Trivia: Since 1994, audiences have watched as Claire Danes has matured from awkward teen to one of the most popular actresses of her generation. Whether portraying the angst-ridden Angela Chase on My So-Called Life or trailer park trash in Oliver Stone's U-Turn, Danes has consistently displayed an uncommon maturity and insight in her performances that belies her relative inexperience. Her ability has won over countless critics and fans and has allowed her the opportunity to work with luminaries ranging from Jeanne Moreau to Jodie Foster and Francis Ford Coppola. Claire Catherine Danes was born April 12, 1979 in New York City and began acting shortly thereafter. With the support of her artistically-inclined parents (a painter mother and photographer father), Danes enrolled in an acting class at the Lee Strasberg Studio when she was nine years old. After attending the Professional Performing Arts School for the sixth and seventh grade, she went to Los Angeles in the hopes of being cast in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (Danes had previously appeared in an episode of Law and Order and in Dreams of Love, an obscure film produced by Milos Forman). While she was waiting for Spielberg's decision, serendipity struck in the form of the makers of a new TV show called My So-Called Life, who wanted Danes to star in their production. Danes agreed to do the show after turning down the role that Spielberg had decided to give her. Always someone interested in learning, Danes rejected Spielberg's offer because she wouldn't be able to receive schooling in Poland, where the movie was to be filmed.Premiering in 1994, My So-Called Life lasted only a couple of seasons, but garnered critical praise and a cult following during its brief lifetime. Moreover, it made Danes, if not a star, then a star in the making. Hollywood opened its bleary eyes and took notice, and soon Danes was being touted as the Next Big Thing. During the run of My So-Called Life, Danes starred as the saintly, sickly Beth in Gillian Armstrong's adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic Little Women (1994). The film was a success, and allowed Danes to perform in the company of such well-respected actors as Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder, and Gabriel Byrne (who would later play her father in Polish Wedding). Danes followed up Little Women with How to Make an American Quilt (1995), which, despite a stellar cast including Anne Bancroft, Alfre Woodard, and the great Jean Simmons, failed to make much of a critical or popular impression. Danes' next project, Jodie Foster's Home for the Holidays, met with a similar fate, but afforded Danes the chance to work with Foster, who became a sort of mentor to the young actress.After making two more films, which continued Danes' pattern of starring in movies that behaved badly at the box office despite having bankable actors (Jeanne Moreau in the straight-to-video I Love You, I Love You Not (1996) and Michelle Pfeiffer in To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996)), Danes hit it big with Baz Luhrmann's wildly popular William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996). Her portrayal of Juliet broke the hearts and opened the tear ducts of many, while her pairing with Hot Young Thing Leonardo DiCaprio undoubtedly caused mass swooning incidents in theatres the world over. The critical and commercial success of the film meant that Danes was soon in great demand, as evidenced by the people she was able to work with over the next couple of years. After Romeo + Juliet, Danes worked with Oliver Stone on the lunatics-in-a-small-desert-town picture U-Turn (1997), a film that caused consternation among critics and at the box office. Danes' turn as Joaquin Phoenix's trashy girlfriend represented a departure from her previous, more innocent roles, something that she embellished upon in both Francis Ford Coppola's The Rainmaker, where she played Andrew Shue's abused wife, and A Polish Wedding (1998), in which she portrayed the rebellious Hala. Neither movie was particularly successful, an unfortunate bit of luck that continued with Danes' next two efforts, Les Miserables (1998) and The Mod Squad (1998), the latter of which, despite the high anticipation surrounding its release, was panned by critics who complained it looked more like a Diesel ad than a movie, and largely ignored by the public.Through it all, Danes has remained in the media spotlight, appearing on countless magazine covers and as the object of speculation for many. Aside from the bad publicity surrounding remarks she made about the Phillipines during the making of Brokedown Palace (1999), and her subsequent banning from that country, she has continued to attract positive attention for everything from her enrollment at Yale University in 1998 to her boyfriends, who include the Australian rocker Ben Lee.Despite a series of misses during the late 90's, Danes came back with several small but critically acclaimed roles. In Igby Goes Down (2002), she played the confused love interest of the title character, starred alongside Sean Penn in director Thomas Vinterburg's It's All About Love (2002), and took part in the Academy-Award winning The Hours (2002). While her performance in The Rage at Placid Lake (a 2003 Australian production featuring her boyfriend Ben Lee) went largely unnoticed, mainstream audiences got their chance to see Danes butting heads on screen with Arnold Schwarzenegger and newcomer Nick Stahl in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. In 2005, Danes joined Steve Martin in the adaptation of Martin's bestselling novella, Shopgirl. That same year, she could be seen as Sarah Jessica Parker's sister in the dysfunctional-family comedy The Family Stone. Dane's career continued to build momentum in 2007, when she appeared in an eclectic trio of projects: the romantic drama Evening, the adventure fantasy Stardust, and the taut thriller The Flock, which cast her as the law-enforcement protege of a veteran played by Richard Gere.In 2009 she played a young woman looking to make it in showbiz by working for the greatest talent of his generation in Richard Linklater's Me & Orson Welles. She followed that up playing the lead in the made-for-cable biopic Temple Grandin, a project that earned her a Golden Globe and an Emmy. She took the most prominent role in the new Showtime series Homeland, playing a law-enforcement officer with personal problems, and again won a Golden Globe for her work in that show's initial season.

