Trivia: The boy who won one of the most coveted roles in film history, young Daniel Radcliffe beat out legions of aspiring bespectacled mini-wizards to fill the shoes of author J.K. Rowling's junior sorcerer Harry Potter in the much-anticipated film adaptation of Rowling's wildly popular book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001). Born July 23, 1989, in England, Radcliffe began to realize his love for acting at the age of five. Although his parents voiced objections, youthful enthusiasm soon won out and Radcliffe was on his way to stardom. Convincing his mother to send a picture to the BBC for consideration in an upcoming adaptation of David Copperfield, the precocious youth was quickly cast in the role of the young Copperfield, shortly thereafter turning up alongside Pierce Brosnan in John Boorman's The Tailor of Panama. It was his next role in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), however, that would launch the young actor directly into the heart of the public eye. Based on the first book in J.K. Rowling's enormously popular fantasy series that followed the adventures of young Potter as he attends Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the film faithfully captured the essence of the book in bringing the otherworldly exploits of the magical youngster to the screen. Radcliffe turned out one Harry Potter film after another; all were blockbusters, and all well received by the public and press. By the time the final film in the series was released to theaters -- 2011's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 -- Radcliffe had graduated to the ranks of adult actors, and was appearing in the gostly thriller The Woman in Black the next year.During his breaks from playing Harry, Radcliffe starred in the stage revival of Peter Shaffer's Equus, and had a lead performance in Rod Hardy's gentle 2006 coming-of-ager December Boys (set in rural Australia during the '60s). Radcliffe took on the starring role of barrister Arthur Kipps, a widower who discovers a supernatural presence after taking a job as caretaker to a crumbling estate in 2012's gothic horror The Woman in Black. Fresh off the 2011 conclusion of the Harry Potter films, many critics praised Radcliffe for readily handling the drastically different tone of The Woman in Black. He next played beat poet Allen Ginsberg in Kill Your Darlings (2013), followed by quirkier roles in the dark fantasy film Horns and the romantic comedy What If.

Trivia: Emma Watson made her big-screen debut in 2001's box-office smash Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, bringing to life Hermione Granger, friend to the famous protagonist Harry Potter of J.K. Rowling's children's novel. Born in Paris, where she lived for the first five years of her life, Watson acted only in school plays before breaking into Hollywood with this film, but her performance skills had been honed through dancing, singing, and poetry recitals, the latter of which she had already received recognition for by the age of seven. In the years following that blockbuster, she reprised her role alongside co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint for the subsequent beloved Harry Potter films. Her first foray into acting outside of the Harry Potter universe came with the made-for-TV movie Ballet Shoes in 2008, and after the phenomenally popular series came to an end in 2011 she could be seen in My Week With Marilyn. She took one of the leading roles in 2012's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. In 2013, Watson played a spoiled L.A. socialite in Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring, followed by a small role, playing herself, in This is the End. She had a supporting role opposite Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly in the big-budget epic Noah (2014).

Trivia: Rupert Grint made his big-screen debut in 2001's box-office smash Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, bringing to life Ronald Weasley, friend to the famous protagonist Harry Potter of J.K. Rowling's children's novel. Born in England in 1988, Grint had only performed in plays for school and local theater in Europe before making the giant leap into Hollywood with Harry Potter. He scored a role in the family comedy Thunderpants soon afterward, but was kept busy for the next several years as audiences saw him grow up alongside co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson while appearing in the ongoing Harry Potter sequels. He emerged in 2006 with a starring role in the well-received comedy drama Driving Lessons, alongside Hollywood heavyweights Julie Walters and Laura Linney. Though he appeared in the 2009 films Cherrybomb and Wild Target, he was still most well known as Harry Potter's best friend. The series came to a close in 2011.

Trivia: Perhaps the actress most widely identified with corsets and men named Cecil, Helena Bonham Carter was for a long time typecast as an antiquated heroine, no doubt helped by her own brand of Pre-Raphaelite beauty. With a tumble of brown curls (which were, in fact, hair extensions), huge dark eyes, and translucent pale skin, Bonham Carter's looks made her a natural for movies that took place when the sun still shone over the British Empire and the sight of a bare ankle could induce convulsions. However, the actress, once dubbed by critic Richard Corliss "our modern antique goddess," managed to escape from planet Merchant/Ivory and, while still performing in a number of period pieces, eventually became recognized as an actress capable of portraying thoroughly modern characters. Befitting her double-barreled family name, Bonham Carter is a descendant of the British aristocracy, both social and cinematic. The great-granddaughter of P.M. Lord Herbert Asquith and the grandniece of director Anthony Asquith, she was born to a banker father and a Spanish psychotherapist mother on May 26, 1966, in London. Although her heritage may have been defined by wealth and power, Bonham Carter's upbringing was fraught with misfortune, from her father's paralysis following a botched surgery to her mother's nervous breakdown when the actress was in her teens. Bonham Carter has said in interviews that her mother's breakdown first led her to seek work as an actress and she was soon going out on auditions.She made her screen debut in 1985, playing the ill-fated title character of Trevor Nunn's Lady Jane. Starring opposite Cary Elwes as her equally ill-fated lover, Bonham Carter made enough of an impression as the 16th century teen queen to catch the attention of director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant, who cast her as the protagonist of their 1986 adaptation of E.M. Forster's A Room With a View. The film proved a great critical success, winning eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. The adulation surrounding it provided its young star with her first real taste of fame, as well as steady work; deciding to concentrate on her acting career, Bonham Carter dropped out of Cambridge University, where she had been enrolled.Unfortunately, although she did indeed work steadily and was able to enhance her reputation as a talented actress, Bonham Carter also became a study in typecasting, going from one period piece to the next. Despite the quality of many of these films, including Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet (1990) and two more E.M. Forster vehicles, Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991) and Howards End (1992), the actress was left without room to expand her range. One notable exception was Getting It Right, a 1989 comedy in which she played a very modern socialite. Things began to change for Bonham Carter in 1995, when she appeared as Woody Allen's wife in Mighty Aphrodite and then had the title role in Margaret's Museum. Bonham Carter's work in the film prompted observers to note that she seemed to be moving away from her previous roles, and although she still appeared in corset movies -- such as Trevor Nunn's lush 1996 adaptation of Twelfth Night -- she began to enhance her reputation as a thoroughly modern actress. In 1997, she won acclaim for her performance in Iain Softley's adaptation of The Wings of the Dove, scoring a Best Actress Oscar nomination in the process.After playing a woman stricken with Lou Gehrig's disease opposite offscreen partner Kenneth Branagh in the poorly received The Theory of Flight (1998) and appearing with Richard E. Grant in A Merry War (1998), Bonham Carter landed one of her most talked-about roles in David Fincher's 1999 Fight Club. As the object of Brad Pitt's and Edward Norton's desires, the actress exchanged hair extensions and English mannerisms for a shock of spiky hair and American dysfunction, prompting some critics to call her one of the most shocking aspects of a shocking movie. But Bonham Carter was soon gearing up for another surprising turn in director Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes (2001). If critics were shocked by her unconventional role in Fight Club, they would no doubt be left dumbfounded with her trading of extravagant period-piece costumes for Rick Baker's makeup wizardry as the simian sympathyser to Mark Wahlberg's Homo sapiens' plight.Burton would become Bonham Carter's partner both in film and in life, as the two would go on to cohabitate and have children, as well as continue to collaborate on screen. The actress would appear in Burton's films like Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, Sweeny Todd, and Dark Shadows. Her often spooky personna in Burton's films no doubt helped her score the role of Beatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter films, but Bonham Carter would also continue to take on more down to earth parts -- though for an actress of Bonham Carter's image, those roles included that of Queen Elizabeth in The King's Speech, and the crazed Miss Havisham in Great Expectations. She played Madame Thénardier in the 2012 adaptation of Les Misérables, and tackled screen icon Elizabeth Taylor in the television movie Burton & Taylor (2013).

