Trivia: Left university to perform with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Was narrator of BBC series Airport between 1996 and 2005. Appointed an OBE in 2010. Awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Plymouth in 2012. Patron of The Mare and Foal Sanctuary.

Trivia: Joined the National Youth Theatre as a teenager. Won the Alec Clunes award for Best Actor while studying drama at LAMDA. In 1998, performed in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Herbal Bed. Between 2005 and 2017, played DI Ben Jones in ITV Drama Midsomer Murders. In 2012, was nominated for the Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series award at the Monte Carlo TV Festival for his role in Midsomer Murders.

Trivia: Starred in the 1975 Birmingham Rep production of Equus. Played Sasha in a 1978 production of Ivanov at the Old Vic. Portrayed the role of Joyce Barnaby in Midsomer Murders between 1997 and 2011. Performed in a world tour of Hamlet throughout 1978, alongside Sir Derek Jacobi. Is a Drama tutor at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Trivia: Fans of the early-'70s PBS Masterpiece Theatre saga Upstairs Downstairs will recognize British actor Simon Williams for playing Captain James Bellamy. Williams made his first film appearance in The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971). Williams is primarily a supporting actor and left films in 1984, only to return in 1997 to appear in the Chinese production Yapian Zhanzheng (The Opium War). Williams is the son of actors Hugh Williams and Margaret Vyner.

Trivia: At the age of nine, presented radio broadcasts for Children's Hour. Worked as a stage hand at the Birmingham Rep at the age of 16. Moved to London to become an actor immediately upon getting his O-Levels. Worked as a fight director and stunt man throughout the 1960s, under the name 'Jack Barry'. Portrayed Dr George Bullard in Midsomer Murders from 1998 to 2011.

Trivia: Studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol and graduated in the 1960s. Has regular performances with Royal National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company. Her first big role was on the British series entitled Shine on Harvey Moon (1982-1985). Went on tour in 2008 in the comedy Noise's Off which was produced by the Ambassador Theatre Group. Was told at the start of her career that she wouldn't probably make it because she wasn't beautiful enough.

Trivia: Was a member of the National Youth Theatre. Trained in acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Has worked in theatre throughout her life all over the United Kingdom including London's West End.

Trivia: Is named after the Moomin character My. Grew up in the Middle East. Became known as MyAnna at school in the Middle East when they joined her first and middle name. Moved to England at the age of 16. Is fluent in Swedish. Is associate-director of the MahWaff Theatre Company. Won a Fringe Report Award for Best Actor in a Political Drama in 2005.

Trivia: Made her television debut in the 1992 historical series Covington Cross.Landed her first leading television role in 1992, playing Tammy Rokeby in sitcom So Haunt Me. In 1996, appeared in drama series Soldier Soldier as Deborah Briggs. Is perhaps best known for playing Cully Barnaby in crime-mystery procedural Midsomer Murders between 1997 and 2011. Performed as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Making Mischief Season in 2016.

Trivia: Seasoned British actress Rosemary Leach wasn't seen much in films until the early 1970s. In 1974, she made her first major impression on movie audiences with her portrayal of the mother of the John Lennon counterpart (David Essex) in That'll Be the Day. Since then she has been well represented by such films as SOS Titanic (1979) and Turtle Diary (1985). In the Oscar-winning Merchant/Ivory effort Room with a View (1985), Rosemary Leach was seen as Mrs. Honeychurch, the blinkered aristocratic mother of idealistic Helena Bonham-Carter and ne'er do well Rupert Graves.

