after his father's death. Following an unlikely appearance as a football player in The Replacements (2000) and a turn as the son of Old Scratch in Little Nicky (2000), Ifans' role as a socially challenged forest dweller turned opera-loving socialite in the eccentric Human Nature provided audiences with abundant laughs and a further glimpse into the quirkiness of a truly unique actor.Of course the ever-eccentric Ifans was only warming up, and after supporting roles in such efforts as The 51st State, The Shipping News and Once Upon a Time in the Midlands Ifans once again took the lead in the 2003 comedy Donnie Deckchair. Cast as a man whose desperate attempt to escape the monotony of suburban life includes a bundle of large helium balloons and a lightweight deck chair, Ifans charmed Australian audiences in the family-friendly effort. Outside of his film work, Ifans briefly served as lead singer of the band Super Furry Animals before they struck the big time in the late 1990s.In 2006 he voiced McBunny in Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, but had major roles the next year in two very different projects -- Hannibal Rising and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. He appeared in 2009's Pirate Radio, reteaming with Notting Hill screenwriter Richard Curtis. Ifans had a strong supporting turn in Greenberg in 2010, and was center stage in Roland Emmerich's Shakespearean drama Anonymous in 2011. The next year he was part of the cast of the Spider-Man reboot, and was the romantic rival to Jason Segel in the comedy The Five-Year Engagement.