Trivia: With a rare beauty that has inspired countless platitudes and an almost-permanent place on People's Fifty Most Beautiful list, Michelle Pfeiffer had to work long and hard before getting respect for her talent, rather than mere adulation for her looks. Born April 29, 1957, in Santa Ana, CA, Pfeiffer got her first taste of fame in her late teens, when she won both the Miss Orange County beauty contest and then the title of Miss Los Angeles. After high school, Pfeiffer went to college for a year, deciding that she wanted to become a court reporter. It was while working in a supermarket that Pfeiffer realized that acting was her true calling and she auditioned for commercials and modeling assignments while she attended acting school.Pfeiffer debuted before the cameras in a one-line role on the TV series Fantasy Island and went on to a string of bit parts on TV. She debuted on the big screen in a small part in Falling in Love Again (1980) and then had small roles in two more films before getting her big break with the role of Stephanie in Grease 2 (1982). This led to her portrayal of Al Pacino's wife in Brian De Palma's 1983 classic Scarface, for which the actress garnered favorable attention and greater opportunities. Her first starring role was in the comedy thriller Into the Night (1984) with Jeff Goldblum and was followed by a turn in Richard Donner's fantasy adventure Ladyhawke (1985). Over the next couple of years, Pfeiffer acted in films of varying quality, but it was with 1987's The Witches of Eastwick that her career turned in a truly positive direction. Starring alongside Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Jack Nicholson, Pfeiffer received much acclaim for her work, acclaim that continued with her turn in Dangerous Liaisons (1988), for which she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. The same year, Pfeiffer took on an entirely different role as a Mafia wife in the 1988 hit comedy Married to the Mob. In 1990, she was rewarded with yet another Oscar nomination -- this time for Best Actress -- for her portrayal of a nightclub singer in The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989). The 1990s proved to be a good decade for Pfeiffer, allowing her to branch out with a variety of roles that kept her from being pigeonholed and provided opportunities for her to showcase her versatility. Highlights from the first half of the decade included the 1991 romantic drama Frankie and Johnny, in which she played a frumpy, bitter waitress opposite Al Pacino; 1993's underrated Love Field, for which she received her second Best Actress nomination; Tim Burton's 1992 adventure Batman Returns, in which she co-starred with Michael Keaton and a lethally sexy cat suit; and the acclaimed 1993 Martin Scorsese adaptation of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence. That same year, Pfeiffer would finally realize her lifelong goal of motherhood when she adpoted a baby girl named Claudia just a few short months before walking down the aisle for a second time to wed Ally McBeal and Boston Legal creator David E. Kelley (the actress' previous marriage to actor Peter Horton had dissolved in 1988). In 1994, Pfeiffer and Kelly would complete their nuclear family when the ecstatic mother gave birth to young John Henry.The second half of the decade saw Pfeiffer stick to dramas and romantic comedies, notably the 1996 hit One Fine Day with George Clooney, Jocelyn Moorhouse's 1997 adaptation of Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres, the star-studded 1999 adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the family drama The Deep End of the Ocean. Through it all, Pfeiffer maintained her siren status while increasing her bankability, no small feat in an industry where women over the age of 27 are often labeled as past their prime. Not that Pfeiffer would be in any danger of losing her looks in the near future; after perfectly meeting the rigorous standards of California plastic-surgeon Dr. Stephen Marquardt's complex "beauty formula" in 2001, the sultry actress was singled out as having the most beautiful face in all of Hollywood. Of course Pfeiffer's face alone couldn't be held accountable for her wild success, and the millennial turnover found the talented actress apprearing in such high-profile features as Rob Reiner's comedic marriage drama The Story of Us, Robert Zemeckis' supernatural thriller What Lies Beneath, and the Sean Penn drama I Am Sam. A supporting role in the 2002 literary adaptation White Oleander found Pfeiffer supporting an all-star cast of Hollywood up and comers, and a role as the voice of the goddess Eris in 2003's Sinbad: The Legend of the Seven Seas marked her first foray into animated feature territory. In 2006 Pfeiffer would continue to turn heads when she accepted the role of an older woman who falls for a younger man in director Amy Heckerling's I Could Never Be Your Woman. A small role in director Adam Shankman's phenominally successful remake of John Waters' Hairspray was quick to follow, and after enchanting fantasy fans in 2007's Stardust, the veteran actress was sexy as ever as an aging seductress in Stephen Frears' Cheri. And though her 2008 film Personal Effects only received a limited release, Pfeiffer would quickly returns to the screen in director Garry Marshall's episodic rom com New Years Eve, and Tim Burton's misguided feature adaptation of the popular supernatural soap opera Dark Shadows.