Trivia: An esteemed actress, known both for her portrayals of flinty, dry-witted women and her real-life role as the mother of actresses Emma and Sophie Thompson, Phyllida Law has been acting in her native Britain for over 40 years. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1932 and married to fellow actor Eric Thompson until his death in 1982, Law has spent much of her career working as a character actress both on television and in film. She has done particularly notable work in Douglas McGrath's 1996 adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, which cast her as the meddlesome Mrs. Bates (and daughter Sophie Thompson as her equally meddlesome daughter Miss Bates); Alan Rickman's acclaimed drama The Winter Guest, in which she and daughter Emma starred as an estranged mother and daughter; and Nigel Cole's Saving Grace (2000), a comedy in which she portrayed the busybody neighbor of a woman (Brenda Blethyn) who has taken to growing pot in her backyard. An accomplished performer on stage, screen, and even radio plays, Law also authored books in which she discussed her experiences caring for her mother, who suffered from dementia, with refreshing, light hearted humor and wit.

Trivia: As the heroine of the British romantic melodrama Madonna of the Seven Moons (1946), Phyllis Calvert was placed under a gypsy curse which forced her to be wife, mother and mistress all in one. This triumvirate sums up the range of characters played by Ms. Calvert throughout her career. Starting out as a dancer, Phyllis switched to acting after a suffering an injury. Beginning with 1943's The Man in Grey, Phyllis established herself as Britain's favorite "Gothic" heroine, seldom carrying on a romance unless she was dressed in 19th-century fashion, with her long black hair cascading in the wind. Occasional efforts were made to turn Phyllis into a Hollywood star; the best of these was Appointment with Danger (1950), in which she plays a nun who witnesses a murder committed by future Dragnet co-stars Jack Webb and Harry Morgan! Long married to publisher Peter Murray-Hill, Phyllis Calvert cut back on her filmmaking activities in the 1970s, though she starred on the popular BBC TV series Kate (1970-71).

Trivia: Gifted with gravitas, Timothy West is a master at playing authority figures. Over his long and distinguished career, he has portrayed Winston Churchill in three productions (Hiroshima, 1995; The Last Bastion, 1984; and Churchill and the Generals, 1979), King Francis in Ever After (1998), Emperor Vespasian in Masada (1981), Cardinal Wolsey in Henry VIII (1979), King Edward VII in Edward the King (1975), and Bolingbroke -- the future King Henry IV -- in The Tragedy of King Richard II (1970). He has also portrayed sundry sirs, lords, judges, overseers, superintendents, doctors, professors, and high-ranking military officers. Remove him to the fantasy world of animated features, and it's the same. In two cartoon series, he was the voice of King Otto (The Big Knights, 1999) and King Hrothgar (Beowulf, 1998). Often, he plays the head of a family rather than the head of an army or a country. For example, he portrayed Charles Dickens' father, John, in the 2002 TV miniseries Dickens; Gloucester, father of Edgar and Edmund, in a 1997 TV production of Shakespeare's King Lear; and James Tyrone, the head of a dysfunctional family, in the 1991 British National Theatre adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's A Long Day's Journey Into Night. West also portrayed still another king -- Harry King -- in a 1987 TV production, Harry's Kingdom.West was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, on October 20, 1934. Whether his veins ran with royal blood -- the kind that would later enable him to play those kings and emperors -- is doubtful. But there is no question that his veins ran with acting blood: Both of his parents were theater professionals. It was only natural, therefore, that he would marry an actress, Prunella Scales, and that he would father children, Samuel and Joseph, who grew up to act in films of their own. On occasion, Scales and West perform together, as in the O'Neill play and in Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party at London's Piccadilly Theatre in 1999. West has also acted with his sons. In the aforementioned Edward the King, they played his onscreen sons. West began his professional film, stage, and TV career in the 1960s. In the early '70s, his appearance in two important motion pictures -- Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) and The Day of the Jackal (1973) -- helped win him roles in other major productions, including adaptations of such literary classics as Joseph Andrews, Hard Times, Crime and Punishment, and Oliver Twist.