Trivia: Perhaps the best-known Shakespeare interpreter of the late 20th century, Kenneth Branagh began his career in a golden haze of critical exultation. First a star pupil at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (one of Britain's most prestigious drama schools), then a promising newcomer on the London stage, then hailed as "the next Olivier" for his 1989 screen adaptation of Henry V, Branagh could, for a long time, do no wrong. Unfortunately, a string of bad luck, catalyzed by his disastrous Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in 1994, began to tarnish the halo that had hovered above the actor/director's head. His lavish, four-hour Hamlet in 1996, however, did much to further his status as a man who knew his Bard, helping to alleviate some of the disappointments that both preceded and came after it.Although his accent suggests otherwise, Branagh originally hails from Northern Ireland, not England. Born in Belfast December 10, 1960, to a working-class family, he was raised in the strife-ridden section of the country until he was nine. Leaving Belfast to escape its troubles, his family relocated to Reading, England, where Branagh spent the remainder of his childhood and adolescence. By turns bookish and athletic -- and assuming an English accent at school while remaining Irish at home -- Branagh became interested in acting at the age of 15, after seeing Derek Jacobi perform Hamlet (the two would later collaborate numerous times both in film and on the stage). Immersing himself in all things theatrical, Branagh was accepted at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London when he was 18.For Branagh, RADA formed the beginning of a brilliant career. The young actor drew repeated acclaim, particularly for his titular performance in a production of Hamlet, and won the school's coveted Bancroft Award for his work. After graduation, he went on to further success on the West End stage, where he starred opposite Rupert Everett in a 1982 production of Another Country. For his portrayal of a conflicted schoolboy, the actor won the Society of West End Theatres' Most Promising Newcomer Award. The following year, he further ascended his adopted country's theatrical ranks, securing a coveted membership in the Royal Shakespeare Company. Branagh continued to enjoy almost consistent critical appreciation during his tenure with the company, garnering particular praise for his lead performance in a production of Henry V. He became increasingly unhappy, however, with the RSC's bureaucratic organization and stuffiness and, in 1987, quit to form the Renaissance Theatre Company with his friend David Parfitt. The idea for the company came to Branagh while he was making the acclaimed Masterpiece Theatre adaptation of Fortunes of War in 1987. That production was one of many he did for television during his time with the RSC, and it was during that period that he met Emma Thompson, whom he married in 1989 and cast in almost all his films until their 1995 divorce.Although Renaissance struggled at first -- its premiere effort, a production of Public Enemy, met with across-the-board disapproval -- it gained a reputation for quality work, and soon counted such vaunted performers as Judi Dench, Richard Briers, and Derek Jacobi among its ranks, many of whom were later cast in Branagh's directorial debut, Henry V. The 1989 film, a sober, mud-saturated affair that served as a stark contrast to Olivier's 1944 version (which was intended to boost England's national pride), brought Branagh international acclaim and recognition. He was soon being hailed by many a publication as "the next Olivier," a title which he repeatedly stated made him uncomfortable. The next Olivier or not, Branagh was nominated for Best Director and Best Actor Oscars for his work, and went on to win other honors, including British Academy and National Board of Review Best Director awards.Riding high on this success, Branagh rather cheekily published his autobiography, Beginning, at the advanced age of 28. Although it was labeled a little premature and more than a little ego-driven, the book further played into his mystique, which was heightened in 1991 with his Hollywood debut. That year, he directed and starred opposite Thompson in Dead Again, a stylish, Hitchcock-inspired romantic thriller. The film was both a critical and commercial success, and the two were soon being labeled "the royal couple of British cinema." Branagh's next effort, the 1992 ensemble comedy Peter's Friends, was of comparatively lackluster character. Starring Branagh, Thompson, co-writer Rita Rudner, and comedians Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, it received some positive reviews, but was largely regarded as a disappointment. Fortunately for Branagh, he had better luck that year with the Bard, turning out a sun-soaked, giddy adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, which found favor with audiences and critics alike. That same year, he garnered additional acclaim, directing the short film Swan Song and winning an Best Live Action Short Academy Award nomination for his work.Things began to go badly in 1994 with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which Branagh both directed and cast himself as the mad doctor. Winning a dubious honor as one of the year's worst movies, Frankenstein had many doubting the director's hitherto golden touch. An adaptation of Othello the following year, in which Branagh was cast as Iago in Oliver Parker's directorial debut, received a similarly lackluster reception. Branagh's other film that year, In the Bleak Midwinter, went largely unseen, though he bounced back to a degree the following year with his all-star, uncut, 1996 adaptation of Hamlet. Clocking in at four hours and featuring a peroxided Branagh as the Danish prince, Julie Christie as Gertrude, Kate Winslet as Ophelia, Derek Jacobi as Claudius, and such actors as Robin Williams, Charlton Heston, and Jack Lemmon in other roles, it was hardcore Shakespeare for the masses. Although many potential audience members were scared off by the film's length, it won a number of positive reviews, and Branagh garnered a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination.Unfortunately, Branagh's subsequent efforts met with either disdain or indifference. Falling into the latter category were The Proposition, The Theory of Flight, and Robert Altman's The Gingerbread Man, which cast him as, respectively, a priest, an eccentric inventor, and a philandering Southern lawyer. Woody Allen's Celebrity settled thornily into the former category, with Branagh earning almost unanimous critical scorn for his portrayal of the film's neurotic, Allen-esque protagonist. Many critics noted that he seemed to be trying to out-Allen Allen, with unfortunate results. In 1999, Branagh embraced a dastardly, camp sensibility to play the villain in the big-budget Western fantasy Wild Wild West. He did manage to win some of the only positive comments that critics had for the film. Off the screen, he was still keeping busy with Shakespeare, adapting Love's Labour's Lost into a perplexing, '30s-style musical featuring the likes of Alicia Silverstone, Matthew Lillard, and Nathan Lane. A variety of leading roles in better-received features followed in 2002, however, including Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rabbit-Proof Fence, and the TV miniseries Shackleton.Branagh continued his highly-respected stage career, even though his movie work contained duds like the remake of Sleuth, though he did find success on the small screen playing a detective in the series Wallander.In 2011 Branagh enjoyed his biggest popular and critics success in quite some time, scoring a worldwide smash as the director of the Marvel Superhero movie Thor, and earned raves for his portrayal of Laurence Olivier in My Week With Marilyn, a part that garnered him Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Supporting Actor.