Trivia: With his electrifying gaze, elegant comportment, and lips that look as if they could breathe life into concrete, Ralph Fiennes has caused many a jaded filmgoer to reaffirm the existence of British sex appeal. Since 1993, when he first impressed international audiences in the decidedly unglamorous role of Nazi sadist Amon Goeth in Schindler's List, Fiennes has delivered performances marked by dignified passion and relentless intensity.The oldest of six children, Fiennes was born in Suffolk on December 22, 1962. His father was a self-taught photographer and his mother a novelist who wrote under the pen name Jennifer Lash, professions which virtually ensured a unique upbringing. Fiennes' family moved a number of times while he was growing up, and the children were encouraged in their creative pursuits. Thus, it is less than surprising that four out of the six Fiennes siblings went on to work in the entertainment business, with Ralph and his brother Joseph becoming actors, his two sisters a director and a producer, and another brother a musician. Originally wanting to be a painter, Fiennes enrolled at the Chelsea College of Art and Design before transferring to London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to study acting. Following graduation, he joined the Royal National Theatre in 1987, and he became part of the Royal Shakespeare Company a year later. While a member of the company, he performed a wide range of the classics, playing everyone from Romeo to King Lear's Edmund. Fiennes first became known to a wider audience in 1991, when he starred as the title character in the acclaimed British television production of A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia. The next year, he gained additional exposure, making his film debut as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. Starring opposite Juliette Binoche, Fiennes glowered his way across the screen with suitable aplomb, something that he would do again to devastating effect the next year in Schindler's List. As the psychotic Nazi commandant Amon Goeth, Fiennes blended quiet yet absolute menace with surprising charisma (even more surprising given that he had gained over 30 pounds for his role) to such great effect that he earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination and a British Academy Award for his portrayal. Fiennes' work in the film incited a flurry of interest in the actor, whose intensity and odd name (its correct pronunciation is "Rafe Fines") made him the subject of many a magazine article.Interest in Fiennes only increased the following year, when, back to his normal weight and sporting an American accent, he played the more sympathetic (but tragically flawed) Charles Van Doren in Robert Redford's Quiz Show. Critics loved him in the role, and he further consolidated his acclaim two years later in Anthony Minghella's Oscar-winning adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, which won Fiennes Oscar and Golden Globe nominations as Best Actor. Given his newfound heartthrob status, many audience members were surprised to see Fiennes next turn up in the title role of the gawkish, ginger-haired minister with a gambling problem (playing opposite a then-unknown Cate Blanchett) in Oscar and Lucinda (1997). He gave a highly eccentric performance in the film, which received a mixed critical reception. Where Oscar and Lucinda was only vaguely disappointing, Fiennes' next project, a 1998 film version of the popular 1960s TV series The Avengers, was one of the most lambasted films of the year. Fiennes somehow managed to avoid most of the critical wrath directed at the film, and in 1999 he could be seen starring in no less than three disparate projects. In Onegin, directed by his sister, Martha, Fiennes played the title character, a blasé Russian aristocrat; in The End of the Affair, directed by Neil Jordan, he portrayed a novelist embroiled in an adulterous affair with the wife (Julianne Moore) of his best friend (Stephen Rea); while in Sunshine, directed by István Szabó, he played three different roles in a saga tracing 150 years of the affairs and intrigues of a family of Hungarian Jews.If his roles to date had served to showcase Fiennes' talent at about the rate of a solid performance per year, 2002 provided a trio of diverse and demanding roles that would prove just how well he could perform under pressure. In Red Dragon -- the first of those efforts to hit stateside screens that year -- Fiennes' chilling performance as serial killer Francis Dolarhyde shifted between meekness and menace at the drop of a hat. Thankfully eschewing the grandiose theatrics of Hannibal for a tone more in keeping with the original Silence of the Lambs, the film proved a hit at the box office, and Fiennes' performance rivaled that of Ted Levine's in providing the film with a chilling villain straight from the pages of the most lurid true-crime encyclopedia (Fiennes' character was purportedly based on the exploits of an uncaptured Wichita serial killer who went by the name "Bind, Torture, Kill"). A few short months later, audiences were treated to yet another deeply disturbed characterization by Fiennes, that of a schizophrenic man haunted by his childhood in director David Cronenberg's dark psychological drama Spider, based on author Patrick McGrath's bleak novel of the same name. Fiennes' performance substituted the menace of Red Dragon with a more sympathetic protagonist whose memory slowly regresses to reveal a scarring childhood tragedy. No doubt having had his fill of disturbed characters that year, Fiennes once again caught audiences off guard with a disarmingly charming role in the romantic comedy Maid in Manhattan.Fiennes would continue to find substantial and challenging roles in the years to come, most notably in his sister's film Chromophobia, the Merchant-Ivory film The White Countess, The Constant Gardener, the James Bond film Skyfall, and the ever-popular Harry Potter series, in which Fiennes played baddie Lord Voldemort. Fiennes would also earn accolades for directing and starring in a cinematic adaptation of William Shakespeare's war epic Coriolanus.

Trivia: One of Britain's most revered stage performers, Michael Gambon (born October 19th, 1940) was described by the late Sir Ralph Richardson as "The Great Gambon." The fierce-looking Irish actor joined Britain's National Theatre in 1963 after being personally selected by Sir Laurence Olivier. He quickly worked his way up to leading parts and became particularly well known for his work in a number of Alan Ayckbourn plays. Gambon's career received a major boost in 1980, when he took the title role in John Dexter's production of The Life of Galileo; he subsequently became a regular player with both the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The actor received particular acclaim for his work in A View from the Bridge, for which he won all of the major drama awards in 1987, and Volpone, for which he won the 1995 Evening Standard Award. Gambon made his Broadway debut in 1997 in New York's Royal Theatre production of David Hare's Skylight.While he was busy racking up an impressive number of plays, Gambon also found time to nurture a film career. Although he made his screen debut in a 1965 adaptation of Othello, the actor appeared only sporadically in films until the late '80s, when he began earning recognition for his work in such films as Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989), which cast him as the sadistic titular thief. He went on to do starring work in a number of diverse films, including A Man of No Importance (1994), The Browning Version (1994), Dancing at Lughnasa (1998), and Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow (1999). Extremely busy during the millennial turnover, Gambon once again caught the attention of audiences in Robert Altman's much-praised comedy Gosford Park before taking over the late Richard Harris's role as Albus Dumbledore in 2004's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, subsequently portraying the character for the remainder of the films. Gambon, who became a familiar face to PBS devotees via his title role in Dennis Potter's quirky TV serial The Singing Detective (1986-1987), was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1992.The actor would further demonstrate his range by appearing in 2004's highly stylized sci-fi adventure Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, the British crime thriller Layer Cake, and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, an edgy comedy from director Wes Anderson. Gambon continued in his role of Dumbledore until the Harry Potter film franchise came to an end in 2011 with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.

Trivia: Although he made his name playing ruthless, genteel villains like Die Hard's Hans Gruber and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' Sheriff of Nottingham, Alan Rickman proved himself equally remarkable in romantic, comic, and good-guy dramatic roles. An actor of brooding charisma who intones his lines in a deep, milky baritone, Rickman began his career on-stage, building up a sizable résumé before embarking on a film career.Of Irish and Welsh parentage, Rickman was born in London's Hammersmith district on February 21, 1946. His father, who was a painter and decorator, died of cancer when the actor was eight, leaving behind Rickman, his mother, and three siblings. After winning a scholarship to West London's Latymer Upper School, Rickman began acting at the encouragement of his teachers. He also developed an interest in art, and he went on to study graphic design at the Royal College of Art. He founded a Soho-based design company, but after deciding that his heart was in acting, he abandoned the company when he was 26 to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He spent three years there, serving as a dresser to such actors as Ralph Richardson and Nigel Hawthorne. After leaving RADA, Rickman began to make his name on the stage, first appearing in repertory and then landing lead roles in London productions. He gained particular acclaim for his portrayal of Valmont in a West End production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, eventually reprising his role for the Broadway production and winning a Tony nomination.In 1988, Rickman got his first dose of big-screen recognition with Die Hard. After the film's huge success, and praise for his delightfully nasty portrayal of the film's villain, he went on to make a couple of poorly received features, including 1989's The January Man and 1990s Quigley Down Under. Success greeted him again in 1991: playing Kevin Costner's nemesis, the vile and loathsome Sheriff of Nottingham, in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Rickman proved to audiences why being bad could be so much fun. The same year, he endeared himself as a markedly more sympathetic character in Truly, Madly, Deeply. As a deceased cellist who reappears to comfort his lover (Juliet Stevenson), Rickman proved himself adept at romantic comedy, and began to accrue a reputation as a thinking woman's sex symbol (something he vocally resented).The actor spent the remainder of the decade turning in solid performances in a number of diverse films: he could be seen as an actor with a troubled past in An Awfully Big Adventure (1994), a very sympathetic Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility (1995), Eamon de Valera in Michael Collins (1996), a has-been sci-fi television star in Galaxy Quest (1999), and a grumpy angel in Dogma (1999). In 1997, Rickman branched out into directing, making his debut with The Winter Guest. Starring real-life mother and daughter Phyllida Law and Emma Thompson as an estranged mother and daughter, the film won a number of positive notices, further establishing Rickman as a man of impressive versatility, both in front of and behind the camera. Though Rickman's voice would be featured on the animated television series King of the Hill in 2003, he wasn't truly absorbed into mainstream pop-culture among the kid circuit until after starring in the movie adaptations of author J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Rickman played the sinister Professor Snape in the films, one of the few post-pubescent constants in the franchise.In 2005, just months before the fourth installment in the Potter series, Rickman showed up in the first big-screen adaptation of another literary series with a rabid fan base, lending his voice to the character of Marvin the neurotic robot in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.He went on to appear in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, and in 2007 he played Judge Turpin in Tim Burton's adaptation of Sweeney Todd. E reteamed with the director for Alice in Wonderland in 2010, and the next year saw the final installment of the Harry Potter franchise hitting screens. In 2013, he played President Ronald Reagan in Lee Daniels' The Butler and club owner Hilly Kristal in CBGB. The following year, Rickman directed his second feature film, A Little Chaos, and also appeared in the film as King Louis XIV. Rickman died in 2016, at age 69.

