Trivia: British director Guy Ritchie frequently attributes the success of his unorthodox crime films -- 1998's Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, 2000's Snatch -- to the fact that his offbeat miscreants are more than believable, they are real. Preferring to cast for authenticity rather than resumé, Ritchie handpicks many of his actors from the true-life cult figures and rascals of London's underbelly. Actor Jason Statham is among the best of them.A one-time Olympic diver, fashion model, and black-market salesman, Statham came to acting by way of commercials and "street theater" -- a euphemism for hustling tourists on London's Oxford Street. Raised in Syndenham, London, he was the second son of a lounge singer and a dressmaker turned dancer. Although Statham had the familial background to go immediately into entertainment, he excelled first on the high dive. He was a member of the 1988 British Olympic Team in Seoul, Korea, and remained on the National Diving Squad for ten years. In the late '90s, a talent agent specializing in athletes landed Statham a gig in an ad campaign for the European clothing retailer French Connection. This led to an appearance in a Levi's Jeans commercial and a fledgling modeling career. Meanwhile, Statham had also earned local fame as a street corner con man, selling stolen jewelry and counterfeit perfume out of a briefcase. Thus, when French Connection's owner became one of the biggest investors in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, he naturally introduced the diver/model/hustler to knave-hunting Ritchie.Intrigued by Statham's past and impressed by his modeling work, Ritchie invited him to audition for a part in the film. The director challenged Statham to impersonate an illegal street vendor and convince him to purchase a piece of imitation gold jewelry. Statham was evidently so persuasive that Ritchie bought four sets. When the director attempted to return his worthless acquisition -- pretending that the gold had turned to stainless steel -- Statham was so graciously inflexible that Ritchie hired him.This unorthodox audition resulted in Statham's big screen debut as Bacon, one of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels' four primary characters engaged in a risky get-rich-quick scheme to repay a massive gambling debt. Bacon supplies a streetwise discipline and restraint that the other characters lack and a sense of humility crucial to Ritchie's film. In the director's follow-up crime comedy, Snatch, Ritchie rehired Statham to play Turkish, a smalltime hood vainly trying to break into the world of underground boxing. As this amateur but respectable hoodlum, Statham is attractive, urbane, immaculate, and smart enough to be bewildered by even his own laughable criminal ineptitude. The role began as a small supporting part in Snatch's star-filled ensemble cast but expanded throughout shooting. By the time of the film's theatrical release, Statham received top billing as its narrator and chief anti-hero.The Guy Ritchie oeuvre that supplied his breakthrough performances is not Statham's only acting arena. In 2000, he made his American film debut as a British drug dealer in Robert Adetuyi's Turn It Up starring Pras Michel. By 2001, he had finished shooting John Carpenter's sci-fi thriller Ghosts of Mars and joined Delroy Lindo in the cast of the Jet Li vehicle The One. A chance to reteam with former Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrel co-star Vinnie Jones proved too fun an opportunity to resist, and Stratham would round out a particularly busy 2001 with his role in the prison-bound sports remake Mean Machine. Just as audiences were finally standing up to take notice of the amiable tough-guy, Stratham stepped into his own as the action lead of the explosive 2002 adrenaline ride The Transporter. A sizable hit that would earn Statham increasingly prominent roles in such high profile pics as The Italian Job, and Cellular, The Transporter established Stratham as a bankable international action star and was eventually followed by a 2005 sequel that miraculously managed the improbable feat of upping the ante of the previous installment's over-the-top cartoon violence. A starring role in Ritchie's 2005 crime thriller Revolver found Stratham re-teaming with the director who launched his career with decidedly mixed results, and the following year it was off to race the clock and rescue the girl as a reformed assassin looking to make good in the hyper-intense action entry Crank. The positively outrageous Crank: High Voltage upped the ante (and the ampage) in every possible way in 2009, but not before Statham got behind the wheel for Resident Evil director Paul W.A. Anderson for the 2008 remake Death Race, discovered just how far a foolproof heist could go awry in The Bank Job, and once again put the pedal to the metal in The Transporter 3. All of this left little doubt that Statham had quickly become one of the most bankable action stars of his generation, and in 2010 he teamed with none other than Sylvester Stallone for the all-star action flick The Expendables. The action just kept coming in The Mechanic, Blitz, Killer Elite (which paired him with screen legend Robert DeNiro), Safe, and the super-sized The Expendables 2 in 2012. Statham next joined another franchise, making a cameo appearance in Fast & Furious 6. He also reprised his role in The Expendables 3. In 2015, Statham appeared in Furious 7 and flexed his comedy chops in Spy, opposite Melissa McCarthy, earning favorable reviews and opening him to another genre.