Trivia: Best friend of frequent co-star Simon Pegg, Essex-born Nick Frost got his start as a comedy writer before gaining prominence on the BAFTA-nominated sitcom Spaced. After the show bowed in 2001, Frost joined his cast mates and director Edgar Wright in the zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead. Featuring Frost as the slovenly sidekick to the aforementioned Pegg's leading man, Shaun was released in 2004 and went on to become an international cult hit, turning its modest budget into 30 million dollars in worldwide box-office grosses. For his performance, Frost earned a nomination for the Most Promising Newcomer prize at the British Independent Film Awards. In the wake of the success of Shaun of the Dead, Frost starred in the U.K. sci-fi comedy series Hyperdrive before re-teaming with Pegg and Wright yet again, this time for the 2007 big-screen cop comedy Hot Fuzz. That same year, Frost and Pegg could also be seen on La Triviata, a BBC sitcom they co-wrote and directed about pub trivia contests.

Trivia: Began acting in television commercials and modeling for billboards as a young child. Won Best Supporting Actor at the Los Angeles New Wave International Film Festival for his role in the short film Disco (2010). At 16, became the youngest actor ever cast in a leading role at London's renowned Old Vic Theatre (portraying the title role in the 2013 revival of playwright Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy).

Trivia: Actress January Jones made her screen debut with a small role in the teen-oriented suspense thriller The Glass House (2001). Subsequently, she played supporting roles in Bandits (2001), Full Frontal (2002), and the Jack Nicholson-Adam Sandler vehicle Anger Management (2003). She was also cast in American Wedding, the 2003 third installment in the American Pie series, as the sister of not-so-blushing bride Michelle (Alyson Hannigan). In her private life, Jones was romantically linked with two noted comic actors, Jim Carrey and Ashton Kutcher. She landed parts in the ensemble romantic comedy Love Actually, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, and the inspirational sports drama We Are Marshall.She had a genuine breakthrough in 2007 when she landed the part of Betty Draper on AMC's highly-respected drama Mad Men. Playing the part of the spoiled, long-suffering wife of a philandering advertising exec earned her Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Emmy nominations. In 2011 she landed a major role opposite Liam Neeson in Unknown.

Trivia: Despite coming from a show-business family, he was discouraged from pursuing acting as a child and didn't even act in school plays. His siblings went to school with Robert Pattinson, who became a close family friend. Was originally cast as the lead in the film Jumper, but was replaced by Hayden Christensen two months into production. Spent some time living in Botswana with relatives.

Trivia: Served in the New Zealand Army for four years as a signaler trained in Morse code. Performed standup comedy in Britain for eight years before landing his first screen role. Met fellow New Zealanders Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement at a comedy festival; after hitting it off, they collaborated on several projects, including Flight of the Conchords. Created his Flight of the Conchords character on the spot at the first shoot. Served as an ambassador for Greenpeace's "Sign On" campaign to reduce carbon emissions by 2020.