Trivia: Stocky Scottish comic actor Robbie Coltrane was trained as an artist in Glasgow. During the 1970s, he rose to prominence as an improvisational nightclub comedian, usually working in ensemble groups (one of his partners was actress Emma Thompson). During the '80s, he was in a number of British features and made-for-TV movies. A regular at London's Comic Strip comedy club, he had a habit of appearing as himself in comedy specials like Secret Policeman's Third Ball. He also showed up in small comedic cameos in National Lampoon's European Vacation and Kenneth Branagh's Henry V. Though he was popular in the U.K. on TV shows like Alfresco, Tutti Fruitti, Black Adder, and The Young Ones, he wasn't widely known in the U.S. until his antic performance in Nuns on the Run with Eric Idle. He then starred as the title character in the satiric comedy The Pope Must Die (released in the U.S. as The Pope Must Diet). In 1993, he starred in the British TV detective series Cracker as Fitz, a nervous forensic psychologist who helps crack cases. He won a BAFTA TV award for the role, and he won a Cable ACE award when it was rebroadcast in the U.S. on A&E. When the show ended, he briefly joined up with the James Bond film series as Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky in GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough. In the late '90s, he starred in a few independent films (Montana, Frogs for Snakes) and played Sgt. Peter Goldy in the Hughes brothers' thriller From Hell. However, he's been most successful in the area of family entertainment. He was delightful as the con man in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with Elijah Wood; he was Tweedledum to George Wendt's Tweedledee in Alice in Wonderland; and he found a fine place for himself as Hagrid the Giant in the Harry Potter film series. In 2002, he earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination from the British Academy for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. In 2003, he returned to British TV to play lawyer Jack Lennox in The Planman. Coltrane continued to work as Hagrid throughout the Harry Potter film series (2001-2011), and lent his voice to films including The Tales of Despereaux (2008) and Brave (2012).

Trivia: British actress Bonnie Wright ascended to fame by virtue of her recurring role as Ginny Weasley in the big-screen installments of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, beginning with the first film, the 2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Trivia: Considered one of Great Britain's most consistently brilliant players, John Hurt was at his best when playing victims forced to suffer mental, physical, or spiritual anguish. A small man with a slightly sinister countenance and a tenor voice that never completed the transition between early adolescence and manhood, Hurt was generally cast in supporting or leading roles as eccentric characters in offbeat films. The son of a clergyman, Hurt was training to be a painter at St. Martin's School of the Arts when he became enamored with acting and enrolled in London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art instead. He made his theatrical and film debuts in 1962 (The Wild and the Willing). Though he frequently appeared on-stage, Hurt, unlike his many colleagues, was primarily a film and television actor. He gave one of his strongest early performances playing Richard Rich in Fred Zinnemann's A Man for All Seasons (1966). His subsequent work remained high quality through the '70s. On television, Hurt made his name in the telemovie The Naked Civil Servant and furthered his growing reputation as the twisted Caligula on the internationally acclaimed BBC miniseries I, Claudius (1976). He received his first Oscar nomination for playing a supporting role in the harrowing Midnight Express and a second nomination for his sensitive portrayal of the horribly deformed John Merrick -- but for his voice, Hurt was unrecognizable beneath pounds of latex and makeup. In 1984, Hurt was the definitive Winston Smith in Michael Radford's version of Orwell's 1984. Other memorable roles include a man who finds himself hosting a terrifying critter in Alien (1979), his parody of that role in Mel Brooks' Spaceballs (1987), an Irish idiot in The Field (1990), and in Rob Roy (1995).In 1997, Hurt played the lead role of Giles De'ath (pronounced day-ath) for the comedy drama Love and Death on Long Island. The film, which follows a widower (Hurt) who forms an unlikely obsession with a teen heartthrob who lives in Long Island and occasionally stars in low-brow films. Love and Death was praised for its unlikely, yet poignant portrait of unrequited love. The same year, Hurt took on the role of a multi-millionaire willing to fund a scientist's (Jodie Foster) efforts to communicate with alien life in Contact. Hurt took a voice role in the animated series Journey to Watership Down and its sequel, Escape to Watership Down in 1999, and again for The Tigger Story in 2000. In 2001, Hurt joined the cast of Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone to play the small but vital role of wand merchant Mr. Ollivander, and narrated Lars von Trier's experimental drama Dogville. Later, Hurt played an American professor in Hellboy (2004), and won praise for his portrayal of a bounty hunter in The Proposition, a gritty Western from director John Hillcoat. Hurt continued to work in small but meaty supporting roles throughout the next several years, most notably in the drama Beyond the Gates (2005), for which he played a missionary who arrived in Rwanda just before genocide erupted, and as the tyrannical Chancellor Sutler in director James McTiegue's adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel V for Vendetta (2006). In 2010, Hurt reprised his role of Mr. Ollivander for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, and for its sequel in 2011. The actor co-starred with Charlotte Rampling in Melancholia (2011), Lars von Trier's meditation on depression, and played the Head of the British Secret Intelligence Service in the multi-Academy Award nominated spy thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy the same year. In 2013, Hurt appeared in the futuristic sci-fi movie Snowpiercer and later played the War Doctor in the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who. The following year, Hurt played the King of Thrace in Hercules. Hurt died in 2017, just days after his 77th birthday.

Trivia: Perhaps the actor most closely associated with director Mike Leigh, Timothy Spall has acted in productions for the director on both the stage and screen. Spall made a particularly strong impression in Leigh's Life is Sweet (1991), which cast him as a socially awkward gourmet chef, and Secrets & Lies (1996), in which his starring performance as a portrait photographer struggling with marital problems earned him award nominations from the British Academy and the London Film Critics Circle. In addition to his work with Leigh, Spall has appeared in a number of disparate productions. He made his film debut with a supporting role in the Who's Quadrophenia in 1979 and spent the next decade splitting his time and energy between the stage and screen. He acted extensively for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, and he also did acclaimed work on television, most notably as Mr. Venus in the BBC production of Charles Dicken's Our Mutual Friend, for which he received a BAFTA Best Actor nomination.Spall began to gain recognition and respect as a film actor in the 1990s, thanks in large part to his collaborations with Leigh. In addition to his work with the director, Spall was particularly memorable in Brian Gibson's Still Crazy (1998), a comedy that cast him as the drummer for a defunct 1970s rock band trying to make a come-back. In 1999, the actor enjoyed another collaboration with Leigh in Topsy-Turvy, an acclaimed drama about the partnership between Gilbert and Sullivan that featured Spall as an effeminate opera diva. The following year, he could be seen as Don Armado in Kenneth Branagh's musical adaptation of Love's Labour's Lost, and heard as a chicken farm denizen in Nick Park's animated Chicken Run. In recognition of his contributions to the arts, Spall was named an Officer of the Order of British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth on New Year's Eve, 1999.