Trivia: Considered one of the best actors of his generation, Robert De Niro built a durable star career out of his formidable ability to disappear into a character. The son of artists, De Niro was raised in New York's Greenwich Village. The young man made his stage debut at age 10, playing the Cowardly Lion in his school's production of The Wizard of Oz. Along with finding relief from shyness through performing, De Niro was also entranced by the movies, and he quit high school at age 16 to pursue acting. Studying under Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg, De Niro learned how to immerse himself in a character emotionally and physically. After laboring in off-off-Broadway productions in the early '60s, De Niro was cast alongside fellow novice Jill Clayburgh in film-school graduate Brian De Palma's The Wedding Party (1969). He followed this with small movies like Greetings, Hi, Mom!, Sam's Song, and Bloody Mama.De Niro's professional life took an auspicious turn, however, when he was re-introduced to former Little Italy acquaintance Martin Scorsese at a party in 1972. Sharing a love of movies as well as their neighborhood background, De Niro and Scorsese hit it off. De Niro was immediately interested when Scorsese asked him about appearing in his new film, Mean Streets, conceived as a grittier, more authentic portrait of the Mafia than The Godfather. De Niro's appearance in the film made waves with critics, as did his completely different performance as a dying simple-minded catcher in the quiet baseball drama Bang the Drum Slowly (1973). Francis Ford Coppola was impressed enough by Mean Streets to cast De Niro as the young Vito Corleone in the early 1900s portion of The Godfather Part II. Closely studying Brando's Oscar-winning performance as Don Corleone in The Godfather, and perfecting his accent for speaking his lines in subtitled Sicilian, De Niro was so effective as the lethally ambitious and lovingly paternal Corleone that he took home a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the role.De Niro next headed to Europe to star in Bernardo Bertolucci's opus, 1900 (1976) before returning to the U.S. to collaborate with Scorsese on the far leaner (and meaner) production, Taxi Driver. After working for two weeks as a Manhattan cabbie and losing weight, De Niro transformed himself into disturbed "God's lonely man" Travis Bickle. One of the definitive films of the decade, Taxi Driver earned the Cannes Film Festival's top prize and several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and De Niro's first nod for Best Actor. Controversy erupted about the film's violence, however, when would-be presidential assassin John W. Hinckley cited Taxi Driver as a formative influence in 1981.De Niro and Scorsese would reteam for the lavish musical New York, New York (1977), and though the film was a complete flop, De Niro quickly recovered with another risky and ambitious project, Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978). One of the first wave of Vietnam movies, The Deer Hunter starred De Niro as one of three Pennsylvania steel-town friends thrown into the war's inferno who emerged as profoundly changed men. Though the film provoked an uproar over its portrayal of Viet Cong violence as (literally) Russian roulette, The Deer Hunter won several Oscars.Returning to the realm of more personal violence, De Niro followed The Deer Hunter with his and Scorsese's masterpiece, Raging Bull, a tragic portrait of boxer [%Ray La Motta]. Along with his notorious 60-pound weight gain that rendered him unrecognizable as the middle-aged Jake, De Niro also trained so intensely for the outstanding fight scenes that La Motta himself stated that De Niro could have boxed professionally. Along with his physical dedication, De Niro won over critics with his ability to humanize La Motta without softening him. Raging Bull received eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.Though he was well suited to star in Sergio Leone's epic homage to gangster films, Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Leone's tough, transcendent vision couldn't survive the studio's decision to hack 88 minutes out of the American release version. De Niro next took a breather from films to return to the stage, playing a drug dealer in the New York Public Theater production Cuba and His Teddy Bear. During his theater stint, De Palma made De Niro a movie offer he couldn't refuse when he asked him to play a small role in his film version of The Untouchables (1987). As the rotund, charismatic, bat-wielding Al Capone, De Niro was a memorable adversary for Kevin Costner's upstanding Elliot Ness, and The Untouchables became De Niro's first hit in almost a decade. De Niro followed The Untouchables with his first comedy success, Midnight Run (1988), costarring as a bounty hunter opposite Charles Grodin's bail-jumping accountant.Though he earned an Oscar nomination for his touching performance as a patient in Penny Marshall's popular drama Awakenings (1990), movie fans were perhaps more thrilled by De Niro's return to the Scorsese fold, playing cruelly duplicitous Irish mobster Jimmy "The Gent" opposite Ray Liotta's turncoat Henry Hill in the critically lauded Mafia film Goodfellas (1990). De Niro worked with Scorsese again in the thriller remake Cape Fear (1991), sporting a hillbilly accent and pumped-up physique. It was Scorsese and De Niro's biggest hit together and earned another Oscar nod for the star. De Niro subsequently costarred as a geeky cop in the Scorsese-produced Mad Dog and Glory (1993).De Niro also revealed that he had learned a great deal from his work with Scorsese with his own directorial debut, A Bronx Tale (1993). A well-observed story of a boy torn between his father and the local mob, A Bronx Tale earned praise, but De Niro was soon back to working with Scorsese, starring as Vegas kingpin Sam Rothstein in Casino (1995) -- based on the story of real-life handicapper Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal -- staged with Scorsese's customary visual brilliance and pairing De Niro with his Raging Bull brother and Goodfellas associate Joe Pesci.Appearing in as many as three films a year after 1990, De Niro was particularly praised for his polished reserve in Michael Mann's glossy policer Heat (1995), which offered the rare spectacle of De Niro and Pacino sharing the screen, if only in two scenes. After indifferently received turns in The Fan (1996), Sleepers (1996), and Cop Land (1997), De Niro stepped outside his comfort zone to play an amoral political strategist in Barry Levinson's sharp satire Wag the Dog (1997) and a dangerously dimwitted crook in Quentin Tarantino's laid-back crime story Jackie Brown (1997). De Niro was front and center -- and knee deep in self-parody -- in the comedy Analyze This (1999), aided and abetted by a nicely low-key Billy Crystal as his reluctant psychiatrist. De Niro would continue to lampoon his own tough-guy image in the sequel Analyze That, as well as the popular Meet the Parents franchise. As the decade wore on, De Niro took on roles that failed to live up to his acclaimed earlier work, such as with lukewarm thrillers like The Score, Godsend, Righteous Kill, and Hide and Seek. However, De Niro continued to work on his ambitious and long-planned next foray behind the camera, the acclaimed CIA drama The Good Shepherd.He continued to work steadily in a variety of projects including Stardust, What Just Happened, and Everybody's Fine. He became a Kennedy Center honoree in 2009. He reteamed with Ben Stiller for Little Fockers in 2010, and played a corrupt politician in Machete that same year. In 2011 he appeared opposite Bradley Cooper in the thriller Limitless, which seemingly laid the groundwork for their reteaming as father and son in the 2012 comedy Silver Linings Playbook. For his work in that movie, De Niro earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Trivia: London-born actor Charlie Cox got his start onscreen opposite Y Tu Mamá También star Gael García Bernal in the 2003 drama Dot the I before leaping into the celluloid time machine for back-to-back period roles in The Merchant of Venice and Casanova. Formally trained in his craft at the Sherborne School in Dorset, Cox immediately immersed himself in film following his graduation and never looked back. In 2007, Cox set out on the quest of a lifetime as the main protagonist of Matthew Vaughn's Stardust. Adapted from the Neil Gaiman graphic novel of the same name, Stardust tells the tale of a young man from a quiet village who ventures out into a magical land for the purpose of retrieving a fallen star for his true love.

