Trivia: Standing four feet five inches tall, actor Peter Dinklage has had a prolific career both on-stage and in film. After graduating from college in Vermont, he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and the Welsh School of Music and Drama in Wales. He worked in several productions off-Broadway and wrote his own play entitled Frog. He made his film debut in Tom DiCillo's 1995 independent comedy Living in Oblivion as the dwarf in the dream sequence. He then appeared in Safe Men, Bullet, Never Again, and Just a Kiss before returning to independent comedies. In 2001 he had a substantial role in Michel Gondry's Human Nature, written by Charlie Kaufman. In 2002, he played Binky, the sidekick to the clown Bananas played by Steve Buscemi in Alexandre Rockwell's 13 Moons. His first starring film role was in Tom McCarthy's The Station Agent as Finbar McBride, a lonely misfit who shacks up in an abandoned railway depot. Also starring Patricia Clarkson and Bobby Cannavale, the film won festival acclaim at Sundance. In 2003, Dinklage can be seen in both the Lincoln Center production of Toulouse Lautrec and the Jon Favreau holiday comedy Elf starring Will Ferrell. After a supporting role in The Baxter found Dinklage appearing in one of the year's most off-beat romantic comedies, and the sci fi television series Threshold afforded him the opportunity to appear alongside Star Trek: The Next Generation star Brent Spiner, Dinklage would next share the screen with the most popular canine in film and television history in the 2006 family-oriented adventure Lassie. In 2005, Dinklage took on a starring role in Threshold, a short-lived science fiction series from CBS, and joined the cast of filmmaker Michael Showalter's comedy The Baxter, in which he played a wedding planner. The following year the actor would make waves in Ryan Murphy's highly sexed drama Nip/Tuck. After appearing in a variety of television roles (including a stint playing himself on HBO's popular series entourage) Dinklage once again teamed with HBO to join the cast of Game of Thrones. This proved a fateful decision on his part, as the adaptation of George R. R. Martin's popular series of novels would become wildly successful, in no small part due to Dinklage's portrayal of Tyrion Lannister, the "imp" whose political savvy and brilliant mind allow him to thrive in a world that is less than kind to those it perceives as physically limited. The role led to an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film in 2012.

Trivia: One of the latest in an illustrious line of British actresses to graduate from the English Rose School of Acting into the realm of full-bodied contemporary roles, Lena Headey first came to the attention of audiences in 1992, when she played the younger version of Jeremy Irons' wife in Waterland. Hailing from Yorkshire (though she was born in Bermuda in 1973), Headey originally intended to be a hairdresser. Fate intervened, however, when her performance in a one-off show in the company of six school friends at the National Theatre caught the interest of a casting agent, who contacted her drama teacher and subsequently cast Headey in Waterland.Headey's turn as a sexually adventurous schoolgirl in the film led to her being cast as a sexually adventurous maid in Merchant Ivory's The Remains of the Day in 1993. More period adventure followed that same year in The Summer House, in which Headey played a quiet young lass being forced into a 1950s marriage with an insufferable mama's boy. After another stint as a corseted virgin in The Jungle Book (1994), Headey finally got to take part in the latter half of the 20th century in the BBC miniseries Loved Up (1995), in which she played an Ecstasy-saturated raver. That same year, she took part in another BBC mini, Band of Gold, in which she further distanced herself from her period past by portraying a lesbian prostitute. Over the next several years, Headey would appear in several projects like Posession, The Brothers Grimm, and The Red Baron, as well as TV series like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Game of Thrones.The actress returned to period drama in Marleen Gorris' adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway (1997), which cast her as the younger version of the title character's best friend. More contemporary work subsequently came her way in Antonia Bird's Face (also 1997), a crime thriller in which she played the social worker girlfriend of Robert Carlyle's political idealist-turned-gangster. She also starred in the romantic fantasy The Man with Rain in His Shoes (1998) as one of the love interests (along with Penelope Cruz) of an out-of-work Scottish actor (Douglas Henshall).After supporting turns in the lavish made-for-TV Merlin (1998) and Onegin (1999), the latter of which featured her as Liv Tyler's sister, Headey crossed over into the realm of Hollywood teen-oriented offerings with Gossip (2000), a college-set drama that cast her as one of three students who start a nasty rumor about two of their classmates (Kate Hudson and Joshua Jackson). Although the film was a bomb, Headey's career looked bright with a number of projects on the horizon. Included amongst them was Aberdeen (2000), a road movie set in Norway and Scotland that also starred Ian Hart, Charlotte Rampling, and Stellan Skarsgård.

