Trivia: British director Guy Ritchie frequently attributes the success of his unorthodox crime films -- 1998's Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, 2000's Snatch -- to the fact that his offbeat miscreants are more than believable, they are real. Preferring to cast for authenticity rather than resumé, Ritchie handpicks many of his actors from the true-life cult figures and rascals of London's underbelly. Actor Jason Statham is among the best of them.A one-time Olympic diver, fashion model, and black-market salesman, Statham came to acting by way of commercials and "street theater" -- a euphemism for hustling tourists on London's Oxford Street. Raised in Syndenham, London, he was the second son of a lounge singer and a dressmaker turned dancer. Although Statham had the familial background to go immediately into entertainment, he excelled first on the high dive. He was a member of the 1988 British Olympic Team in Seoul, Korea, and remained on the National Diving Squad for ten years. In the late '90s, a talent agent specializing in athletes landed Statham a gig in an ad campaign for the European clothing retailer French Connection. This led to an appearance in a Levi's Jeans commercial and a fledgling modeling career. Meanwhile, Statham had also earned local fame as a street corner con man, selling stolen jewelry and counterfeit perfume out of a briefcase. Thus, when French Connection's owner became one of the biggest investors in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, he naturally introduced the diver/model/hustler to knave-hunting Ritchie.Intrigued by Statham's past and impressed by his modeling work, Ritchie invited him to audition for a part in the film. The director challenged Statham to impersonate an illegal street vendor and convince him to purchase a piece of imitation gold jewelry. Statham was evidently so persuasive that Ritchie bought four sets. When the director attempted to return his worthless acquisition -- pretending that the gold had turned to stainless steel -- Statham was so graciously inflexible that Ritchie hired him.This unorthodox audition resulted in Statham's big screen debut as Bacon, one of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels' four primary characters engaged in a risky get-rich-quick scheme to repay a massive gambling debt. Bacon supplies a streetwise discipline and restraint that the other characters lack and a sense of humility crucial to Ritchie's film. In the director's follow-up crime comedy, Snatch, Ritchie rehired Statham to play Turkish, a smalltime hood vainly trying to break into the world of underground boxing. As this amateur but respectable hoodlum, Statham is attractive, urbane, immaculate, and smart enough to be bewildered by even his own laughable criminal ineptitude. The role began as a small supporting part in Snatch's star-filled ensemble cast but expanded throughout shooting. By the time of the film's theatrical release, Statham received top billing as its narrator and chief anti-hero.The Guy Ritchie oeuvre that supplied his breakthrough performances is not Statham's only acting arena. In 2000, he made his American film debut as a British drug dealer in Robert Adetuyi's Turn It Up starring Pras Michel. By 2001, he had finished shooting John Carpenter's sci-fi thriller Ghosts of Mars and joined Delroy Lindo in the cast of the Jet Li vehicle The One. A chance to reteam with former Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrel co-star Vinnie Jones proved too fun an opportunity to resist, and Stratham would round out a particularly busy 2001 with his role in the prison-bound sports remake Mean Machine. Just as audiences were finally standing up to take notice of the amiable tough-guy, Stratham stepped into his own as the action lead of the explosive 2002 adrenaline ride The Transporter. A sizable hit that would earn Statham increasingly prominent roles in such high profile pics as The Italian Job, and Cellular, The Transporter established Stratham as a bankable international action star and was eventually followed by a 2005 sequel that miraculously managed the improbable feat of upping the ante of the previous installment's over-the-top cartoon violence. A starring role in Ritchie's 2005 crime thriller Revolver found Stratham re-teaming with the director who launched his career with decidedly mixed results, and the following year it was off to race the clock and rescue the girl as a reformed assassin looking to make good in the hyper-intense action entry Crank. The positively outrageous Crank: High Voltage upped the ante (and the ampage) in every possible way in 2009, but not before Statham got behind the wheel for Resident Evil director Paul W.A. Anderson for the 2008 remake Death Race, discovered just how far a foolproof heist could go awry in The Bank Job, and once again put the pedal to the metal in The Transporter 3. All of this left little doubt that Statham had quickly become one of the most bankable action stars of his generation, and in 2010 he teamed with none other than Sylvester Stallone for the all-star action flick The Expendables. The action just kept coming in The Mechanic, Blitz, Killer Elite (which paired him with screen legend Robert DeNiro), Safe, and the super-sized The Expendables 2 in 2012. Statham next joined another franchise, making a cameo appearance in Fast & Furious 6. He also reprised his role in The Expendables 3. In 2015, Statham appeared in Furious 7 and flexed his comedy chops in Spy, opposite Melissa McCarthy, earning favorable reviews and opening him to another genre.