Trivia: With a mother who ran London's famed Lee Strasberg drama school -- and being the sort of knockout blonde beauty adored by the cameras -- it was not surprising that Sienna Miller eventually gravitated to an acting career. Born in New York to an American banker father and a mother who was always associated with the arts, young Miller received her primary education at the Heathfield School in Ascot, Surrey, before pursuing acting at New York's Lee Strasberg Institute. Her feature debut in the 2002 drama Joy Rider found the emerging actress caught in the middle of a heated love triangle, and after essaying a role in a BBC television drama Bedtime in 2001, Miller crossed the pond to appear on the stateside series Keen Eddie. Trading zingers with the series' lead Mark Valley, Miller played her character with just the sort of chemistry needed to make an action comedy series work. If subsequent roles in the films Layer Cake and Alfie weren't enough to get people talking about Miller, her sometime relationship with the latter film's star, Jude Law, certainly helped keep gossip columnists in business. In the years to come, Miller would remain a well known name primarily for her acting, appearing in several projects per year such as Factor Girl, The Edge of Love, and many more.

Trivia: Born in Reading, England, Ricky Gervais worked in the music industry as a radio DJ, band manager, and music supervisor before getting into comedy. As a writer, he provided scripts for the U.K. television series Bruiser and The Sketch Show. As an actor, he was seen quite a bit on The 11 O'Clock Show and provided the voice of the Penguin in the animated show Robbie the Reindeer: Legend of the Lost Tribe. In 2000, he had his own show called Meet Ricky Gervais. On the big screen, Gervais appeared as the bouncer in the U.K. comedy Dog Eat Dog. He's most known, however, as the writer/director/star of the hit BBC comedy series The Office. He plays David Brent, regional manager of the Wernham Hogg paper company in the London industrial suburb of Slough. A brilliant observation of the contemporary workplace, the show has won a variety of awards over in Britain. Gervais received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2003. Projects for 2004 include voice work on the animated film Valiant and producing an Americanized version of The Office with director Greg Daniels. He created and starred in Extras, another bitingly funny TV series, this one about a struggling actor. In 2008 he had a leading role for the first time in an American film, the supernatural comedy Ghost Town. The next year he wrote, directed, and starred in the acerbic comedy The Invention of Lying. He earned a ton of buzz in 2010 for his prickly hosting of the Golden Globes, a job he would repeat the next two years as well. In 2011 he debuted a new show he created with actor Warwick Davis, Life's Too Short.

Trivia: An actor who is equally adept at donning wigs and machine guns for period dramas and modern gangster films alike, Jason Flemyng is one of Britain's more versatile, unpredictable, and underrated performers. Born in London on September 25, 1966, Flemyng made his stage debut at the age of ten as the Tin Man in a school production of The Wizard of Oz. After studying drama at the National Youth Theatre and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, he was accepted into the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he stayed for three years. Flemyng broke into film and television in 1992, appearing in a number of made-for-TV movies and in John Schlesinger's Question of Attribution, an adaptation of Alan Bennett's play about the 1950s Burgess-Maclean-Philby spy scandal. Supporting roles and a lead in Indian Summer (1996), which cast him as a dancer with AIDS, followed, and in 1996, the actor garnered a measure of international recognition for his work in two films. One, Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty, saw him sharing a scene with Liv Tyler, while the searing family drama Hollow Reed featured Flemyng as a white-collared child abuser who beats his girlfriend's young son.After a turn as an 18th-century composer in François Girard's The Red Violin (1998), Flemyng starred in perhaps his most internationally successful film to date, Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). An incredibly stylish crime comedy set in London's rough East End, the film -- which starred Flemyng as one of a group of friends trying to pull off a heist -- was a surprise hit in both the U.K. and overseas, which resulted in widespread attention for its director and cast. Flemyng re-teamed with Ritchie in 2000 for Snatch, another heist picture. That same year, he also had a number of other projects lined up, including Bruiser, a thriller about a put-upon magazine grunt who strikes back at everyone who has wronged him, and The Body, a religious drama in which he appeared alongside Antonio Banderas and Derek Jacobi. Gaining increasing exposure in such films as Rock Star and From Hell (both 2001), Flemyng would soon re-team with Snatch co-star Vinnie Jones in the The Longest Yard remake Mean Machine (2001) before taking the lead in the comedy Lighthouse Hill (2002) and gearing up to go schizophrenic as the malevolent Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde in the eagerly anticipated comic book adaptation The League of Extrodinary Gentlemen (2003).