Trivia: Orlando Bloom began reading J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a teenager before abandoning the books in favor of sports and girls. He did not complete the three volumes until his early twenties: first in print, and then on camera as one of a handful of actors carefully selected for New Line Cinema's highly anticipated, $270 million, three-film screen adaptation of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The international success of the trilogy's first installment, The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), made Bloom a sought-after young actor. The talented Brit works the talk show circuit, mugs in magazines, and appears at every important award show -- always with a playful demeanor and an uncorrupted smile that suggest he could still be just as easily fulfilled by rugby and romance. Bloom was raised in Canterbury, Kent, with his sister, Samantha. Their mother taught them to enjoy the arts and encouraged them to participate in the local Kent Festival. Bloom began by reciting poetry and prose, displaying an advanced sensitivity to tone and modulation. Yet, it wasn't this precociousness or his frequent trips to the theater that influenced Bloom to become a professional actor. He was in awe of larger-than-life characters -- from Superman to the members of the A-Team -- and knew the only way to become one was to play one on the screen. At 16, Bloom relocated to London and performed with the National Youth Theatre for two seasons before winning a scholarship to train with the British American Drama Academy. At the conclusion of his term with the group, he played the lead in A Walk in the Vienna Woods, and secured an agent. This led to small roles on British television and an appearance in Brian Gilbert's Wilde (1997). Wishing to further his education, Bloom then enrolled at London's prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama (the alma mater of Ewan McGregor, Joseph Fiennes, and Ben Chaplin, among others). There, he acted in several plays, including Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Chekov's Three Sisters, and Sophocles' Antigone. While still in school, Bloom was trying to make it onto a friend's rooftop terrace when he fell three stories and broke his back. The accident almost paralyzed the actor, but surgery let him walk out of the hospital on crutches. Soon afterward, all his peers auditioned for coveted roles in the upcoming The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The extensive and selective casting process took place in every English-speaking country. Bloom good-naturedly tried out for the role of Faramir, a character introduced in the second film, The Two Towers (2002). After meeting with the project's director, Peter Jackson, Bloom was not cast as Faramir. Instead, Jackson asked that he read for the part of Legolas Greenleaf, a much more prominent figure who is featured in all three films. The director offered Bloom the role a few weeks later, only two days before the burgeoning star graduated from drama school. Legolas, Tolkien's warrior elf, has super-human strength, swift reflexes, and heightened sensory awareness. To play him, Bloom trained in archery, swordplay, and horseback riding for two months prior to shooting. He developed a graceful style of combat based on the characters in Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai and worked to manage his posture, poise, and composure. As Legolas, Bloom is immortal, and at 2,931 years old, is a tall, athletic, and skilled fighter of evil -- he truly is larger than life. After finishing The Lord of the Rings -- all three films, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, were shot simultaneously over 18 months in New Zealand -- Bloom headed to Morocco for a role in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down. The film chronicles the horrific Battle of Mogadishu in 1993, in which a "simple" mission left 18 U.S. soldiers dead and 73 wounded. Debuting his American accent, Bloom plays a neophyte ranger who breaks his back after falling 70 feet from a helicopter. This combat film opened only a few weeks after The Fellowship of the Ring and received equal acclaim. Following these blockbusters, Bloom performed in several quirky films with limited releases such as Lullaby of Clubland (2001). But it wouldn't be long before Bloom was blowing up the box-office once again with the 2003 crowd-pleaser The Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Bloom showed up opposite Brad Pitt and Black Hawk Dawn costar Eric Bana in the 2004 historical epic Troy, his intense star-power was unquestionable.Bloom faced a down year in 2005, failing to match the box office success of Troy with Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven. That same year he stepped into the role once occupied by Ashton Kutcher in Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown, but the film never recovered from the bad press it received after its initial film festival screening, failed to find an audience in theaters, and was unpopular with critics. Bloom rebounded one year later by returning with the other principles in back-to-back filmed sequels for Pirates of the Caribbean, the first of which, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, shattered box office records for opening day and opening weekend, and became the first film to take in one hundred million dollars in just two days. It will hardly strike one as prescient, then, that industry insiders and the trades were advance prepping Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End as one of the most lucrative releases of 2007, possibly of any year. The actor would appear in more down tempo projects in the coming years, like 2010's Main Street, and 2011's The Good Doctor, before hopping on board another swashbuckler, playing the Duke of Buckhingham in The Three Musketeers. Though the film wasn't a huge success in the States, Bloom would have another franchise ticket to cash in the following year, reprising the role of elf Legolas in the Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit.