Trivia: Stumbling into acting after a family friend recognized his inherent talent and suggested he meet with an agent, it was a mere two weeks before then eight-year-old Tom Felton landed an international commercial campaign that launched his career. Born in September of 1987, Felton began singing in four choirs at the age of seven. The family friend was not the only one to recognize young Felton's talents, as he was offered a place in the Guildford Cathedral Choir shortly before launching his acting career. Beating out over 400 aspiring young actors for the coveted ad campaign, Felton made his feature debut in The Borrowers (1997), turned in a memorable performance as a witness to crime in television's Second Sight, and turned up alongside Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-Fat in Anna and the King (1999). In 2001, Felton took on his biggest challenge to date when he appeared in the much anticipated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Felton continued his work in the Potter films until the series' conclusion in 2011), and has appeared in films such as The Disappeared (2008), Night Wolf (2011), and The Apparition (2012)

Trivia: Known for her vibrant, intelligent portrayals of women who run the gamut from cold-blooded killers to long-suffering wives, Miranda Richardson is one of the British cinema's foremost purveyors of elegant, energetic dysfunction. Born in Southport, Lancashire, on March 3, 1958, Richardson began acting in school plays and left school at the age of 17 to study drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatres School. Following her graduation, she acted in repertory theatre, becoming affiliated with Manchester's Liberty Theatre in 1979. Obtaining her Equity card, Richardson performed in a number of regional productions before moving on to the London stage in 1981. While performing on the stage, she also began acting on television and then in film. Her first big break came when she was cast as the real-life Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed for murder in Britain, in Mike Newell's Dance with a Stranger (1985). Her astonishing performance as a woman destroyed by her dependence on her loutish lover (played by a sulky Rupert Everett) earned wide critical acclaim, but Richardson remained fairly unknown outside of Britain.In 1987, having turned down the opportunity to play the role that went to Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, the actress appeared in her first American outing, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of J.G. Ballard's Empire of the Sun. Richardson's portrayal of a doctor's wife interned in a Japanese prison camp provided what little sensual heat there was to be found in the film, but it was not until five years later that American audiences finally took notice of her.In 1992, Richardson had substantial roles in both Damage and The Crying Game. Playing the long-suffering wife of a philandering MP (Jeremy Irons) in the former and a murderous IRA operative in the latter, she impressed both critics and audiences with the spellbinding range and depth of her performances. Her work in both films received a number of honors, including a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her work in Damage and a BAFTA award in the same category for her portrayal of The Crying Game's Jude. In addition, Richardson won a Golden Globe for her work in another film that year, Mike Newell's Enchanted April, in which she played one of a group of British women who find liberation in the hills of Tuscany.Richardson received her second Oscar nomination and third BAFTA nomination two years later, for her vivid, full-blooded performance in Tom and Viv, in which she played the aristocratic, unstable wife of T.S. Eliot. She subsequently did starring work in films of widely varying quality, turning in particularly memorable performances in Robert Altman's Kansas City (1996) and Robert Duvall's The Apostle (1997). In the first, she demonstrated great wit as a politician's drug-addicted wife, while in the second, she made her small role as a radio station secretary one of the film's most memorable features.Following a turn in David Hare's The Designated Mourner (which was filmed in 1997 as the actors were also performing in its original production on the London stage) and a delightfully nasty stint as the evil queen in Merlin (1998), Richardson could be seen in a number of projects in 1999. Two of these were particularly high-profile, the first being Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, in which Richardson did time in a bodice and fright wig to portray a mysterious woman of questionable intention. The second, George Hickenlooper's The Big Brass Ring, was a political drama that featured the actress as the wife of a gubernatorial candidate (William Hurt) whose campaign is severely threatened by his past indiscretions.Richardson ushered in the new millenium with a role in the remake of the classic British crime-thriller Get Carter and by lending her voice to the claymation family film Chicken Run. In 2002, she wowed critics both with her performance in The Hours as well as in David Cronenberg's Spider, a film that had Richardson playing three different characters opposite Ralph Fiennes. After a handful of small films in 2003, the actress returned to the megaplexes as the Queen of Denmark in 2004's The Prince & Me.

Trivia: With an expansive range that stretches from Shakespeare to Chicken Run and just about everything in between, actress Imelda Staunton has, not surprisingly, become one of the most highly respected actresses working in the U.K. If her penchant for playing what many would consider to be mundane, everyday characters found Staunton criminally overlooked in the early years of her career, it was her keen ability to inject those characters with a remarkable complexity that eventually made the stage mainstay-turned-small-screen powerhouse one of Britain's most sought-after talents.A London native and graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Staunton wasted no time launching her career following graduation, becoming associated with such prestigious venues as The Old Vic and the National Theatre. A trio of productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company gained her numerous critical accolades, and in 1986 Staunton made an impressive television debut in the legendary BBC production of Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective. Increasingly busy throughout the 1990s, Staunton continued to gain momentum on-stage while earning three Oliviers for her performances in the The Corn Is Green, A Chorus of Disapproval, and Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. As Staunton's numerous stage roles continued to earn her critical success, frequent television and film roles made her a familiar and endearing face to the general public. Though many of her U.K. television roles went unseen by stateside audiences, supporting roles in such features as Much Ado About Nothing, Sense and Sensibility, and Shakespeare in Love found Staunton slowly working her way into the conscience of U.S. film buffs as well. Moving into the new millennium, Staunton's roles in such films as Chicken Run (for which she provided the voice of Bunty), Crush, Bright Young Things, and I'll Be There found the established television actress actively distancing herself from the small screen in favor of feature films. Of course, every actor dreams of the breakthrough role that will make him or her an international star, and for Imelda Staunton that role was of a 1950s era abortionist caught in a downward spiral in director Mike Leigh's 2004 drama Vera Drake. Her undeniably affecting portrayal of the title role -- a selfless housewife and cleaning woman who makes a name for herself performing illegal abortions -- earned her near-universal praise. After earning accolades from both The Venice Film Festival and The New York Film Festival as well as the Los Angeles and Chicago film critic associations, Staunton had undeniably arrived when the role earned her a Best Actress nomination for the 77th Annual Academy Awards.Subsequent roles in the U.K. television comedy Little Britain as well as the features Nanny McPhee and Freedom Writers served well to introduce her to entirely new, often American, audiences. In 2007, just one year after appearing in a colorful Masterpiece Theatre production of the children's classic The Wind and the Willows, she remained in the world of fantasy for her role in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Staunton played Dolores Umbridge -- the latest in a long line of Defense Against the Dark Arts professors -- whose severe disposition drew the ire of Harry Potter himself. She was part of the cast of the well-respected television production Cranford, and appeared in the inspirational drama Freedom Writers. She teamed with Mike Leigh again for 2010's Another Year, and that same year she appeared in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. She continued to work in animated family films such as Arthur Christmas and The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

Trivia: BAFTA-winning veteran actor Bill Nighy gained international recognition in 2003 thanks to his role as a Keith Richards-esque former rock star in the hit romantic comedy Love Actually. Nighy had remained a relatively obscure figure even in his native England until a memorable turn as a controversial politician in series three of the acclaimed television comedy drama Auf Wiedersehen, Pet found him finally thrust into the spotlight in 2002. A Caterham, Surrey native, Nighy excelled in English language and literature early on; however, even though his journalistic instincts were strong, his lack of education prevented him from a career in the media. Work as a bike messenger for Field Magazine helped the aspiring writer keep his toes in the business, and a suggestion by his girlfriend that Nighy try his hand at acting eventually prompted him to enroll in the Guildford School of Dance and Drama. As the gears began to turn and his career as an actor started to gain momentum, Nighy was encouraged to stick with the craft after landing a series of small roles. Though British television provided Nighy with most of his early exposure, supporting roles in such features as Curse of the Pink Panther (1983) and The Phantom of the Opera (1989) found the actor honing his skills and laying the groundwork for future feature success. Though Nighy stuck almost exclusively to the small screen in the early '90s, his supporting role in the 1993 Robin Williams film Being Human seemed to mark the beginning of a new stage in his career, focusing mainly on features. A part in the 1997 film Fairy Tale: A True Story found Nighy climbing the credits, and the following year he joined an impressive cast including Timothy Spall, Stephen Rea, and Billy Connolly in the rock comedy Still Crazy. It was his role in Still Crazy that gained Nighy his widest recognition to date -- earning the up-and-coming actor the Peter Sellers Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy Performance. Nighy's role as a conflicted husband who embarks on a heated extramarital affair in 2001's Lawless Heart continued his impressive career trajectory, and later that same year he would land a role in The Full Monty director Peter Cattaneo's jailbreak comedy Lucky Break. A role in the long-running U.K. television series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet finally found Nighy earning some deserved recognition in 2002, and after a winning performance as the patriarch of an eccentric family in I Capture the Castle (2003), he continued to earned even more accolades for his performance in Love Actually. His part as an ancient vampire in the gothic action horror hit Underworld found Nighy's recognition factor rising for mainstream audiences on the other side of the pond, and before jetting into the future with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in 2005, the increasingly busy actor would appear in three feature films in 2004, including the horror comedy Shaun of the Dead, Doogal, and Enduring Love. By the time Nighy received an Emmy nomination for his role as a loved-starved civil servant falling for an enigmatic younger woman in the 2005 made-for-television romantic comedy-drama The Girl in the Café, television fans in both the U.S. and the U.K. knew well of Nighy's impressive range as an actor. Yet another small-screen role in that same year's Gideon's Daughter allowed Nighy a chance to play a serious role once again. Playing a burned-out PR agent who is forced to reevaluate his life when his adult daughter threatens to cease all contact with him, Nighy gave a performance that moved critics and audiences alike, later earning him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Mini-Series or TV Movie. Soon the actor was venturing into lands of fantasy once again, however, reprising his role as Viktor in Underworld: Evolution, and taking to the high seas as the legendary squid-faced sailor Davy Jones (captain of the Flying Dutchman) in director Gore Verbinski's big-budget summer extravaganza Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. That film, of course, became a predictable sensation (it grossed over one billion dollars worldwide) and (more than any of Nighy's prior efforts) launched the British actor into the public spotlight for audiences of all ages, who were understandably impressed with the presence he was able to exude onscreen despite the layers of makeup and CG it took to make him into a squid-man.Nighy stayed the course of big-budget fantasy, with a turn as Alan Blunt in that same year's Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker, then signed on for another turn as Davy Jones in 2007's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, co-starring this time with the inspiration for some of his previous characters, Keith Richards. Nighy would spend the next several years appearing in such acclaimed films as Valkyrie, Pirate Radio, and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.Nighy has maintained a life partnership with veteran British stage and screen actress Diana Quick since 1981. Though the two don't subscribe to the legal institution of marriage (much like long-standing Hollywood couple Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon), Nighy has been known to refer to Quick as his wife simply to avoid confusion. The couple's daughter, Mary Nighy, was born in 1984 and is also an actress.