Trivia: A wickedly debonair blend of Cary Grant and Joan Crawford, British actor Rupert Everett almost single-handedly conquered Hollywood with his turn as the man who dances off into the sunset with Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding. As the handsome, elegant, and gay George, Everett (who had been openly gay for some years) ushered in a different kind of gay sensibility in Hollywood, one that, rather than begging audiences for acceptance, flatly told them to get over it.Born in Norfolk, England, to a wealthy family on May 29, 1959, Everett was sent away for schooling at the age of seven. Taught by Benedictine monks at Amplesforth College, he was a good student and trained to be a classical pianist. After he discovered acting at the age of 15, he dropped out of school and ran off to London, where he supported himself as a prostitute for a couple of years (something he admitted in a 1997 interview with US magazine) and eventually enrolled at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Unfortunately, Everett clashed frequently with instructors and eventually dropped out, choosing to flee to Scotland. It was there that he got his first professional job as an apprentice with the Citizen's Theatre of Glasgow, and in the early '80s, his career began to bud. In 1982, he created the role of Guy Bennett for the West End production of Another Country, which also featured a very young Kenneth Branagh. Everett won raves for his portrayal of the younger version of real-life spy Guy Burgess, and in 1984 re-created the role for the play's film version. The following year, he starred with Miranda Richardson in Dance With a Stranger, turning in a strong performance in the critically acclaimed film. Although it seemed Everett's career was on the rise, the actor unfortunately opted for near-nonentity status with his 1987 U.S. film debut in Hearts of Fire, a rock & roll drama co-starring Bob Dylan. Following this flop, Everett disappeared for a while, taking up residence in Paris and writing a semi-autobiographical novel, Hello, Darling, Are You Working?.In 1991, Everett resurfaced with a lead role in The Comfort of Strangers opposite Natasha Richardson before appearing in 1993's Inside Monkey Zetterland, a film featuring a bizarre title, large ensemble cast (which included Patricia Arquette and Sandra Bernhard), and miserable reviews. Everett's subsequent feature, Prêt-à-Porter (1994), also featured an unconventional title, a large ensemble cast (including Julia Roberts, Sophia Loren, Stephen Rea, and Tim Robbins), and miserable reviews, but in its favor, it also featured a director named Robert Altman. Furthermore, Everett actually managed to make a favorable impression as a philandering fashion house scion, favor that was magnified, during the same year, with his hilarious turn as the fat and lazy Prince of Wales in Nicholas Hytner's The Madness of King George. However, for all of the positive attention he received, Everett incurred only bafflement with his next two films, the Italian schlock-fest Dellamorte, Dellamore (1994) and Dunston Checks In (1996), in which the actor starred with Faye Dunaway and an orangutan.1997 marked the turning point in Everett's career, as it brought with it his star-making role in My Best Friend's Wedding. The actor caused something of a sensation among male and female filmgoers alike, who wanted more of the handsome actor with the languorous wit. They got more of him the following year, in Shakespeare in Love, in which Everett had a supporting role as playwright Christopher Marlowe, and in B. Monkey, in which he played Jonathan Rhys Meyers' criminal lover. 1999 proved to be a very fruitful year for the actor -- who by this time was being hailed as Hollywood's Gay Prince -- as it featured the actor in leading roles in three films. He first played Oberon in Michael Hoffman's A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which he was part of an all-star cast including Michelle Pfeiffer, Kevin Kline, Christian Bale, and Calista Flockhart. Next came Oliver Parker's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, for which Everett netted positive reviews in his central role as the delightfully idle Lord Goring. Finally, he camped and vamped it up as the resident villain of Inspector Gadget, once again demonstrating to audiences why it could feel so good to be so bad.In 2000 he appeared opposite Madonna in the comedy The Next Best Thing. Two years later he was cast in The Importance of Being Earnest, and followed that up with parts in Stage Beauty, Separate Lies, and People as well as lending his voice to effects heavy and animated projects like The Chronicles of Narnia and Shrek the Third. In 2011 he had a scene-stealing turn in the period sex comedy Hysteria.