Trivia: The only son of veteran British actors Nigel Davenport and Maria Aitken, Jack Davenport did not plan to follow his parents into show business. They even warned him against it, feeling that he falsely believed their lucrative careers were representative of the typical acting experience. But Davenport was too poor of an athlete to participate in any school sports and eventually wandered into the drama department, where he fell in love with performing. Born on March 1, 1973 in Suffolk, England, Davenport grew up in both Ibiza and Suffolk. He attended local schools until his parents' divorce in 1981, when he went to live at the Dragon School. Davenport then enrolled at his father's former school, Cheltenham College. After graduation, he took a year off before entering university, during which he took a summer drama course. Impressed by Davenport's performance as a rapper in a practice skit, the director of the Welsh national theater offered him a job. At 18, he moved to Wales to play bit parts in the theater's production of Hamlet. Davenport majored in English Literature and Film Studies at the University of East Anglia. When he finished school, his mother urged him to try getting a job behind the scenes in filmmaking or theater. At her suggestion, Davenport wrote actor/writer John Cleese to ask him if he could work as a production assistant on the set of his upcoming movie Fierce Creatures (1997) (in which his mother had a role). Cleese, instead, cast Davenport in the film. Fierce Creatures was barely in post-production when Davenport made his small-screen debut in This Life, a 1996 British television series about five young lawyers who share an apartment. His role as the self-absorbed Miles Stewart in the well-reviewed, much-watched show made him an instant celebrity in England. Davenport appeared as Malcolm in a television update of Macbeth (1998), before starring as a detective who is recruited into a mysterious troop of vampire hunters in the stylish hit miniseries Ultraviolet. After playing a similar role in the horror film The Wisdom of Crocodiles (1998), Davenport landed a supporting role in his first major international release, Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). Critics hailed Davenport for giving soul to what could have easily been the cardboard cutout role of Ripley (Matt Damon)'s doomed lover, gentle musician Peter Smith-Kinsley. A year later, international audiences enjoyed Davenport again when Mystery! kicked off its 21st season with his performance as Derek Jacobi's son in The Wyvern Mystery. Based on Irish writer J.S. Le Fanu's 1869 thriller, the two-part miniseries also starred Naomi Watts and Iain Glen. He then tried his hand at comedy in Coupling, a television sitcom dubbed by reviewers as a British Friends. While continuing to appear onscreen -- in films such as Subterrain (2001), Not Afraid, Not Afraid (2001), Gypsy Woman (2001), and The Bunker (2001) -- Davenport returned to the stage to star in The Servant at England's Lyric Theater. Davenport is also an accomplished voice-over actor. He narrated the audio versions of John Buchan's The 39 Steps and Andy McNab's Crisis Four, as well as recorded parts in the radio productions of George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman, Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, and Nicholas Monsarrat's A Cruel Sea. Most notably, however, he is the deep voice behind the famous "For everything else, there's MasterCard" commercials.In 2003 he landed a part in the smash hit The Pirates of the Caribbean, playing Norrington not just in that film but in the next two sequels as well. He appeared in the 2004 period drama The Libertine. He appeared in the failed TV drama Swingtown, but found greater small-screen success a few years later as part of NBC's behind-the-scenes Broadway drama Smash.

Trivia: Represented Roscommon in Gaelic Football at under-16, minor and under-21 level. Studied politics and sociology in college; and wrote for the college newspaper, the University Observer. Worked construction, in bars and at call centers while pursuing an acting career in London. Won a 2005 BAFTA Scottish Award for his leading role in Festival. Wrote the 2012 series Moone Boy, which is partly based on his childhood in Ireland during the late 1980s. Played Lennie in the 2014 Broadway revival of Of Mice and Men with James Franco and Leighton Meester.

Trivia: Received a TMA award for Best Supporting Performance in a Play for The Long and the Short and the Tall in 2006. Performed in Jez Butterworth's comedic play Jerusalem at both the Royal Court Theatre in 2009 and the Apollo in London's West End in 2010. Co-starred in National Theatre production of The Kitchen in 2011. Cast as Edgar in the National Theatre production of King Lear directed by Sam Mendes at the Olivier Theatre in London in 2014.

Trivia: Met IT Crowd co-star Chris O'Dowd while they were attending the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Left the LAMDA to star in the play The Age Of Consent at the Bush Theatre in London in 2002. Won the British Comedy Best TV Actress Award in 2009 for her role in The IT Crowd. Received a second British Comedy Best TV Actress Award and a BAFTA TV Award in 2014 for her role in The IT Crowd. Was nominated for an Olivier Award in the Best Actress category for her role in Home, I'm Darling in 2019. In 2019, her debut work as a playwright Sitting had its London premiere, following a month-long run at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Trivia: English actress Gemma Arterton rose to fame in her native Britain during the late 2000s, with a series of roles in productions that crossed genre lines. She landed one of her first major assignments as an alluring, mischievous boarding-school student, Kelly, in the 2007 St. Trinian's (an update of Frank Launder's 1953 comedy classic The Belles of St. Trinian's), then signed for a supporting part in the legendary Stephen Poliakoff's made-for-television drama Capturing Mary. Arterton made headlines around the world when cast as Fields, one of the famed Bond girls, in the 22nd installment of the James Bond series, Quantum of Solace. She vaulted into leading roles in big-budget fantasy fare such as Clash of the Titans and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and scored a major part in Neil Jordan's vampire film Byzantium.