Trivia: Born in England, Paddy Considine worked as a photographer before turning to acting full-time. In 1999, he made quite a worthwhile film debut in the comedy drama A Room for Romeo Brass, directed by Shane Meadows. He played Morell, the strange and dangerous character who comes between the two 12-year-old leads (Andrew Shim and Ben Marshall). In 2000, he turned to more intimate drama in Pawel Pawlikowski's Last Resort. He won festival acclaim for his role of Alfie, an arcade owner in Northern England who befriends a Russian immigrant (Dina Korzun) and her son (Artiom Strelnikov). Considine returned to lighter material for his next few films: the relationship comedy Born Romantic, the strangely dark crime comedy Happy Now, and the poorly received nightmare-vacation film The Martins. By 2002, he had started to gain a little more international exposure outside of the U.K. He portrayed New Order manager Rob Groton in Michael Winterbottom's 24 Hour Party People, a funny biopic about the Manchester music scene that was shown at the Cannes Film Festival. After starring in Nick Willing's crime thriller Hypnotic (also released as Doctor Sleep), he got his first major leading role in Jim Sheridan's semi-autobiographic drama In America. Considine adopted an Irish accent to play Johnny, Sheridan's fictional counterpart. An out-of-work actor, Johnny immigrates to New York City with his wife (Samantha Morton), daughters (Emma and Sarah Bolger), and a lot of emotional baggage. Considine also appeared in the Coldplay music video for "God Put a Smile on Your Face".

Trivia: The embodiment of the line "when Irish eyes are smiling, they're up to something bad," Aidan Gillen oozed ruthless charisma and wicked sex appeal in his role as the sexually prolific Stuart Alan Jones in the 1999 British TV series Queer As Folk. Bringing wry humor and understatement to a potentially over-the-top role, Gillen earned a reputation as one of the U.K.'s most compulsively watchable new performers.Born in Dublin, Gillen got his professional start in the late '80s, appearing in minor film roles. He worked steadily through the 1990s, in film and on television, popping up in such diverse offerings as Circle of Friends (1995), Some Mother's Son (1996), and Jez Butterworth's Mojo (1997). His major breakthrough role was inarguably that of Queer As Folk's Stuart, an arrogant, vain, and thoroughly sexy PR executive who strips countless men of both their clothing and resistance. The success of the controversial miniseries ensured that it -- and its talented actors -- would be back for a second go-round, which followed in 2000. That same year, Gillen found accompanying acclaim on the big screen, in Jamie Thraves' acclaimed directorial debut The Low Down, in which he starred as an amiable but frustrated commercial artist whose life changes when he meets a radiant, ambitious woman. He appeared in both My Kingdom and Lorna Doone, as well as the action comedy Shanghai Knights before joining the cast of the revered HBO series The Wire in that show's third season. When his time on that program came to a close he was in the action film 12 Rounds, and then was cast in the series Identity.

Trivia: Extremely prolific British actor David Morrissey sounded off as a vociferous, intense player in English pictures such as Peter Greenaway's Drowning by Numbers (1988, as an unfortunate victim of mariticide), Stephen Gyllenhaal's drama Waterland (1992, as the simple-minded brother of Jeremy Irons), and Hilary and Jackie (1998, as a loving and devoted husband). He forsook British arthouse material for more mainstream Hollywood fare with key performances in the seamy Basic Instinct 2 (2006) and ascended to top billing as the male lead of Hilary Swank in The Reaping (2007), a religious-themed horror outing. That same year, Showtime tapped Morrissey to headline the series Meadowlands, as an English patriarch attempting at all costs to help his wife and children escape the family's crime-saturated past. Over the coming years, he would go on to find even more notable success on the zombie series The Walking Dead.

Trivia: Welsh-born Luke Evans won a scholarship to The London Studio Centre in Kings Cross, London, in 1997 at age 18. He took the knowledge he gained there onto the stage, beginning his professional acting career with many prominent roles in productions on London's West End, like Rent and Miss Saigon. Evans took his time branching out into on-screen acting, landing his first film audition at age 30. He made his big-screen debut as the Greek god Apollo in 2010's Clash of the Titans. He then played Aramis in 2011's The Three Musketeers before taking on the role of another Greek god in 2011's Immortals, this time tackling the king of the pantheon, Zeus.