Trivia: The legendary Irish-born thespian Peter O'Toole proves that when an actor is faced with a bitter personal crisis and struggles with addiction, spirit and determination can often lead to a forceful "third act" in that performer's career that rivals anything to have preceded it. Blessed with an immensity of dramatic power, the fair-haired, blue-eyed, flamboyant, and virile O'Toole chalked up one of the most formidable acting resumes of the 20th century during the 1950s and '60s, before experiencing an ugly bout of self-destruction in the mid-'70s that led to serious health problems, several disappointing and embarrassing roles, and the destruction of his marriage, and threatened (in the process) to bury his career. By 1980, however, O'Toole overcame his problems and resurfaced, triumphantly, as a box-office star.O'Toole began life in Connemara, Ireland, in either 1932 or 1933 (most sources list his birthdate as August 2, 1932, though the year is occasionally disputed). His family moved to Leeds, England in the early '30s, where O'Toole's father earned his keep as a racetrack bookie. Around 1946, 14-year-old O'Toole dropped out of secondary school and signed on with The Yorkshire Evening Post as copy boy, messenger, and eventually, a cub reporter. Within three years, he dropped the newspaper gig and joined the Leeds Civic Theatre as a novice player; this paved the way for ongoing parts at the much-revered Old Vic (after O'Toole's military service in the Royal Navy as a signalman and decoder), beginning around 1955. A half-decade of stage roles quickly yielded to screen parts in the early '60s. O'Toole actually debuted (with a bit role) in 1959, in The Savage Innocents, but international fame did not arrive for a few years, with several enviable back-to-back characterizations in the 1960s: that of the gallant, inscrutable T.E. Lawrence in Sir David Lean's 1962 feature Lawrence of Arabia (for which he received his first Best Actor Oscar nomination); Henry II in Peter Glenville's 1964 Becket (starring longtime friend Richard Burton), for which he received his second Best Actor Oscar nomination; the title character in Lord Jim (1965), and philandering fashion editor Michael James in the popular Clive Donner-Woody Allen sex farce What's New Pussycat? (1965). O'Toole's success continued, unabated, with yet another appearance as Henry II alongside Katharine Hepburn in Anthony Harvey's The Lion in Winter (1968), which netted him a third Best Actor Oscar nod. Unfortunately, O'Toole lost yet again, this time (in a completely unexpected turn of events) to Cliff Robertson in Charly, though a fourth nomination was only a year away, for the actor's work in 1969's Goodbye, Mr. Chips. The early 1970s were equally electric for O'Toole, with the highlight undoubtedly being his characterization of a delusional mental patient who thinks he's alternately Jesus Christ and Jack the Ripper in The Ruling Class (1972), Peter Medak's outrageous farce on the "deific" pretensions of British royalty. That gleaned O'Toole a fifth Oscar nomination; Jay Cocks, of Time Magazine called his performance one "of such intensity that it will haunt memory. He is funny, disturbing, and finally, devastating." Unfortunately, this represented the last high point of his career for many years, and the remainder of the '70s were marred by a series of disappointing and best-forgotten turns -- such as Don Quixote in Arthur Hiller's laughable musical Man of La Mancha (1972), covert CIA agent Larry Martin in Otto Preminger's spy thriller Rosebud (1975), and a Romanian émigré and refugee in Arturo Ripstein's soaper Foxtrot (1976). Meanwhile, O'Toole's off-camera life hit the nadir to end all nadirs. Though long known as a carouser (with friends and fellow Brits Burton, Richard Harris, Peter Finch, and others), O'Toole now plunged into no-holds-barred alcoholism, pushing himself to the very edge of sanity and death. The drinking necessitated major stomach surgery, and permanently ended his 20-year-marriage to Welsh actress Sian Phillips (best known as Livia in I, Claudius). Career-wise, O'Toole scraped the bottom of the gutter (and then some) when he made the foolish decision (around 1976 or 1977) to appear alongside Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren in the Bob Guccione/Tinto Brass Penthouse mega-production Caligula (released 1980) -- a period film wall-to-wall with hardcore sex and visceral, graphic violence that led celebrity critic Roger Ebert to echo another viewer's lament: "This movie is the worst piece of s*** I have ever seen." It did not help matters when O'Toole returned to The Old Vic not long after, and was roundly booed off the stage for his uncharacteristically wretched portrayal of Macbeth. The Macbeth calamity, however, masked a slow return to triumph, for O'Toole had since resolved to clean himself up; he moved in with Kate and Pat O'Toole, his two actress daughters from his marriage to Phillips, both of whom were teenagers in the late 1970s, and both of whom cared for him. And in 1979, he signed on to play one of the most esteemed roles of his career -- that of the sadistic, tyrannical director Eli Cross in Richard Rush's wicked black comedy The Stunt Man (1980) -- a role for which O'Toole received a sixth Oscar nomination. O'Toole again lost the bid, this time to Robert De Niro in Raging Bull. Not one to be daunted, however, the actor continued down the path to full professional and personal recovery by beginning an ongoing relationship with California model Karen Brown, and fathering a child by her in 1983. O'Toole then signed on for many fine roles throughout the 1980s and '90s: that of Alan Swann, a hard-drinking, hard-loving, has-been movie star, in Richard Benjamin's delightfully wacky 1982 film My Favorite Year (which drew the thesp yet another nomination for Best Actor -- his seventh); and as Professor Harry Wolper, a scientist obsessively trying to re-clone his deceased wife, in Ivan Passer's quirky, underrated romantic fantasy Creator (1985). Despite occasional lapses in taste and quality, such as 1984's Supergirl and 1986's Club Paradise, O'Toole was clearly back on top of his game, and he proved it with an admirable turn as Reginald Johnston in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1987 Best Picture winner, The Last Emperor. That same year, O'Toole signed on to co-star in High Spirits (1988), fellow Irishman Neil Jordan's whimsical, spiritual ghost story with Shakespearean overtones. At the time, this looked like a solid decision, but neither Jordan nor O'Toole nor their co-stars, Steve Guttenberg, Liam Neeson, and Daryl Hannah, could have anticipated the massive studio interference that (in the words of Pauline Kael) "whacked away at the film, removing between 15 and 25 percent of the footage" and turned it into one of that year's biggest flops. Ditto with Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1990 comedy fantasy The Rainbow Thief, where studio interference again all but destroyed the work.O'Toole remained active throughout the 1990s, largely with fine supporting roles, such as Willingham in King Ralph (1991), Welsh nobleman Lord Sam in Rebecca's Daughters (1992), Bishop Cauchon in the made-for-television Joan of Arc (1999), and Von Hindenburg in the telemovie Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003). In late 2006, O'Toole hit another career peak with a fine turn as a wily old thesp who enjoys a last-act fling with a twentysomething admirer, in the Roger Michell-directed, Hanif Kureishi-scripted character-driven comedy Venus. The effort reeled in an eighth Best Actor Oscar nomination for the actor. In 2007 he voiced the part of the critic in Pixar's Ratatouille, and in 2008 he joined the cast of The Tudors playing Pope Paul III. He played a priest in 2012's For Greater Glory and filmed a role for Katherine of Alexandria (2014) before he died at age 81 in 2013.