Trivia: Falstaffian British character actor Richard Griffiths has been popping up in films since 1980. Griffiths played Sir Tom in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Captain Billings in Greystoke (1982) and Phipps in King Ralph (1981). An accomplished dialectician, Griffiths has essayed a wide variety of ethnic types: in Naked Gun 2 1/2 (1992), he outdid himself in his dual role as the German-accented Dr. Mannheimer and the Georgia-cracker Earl Hacker. British TV fans know Richard Griffiths best as Henry Crabbe in the weekly sitcom Pie and the Sky (1993-95), not to mention his appearances on such earlier series as Bird of Prey (1984), Nobody's Perfect (1980-82), Ffizz (1987-89) and A Kind of Living (1988-90).In 2001, Griffiths took on the recurring role of the imposing Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter film series, playing the role in five of the series' eight films. Griffiths spent the majority of his career alternating between the screen and stage, and in 2004, he took on one of his higher profile stage roles - the eccentric teacher Hector in Alan Bennett's award-winning play The History Boys. Griffiths originated the role in the 2004 West End production and the 2006 Broadway production and later reprised the role in the 2006 film, winning an Olivier Award, a Tony Award, and scoring a BAFTA Film nomination for his work.After completing his work in the Harry Potter series, Griffiths appeared in The Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) as King George II and played a limited engagement in the West End revival of Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys, opposite Danny DeVito. Sadly, his career was cut short, dying at age 65 in 2013 from complications following heart surgery.

Trivia: British character actress Julie Walters has made a career out of playing working-class women with good hearts and sharp tongues -- which should come as no surprise, given her background. Born in Birmingham, England, on February 22, 1950, Walters was raised in a strong, practical family where she was encouraged to study nursing. Walters did in fact enroll in the nursing program at Manchester Polytechnic, but in her second year of studies she developed an interest in acting, and eventually changed her major to theater. Walters soon made friends with fellow theater student Pete Postlethwaite, and they joined a small theater troupe with Matthew Kelly; Walters made her legitimate stage debut not long after in a Liverpool production of The Taming of the Shrew. Walters also began moonlighting as a comedian, performing as a standup act and with an improvisational troupe called Van Load. In 1976, Walters made her London stage debut in Funny Peculiar, and in 1980, she was cast in the title role of the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Willy Russell's play Educating Rita. Walters won rave reviews for her performance, and the comedy-drama became a major success; following her appearances in several well-received television productions, Walters was cast in the film version of Educating Rita opposite Michael Caine, and the movie was a solid critical and financial success in both Europe and the United States. Walters' budding film career seemed to have gotten off to a solid start when she was nominated for an Academy Award for her work in Educating Rita; while she didn't win, she did receive Golden Globe and British Film Academy awards for her performance. However, Walters opted to continue living and working in Britain, and while she maintained a busy schedule of television and stage work, it would be a few years before Walters became a regular presence in films. In 1987, she won the leading role in the fact-based comedy Personal Services, as well as a major supporting role in the Joe Orton biopic Prick up Your Ears, and the following year she starred opposite pop star Phil Collins in another comedy-drama drawn from real life, Buster. Over the next ten years, Walters continued to work steadily in British television (both in dramatic roles and in comedic appearances, frequently with English comedy star Victoria Wood), but her next major screen success wouldn't arrive until 2000, when she played dance instructor Mrs. Wilkinson in the international hit Billy Elliot; the role earned her another Academy Award nomination, as well as a British Film Academy nomination. The following year, Walters appeared in a small role in one of the year's biggest box-office blockbusters, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, as well as a number of TV projects. Offscreen, Walters is married to Grant Roffey, who operates a successful organic farm; they're the parents of a daughter, Maisie. In 1999, Walters received special recognition for her work in the arts when she was presented an Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth for her services to British drama. In the years to come, Walters would remain active on screen, appearing in moviesl ike Mama Mia!.

Trivia: Parents operated a tavern in Coleraine, Northern Ireland. Got her start in drama with the Ulster Youth Theatre. Made London stage debut in 1986. Played the killer in the Inspector Morse puzzler The Way Through the Woods, which aired on PBS's Mystery! in 1997. Made Broadway debut in The Weir in 1999. Earned a 2008 supporting-actress nomination for an Olivier (the British equivalent of the Tony Awards) for her role as Emilia in Othello. Played Hermione Granger's mother in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (Parts 1 and 2).

Trivia: Thin-lipped and statuesque Irish actress Fiona Shaw frequently takes the lead on the theatrical stage but steers her talents toward supporting roles in feature films. Born in County Cork, she studied philosophy before moving on to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. During the '80s she worked mainly on-stage as part of the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Some of her stage credits include As You Like It, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and a one-woman reading of T.S. Eliot's epic poem The Waste Land, just to name a few. She made her film debut in 1984 as one of the nuns in the WWII drama Sacred Hearts, but her breakthrough role came in 1989 as the doctor whom Christy Brown grows infatuated with in My Left Foot. The next year, she played the wife of an explorer in the British Empire film Mountains of the Moon. She also excelled at comedy with memorable roles in Three Men and a Little Lady, London Kills Me, Super Mario Bros., and Undercover Blues. In 1995, she turned to literary adaptations and costume dramas with Persuasion, Jane Eyre, and Anna Karenina. She then played Francie's sharp-tongued mother in Neil Jordan's childhood drama The Butcher Boy. Around this time, her longtime colleague Deborah Warner directed the controversial television adaptation of Richard II, with Shaw in the lead role of the young king. Also on television, she played Hedda Hopper in the HBO movie RKO 281 and Irma Prunesquallor in the BBC miniseries Gormenghast. She collaborated with director Warner again for The Last September, based on the novel by Irish author Elizabeth Bowen. In 2001, she received the honorary Companion of the British Empire award and portrayed the spinster scientist Leontine in Clare Peploe's The Triumph of Love. Returning to the stage to play Medea on Broadway, she found herself well-costumed once again as the wretched Aunt Petunia Dursely in the series of Harry Potter feature films. Though she returned as required for the many Potter films, she also appeared in The Triumph of Love, Catch and Release, and Terrence Malick's well-reviewed Tree of Life.

Trivia: A prolific English actress with a marked flair for period drama, Helen McCrory accepted one of her first roles as a New Orleans prostitute in Neil Jordan's gothic horror opus Interview with the Vampire (1994); though this merely constituted a bit part, McCrory gradually ascended to higher billing in outings such as Witness Against Hitler (1995), The James Gang (1997), and Split Second (1999), before tackling the lead role of Anna Karenina in director David Blair's 2001 miniseries adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's seminal novel, and signed for another lead in the humorous made-for-television crime thriller Dead Gorgeous (2002), adapted from the novel On the Edge by Peter Lovesey. McCrory maintained a higher profile and netted more widespread global recognition as the title character's mother in Lasse Hallström's Casanova (2005) and as Cherie Blair, the wife of British prime minister Tony Blair, in the 2006 docudrama The Queen. McCrory then signed for a plum role as Narcissa Malfoy in the fantasy Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2008).

