Trivia: When British actor Benedict Cumberbatch signed for his first cinematic roles in the early 2000s, he immediately unveiled a proclivity -- and a gift -- for essaying a diverse array of characterizations. Cumberbatch began with BBC television productions, notably a supporting part in the lesbian-themed period drama Tipping the Velvet (2002) and the lead role of the brilliant, physically disabled scientist Stephen Hawking in the BBC telemovie Hawking (2004). Cumberbatch landed one of his first significant international crossover roles (and his first major big-screen assignment) as one of the leads in Michael Apted's arthouse hit Amazing Grace (2006) -- portraying William Pitt, an 18th century British prime minister who crusaded against slavery. While appearing on the British stage and in British television shows, Cumberbatch slowly built up an impressive résumé of supporting film roles. He had a small (but significant) part in Joe Wright's period drama Atonement (2007), and played William Carey, Mary Boleyn's husband in The Other Boleyn Girl (2008).In 2010, Cumberbatch took on his breakout role, playing Sherlock Holmes in a BBC series reboot. His career exploded after the show took off. He played The Necromancer/Smaug in The Hobbit trilogy, Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness, a plantation owner in 12 Years a Slave and nabbed his first true starring role playing Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate. In 2014 Cumberbatch portrayed the pioneering British mathematician Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, and his work earned him a Best Actor nomination from the Academy, the first nod of his career.

Trivia: Hampshire, England native Martin Freeman can be seen in a variety of television, theater, and radio productions, though he is probably best known for his role as Tim Canterbury in the BBC's award-winning sitcom The Office, and as everyman Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005). Freeman's credits also include the British police comedy Hot Fuzz, a brief appearance in Shaun of the Dead, and the lead role in director Gavin Claxton's The All Together. In addition to his comedy roles, Freeman has turned in a number of dramatic performances, including a turn as Lord Shaftesbury in Charles II: The Power & the Passion, a 2003 BBC historical drama, and the legendary painter Rembrandt in Nightwatching (2007). In 2010 he had a hit on the small screen playing Dr. Watson to Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock, and two years later he took the pivotal role of Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Hobbit.

Trivia: Rupert Graves has repeatedly impressed audiences with his dead-on portrayals of upper-class twits since 1985, when he appeared in Merchant Ivory's classic adaptation of E.M. Forster's A Room With a View. However, Graves' own background could not be more different from those of the characters he brings to the screen.Born June 30, 1963, Graves grew up in the small town of Western-Super-Mare (coincidentally also the birthplace of John Cleese), located in western England. By his own account a terrible student who resented authority, Graves left school at 15 and joined the circus. After his stint with the circus ended, Graves made his way to London, where, at 19, he landed his first acting role in a stage production of The Killing of Mr. Toad. His performance caught the attention of a film industry figure, which in turn led to his first film role in A Room With a View. As the irresponsible and irrepressible Freddy Honeychurch (brother of the film's heroine, played by Helena Bonham-Carter), Graves gave a performance that set the pattern for the roles he was to be typcast in for much of the next decade. Graves virtually became the male equivalent of Helena Bonham-Carter, in that he was stuck in period drama after period drama until others slowly realized that his range was not limited to films with an abundance of waistcoats, corsets, and men with names like Cecil or Clive. Graves' other significant films of the 80s included another Merchant Ivory outing, the memorable Maurice (1987) (in which Graves played Maurice's working class lover, Alec Scudder, and, as in A Room With a View, demonstrated his ability to tackle nude scenes), 1988's A Handful of Dust (also starring a then-unknown Kristin Scott Thomas, and Graves' Maurice colleague James Wilby), and the epic television series Fortunes of War, set during World War II and starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson.In the 1990s, Graves has continued to do period pieces such as the 1991 adaptation of E.M. Forster's Where Angels Fear to Tread (reuniting him again with Bonham-Carter), and Nicholas Hytner's brilliant The Madness of King George (1995), which also starred "the other Rupert," Rupert Everett. In addition, he made a memorable appearance in the film adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway (1997) as a shell-shocked World War I veteran. As he has gained greater recognition, however, Graves has been able to branch out toward other genres, notably as Jeremy Irons' jilted, ill-fated son in Louis Malle's Damage (1993), a confused and irresponsible motorcycle courier in Different For Girls (1996), and as the severely conflicted Harold Guppy in the deliciously twisted Intimate Relations (1996), for which he won a Best Actor award at the Montreal Film Festival. In addition to his film work, Graves has continued to work for television and the stage, acting as the wormy, conniving Octavius alongside Billy Zane in the TV series Cleopatra (1999), and in such stage productions as Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh (1998) and the the hit Broadway production of Patrick Marber's Closer (1999).