Trivia: With a handsome visage, but also slightly gaunt and stark features that could suggest menace or intensity at the drop of a hat, raven-haired Englishman Mark Strong essayed a long and surprisingly diverse list of character roles throughout the 1990s and 2000s; many played perfectly off of these physical attributes. Early in his career, Strong remained almost exclusively in Britain, for such efforts as Captives (1994) , Sharpe's Mission (1996), Emma (1997), and Fever Pitch (1997). In time, however, the actor went transcontinental, turning up in fare as diverse as the István Szabó epic drama Sunshine (1999) and American indie helmer Mike Figgis' 2001 Hotel -- thus showcasing his own versatility. Strong's role choice during this period also suggested a strong predilection for cinematizations of classics, from Henry VIII (2003) to Tristan & Isolde (2005). He gained heightened recognition among U.S. audiences (particularly young viewers) in 2007, when he played Septimus, the one of the many heirs to the throne of Stormhold, in Matthew Vaughn's wondrous fantasy Stardust.

Trivia: Sturdy, unconventionally attractive British actress Kate Magowan built a substantial onscreen career during the mid- to late 2000s. Throughout, she revealed a marked preference for U.K. independent films and a laudable ability to ferret out critically respected material. The actress landed one of her first cinematic roles under the aegis of esteemed director Michael Winterbottom, with a bit part on the filmmaker's 2002 feature 24 Hour Party People -- a hugely ambitious, if imperfect, trip through the musical history of Manchester, England. She followed it up (and received higher billing) with the similarly themed It's All Gone Pete Tong (2004), a mockumentary about the rise and fall of a DJ. Magowan is best known to American audiences, however, for her colorful turn as a witch's slave (opposite Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer) in the 2007 Stardust. The film represented Magowan's first major Hollywood effort. In her native England, Magowan appeared as a guest star on such television series as The Bill and Manchild. She appeared in Julian Gilbey's 2011 thriller A Lonely Place to Die.

Trivia: Perhaps best known for his work in American and British theater, Nathaniel Parker occasionally appears in feature films and on television. Born and raised in London, Parker studied drama at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art; he began his professional career in1986, in a Young Vic's production of Romeo and Juliet. After that, he spent two years with the Royal Shakespeare Company where he garnered international acclaim for his performance opposite Dustin Hoffman in Sir Peter Hall's production of The Merchant of Venice, which played on both sides of the Atlantic. Parker made his feature debut in War Requiem, the first British made-for-television film to receive theatrical release. Some of his more notable films include Squanto: A Warrior's Tale (1995) and Mel Gibson's version of Hamlet (1990), in which Parker played Laertes.

Trivia: TV director-producer father Frank Smith created the BBC show Panorama. Started acting in Edinburgh. Breakthrough came playing various roles in the British sketch-comedy series Armstrong and Miller. Relationship with veteran English actor Gerald Harper ended in 2002; he's 42 years her senior. Best known for playing Susan Walker on the hit British comedy Coupling (2000-04).

Trivia: British actor Mark Burns was cast in leading roles in several major films of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Seldom called upon to be anything more than devilishly handsome in period costumes, Burns was seen in Charge of the Light Brigade (1967), Death in Venice (1971), Juggernaut (1974) and The Wicked Lady (1983). If nothing else, Mark Burns deserves commendation for stamina above and beyond the call of duty. Burns managed to survive no fewer than two films based on novels by Jackie Collins and starring Jackie's sister Joan Collins: The Stud (1978) and The Bitch (1979).

Trivia: Moved to Wales at the age of 3. Her parents owned the medieval castle fortification turned hotel Ruthin Castle in Wales. Performed in the Cambridge Footlights while at university where she met Tilda Swinton. Used to work as a drama teacher at Leicester Polytechnic. The satirical NHS drama Getting On which she co-wrote with Jo Brand and Vicki Pepperdine, earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Female Performance in a Comedy and a BAFTA Television Craft nomination for screenwriting in 2011 and 2013. Her stage work includes working with Thea Starrock in the production of Cloud 9 at the Almeida Theatre and Top Girls; with Rufus Norris in Vernon God Little at the Young Vic; and appearing in Polly Teale's production of Madame Bovary.

Trivia: Actor Henry Cavill studied drama at Stowe School in England before trying his hand at a professional career in show business, beginning with a small role in The Count of Monte Cristo in 2001. Cavill was 18 and had already developed the square jaw and piercing stare that would soon make him a successful leading man, going up for roles like Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins and even James Bond in Casino Royale. He lost those roles to more well-known actors, but had no trouble building up his résumé with supporting roles in movies like Tristan & Isolde, before scoring the prominent role of Charles Brandon on the Showtime series The Tudors in 2007. He enjoyed a small part in the Woody Allen movie Whatever Works, and had a larger role in the action film Immortals in 2011. He was tapped to take over the iconic role of Superman in the planned 2013 project Man of Steel.