Trivia: The daughter of a theatrical sound engineer, began acting at age 3 after attending a stage production of Show Boat that her father worked on. Appeared in secondary-school productions of West Side Story and Twelfth Night. Made British-TV debut in a 2009 episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors; made U.S. TV debut in the 2010 SyFy movie Triassic Attack.

Trivia: Descended from a viscount who served as Britain's Secretary of War at the turn of the 19th century, and is a nephew of a baronet; the family is listed in Burke's Peerage. Originally planned to be a journalist before deciding on acting. Starred in the World War I stage drama War Horse in London immediately after graduating from drama school. Made his TV debut in Game of Thrones. Named the face of Jimmy Choo in 2015. Played the title role in Doctor Faustus at the Duke of York Theatre in the West End in 2016.

Trivia: Joined a youth drama group at age 11 and was soon cast in a film (as a rape victim in the 2000 drama Complicity); and appeared in a children's TV series (My Barmy Aunt Boomerang) at age 13. Was bullied in secondary school because of his childhood acting experience. Starred in a Globe Theatre production of Romeo and Juliet in London and on a UK tour while still a student at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Has also appeared on stage with the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Costarred in Hope Springs, a 2009 BBC comedy-drama series about women ex-cons; and Sirens, a 2011 BBC comedy series about paramedics. Won the 2009 Scottish Style Award for Most Stylish Male and was named one of Scotland's "most eligible men" by the Scotsman newspaper in 2010.

Trivia: A handsome supporting player whose occasional leap into the lead has resulted in some interestingly varied performances, actor Iain Glen has appeared in everything from low-budget indies to high-profile Hollywood blockbusters -- frequently holding his own opposite such screen heavies as Harvey Keitel (The Young Americans) and Billy Connolly (Gabriel & Me). A native of Edinburgh, Scotland, who studied at Edinburgh Academy and the University of Aberdeen before honing his craft at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the talented Shakespearian actor would go on to impress audiences in such stage works as Macbeth and Henry V. In 1985, the ascending stage talent made a successful transition to the screen with a small role in an episode of the popular U.K. mystery series Taggart, and after making the leap to the big screen with a supporting role in the 1987 feature Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Glen returned to television the next year for a role in the series The Fear. In the years that followed, Glen's big-screen career gained notable momentum thanks to solid performances in Gorillas in the Mist (1988) and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), with his early years coming to a peak when he took home a Best Actor award from the Berlin International Film Festival for his turn as a convicted killer in the 1990 film Silent Scream. That same year, Glen also received accolades for his portrayal of real-life explorer Lt. John Hanning Speke in Mountains of the Moon, though the remainder of the decade would find him sticking mainly to U.K. television (occasionally taking the lead, as in 1992's Frankie's House). Following an endearing turn as a sports reporter whose one-night fling leads him to come to terms with his tragic past in Glasgow Kiss, Glen received notable international exposure with a high-profile role opposite Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Though Glen's shattering performance as a father suffering terminal lung cancer in the drama Gabriel & Me (screenwriter Lee Hall's follow-up to Billy Elliot) ultimately failed to gel with audiences, Glen's horrific turn as a seemingly possessed father in Darkness offered the talented actor at his manic best. By this point, Glen seemed to be growing increasingly comfortable alternating between more independent-minded features and more large-scale productions, taking the role of noted psychiatrist Carl Jung in the 2003 romantic drama The Soul Keeper before taking a more epic turn as an anthropologist who hunts and captures pygmies in order to study them and prove a link between man and ape in 2005's Man to Man. He appeared in Ridley Scott's epic Kingdom of Heaven, as well as Resident Evil: Extinction. In 2008 he had a major part in a retelling of The Diary of Anne Frank for the BBC, and followed that up with a part in the Michael Caine vehicle Harry Brown. In 2011 he acted in the Oscar winning biopic The Iron Lady.