Trivia: Moved around a lot as a child due to his father's job with the Royal Air Force. Received the Stage Scholarship from the Academy Drama School. Played the lead role in the Patrick Wilde's play What Wrong With Angry? in 1993.

Trivia: Her acting break came after attending an open audition in London for TV detective show Poirot in 2003. In 2011 was named a Brit To Watch by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Once took a zero-gravity flight over California with then-husband Elon Musk and Titanic director James Cameron. A life long writer, she released novel Acts Of Love in 2016 and claimed she was inspired by the reaction to Fifty Shades Of Grey to create a female Christian Grey character. Co-founded app Forge that allows low paid retail and restaurant staff to schedule their own working hours.

Trivia: One of the first ladies of contemporary British stage and cinema, Emma Thompson has won equal acclaim for her work as an actress and a screenwriter. For a long time known as Kenneth Branagh's other half, Thompson was able to demonstrate her considerable talent to an international audience with Oscar-winning mid-1990s work in such films as Howards End and Sense and Sensibility. Born April 15, 1959 in Paddington, West London, Thompson grew up in a household well-suited for creative expression. Both of her parents were actors, her father, Eric Thompson, the creator of the popular TV series The Magic Roundabout, and her actress mother, Phyllida Law, a cast member of This Poisoned Earth (1961), Otley (1968) and several other films. Thompson and her sister, Sophie (who also became an actress), enjoyed a fairly colorful upbringing; as Emma later said, "I was brought up by people who tended to giggle at funerals." She excelled at school, was well liked, and went on to enroll at Cambridge University in 1978. It was at Cambridge that Thompson started performing as part of the legendary Footlights Group, once home to various members of Monty Python, who provided a huge inspiration to the fledgling comedienne. Unfortunately, Thompson's studies and her work with fellow Footlights members Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry were interrupted when her father had a debilitating stroke. Thompson went home for a few months, where she taught him how to speak again. After her return to Cambridge, she graduated in 1980 with a degree in English, and she got her first break working for a short-lived BBC radio show. Personal tragedy struck for Thompson in 1982 when her father died of a heart attack. Ironically, it was in the wake of this turmoil that her professional life began to move forward: she got a job touring with the popular satire Not the Nine O'Clock News and worked with co-conspirators Fry and Laurie on the popular BBC comedy sketch show Alfresco. This led to Thompson's biggest break to date when she was picked for the lead in a revised version of the musical Me and My Girl. Coincidentally featuring a script by Fry, the show proved popular and established Thompson as a respected performer. She stayed with the show for over a year, after which she got her next big break when she was cast as one of the leads in the miniseries Fortunes of War (1988). The other lead happened to be Kenneth Branagh, and the two were soon collaborating off-screen as well as on. Following Thompson's BAFTA Award for her work on the series (as well as a BAFTA for her role on the TV series Tutti Frutti), she helped Branagh form his own production company, Renaissance Films. In 1989, the same year that she starred in the nutty satire The Tall Guy (which teamed her with Black Adder stalwarts Rowan Atkinson, Richard Curtis and Mel Smith)and in a televised version of Look Back in Anger with Branagh, she appeared as the French queen in Branagh's acclaimed adaptation of Henry V. Following the success of Henry V, Thompson had a droll turn as a frivolous aristocrat in Impromptu (1990) and then collaborated with Branagh on the noirish suspense thriller Dead Again in 1991. The film proved a relative hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and it further established the now-married Branagh and Thompson as the First Darlings of contemporary British theatre. The following year, Thompson came into her own with her starring role in Merchant Ivory's Howards End. She won a number of awards, including an Oscar, BAFTA, and Golden Globe for her portrayal of Margaret Schlegel, and she found herself an international success almost overnight.After a turn in the ensemble comedy Peter's Friends that same year, Thompson starred as Beatrice opposite Branagh's