Trivia: The latest in an illustrious line of actors to convince American audiences that the British make the cinema's most sinister and cold-hearted villains, Jason Isaacs earned the vicarious enmity and disgust of filmgoers everywhere in his role as the vile Colonel Tavington in the 2000 summer blockbuster The Patriot. Actually an incredibly versatile performer whose previous characterizations included a priest, a brilliant scientist, and a drug dealer, the tall, blue-eyed actor won admiration and respect for his performance, and soon found himself being hailed in the American press as one of the most exciting British imports of the early 21st century.The third of four sons of a Liverpool merchant, Isaacs was born in his father's hometown on June 6, 1963. He initially planned to go into law -- a white-collar profession that would have fit nicely with those of his brothers, who became a doctor, lawyer, and accountant -- but was swayed by acting early in the course of his law studies at Bristol University. Although he first became interested in acting in part because "it was a great way to meet girls," Isaacs soon found deeper meaning in the theater (in one interview he was quoted as saying "I could release myself into acting in a way that I was not released socially") and duly dropped out of Bristol to hone his skills at London's Central School of Speech and Drama. Once in London, Isaacs began landing professional work almost immediately, appearing on the stage and on television. He made his big-screen debut in 1989 with a minor turn as a doctor in Mel Smith's The Tall Guy and that same year won a steady role on the TV series Capital City. Isaacs exhibited his versatility in several more TV series and on-stage in such productions as the Royal National Theatre's 1993 staging of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America. He also began to find more work onscreen, receiving his first nod of Hollywood recognition in his casting in the Bruce Willis blockbuster Armageddon (1998). Initially called upon to take a fairly substantial role, Isaacs was eventually cast in a much smaller capacity as a planet-saving scientist so that he could accommodate his commitment to Divorcing Jack (1998), a comedy thriller he was making with David Thewlis. After portraying a priest opposite Julianne Moore and Ralph Fiennes in Neil Jordan's acclaimed adaptation of Graham Greene's The End of the Affair, Isaacs got his biggest international break to date when he was picked to portray Colonel Tavington, the resident villain of Roland Emmerich's Revolutionary War epic The Patriot. Starring opposite Mel Gibson, who (naturally) played the film's hero, Isaacs made an unnervingly memorable impression as a man whose pastimes included infanticide, rape, and church- burning, emerging as one of summer 2000s most indelible screen presences. Although his work in the film earned him comparisons to Ralph Fiennes' portrayal of evil Nazi Amon Goeth in Schindler's List and talks of a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, the actor was not content to be typecast in the historical scum mold. Thus, he logically signed on to play none other than a drag queen for his next project, Sweet November (2001), a romantic comedy-drama starring Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves. For his lead portrayal in the 2007 miniseries The State Within, Isaacs received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television. Over the next several years, Isaacs appeared in films like Green Zone and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Part 2. He would also star in TV series like Case Histories and Awake.

Trivia: Best known for his award-winning portrayal of a recovering alcoholic in Ken Loach's My Name Is Joe (1998), Scottish actor Peter Mullan has been appearing in films since 1990. He first worked with director Loach in 1991's Riff Raff, and he has appeared in a number of popular Scottish films, including Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave (1994) and Trainspotting (1996), and Mel Gibson's Braveheart (1995). In 1998, the same year that he won the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actor prize for My Name Is Joe, Mullan made his feature directorial and screenwriting debut with Orphans. The story of four siblings gathered in Glasgow for their mother's funeral, it earned fairly positive reviews and comparisons to Gillies MacKinnon's Small Faces (1995). The following year, Mullan starred opposite Saffron Burrows in Miss Julie, Mike Figgis' adaptation of August Strindberg's tale about the disastrous affair between a wealthy young woman and her servant. He then went on to act in prominent roles for Ordinary Decent Criminal (1999), The Claim (2000), and Session 9 (2001). In 2002, he returned to directing and screenwriting with the controversial film The Magdalene Sisters, which managed to both win the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and be condemned by the Vatican.

Trivia: Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art between 1979 and 1981. First appeared on stage performing with the Highcliffe Charity Players (HCP) in 1971; he is now the President of the HCP. Is a supporter of the Chapel Lane Theatre Company.

Trivia: Fans of British television will have little difficulty placing English actor Ralph Ineson. He scored massive popularity on the hit BBC series The Office as Chris Finch, a sociopathically obnoxious sales rep whose antics consisted of insulting and belittling nearly everyone in sight to puff himself up. The part was somewhat indicative of Ineson's typecast, not from the standpoint of obnoxious characters, but from the standpoint of aggression; time and again, he came to specialize in playing dominant, outspoken, Type A personalities. A native of Yorkshire, Ineson signed for roles in a myriad of BBC telemovies and series (notably the iconic programs The Bill and Coronation Street), displaying equal adroitness for riotous comedy and straight-faced drama. Many American viewers experienced Ineson for the first time courtesy of his fine supporting work in the features First Knight (1995) and From Hell (2001). In 2007, Ineson scored a highly visible turn as Harry Marber, a member of Scotland Yard's armed response unit, in the feature thriller Shoot on Sight.

Trivia: A former teacher, burly Irish actor Brendan Gleeson spent the 1990s earning an increasing amount of acclaim for his work in a variety of films, most notably John Boorman's The General (1998). Gleeson, who made his feature film debut in Jim Sheridan's The Field (1990), first made an impression on audiences in the role of Hamish, William Wallace's hulking ally in Braveheart (1995).In 1997, the actor was given his first crack at a starring role in I Went Down, a likeable black comedy that cast him as a thick-skulled hitman. The role brought him a greater dose of recognition and respect on both sides of the Atlantic, but it was Boorman's The General (shot right after I Went Down wrapped) that truly demanded -- and received -- international attention. The story of real-life Irish criminal Martin Cahill, the film featured Gleeson in its title role, and his cocky, assured portrayal of Cahill was widely deemed the best part of an altogether excellent film. The numerous plaudits he won for his performance included awards from Boston and London film critics.His career flourishing, it was only a matter of time before Gleeson had the opportunity to expand his resumé to include the occasional Hollywood blockbuster. That opportunity came by way of John Woo's Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), which cast Gleeson, surprisingly enough, as one of the film's resident villains. After carefully balancing his roles between the mainstream and the more low-key, character-driven films in later 2000 and into 2001 (he gained notice for his starring role as a philanderous, boozing TV chef turned sensitive amnesiac in the romantic comedy Wild About Harry [2000]), Gleeson headed back to Hollywood with his lively turn as Lord Johnson-Johnson in Steven Spielberg's A.I. Appearing in Trainspotting director Danny Boyle's zombie thriller 28 Days Later the following year, it wasn't long before Gleeson was once again gracing stateside cinemas with appearances in such high-profile films as Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002) and the Kurt Russell police detective thriller Dark Blue (2003).Gleeson remained a presence in high-profile films over the ensuing two years. In 2004 he could be seen in both the M. Night Shyamalan brain-bender The Village and the sweeping historical epic Troy. The following year found the actor in another pair of big-budget Hollywood films, the box-office dud Kingdom of Heaven and the fourth installment in the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Subsequent years found him re-teaming with 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy for the Neil Jordan comedy Breakfast on Pluto and reprising his role of Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).He had a memorable turn in the Irish comedy In Bruges in 2008. Two years later he returned as Mad Eye for the final Harry Potter movie. That same year he turned in one of his best performances in The Guard. He played opposite the Oscar nominated Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs in 2011, and enjoyed roles in a couple of high-profile Hollywood films - The Raven and Safe House the next year.

Trivia: A British character actor best known for two feats -- his lengthy tenure as a participant in the small-screen sketch comedy program The Fast Show, and his multi-film portrayal of the genial and sweet-natured patriarch Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter movies -- Mark Williams in fact chalked up a lengthy series of feature roles that extended far beyond the scope of those projects, beginning in the early '80s. Throughout, he tended to specialize in average-looking everyman types but made his strongest impression in fantasy-themed material. He debuted on the big screen in the 1982 Privileged (during his early twenties) and subsequently signed for projects including The Master (1989), Kill Line (1991), and The Borrowers (1997). Fantasy lovers will invariably associate Williams with his Weasley characterization, but may also remember his portrayal of Billy (a goat who had been changed into human form) in the Robert De Niro-Michelle Pfeiffer fantasy adventure Stardust (2007).

