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: 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: 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: Wanted to be a dancer, but after an injury at age 18, she turned to acting. From 1993, played various characters in the TV series, 'The Bill'. Met long-time partner Martin Freeman on the set of Men Only, a 2001 TV movie. The couple starred together in screen productions such as 'The Debt', 2003, 'The Robinsons', 2005, and 'The Good Night', 2007. Appeared in the play Love Me Tonight at the Hampstead Theatre in 2004. Starred in a memorable series of adverts for Maltesers opposite Katharine Parkinson. The role of Mary Morstan in the third series of Sherlock was written specifically for her, in which she again starred with Martin Freeman from 2014--2017. Was declared bankrupt by the High Court in March 2013 due to a tax bill of £120,000, but stated one year later that the matter had been resolved. Split from Martin Freeman in 2016.

Trivia: Studied history in Cambridge University and did a year at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York. Was deputy editor of the magazine 'Wonderland' until 2009. Has been writing about cinema and music since she was a teenager. Her role on Casualty was her television debut.

Trivia: A man with a peculiar face and small stature born into a long line of performers, Toby Jones might seem born to be a character actor. Jones' father, Freddie Jones, has graced the screen in a multitude of projects, from David Lynch's enigmatic sci-fi epic Dune to BBC adaptations of classic works of literature. Meanwhile, Jones' mother was born to a family whose legacy in acting went back seven generations, setting the stage for Toby's career almost before he was born. Jones took to the stage at his school in Oxfordshire, England, where he discovered an aptitude for theatrical acting. Though stage work would remain an important element of his professional life, Jones eventually tried his hand at screen work, beginning with a minor role in the 1992 film adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Orlando. Many of these bit parts would follow in movies like Ever After and Les Miserabes, as Jones' distinct and memorable visage set him apart from the masses. This same unique quality eventually began to win him more substantial roles, like a four-episode run as a pathologist on the U.K. detective show Midsomer Murders, and a chance to explore vocal acting as the voice of the animated Dobby the House Elf in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. More of Jones' usual small but memorable parts would follow, such as Smee, right-hand man to Captain Hook in Finding Neverland. Then in 2004, Jones got the chance to sink his teeth into not one but two substantial characters -- both with considerably more screen time than he was accustomed to. In the U.K. made-for-TV biopic Elizabeth I, Jones played Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, spymaster, and later secretary of state to Queen Elizabeth, a man infamous for his odd, slight appearance. Exaggerating his quirky physical characteristics and delving deeply into the complex character, Jones was lauded by audiences and critics alike. That same year, Jones won the starring role of controversial writer Truman Capote in Infamous, the big-screen American telling of the writing the true-crime novel In Cold Blood. A dream role both for his artistic sensibilities and the furthering of his career, Jones joined a cast of American stars including Sigourney Weaver, Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Isabella Rossellini, and Daniel Craig. In typical Hollywood style, the film was green-lit around the same time that another studio was beginning production on a feature with the same subject matter, and Bennett Miller's Capote was scheduled to be released first. The buzz surrounding this rival production, however, was not the kind that Infamous producers were hoping for; instead of generating interest in their film, they feared that the overwhelming praise that Capote was receiving for its script, direction, and acting by star Philip Seymour Hoffman would only overshadow their own film. The release date for Infamous was pushed back as Capote went on to sweep the awards circuit, picking up over 40 awards and nominations including Oscar nods for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (for Catherine Keener's performance as Harper Lee), and Best Screenplay, as well as an Oscar win for Hoffman in the category of Best Actor. With Capote seeming to have already carved a place in the history of cinema and Philip Seymour Hoffman moving to the top of the list of gifted and respected actors, the cast and crew of Infamous had to worry that for all their hard work, their production would be seen as little more than the "other Truman Capote movie." Its release was finally set for late fall of 2006, roughly a year after its original date. Jones, however, was not going to spend the meantime biting his nails. By the time Infamous hit theaters, Jones had already completed filming on an adaptation of the Somerset Maugham novel The Painted Veil, and begun production on Nightwatching, a film about the life of the artist Rembrandt in which Jones would play the Dutch painter Gerard Dou.