Benedict in his adaptation of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing in 1993. That year proved an unqualified success for the actress, who was nominated for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Oscars, the former for her portrayal of a repressed housekeeper in Merchant Ivory's The Remains of the Day and the latter for her role as Daniel Day-Lewis's lawyer in In the Name of the Father. Although she didn't win either award, Thompson continued her triumphant streak when -- after starring in Junior in 1994 -- she adapted and starred in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility in 1995. Directed by Ang Lee, the film proved popular with critics and audiences alike, and it won Thompson a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. She also earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination, a BAFTA Best Actress Award, and a Golden Globe for Best Adapted Screenplay.1995 also proved to be a turning point in Thompson's personal life, as, after a much-publicized separation, she and Branagh divorced. Just as well publicized was Thompson's subsequent relationship with Sense and Sensibility co-star Greg Wise. The somewhat tumultuous quality of her love life mirrored that of Dora Carrington, the character she played that year in Carrington. This story of the famed Bloomsbury painter was not nearly as successful as Sense, and Thompson was not seen again on the screen until 1997, when she starred in Alan Rickman's The Winter Guest. The film -- which featured the actress and her mother, Law, playing an estranged daughter and mother -- received fairly positive reviews. The following year, Thompson continued to win praise for her work with a starring role in Primary Colors and a guest spot on the sitcom Ellen, for which she won an Emmy. In 1999, Thompson announced her plans for semi-retirement: pregnant with Wise's child, she turned down a number of roles -- including that of God in Dogma -- in order to concentrate on her family. The two married in July 2003. In the years that followed Thompson would still remain fairly active onscreen, with roles as a frustrated wife in Love Actually (which found her BAFTA nominated for Best Supporting Actress) and a missing journalist whose husband (played by Antonio Bandaras) is looking for answers in Missing Argentina (which marked the second collaboration, after Carrington, between Thompson and director Christopher Hampton) serving to whet the appetites of longtime fans. For her role as a respected English professor who is forced to re-evaluate her life in Mike Nichols' made-for-television drama Wit (2001), the renowned veteran actress and screenwriter would earn Emmy nominations for both duties. Following an angelic turn in the HBO mini-series Angels in America, Thompson essayed a pair of magical roles in both Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Nanny McPhee - in which she potrayed a governess who utilizes supernatural powers to reign in her unruly young charges.Thompson then joined the cast of Marc Forster's fantasy comedy Stranger than Fiction, which Columbia slated for U.S. release in November of 2006. She plays Kay Eiffel, an author of thriller and espionage novels suffering from a massive writer's block. The central character in Eiffel's book (an IRS agent played by Will Ferrell) hears Kay's audible narration and - realizing that she's planning to kill him off - tries to find a way to stop her, with the help of Professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman). She appeared opposite Dustin Hoffman in Last Chance Harvey, and in 2009 had a memorable turn as the head of the school in An Education. In 2010 she wrote and starred in the sequel Nanny McPhee Returns. In 2012 she had a hand in tow big hits, playing Agent O in the third Men In Black film, and voicing the mother in Pixar's Brave.

Trivia: Born in 1980, fair-haired British actress Sinead Matthews attended London's exclusive Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and thereafter divided her efforts between film, television, and the stage. Theatrically, her efforts include work in productions of The Wild Duck, The Crucible, The Women of Troy (at the National Theatre), and innumerable other plays. On television, Matthews placed her strongest emphasis on small-screen features including Terry Pratchett's Hogfather and Viva Las Blackpool. Matthews took one of her first major big-screen bows with a small supporting turn as one of schoolteacher Poppy's (Sally Hawkins) carefree friends, in Mike Leigh's critically praised seriocomedy Happy-Go-Lucky (2008).