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: The embodiment of the line "when Irish eyes are smiling, they're up to something bad," Aidan Gillen oozed ruthless charisma and wicked sex appeal in his role as the sexually prolific Stuart Alan Jones in the 1999 British TV series Queer As Folk. Bringing wry humor and understatement to a potentially over-the-top role, Gillen earned a reputation as one of the U.K.'s most compulsively watchable new performers.Born in Dublin, Gillen got his professional start in the late '80s, appearing in minor film roles. He worked steadily through the 1990s, in film and on television, popping up in such diverse offerings as Circle of Friends (1995), Some Mother's Son (1996), and Jez Butterworth's Mojo (1997). His major breakthrough role was inarguably that of Queer As Folk's Stuart, an arrogant, vain, and thoroughly sexy PR executive who strips countless men of both their clothing and resistance. The success of the controversial miniseries ensured that it -- and its talented actors -- would be back for a second go-round, which followed in 2000. That same year, Gillen found accompanying acclaim on the big screen, in Jamie Thraves' acclaimed directorial debut The Low Down, in which he starred as an amiable but frustrated commercial artist whose life changes when he meets a radiant, ambitious woman. He appeared in both My Kingdom and Lorna Doone, as well as the action comedy Shanghai Knights before joining the cast of the revered HBO series The Wire in that show's third season. When his time on that program came to a close he was in the action film 12 Rounds, and then was cast in the series Identity.

Trivia: Tall, sandy-haired British actor Charles Dance trained for a career in graphic design at Plymouth College of Art and Leicester College of Art. Dance developed a taste for the theatre by listening to the reminiscences of two elderly actors who ran a pub in his Dover neighborhood. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at the age of 29, and made his first film, the James Bond picture For Your Eyes Only, six years later. Dance's widest professional exposure came in 1984 when he appeared in "The Jewel in the Crown," a 14-part British TV production seen in the U.S. on Masterpiece Theatre. Charles Dance's best-remembered performances have been as D.W. Griffith in Good Morning Babylon (1987); the role of Meryl Streep's husband in Plenty (1985); the title part in the 1990 TV adaptation of Phantom of the Opera; and the displaced "imaginary" villain in Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Last Action Hero (1993).

Trivia: Irish actor Liam Cunningham has spent much of his career on stage, but also occasionally appears on television and in feature films. He made his movie debut with a small role in Mike Newell's charming Irish fantasy Into the West (1993). He has since played supporting roles in productions such as War of the Buttons (1994) and Michael Winterbottom's Jude (1996). Before entering drama school in the 1980s, Cunningham had been an electrician. He started out on the Irish stage and then embarked upon a U.S. tour with a travelling Irish troupe. Cunningham's other stage credits include stints with the Passion Machine theater company and London's Royal Court Theatre. His television credits include guest-starring roles on such British series as Cracker.

Trivia: A well-respected stage and TV actor who has also appeared in a number of films in his native England, Stephen Dillane is blessed with both exceptional talent and the kind of dark, wry good looks that allow him to move effortlessly through a variety of characterizations.Raised in South London as the son of a surgeon, Dillane first became involved in theatre while in school. He studied history and politics at Exeter University and then did a stint as a journalist for the Croydon Advertiser. As he developed an intense and unswerving hatred for journalism very early on, Dillane was soon casting his thoughts toward an alternate career and, after a few years, decided to chuck journalism for acting. After studying his adopted profession at the Bristol Old Vic theatre school, he began finding work on the stage and was soon racking up positive notices. His theatrical credits grew throughout the 1990s, with critically acclaimed work in the 1994 Peter Hall production of Hamlet, in which Dillane was cast as the eponymous Dane, and the London production of Angels in America.Dillane first struck a responsive chord with British TV viewers in 1994, when he starred in The Rector's Wife. He went on to do starring screen work in Henry Jaglom's Deja Vu (1997), in which he played a painter, Firelight (1997), which cast him as a 19th-century aristocrat opposite Sophie Marceau, and Michael Winterbottom's Welcome to Sarajevo (1997), which featured Dillane as a journalist. In 2000, the actor received a Tony Award for his portrayal of a brilliant but emotionally evasive playwright in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, earning a new level of respect and recognition on both sides of the Atlantic.Throughout the early part of the 2000's, Dillane appeared in an increasing number of high-profile films. In 2001 he was onscreen with the likes of Robert Redford and Brad Pitt in Spy Game, and in 2002 he could be seen in The Truth About Charlie, Jonathan Demme's remake of Charade, and the critically-acclaimed The Hours. His next big-screen role would be as Merlin in Antoine Fuqua's 2004 historical retelling of the story of King Arthur. As the next several years came to pass, Dillane would appear in many more projects, like Savage Grace and 44 Inch Chest, as well as TV series like Game of Thrones and Coup.

