Trivia: First making an impression on international audiences with her role as the sweet, virginal Hero in Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing (1993), pale-skinned, fine-boned British actress Kate Beckinsale has since stepped beyond period pieces to prove that she is anything but a fragile English rose.The daughter of a BBC casting director and famed television actor Richard Beckinsale (known for roles on Porridge and Rising Damp), Beckinsale was born July 26, 1973. After her father's death from a heart attack in 1979, the actress was raised by her mother. By her own account, Beckinsale's childhood and adolescence were fairly troubled, marked by struggles with anorexia. She decided to follow in her father's acting footsteps while still a teenager and in 1991, had her major television debut in Once Against the Wind, a World War II drama in which she played Judy Davis' daughter. The same year, Beckinsale enrolled at Oxford, to study French and Russian Literature, and pursued her education until committing herself full-time to acting. In 1993, while still a student at Oxford, Beckinsale was cast in Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing. Her supporting role was a memorable one, winning the actress a limited amount of recognition amongst American audiences, but it was not until 1995, when she starred in John Schlesinger's adaptation of Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm, that her wattage began to increase, at least in art houses everywhere. The film, which was initially made for BBC television, proved to be a modest hit, bringing in respectable box office and glowing reviews. Beckinsale followed the film's success with another two years later, starring as an altruistic con artist in the quirky romantic comedy Shooting Fish. The film was an unqualified hit in its native country, becoming the third-highest grossing film in England for 1997. The same year, Beckinsale further increased her visibility with the title role in A&E's Emma.She next graced American movie screens in Whit Stillman's The Last Days of Disco (1998). She received good reviews for her portrayal of a cool and catty WASP college graduate (for which she assumed an American accent), although the movie itself met with a deeply mixed reaction. The following year, Beckinsale, in addition to giving birth to a daughter (fathered by longtime boyfriend Michael Sheen), starred in her first big-budget Hollywood feature. Playing opposite Claire Danes in Brokedown Palace, the actress portrayed an American girl who, while on vacation with best friend Danes in Thailand, gets caught with heroin and is sentenced to 33 years in a Thai prison.That mid-budgeted film, however, was nothing compared to her next major Hollywood production. After essaying roles in a television production of Alice Through the Looking Glass (1999) and the Merchant/Ivory production of Henry James' The Golden Bowl (2000), Beckinsale was plucked from relative obscurity by director Michael Bay for his lavish World War II epic, Pearl Harbor (2001). Boasting a record-setting, nine-digit price tag and one of the most aggressive marketing campaigns ever waged on the American public, the film featured the actress as Evelyn, a plucky nurse torn between the affections of two soldiers. Though a brief foray into Laurel Canyon found Beckinsale essaying the low-key role of a Harvard graduate gone astray after a taste of the wild side of life, she once again shifted into high gear for the big-budget vampire versus werewolf battle royal Underworld in 2003. Sporting the sort of gothic vinyl duds that had fanboys crooning, Beckinsale raised arms against a brutal breed of lycanthropes and few could argue that she didn't look good doing it. So good, in fact, that not only a sequel but a prequel followed.Soon thereafter the starlet was once again doing battle with the undead (opposite X-Men's Hugh Jackman) in the action horror adventure Van Helsing. At the end of 2004, Beckinsale turned in a solid performance as Ava Gardner in Martin Scorsese's multiple Oscar-winning Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator. While she would be out of theaters in 2005, Beckinsale returned in two very different projects the following year. In addition to starring in another Underworld, Beckinsale portrayed Adam Sandler's wife in the comedy Click. She would focus largely on action movies and thrillers for her next several projects, starring in Fragments in 2008, Whiteout in 2009, and Contraband in 2012, and also returned to the Underworld series and appeared in aTotal Recall remake. In 2015, she starred in Absolutely Anything, a British sci-fi comedy directed by Monty Pythoner Terry Jones, before jumping back to the Underworld for the fifth film in the series.

Trivia: A graduate of England's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, actor Tobias Menzies started his onscreen career with guest roles on a number of BBC programs before landing the part of the infamous assassin Brutus on the BBC/HBO co-production Rome. In 2006, between seasons of Rome, Menzies could be seen in a supporting role in the hit James Bond film Casino Royale. And following the second and final season of Rome, he was cast in a made-for-television adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion.

Trivia: At age 13, joined the National Youth Music Theatre in London. Performed in several London musicals; received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for her portrayal of Lucille Frank in Parade. Made her television debut in 2009 in BBC's Robin Hood.

Trivia: British lead actor James Faulkner is best known for his character roles in films like Bridget Jones' Diary. He has also made a name for himself on stage, and has lent his voice to numerous radio productions and audiobooks.

Trivia: Grandfather was a documentary filmmaker, her grandmother was famous actress Helen Shingler and her uncle is Murray Head, the actor who originated the role of Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar. Followed in the footsteps of her father, Anthony Head of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame, and older sister Emily, who are both actors. Began acting as a young teenager in small roles in British television series, including Feather Boy, Trial & Retribution and Rose and Maloney, appearing alongside her father in the latter.

Trivia: Studied at the North London Performing Arts Centre until the age of 16. At the last minute, decided against his plan to pursue a career in economics at university, and, with encouragement from his headmaster, opted to follow his passion for acting. Honed his craft by appearing in low-budget short films and in various theater productions, most notably in the role of Eden in the Fifth Dimension Theatre Company's Fatal Excuses, for which he was hailed as "phenomenal" and "breathtaking." Made his first television appearance in a November 2011 episode of the BBC1 series Casualty, followed by roles in Luther opposite Idris Elba and NBC's Dracula starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

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: Has been a big movie fan since early childhood; would sometimes go to elementary school dressed like characters from her favorite movies. Broke into acting by working on independent films in Europe. Costarred with her mother, Olivia Hussey, in the 2005 film Headspace. When comparing herself to Ashley, her character on The Secret Life of the American Teenager, she says that she is sarcastic like Ashley, but not rebellious like her. Is an animal lover who grew up having many pets at once, including pigs, parrots, rabbits, cats and dogs. Studied ballet. Is double-jointed.