Trivia: Appeared in Harold Pinter's The Room at the Almeida Theatre in London in 2000. Played Dr. Frankenstein's father in Frankenstein at the National Theatre in 2011, playing opposite Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch. Voiced the Abbott of the Black Friars in the 2013 BBC radio adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.

Trivia: In 2007, appeared in stage productions of a Hugh Leonard adaptation of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations; and a revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo, which earned him a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards. Has written and directed several short films, including What Will Survive of Us (2009) and Noreen (2010); brother Brian was in both, and father, Brendan, was in the latter. Named one of 2011's Shooting Stars at the Berlin International Film Festival. Played Bill Weasley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1 (2010) and Part 2 (2011); father, Brendan, was also in Part 1 as Alastor Moody. At Irish Film & Television Awards in 2011, won for Actor in a Lead Role, playing musician-activist Bob Geldof in the TV biopic When Harvey Met Bob (2010), as well as the Rising Star Award; and in 2013 won for Supporting Actor in Anna Karenina (2012).

Trivia: A prolific Gallic actress with a distinct onscreen presence, Clémence Poésy kick-started her career in a series of films produced in her native France, then gradually expanded her scope to include European and (later) U.S.-based efforts. Poésy signed for one of her first major parts with a supporting role opposite the legendary Carole Bouquet and Michel Duchaussoy in Francis Palluau's hostage-themed comedy Bienvenue Chez Les Rozes (2003). She then evoked the period flair of Mary, Queen of Scots with her portrayal of that character opposite Robert Carlyle in Gillies MacKinnon's U.K. miniseries Gunpowder, Treason and Plot, and then tackled a lead in the German comedy drama Olga's Summer (2004). In that film, Poésy played Olga, a 16-year-old who falls madly in love with a much older man and runs off with him to the French Rivera. Poésy subsequently achieved international crossover success and made her Hollywood debut as Fleur Delacour in the family-oriented big-budget fantasy Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) and essayed a romantic lead opposite Colin Farrell in Martin McDonagh's steel-tough action-drama In Bruges (2008).

Trivia: European-born actress Natalia Tena launched her career as a supporting actress in features produced on her native continent, initially placing her heaviest emphasis on films from the U.K. She took one of her earliest bows with a supporting role as a boarding-school student in John Irvin's erotically tinged psychodrama The Fine Art of Love (2005), then joined the cast of Stephen Frears' period piece Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005). For her Hollywood debut, Tena essayed the role of Nymphadora Tonks in two of the Harry Potter installments -- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2008).

Trivia: The second of three children, David Thewlis grew up in an apartment above his family's combination toy store and wallpaper shop. He received his training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. A veteran of the London stage and English television (Prime Suspect 3), Thewlis found his particular cinematic niche as the antihero of director Mike Leigh's Naked (1993). From the moment that Thewlis, playing an indigent from Manchester, showed up unannounced at the doorstep of his old girlfriend and immediately proceeded to verbally trash everyone in sight, the audience knew it wasn't in for a Noël Coward revival. The result of Thewlis's antisocial screen behavior was the unqualified praise of discriminating moviegoers, not to mention awards from the Cannes jury, the New York Film Critics, and the National Society of Film Critics. He went on to demonstrate his versatility in a number of diverse roles, including Paul Verlaine in 1995's Total Eclipse, an animated earthworm in James and the Giant Peach (1996), a mountaineer in Seven Years in Tibet (1997, a role for which the actor was subsequently banned from entering China), and an expatriate British composer living in Rome in Bernardo Bertolucci's Besieged in 1998. Also that year, Thewlis could be seen doing a brief but hilarious turn as a giggling conceptual artist in The Big Lebowski. As rare as it is for an actor to possess the versatility needed to alternate between such adult-oriented fare as director Mike Leigh's Naked and such innocent fun as James and the Giant Peach, Thewlis could be as effective in the former as he was endearing in the latter. Following a chilling performance as the leader of a London gang in the 2002 crime drama Gangster No. 1, Thewlis switched gears somewhat to portray the villain in the made-for-television family adventure Dinotopia shortly thereafter. In 2003, Thewlis expanded his resumé by making his feature directorial debut with Cheeky, a comedy drama concerning a mournful widower (Thewlis) whose life takes a change for the better after appearing in a popular game show of questionable taste. His profile steadily increasing thanks to roles in such high-profile releases as Timeline and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (as Professor Remus Lupin), the actor began to make as big a name for himself in large-scale Hollywood blockbusters as he previously had in intimate independent dramas. Of course, that's not to say that Thewlis had lost his taste for smaller-scale films, just that his skills were now in increased demand stateside as a direct result of his powerful early-career performances. After a busy year in 2005 with roles in the historical dramas Kingdom of Heaven and The New World, Thewlis drifted back into modern times to play a small but pivotal role in an American-shot segment of the international short anthology All the Invisible Children -- a powerful meditation on the modern mistreatment of youth by the increasingly jaded adult population. A brief turn as the Scotland Yard homicide detective trailing Sharon Stone in the belated and ill-fated sequel Basic Instinct 2 may have gone unseen by many fans after the film received considerably negative word of mouth, though a fun turn as the paranoid, bubblegum-chomping reporter hot on the trail of the young Antichrist in the 2006 remake of The Omen gave audiences much more to chew on and offered Thewlis the opportunity to have a bit of fun, to the delight of fans everywhere. The following year, Thewlis reprised his role of Prof. Lupin in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and appeared in the title role in The Inner Life of Martin Frost. He could next be seen in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, a film adaptation of the John Boyne Holocaust novel, which focuses on the friendship that develops between the child of a Nazi commander at a concentration camp and a young Jewish prisoner. Thewlis enjoyed a high-profile 2011 when the last of the Harry Potter films hit screens, as did other films he was cast in including the Shakespearean drama Anonymous, and Steven Spielberg's Oscar nominated War Horse.

Trivia: Has French, Greek and Irish ancestry. Joined the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) in 1965, but left after six years. Is a socialist and was a member of the Workers' Revolutionary Party in the 1970s. Has a son Josh and daughter Tamasin. Most famous for her role as Miss Jones in Rising Damp but in fact has won a Tony Award and three Olivier Awards for her work on the stage. Sister of Andy de la Tour.

Trivia: Ireland native Evanna Lynch was picked out of over 15,000 hopefuls in her audition for the role of Luna Lovegood, Harry's eccentric yet insightful new friend in the fifth installment to the Potter series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Not only did Lynch stand out at the audition, but many critics and fans declared her a perfect fit for the role. Lynch is known for being an active participant in the Potter "fandom," and has contributed to various fan sites and podcasts.

Trivia: Welsh actor Rhys Ifans has not only one of the most distinctive names in the film industry but also one of its most idiosyncratic appearances. Tall, lanky, and snaggletoothed, Ifans can go from raving freak to persuasive romantic interest in less time than it takes to pronounce his name correctly.Ifans got his start acting in a number of Welsh language dramas and comedies, and he made his feature film debut in Anthony Hopkins' August (1996). The following year, he was part of one of the most successful films in Great Britain in 1997 when he starred in Twin Town. As one half of a set of twins (the other was portrayed by his real-life brother, Llyr Evans), he played what was undoubtedly one of the most riveting and revolting characters to come into contact with film audiences in years. The film's success opened the way for more work, and the following year he did a complete about-face, appearing as the charmingly errant father of Catherine McCormack's young son in Dancing at Lughnasa.The year after that, Ifans rejected grooming and general communication skills to play the role that was to give him international recognition, starring as Hugh Grant's hygienically challenged roommate in the romantic comedy Notting Hill. Many a critic agreed that Ifans virtually stole the show from his better-known co-stars, and that same year he had a chance to prove himself further in such diverse features as Heart, a black comedy in which he played a writer; and Rancid Aluminum, in which he starred as a man forced into business with the Russian mob after his father's death. Following an unlikely appearance as a football player in The Replacements (2000) and a turn as the son of Old Scratch in Little Nicky (2000), Ifans' role as a socially challenged forest dweller turned opera-loving socialite in the eccentric Human Nature provided audiences with abundant laughs and a further glimpse into the quirkiness of a truly unique actor.Of course the ever-eccentric Ifans was only warming up, and after supporting roles in such efforts as The 51st State, The Shipping News and Once Upon a Time in the Midlands Ifans once again took the lead in the 2003 comedy Donnie Deckchair. Cast as a man whose desperate attempt to escape the monotony of suburban life includes a bundle of large helium balloons and a lightweight deck chair, Ifans charmed Australian audiences in the family-friendly effort. Outside of his film work, Ifans briefly served as lead singer of the band Super Furry Animals before they struck the big time in the late 1990s.In 2006 he voiced McBunny in Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, but had major roles the next year in two very different projects -- Hannibal Rising and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. He appeared in 2009's Pirate Radio, reteaming with Notting Hill screenwriter Richard Curtis. Ifans had a strong supporting turn in Greenberg in 2010, and was center stage in Roland Emmerich's Shakespearean drama Anonymous in 2011. The next year he was part of the cast of the Spider-Man reboot, and was the romantic rival to Jason Segel in the comedy The Five-Year Engagement.