Trivia: Born September 5, 1976, in the Netherlands, actress Carice van Houten worked steadily in her native country on both the small and big screens, garnering a number of nominations for her work. She first started to acquire international fame as the star of Paul Verhoeven's Black Book, portraying Rachel Stein, a Jewish woman who disguises herself and uses her allure and beauty in order to manipulate the Nazis in charge of the occupation of Holland. The exposure from her work in that film served as a springboard for van Houten, and she was soon appearing prominantly in high-profile Hollywood pictures, such as Bryan Singer's WWII drama Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise; the sci-fi film Repossession Mambo, as the wife of Jude Law's character; and the biographical drama Vivaldi, starring Joseph Fiennes as the classical composer. In 2012, she joined Game of Thrones, playing Melisandre, though she still found time to return to the big screen, including The Fifth Estate in 2013 and the Jesse James biopic Race (2016), playing German film director/propagandist Leni Riefenstahl.

Trivia: After a number of roles in his native Denmark, actor Nikolaj Waldau began appearing in U.S. films in the early 2000s with bit parts in Black Hawk Down and Wimbledon, to name a few. In 2007, he landed the lead role on Fox's New Amsterdam, a supernatural cop show from director Lasse Hallström.

Trivia: Hails from the same hometown as Kate Winslet and Kenneth Branagh. Studied ballet, jazz and modern dance at 3 years old. Former member of the London Fencing Academy. Honed her acting skills in British theater. Made her big-screen debut in 2005's Casanova. Enjoys playing poker; came in second place at the 2008 PartyPoker.com Women's World Open in London.

Trivia: Began performing as a child, putting on impromptu scenes for family by cobbling together costumes and props from around the house. Had to request a day off from drama school rehearsals in order to travel to London for an audition on the HBO television series Game of Thrones. Is an avid music fan and an amateur drummer.

Trivia: Began acting at age 7. Appeared in Batman Begins in 2005. Cast in HBO's Game of Thrones as evil king Joffrey Baratheon. Says his inspiration for his Game of Thrones role was Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator. Was named an academic scholar at Trinity College in 2012. Involved in puppet-theater production in Dublin.

Trivia: Began studying drama at Playbox Theatre in Warwick, England, when she was 3 years old; first role in front of a camera is Sansa in Game of Thrones. A natural blonde, her hair is dyed red to play the immature, polarizing Sansa, which helps her remain relatively anonymous in public. Studies ballet.

Trivia: Named for her great-grandmother, Oona O'Neill Chaplin, who was playwright Eugene O'Neill's daughter and Charlie Chaplin's fourth wife. Raised in Spain, Switzerland and Cuba; English is her third language, after Spanish and French. Impersonated her grandfather while playing the character Bottom in a reimagination of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2003. Attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art with Gemma Arterton.

Trivia: Her parents moved from Turkey to West Germany before she was born. Trained as a public administrator and worked for two years at a municipal waste office. After she was nominated for several awards for her work in Head-On (2004), the German press uncovered that she had previously worked in the adult film industry; during one of her acceptance speeches, she publicly complained about the situation. Supports women's rights and volunteers with Terre des Femmes, which fights to end domestic violence against women.

Trivia: Her father, Sebastian, is the 14th Laird of Warthill and the Aberdeenshire Chieftain of Clan Leslie. Grew up in Lickleyhead Castle, the family's 15th century ancestral seat; her family also owns the 12th century Warthill Castle in Aberdeenshire. Won a Scottish BAFTA award for New Talent for her professional acting debut in the TV movie New Town (2009). Appeared in Bedlam at the Globe Theatre in 2010. Had to take an archery course after she was cast as Ygritte in Game of Thrones in 2012.