Trivia: Is openly gay, and was the 38th most influencial gay person in the UK in 2010. Attended Heighington CE Primary School. Has been collecting fossils since his childhood. Has always been a fan of Doctor Who. Spent a year travelling around Europe after school. Met his League of Gentlemen co-workers at a drama school in his late teens.

Trivia: Dropped out of his drama course at Trinity College in Dublin, to join the players at the esteemed Abbey Theatre. Made his Broadway debut in The Vertical Hour, opposite Julianne Moore and Bill Nighy, and directed by Sam Mendes, in 2006. Voiced the character of Stephen Dedalus in a BBC Radio production of James Joyce's Ulysses in 2012. In 2013, he publicly came out as gay, condemning Vladmir Putin's Anti-Gay legislation in Russia.

Trivia: Started acting at the age of 11. Wanted to be a history teacher growing up. Took classes and workshops at the Royal National Theatre in London. Is a playwright and had his play Walls produced at Battersea Arts Centre in London in 2003. Played the role of Rudge in the original West End production of The History Boys in 2004, and later reprised the role in the film version and the Broadway transfer (both 2006). Won a Royal Television Society Award for Best Comedy Performance for his performance in Him & Her in 2010. Won the Cult Hero SFX Award in 2011 for his role in Being Human. Made the first of many live appearances for arts company Pin Drop Studio in 2015, reading a short story to an audience followed by an interview with Simon Oldfield. Has written three plays; a short film Victor; and had a short story published in women's magazine Company. Came out as gay to his parents when he was 18 which caused his father much unhappiness, but the subsequent birth of a nephew improved their relationship.

Trivia: Was recruited to Coronation Street after a casting director saw her performing at the Contact Theatre in Manchester in 1990. Wrote her first play Mammals in 2005 which started at the Bush Theatre in London for which she won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. While starring in Scott & Bailey between 2011 and 2014, wrote 7 episodes of the show.

Trivia: Rosalind Knight is a highly versatile English actress with a particular flair for comedy. She was the daughter of leading man Esmond Knight -- best remembered for his postwar work in the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger -- and the former Frances Clare; her stepmother was the actress Nora Swinburne. Knight studied at the Old Vic and, after a stint as assistant stage manager at the Midland Theatre Company in Coventry, she moved to the Ipswich Repertory Company, where the other assistant stage manager was future playwright Joe Orton (she subsequently played a small role in the 1987 Orton biopic Prick Up Your Ears).In 1956, Knight was seen by a film producer and signed up for her movie debut, as a schoolgirl in the comedy Blue Murder at St. Trinian's (1956). That same year, she starred with her father, cast as father and daughter, in a BBC adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby. Her next film was the trans-Atlantic hit Carry on Nurse (1959), playing Nurse Nightingale, and she subsequently appeared in a co-starring role in Carry on Teacher. She also worked in James Hill's The Kitchen (1961) and Tony Richardson's Tom Jones (1963), in which she played Mrs. Fitzpatrick. Knight was busy in theater for the next few years, although she did get her first exposure on American television through an appearance in the Beverly Hillbillies episode "War of the Roses," part of a five-show story arc that was filmed in England. She also appeared in the French Revolution spoof Start The Revolution Without Me (1970), but most of her work over the next decade was on the stage. Knight returned to the St. Trinian's fold at the end of the decade, this time as a teacher, in The Wildcats of St. Trinian's (1980). She is a familiar figure on British television, in mysteries and comedies alike, even portraying a retired prostitute -- a break from the usual aristocratic parts of her later career -- on Gimme Gimme Gimme.

Trivia: Lived in refugee camps in Mozambique until she was 2. Developed her acting skills at a mixed-race theater company, Over the Edge, in Zimbabwe. Received the Trumbull College Arts Prize from Yale University. Is a member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Council. Founded the charity Sponsored Arts for Education.