Trivia: British actress Margaret Tyzack's activities were confined to the stage at the time of her film entree in the early '60s. Her rare film appearances include The Whisperers (1967), with Edith Evans, and the Stanley Kubrick productions 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) (as Elena) and A Clockwork Orange (1971) (as "a Conspirator"). American TV fans are most familiar with Margaret Tyzack through her appearance in several British series telecast in the '60s and '70s by PBS. The actress played Winnifred in The Forsyte Saga (1969), was one of The First Churchills (1971), and had the title role in Cousin Bette (1972).

Trivia: British supporting actor Alan Howard is primarily a stage actor, but he also occasionally appears in feature films. His movie career began with a small role in the controversial British courtroom drama, one of the first to dare present homosexuality in a nonjudgmental light, Victim (1962). Major roles include that of Michael the Lover in Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (1989). Howard is the nephew of distinguished actor Leslie Howard.

Trivia: British actress Honor Blackman began as a J. Arthur Rank contractee, where she was groomed for demure "English rose" types in films like Fame is the Spur (1947) and Quartet (1948). Honor would not realize major stardom until 1962, when she was cast as leather-clad karate expert Cathy Gale in the British TV adventure series The Avengers (until recently, U.S. audiences were permitted to see only the Avengers episodes featuring Ms. Blackman's successors, Diana Rigg and Linda Thorson). International stardom ensued when Honor was seen in another martial-arts gig as the gloriously yclept Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964). She has played a wide variety of roles since, with special emphasis on droll comedy. Honor Blackman's last picture was the 1978 remake of The Cat and the Canary, though she continues to appear in British television, most recently on the weekly series The Upper Hand (1990-93).

Trivia: British actress Susan Wooldridge is best known by American audiences for playing Daphne Manners on the acclaimed Masterpiece Theatre production The Jewel in the Crown (1984). The daughter of actress Margaretta Scott, Wooldridge made her film debut in Butley (1974). Her subsequent film career has been sporadic.

Trivia: A member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, dramatic actress Saskia Reeves made her film debut in December Bride (1990). Prior to that, she had appeared in the television film Metamorphosis (1987). In film, Reeves has specialized in playing offbeat roles in films such as Michael Winterbottom's Butterfly Kiss (1995).

Trivia: British character actor Neil Dudgeon debuted in the late '80s in his native U.K., and specialized in working-class types with a forceful edge, such as policemen, constables, and inner-city taxi drivers. Dudgeon debuted in Stephen Frears' acclaimed Joe Orton biopic Prick Up Your Ears (1987), then graced the casts of numerous low-profile theatrical movies and telefilms over the following decades, including Revolver (1992), Dirty Tricks (2000), and Messiah 2: Vengeance Is Mine (2002). Dudgeon elevated his profile somewhat in the mid- to late 2000s with bit parts in two key films: the Renée Zellweger/Hugh Grant comedy Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) and director Garth Jennings' bittersweet coming-of-age nostalgia Son of Rambow (2007).

Trivia: Performed as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1995 and 1997. Is perhaps best known for playing James Potter in the Harry Potter franchise between 2001 and 2011. Nominated for the Best Supporting Actor/Actress award at the 2003 British Independent Film Awards, for his role in Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself. In 2015, became the artistic director of the East Riding Theatre. Played the role of Nikolai Fomin in the critically-acclaimed 2019 miniseries Chernobyl.

Trivia: Made her television debut in a 1993 episode of Crime Story. Between 1998 and 2001, starred as Jackie Bradley in period drama Heartbeat. Between 2011 and 2018, starred as Sarah Barnaby in ITV Crime Drama Midsomer Murders. In 2012, was nominated for the Golden Nymph award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series, for her role in Midsomer Murders.