Trivia: As the grizzled warrior Campbell in Braveheart, James Cosmo impressed filmgoers worldwide. His impassioned performance made it seem possible that such a man as Campbell really existed 700 years ago, a man who cared so much about his beloved Scotland that he could endure the bite of an English arrow, break it off, and go on fighting with Achillean fury. But it was not only Cosmo's formidable acting skills -- honed in scores of film and television productions dating back to the '60s -- that animated his performance. It was also his real-life love of Scotland. He believes his native country, small as it is, has a thousand and one other stories to tell just as exciting as Braveheart, and he has enlisted himself as actor, producer, and financier to bring them to the movie screen. For example, he singlehandedly engineered a project to construct Scotland's first film studio on a 40-acre site near Inverness. Both novice and experienced filmmakers will be welcome to reserve any of its sound stages. A nearby William Wallace Theme Park, named after the rebel leader depicted in Braveheart, will present reenactments of Wallace's rebellion against England between 1297 and 1305. Cosmo also was the brainchild of a major film project about Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796), a national hero who attracted 30,000 mourners to his funeral. Cosmo selected Edinburgh as the setting, Scottish writer Alan Sharp to pen the script, and Scottish composer Derek William Dick to write an overture. The film, entitled Clarinda, centers on the love affair between Burns and an Edinburgh woman, Agnes Maclehose. Another Scottish writer, the great historical novelist Sir Walter Scott, provided the material for a triumphal Cosmo performance in the TV miniseries Ivanhoe, shown worldwide. Cosmo portrayed Ivanhoe's estranged father, Lord Cedric, with the same fiery spleen of Campbell in Braveheart. However, Cosmo does not perform only in films about the age of the horse and sword. In the critically acclaimed Trainspotting, he played the father of an Edinburgh heroin addict. Cosmo also portrayed a World War II POW in the heralded 2001 film To End All Wars, Mr. Weston in the 1996 Gwyneth Paltrow version of Jane Austen's Emma, and an oil-rig worker in the 1994 TV series Roughnecks. In addition, he was the voice of Thelonius, an orangutan, in Babe: Pig in the City. Cosmo grew up in Clydebank in west central Scotland, where he received an education in a stalwart brick-and-mortar high school while the smell of the sea invaded classrooms and beckoned aspiring young adventurers to set sail for exotic climes. Clydebank was a shipbuilding city; there, craftsmen puzzled together great Cunard liners, including the Queen Elizabeth II. Although Cosmo did not go to sea, he did set sail for a journey through the world of drama. For his outstanding work onscreen and his charitable work off, he received the lifetime achievement award of the Sunday Mail/McEwan's People's Film Festival.

Trivia: Has been a vegetarian since he was 18; is a patron of the Vegetarian Society. In 1995, released a cover version of "Unchained Melody" with his Soldier Soldier co-star Robson Green; it sold more than a million copies and was the best-selling single of the year. Robson and Jerome donated £27,000 to Greenpeace from the proceeds of their singles. Before his appearance on Game of Thrones in 2011, had not been on screen for 10 years. Is a patron of The Forces-Helpline, a website that helps address any bullying issues in the Navy, Army or Royal Air Force.

Trivia: Attended Terenure College, where he began acting in the school's theater program. Returned to Ireland after graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to begin his career as a theatre actor before moving into television and film. Was part of the original cast of the play The Seafarer when it premiered on the West End in 2006; when the play transferred to Broadway, his role was recast with Sean Mahon. Appeared in the play The Night Alive at the Donmar Warehouse in 2013, opposite Ciarán Hines and Jim Norton. Joined Game of Thrones during the show's second season, as the recurring character Roose Bolton; was promoted to a series regular for season six.

Trivia: Changed his name from Terrence to Finn to avoid confusion with the Monty Python actor. Made his TV debut in a spinoff of the UK soap opera Hollyoaks, called Hollyoaks Later. Originally auditioned for the role of Jon Snow on Game of Thrones, but was cast as Loras Tyrell instead. Assisted with a 2015 Oxfam fundraiser to support Syrian refugees by singing Christmas carols. A vocal supporter of social causes, including gay rights, and racial and gender equality.