Trivia: Began acting as a child and appeared on various television shows including The Demon Headmaster, Holby City and Casualty. Spent three years at drama school in Manchester, followed by a six-month writer residency at the Manchester's Contact Theatre. Played Bianca in Othello at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London. Made her feature film debut in 2009 appearing in St. Trinian's 2. Appeared in hit Channel 4 comedies Misfits and Fresh Meat.

Trivia: Better known for his work on the English stage than for his onscreen roles, Mark Rylance made a name for himself on the American art house circuit in 2001 with his performance in Patrice Chéreau's controversial melodrama Intimacy. For his portrayal of Jay, a self-destructive bartender engaged in a torrid affair with a married woman, Rylance was required to strip off both his clothes and his emotional inhibitions. He earned raves for his efforts, as well as ribbing from the press in London, where he was the artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.Born in Ashford, Kent, on January 18, 1960, Rylance grew up in Milwaukee, where both of his parents were English teachers. Although he was raised in the U.S., the actor felt a strong sense of British identity and returned to his home country at 18 to study theater in London. Accepted into the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Rylance was soon making a name for himself in productions of Hamlet, Henry V, and Much Ado About Nothing. Rylance first made a notable impression on audiences on both sides of the Atlantic in 1995 -- the same year he became the Globe's director -- when he portrayed an explorer/scientist who marries into an insidiously dysfunctional family in Philip Haas' Angels and Insects. The film, adapted from a novel by A.S. Byatt, earned critical kudos but limited recognition, and Rylance didn't appear onscreen again until he starred in Intimacy. Picked for his starring role opposite Kerry Fox after Chéreau saw his performance as an alcoholic boxer in the 1991 BBC drama The Grass Arena, Rylance turned in a strong portrayal that tended to be overshadowed by the film's graphic content. Its frank sex scenes, which included full frontal nudity and unsimulated oral sex, caused a sensation among the British press who criticized Rylance, a public figure in the theater world, for his willingness to let it all hang out for the public to see. However, Intimacy went on to win critical raves at film festivals across the globe, and in the process allowed Rylance to be recognized as an actor who added up to more than the mere sum of his parts.Rylance continued to take on-screen roles in between theatre jobs, such as playing Thomas Boleyn, the father of Anne Boleyn, in The Other Boleyn Girl, and in the British drama The Government Inspector. In 2015, he was thrown into the American awards circuit for his work in two projects. First, he played Thomas Cromwell (opposite Damian Lewis' King Henry VIII) in the BBC/PBS miniseries Wolf Hall, earning Rylance an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination. Then, he played captive KGB spy Rudolf Abel in Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies, which nabbed Rylance his first Oscar nomination and win, for Best Supporting Actor (Rylance became only the second actor, after Daniel Day-Lewis, to win an acting Oscar for a Spielberg film). He continued his association with Spielberg for his next big-screen role, playing the title character in The BFG.

Trivia: British lead actor, onscreen from 1963. He is the son of comedian-actor Leslie Henson.

Trivia: Enjoyed acting at school and attended an acting workshop for children in Nottingham twice a week after school free of charge. Is a keen supporter of Nottingham Forest football team. Has voiced Clearasil adverts in the United Kingdom. Big break was playing tragic teen Chris in E4 drama Skins, in which he appeared completely naked in his opening scene. Dyed his hair black and hit the gym to build muscle for his role as Gendry in Game Of Thrones. Originally auditioned for the roles of Jon Snow, Pypar and Grenn in Game Of Thrones. Has said his social life has doubled since moving to London because most of the actors in Game of Thrones live there. Admires actors who set themselves challenges, such as Daniel Day-Lewis who transforms himself time and again. Being half Scottish, he is a fan of the Scotland national football team.

Trivia: Made her debut film appearance in What a Girl Wants, while still at drama school. Starred as Juliet in a Welsh National Theatre of Romeo and Juliet. Worked as a model for Andrea Galer's bridal collection. Starred as Cassie Hughes in Hex between 2004 and 2005. In 2016, starred as Stevie in the world premiere of Matthew Perry's debut play The End of Longing.