Trivia: Has an English father and American mother. Began acting as a member of the Medieval Players. Worked with Mark Saban as a street theatre duo in The Two Marks. Appeared as a car salesman in a SEAT television advertisment. Is the voice of the fox in the Old Speckeled Hen advertisment.

Trivia: Snake-eyed, mustachioed character actor Frank Ellis seldom rose above the "member of the posse" status in "B" westerns. Once in a while, he was allowed to say things like "Now here's my plan" and "Let's get outta here," but generally he stood by waiting for the Big Boss (usually someone like Harry Woods or Wheeler Oakman) to do his thinking for him. Ellis reportedly began making films around 1920; he remained in the business at least until the 1954 Allan Dwan-directed western Silver Lode. Frank Ellis has been erroneously credited with several policeman roles in the films of Laurel and Hardy, due to his resemblance to another bit player named Charles McMurphy.

Trivia: Best known as one-half of a popular British comedy team that also included Matt Lucas, comedic writer and actor David Walliams soared to fame on the back of the hit program that he and Lucas created during the early 2000s, Little Britain. A sketch comedy revue that coupled the irreverence of Saturday Night Live with a quintessentially English sensibility, this program quickly evolved into a British institution, and garnered legions of American fans, as well, when it ran on BBC America; its popularity prompted HBO to pick up the international rights for an American remake, christened Little Britain USA.Born David Williams in Surrey, England, in August 1971, Walliams grew up as the son of a lab technician mother and a father employed by London Transport. He studied at Reigate Grammar School and Bristol University, then enrolled in the National Youth Theater, where he and Lucas met and developed a fast friendship. The duo teamed up to create a music-themed spoof series, Rock Profile, in 1999. Though it evaded hit status, it did become something of a cult phenomenon, and inspired Walliams and Lucas to try again; the result, of course, was Little Britain (2003).On the side, Walliams also essayed on-camera comedic roles from time to time, in films including Clancy's Kitchen (1998), Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2005), Capturing Mary (2007), and Run, Fat Boy, Run (2007). In 2008, Walliams provided the voice of Bulgy Bear in Andrew Adamson and Walden Media's big-budget fantasy The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. He appeared in both Dinner for Schmucks and Marmaduke in 2010, and that same year he reteamed with Matt Lucas for the series Come Fly with Me.

Trivia: Irish actor David Kelly was probably best known to worldwide audiences for his role as Michael O'Sullivan in the 1998 comedy hit Waking Ned (known in the U.S. as Waking Ned Devine) and for several roles in the cult John Cleese TV series Fawlty Towers. However, he also performed in other major productions, including Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000), starring Kevin Spacey; the TV miniseries Kidnapped (1995), starring Armand Assante; A Man of No Importance (1994), starring Albert Finney; and the TV miniseries Scarlett (1994), starring Timothy Dalton. Kelly was born in Dublin on July 11, 1929. After undergoing training at Dublin's Abbey Theatre, he became a stage actor. Over the years, he has performed in productions of William Shakespeare, Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, Arthur Miller, and William Butler Yeats. He also acted in film adaptations of the works of James Joyce and Victor Hugo. Kelly's screen career began in 1958, when he appeared in Dublin Nightmare. Five years later, he landed a role in the TV series Doctor Who. After appearing in scores of other film, TV, and stage productions in the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s, Kelly continued to remain active in the new century in such films as Happy As Larry (2002), Mean Machine (2001), Rough for Theatre 1 (2000), Greenfingers (2000), and the previously mentioned Kevin Spacey film. He died at age 82 in 2012,

Trivia: A quintessentially British actor (with a classic "medieval" look) who made his name with deft portrayals of heroes in fantasy and adventure sagas, Ben Barnes graduated from the King's College School in England and landed one of his earliest assignments in a hybrid of the two said genres -- with a small supporting role playing Young Dunstan in Matthew Vaughn's offbeat Stardust (2007). Barnes then commenced a sequence of film appearances as Prince Caspian in the Chronicles of Narnia franchise, adapted from the popular novels by C.S. Lewis; he began, conveniently enough, with the lead in the outing Prince Caspian (2008).

Trivia: Scowling British character actor, onscreen from 1963.

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: Lead actor Dexter Fletcher first appeared onscreen in the '80s.

Trivia: Launching her career on radio at age 11, British actress Billie Whitelaw spent several seasons as an assistant stage manager before making her theatrical acting debut in 1950. The blonde, hypertense Whitelaw started out in films as a standard leading lady, but quickly distinguished herself in neurotic, single-purposed roles. She won a BFA award for her portrayal of Albert Finney's disgruntled ex-wife in Charlie Bubbles (1968). Billie Whitelaw's next screen assignment of note was as the smothering "monster mommy" of two of Britain's most vicious mob leaders in The Krays (1990). She played nurse Grace Poole in the 1996 version of Jane Eyre and appeared in the 1998 TV miniseries Merlin, playing Ambrosia. Whitelaw's final film appearance was Hot Fuzz (2007). She is also noted for having a close professional relationship with playwright Samuel Beckett, often being called his muse, and appeared in a number of his stage productions. Whitelaw died in 2014, at age 82.