Trivia: Joined the dramatic society at university where he made most of his friends, including his best friend to this day. Although he had trained as an architect, he watched a British Council screening of a film about the RSC and Stratford-upon-Avon in Nigeria where he was working as a trainee architect, and knew straightaway that he wanted to become an actor. While studying at RADA in 1977, he won the Bancroft Gold Medal for acting. Frequently performs with the Royal Shakespeare Company; played Bolingbroke in Richard II in 1990 and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew in 1992. Has been associated with reading novels by Charles Dickens for Naxos Audio Books since 2012, including Oliver Twist. Is a patron of the Lynx Animal Welfare Trust. In 2013, for two months played the part of Robin Carrow in Ambridge Extra, a BBC Radio 4 Extra spin-off from the BBC Radio 4 drama The Archers. Was announced a public supporter of Chapel Lane Theatre Company located in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK in 2015.

Trivia: As his grandmother and parents were both actors, his school gave him the lead role in Hamlet when he was 16 without an audition. Began acting at Oslo's National Theatre when he was 19. Appeared in Vera Henriksen's play The Sword in 2011. Shaved his trademark beard for a role in M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth (2013).

Trivia: An Irish actor of charisma and talent, Ciarán Hinds has applied his skills to screen, stage, and television. A towering, burly man whose jagged features make him a natural for playing strong, silent types, Hinds has won respect and recognition from critics and drooling women alike.Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on February 9, 1953, Hinds was the fifth child of a doctor and an amateur actress. He attended Belfast's Queen's University for a year with an eye toward studying law, but he left to pursue acting. After studying at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Hinds found employment with the Glasgow Citizens Company, where he made his professional debut playing the back end of a horse in Cinderella. He acted with the company for the better part of the next decade, splitting his time between Glasgow and Ireland. In 1987, he received one of his first big breaks, at the hands of esteemed director Peter Brook, who selected him as a member of his Paris-based theatrical company; the actor was soon performing all over the globe.Hinds made his film debut in John Boorman's 1981 Excalibur, but he did not make another movie until 1989. That year, he appeared in a supporting role in Peter Greenaway's stylishly horrifying The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. After sharing the screen with actors like Richard Bohringer, Tim Roth, and Excalibur co-star Helen Mirren, Hinds went on to make December Bride the next year, and in 1993 he won acclaim for his performance in the made-for-TV Hostages. Two years later, Hinds began to win recognition outside of the U.K., first for his small role as a university professor in the popular Circle of Friends and then for his more sizable performance in Roger Michell's acclaimed adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion. As Captain Frederick Wentworth, captor of heroine Anne Elliot's repressed affections, Hinds caused many an audience member to wonder where he had been for so long, and, more important, when and where he would reappear. When was the following year and where was Some Mother's Son, a drama based on a 1981 hunger strike in a Belfast prison. Hinds had a supporting role in the film, which reunited him with Mirren, but the next year he had a more substantial part in Gillian Armstrong's Oscar and Lucinda, in which he played a reverend. That character was a far cry from his next role, a man trapped in the Irish conflict in 1970s Belfast in Titanic Town (1998). In 1999, Hinds could be seen in Chris Menges' The Lost Son with Daniel Auteuil, Bruce Greenwood, and Natassja Kinski, and in Il Tempo Dell'Amore, which was shown at that year's Toronto Film Festival.The new millennium seemed to bring about something of a re-birth for Hinds' enduring career, with featured roles in such widely-seen films as The Sum of All Fears, The Road to Perdition, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, and The Phantom of the Opera hinting that Hollywood may have finally grown savvy to the impressive talents of the physically-imposing actor. Of course it wasn't all Hollywood glamor, with roles in such limited-release but critically-praised independents as The Weight of Water and Veronica Guerin, and Calendar Girls serving well to help Hinds balance out the big-budget blockbusters. In 2006 Hinds would step into the sandals of no less that Julius Caesar when he essayed the role of the notorious Roman general in HBO's lavish historical drama Rome, with a subsequent role in director Steven Spielberg's 2005 drama Munich preceding a turn as a hard-charging FBI agent in Michael Mann's high-octane action thriller Miamy Vice in 2006. In 2007 he played the closest associate of oil tycoon Daniel Plainview in Paul Thomas Anderson' Oscar-winning There Will Be Blood, and appeared in Margot at the Wedding. He was in Todd Solondz's sort-of sequel to Happiness, Life During Wartime, and was prominent in the well-reviewed 2011 adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He joined the cast of Harry Potter in that successful series' final entry, and a very busy 2012 found him with major roles in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, The Woman in Black, and providing a voice in the infamous box-office flop John Carter.In addition to his screen work, Hinds has kept busy both on television and the stage. On the small screen, he has appeared in series like Prime Suspect 3 (1993), A Dark Adapted Eye (1994), Jane Eyre (1997), and Ivanhoe (also 1997). On the stage, Hinds has taken part in a number of productions, perhaps most notably the London and Broadway productions of Patrick Marber's Closer in 1998 and 1999. As part of an ensemble cast including Natasha Richardson, Rupert Graves, and Anna Friel, Hinds won raves for his work, further establishing himself as an actor of international acclaim.