Trivia: Actor Matthew Lewis (not to be confused with the middle-aged character player of the same name) achieved fame as an adolescent star, with a recurring portrayal of Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films -- beginning with the first installment, 2001's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Trivia: Was a member of the National Youth Theater. Took a year off of college to film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Recorded the songs "Knockin'" and "Possibilities" for his movie A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song.

Trivia: Actress Jessie Cave joined the Harry Potter cast as Lavender Brown in the film series' sixth installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Cave also appeared in the fact-based British television drama Summerhill and had a minor part in director Iain Softley's adaptation of Inkheart, a children's fantasy novel penned by Cornelia Funke.

Trivia: Actress Katie Leung had no intention of becoming an actress when she auditioned for the role of Cho Chang in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at an open casting call in her hometown of Glasgow, Scotland. In fact, the then-18-year-old had never even performed in a school play, but at her father's encouragement, she attended the audition and a few callbacks later, she was known to millions of Harry Potter fans as Cho. Born to Chinese immigrants, Leung is fluent in Cantonese. She attended high school at the prestigious Hamilton College in South Lanarkshire before being cast in Goblet of Fire. After Leung was chosen from among thousands of girls for the coveted role of Cho, she decided to see her acting ventures through to the end, signing on for the next movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and vowing to improve her craft and become as good an actress as possible.

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.

Trivia: A respected character actress who is also part of one of Britain's most celebrated show business families, Sophie Thompson has brought life to a bevy of characters on the stage, screen, and television. The daughter of actors Eric Thompson and Phillyda Law, and the younger sister of actress Emma Thompson, Sophie Thompson was born in London in 1962. She began acting at a very young age and had already done TV work by the time she attended the Old Vic Theatre School. Following two seasons with the Old Vic, the actress transferred her talents to the West End for a number of prestigious Shakespearean productions, including Judi Dench's Much Ado About Nothing and Derek Jacobi's Hamlet, as well as countless contemporary works by the likes of Tennessee Williams and Tom Stoppard. Over the course of her stage career, Thompson has earned many honors, most notably two Olivier nominations for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Alan Ayckbourne's Wildest Dreams and Company, and a Clarence Derwent Award for her performance in the former.Onscreen, Thompson has appeared to memorable effect in a variety of films, often stealing the light from her more prominent co-stars. Although she made her film debut in 1982 with an uncredited role as a prostitute in The Missionary, it was not until the 1990s that she began to gain any sort of recognition amongst filmgoers. Thompson did hilarious work in the 1994 hit Four Weddings and a Funeral, playing a bride whose very vocal and energetic wedding night antics cause no end of discomfort for a hapless Hugh Grant. She also provided priceless support in a pair of Jane Austen adaptations, first in Roger Michell's acclaimed 1995 film adaptation of Persuasion, in which she played Mrs. Musgrove, the heroine's disagreeable hypochondriac sister and then in Douglas McGrath's Emma (1996), which saw her play the socially inept Miss Bates. The latter film allowed Thompson to act alongside her mother, who, in no great stretch of casting, portrayed Mrs. Bates, her onscreen mother. Although she has repeatedly demonstrated her comedic ability in a number of films, Thompson is equally well-suited to drama, as she memorably demonstrated in Dancing at Lughnasa (1998), a drama about five close-knit Irish sisters that cast her as a simple-minded and ultimately tragic young woman.

Trivia: Considered one of the former Yugoslavia's finest actors, Rade Serbedzija (also credited as Rade Sherbedgia) appeared in over 40 of the fractured country's feature films and was a two-time winner of the Pula Film Festival's coveted Golden Arena for Best Actor. In addition to his film credits, Serbedzija was also a distinguished stage actor, once heralded as Yugoslavia's definitive Hamlet. In cinema, he gained international exposure in the Oscar-nominated Pred Dozhdot/Before the Rain (1994). The film earned ten awards at the 1994 Venice Film Festival, including the Grand Prix Golden Lion; Serbedzija also won the festival's Critics' Award for Best Actor. Thereafter, Serbedzija continued to star and co-star in international productions such as Italy's La Tregua (1997); however, beginning with the 1997 Hollywood adventure yarn The Saint, his presence in American films increased tenfold. He racked up subsequent A-list credits including Mighty Joe Young (1998), Polish Wedding (1998), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Mission: Impossible II (2000), and The Fog (2005). He also made memorable appearances on such U.S. television programs as the hit action thriller series 24 (as the villainous former Soviet Red Army general Dmitri Gredenko during season six) and the short-lived sci-fi show Surface (as a mysterious Serbian scientist). In 2008, Serbedzija teamed up with co-directors Xavier Palud and David Moreau and star Jessica Alba for a supporting role in the psychologically charged horror opus The Eye. He went on to appear in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as well as in Angelina Jolie's directorial debut In the Land of Honey.

Trivia: Started taking singing lessons when he was 8. His first acting role was playing the French mouse in Alice in Wonderland. A former member of England's National Youth Music Theatre. Is the lead singer and guitarist in a band called the Darling Buds. Modeled full-time for Select Model Management in London. Suffers from a mild form of dyslexia. Increased his profile in 2009 with the role of Caius in The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

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: Her grandfather was a Member of Parliament and was awarded a hereditary baronetcy; her father and mother were both titled. At age 8, boarded at the Arts Educational School in Tring Park to do ballet, drama and music; originally wanted to be a ballet dancer but soon realised she was better at acting. Her breakout role was as DS Jane Penhaligon in Cracker from 1993 to 1995; her co-star Robbie Coltrane's funny stories often made her corpse during filming. In 2003, played Henriette d'Angleterre in Lindsay Posner's staging of Power at the National Theatre, London. Was offered the role of Lily Potter in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone after JK Rowling turned it down; went on to appear in every film of the franchise.

Trivia: In films since at least 1963's The Scarlet Blade, British actor Michael Byrne has had roles ranging from the benign to the malevolent. He was equally at home with the Olde English trappings of Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1973) as he was with the up-to-date gangster ambience of The Long Good Friday (1982). Among his credits were Butley (1974), A Bridge too Far (1977) (halfway down the cast sheet as Lt. Col. Vandelur), The Medusa Touch (1978) and Force 10 from Navarone (1978). In 1989, Michael Byrne played Vogel, one of the multitudes of plot motivators in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Trivia: Actor Warwick Davis is best known for portraying the title character -- a role written especially for him by story writer George Lucas -- in Ron Howard's sword and sorcery fantasy Willow (1988). Davis made his film debut at age 11 playing the Ewok Wicket W. Warrick in Return of the Jedi (1983). Then only 2'11" tall, he auditioned the role after his grandmother overheard a casting call for little people on the radio. During production he began a friendship with director George Lucas and went on to reprise the role in a pair of made-for-television movies: The Ewok Adventure (1984) and The Battle of Endor (1986). When Davis married in 1991, he and wife, Samantha Burroughs, honeymooned on Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. Fans of horror fare will recognize Davis as the murderous, magical little person in the five Leprechaun (1993) films. In addition to his feature film work, which includes Prince Valiant (1997) and Star Wars: Episode 1, Davis has also appeared on television in movies and miniseries such as the BBC's popular Chronicle of Narnia and the American-made Gulliver's Travels (1996). In addition, he works occasionally on the British stage. Davis owns a production company, Inch High Productions, and for it has directed and produced musical and industrial videos. In 1994, he co-founded Willow Personal Management Ltd. with former castmate Peter Burroughs. They bill it as "The Largest Agency for Short Actors in the World."In the first decade of the 21st century Davis was cast as Professor Filius Flitwick in the Harry Potter films and he would go on to appear in every film in that highly successful franchise. He appeared in the 2004 biopic Ray, and in 2011 he joined forces with Ricky Gervais for the sitcom Life's Too Short.