Trivia: While attending university she began performing in neo-burlesque and cabaret shows. Modeled for luxury lingerie retailer Agent Provocateur and sang on their cabaret themed album Peep Show. Has posed for painters Christian Furr and Peregrine Heathcote. Became the spokesmodel for lingerie label The Modern Courtesan in 2008. Her character on Game of Thrones, Ros, was only supposed to appear in the pilot episode, but she was so well-received she stayed on the show for three seasons. Had a pair of shoes named after her by designer Terry de Havilland. In an interview in 2019, spoke of being a survivor of domestic abuse at the hands of a former boyfriend and how she still suffers from night terrors and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Trivia: Dreamed of becoming a professional rugby player until he seriously injured his knee and groin. Started acting professionally after taking part in Anything Goes with Glasgow School's Youth Theatre. Auditioned for two other parts on Game of Thrones before landing the part of Podrick. Regularly held up filming of Game of Thrones due to laughing fits with co-stars Peter Dinklage and Jerome Flynn. Played Neoptolemos in Benny Young's adaptation of Philoctetes in 2015.

Trivia: Was classically trained in acting.Was honored at the Social Impact Awards in Los Angeles in December 2013.Has been involved in rebuilding communities impacted by natural disasters.

Trivia: Started acting as a child, and her breakthrough role came as Young Nala in the original London production of The Lion King in 1999. Got noticed on British TV playing Sasha Valentine on the soap opera Hollyoaks (2006-10). Made film debut in 2012 thriller Twenty8k, which also featured her future Game of Thrones costar Stephen Dillane. First appearance as Missandei on HBO's Game of Thrones came in the third-season premiere, "Valar Dohaeris," in 2013. Credits Game of Thrones role for opening doors to more work in feature films, including Furious 7 (2015) and Fast 8 (2017), the seventh and eighth installments, respectively, of The Fast and the Furious franchise, and Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) and Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018), the second and third titles, respectively, in The Maze Runner movie series.

Trivia: Had no interest in acting until he joined a drama club to get out of playing soccer on cold Saturday mornings during the winter. Began acting in commercials. Studied acting at the Kent Youth Theatre in Canterbury, England. Screen debut was in the 2011 horror flick The Awakening. Big break came when he was cast as Bran Stark on Game of Thrones. Plays piano and drums.

Trivia: Got her first acting job in HBO's Game of Thrones as Arya Stark. Studied dance at the Susan Hill School of Dancing and Bath Dance College. Credits her dancing experience for her ability to sword fight. Is naturally right-handed, but attempts to do things left-handed in the series because it is mentioned in the George R.R. Martin books that her character is left-handed. Won two 2012 Portal Awards (for best Supporting Actress/TV and Best Young Actor).

Trivia: Had a small role, with sister Lily Allen, in Oscar-nominated Elizabeth (1998), on which their mother, Alison Owen, was a producer. Is the subject of "Alfie," a song on Lily's debut album, Alright, Still (2006). Claims to be one of the first children in the United Kingdom to be given Ritalin after being diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD). In 2008, succeeded Daniel Radcliffe in the role of troubled teen Alan Strang of Peter Shaffer's Equus for a revival tour of the 1973 play.

Trivia: Worked as a lumberjack and bridge painter prior to acting. First gained notice by appearing in a Scottish breakfast-cereal commercial. Won a Scottish BAFTA Award for his role in the 2002 TV series The Book Group. Is an avid outdoorsman and experienced mountaineer; got to put his climbing skills to good use in the TV series Rockface. Plays the piano.