Trivia: The son of a trucking company manager, Brad Pitt was born December 18, 1963, in Shawnee, OK. Raised in Missouri as the oldest of three children, and brought up in a strict Baptist household, Pitt enrolled at the University of Missouri, following high school graduation, studying journalism and advertising. However, after discovering his love of acting, he dropped out of college two credit hours before he could graduate and moved to Hollywood. Once in California, Pitt took acting classes and supported himself with a variety of odd jobs that included chauffeuring strippers to private parties, waiting tables, and wearing a giant chicken suit for a local restaurant chain. His first break came when he landed a small recurring role on Dallas, and a part in a teenage-slasher movie, Cutting Class (1989) (opposite Roddy McDowall), marked his inauspicious entrance into the world of feature films. The previous year, Pitt's acting experience had been limited to the TV movie A Stoning in Fulgham County (1988). 1991 marked the end of Pitt's obscurity, as it was the year he made his appearance in Thelma & Louise (1991) as the wickedly charming drifter who seduces Geena Davis and then robs her blind. After becoming famous practically overnight, Pitt unfortunately chose to channel his newfound celebrity into Ralph Bakshi's disastrous animation/live action combo Cool World (1992). Following this misstep, Pitt took a starring role in director Tom Di Cillo's independent film Johnny Suede. The film failed to score with critics or at the box office and Pitt's documented clashes with the director allegedly inspired Di Cillo to pattern the character of the vain and egotistical Chad Palomino, in his 1995 Living in Oblivion, after the actor. Pitt's next venture, Robert Redford's lyrical fly-fishing drama A River Runs Through It (2002), gave the actor a much-needed chance to prove that he had talent in addition to physical appeal.Following his performance in Redford's film, Pitt appeared in Kalifornia and True Romance (both 1993), two road movies featuring fallen women and violent sociopaths. Pitt's next major role did not arrive until early 1994, when he was cast as the lead of the gorgeously photographed Legends of the Fall. As he did in A River Runs Through It, Pitt portrayed a free-spirited, strong-willed brother, but this time had greater opportunity to further develop his enigmatic character. Later that same year, fans watched in anticipation as Pitt exchanged his outdoorsy persona for the brooding, gothic posturing of Anne Rice's tortured vampire Louis in the film adaptation of Interview With the Vampire. Pitt next starred in the forgettable romantic comedy The Favor (1994) before going on to play a rookie detective investigating a series of gruesome crimes opposite Morgan Freeman in Seven (1995). In 1997, Pitt received a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a visionary mental patient in Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys; the same year, Pitt attempted an Austrian accent and put on a backpack to play mountaineer Heinrich Harrar in Seven Years in Tibet. The film met with mixed reviews and generated a fair amount of controversy, thanks in part to the revelation that the real-life Harrar had in fact been a Nazi. Following Tibet, Pitt traveled in a less inflammatory direction with Alan J. Pakula's The Devil's Own, in which he starred with fellow screen icon Harrison Ford. Despite this seemingly faultless pairing, the film was a relative critical and box-office failure. In 1998, Pitt tried his hand at romantic drama, portraying Death in Meet Joe Black, the most expensive non-special effects film ever made. Pitt's penchant for quirk was prevalent with his cameo in the surreal comic fantasy Being John Malkovich (1999) and carried over into his role as Tyler Durden, the mysterious and anti-materialistic soap salesman in David Fincher's controversial Fight Club the same year. The odd characterizations didn't let up with his appearance as the audibly indecipherable pugilist in Guy Ritchie's eagerly anticipated follow-up to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch (2000).In July of 2000, the man voted "Most Sexy Actor Alive" by virtually every entertainment publication currently in circulation crushed the hearts of millions of adoring female fans when he wed popular film and television actress Jennifer Aniston in a relatively modest (at least by Hollywood standards) and intimate service.Pitt's next turn on the big screen found him re-teamed with Robert Redford, this time sharing the screen with the A River Runs Through It director in the espionage thriller Spy Game (2001). A fairly retro-straight-laced role for an actor who had become identified with his increasingly eccentric roles, he was soon cast in Steven Soderbergh's remake of the Rat Pack classic Ocean's 11 (2001), the tale of a group of criminals who plot to rob a string of casinos. Following a decidedly busy 2001 that also included a lead role opposite Julia Roberts in the romantic crime-comedy The Mexican, Pitt was virtually absent from the big-screen over the next three years. After walking away from the ambitious and troubled Darren Aronofsky production The Fountain, he popped up for a very brief cameo in pal George Clooney's 2002 directorial debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and lent his voice to the animated adventure Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, but spent the majority of his time working on the historical epic Troy (2004). Directed by Wolfgang Peterson, the film employed a huge cast, crew and budget.The media engulfed Pitt's next screen role with tabloid fervor, as it cast him opposite bombshell Angelina Jolie. While the comedic actioner Mr. and Mrs. Smith grossed dollar one at the box office, the stars' off-camera relationship that made some of 2005's biggest headlines. Before long, Pitt had split from his wife Jennifer Aniston and adopted Jolie's two children. The family expanded to three in 2006 with the birth of the couple's first child, to four in 2007 with the adoption of a Vietnamese boy, and finally to six in 2008, with the birth of fraternal twins.In addition to increasing his family in 2006, Pitt also padded his filmography as a producer on a number of projects, including Martin Scorsese's The Departed, the Best Picture Winner for 2006. He also acted opposite Cate Blanchett in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's drama Babel. Interestingly, that film hit theaters the same year as The Fountain, a film that was originally set to star the duo. Pitt also stayed busy as an actor, reteaming with many familiar on-screen pals for Ocean's Thirteen. At about the same time, Pitt teamed up with Ridley Scott to co-produce a period western, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford; Pitt also stars in the film, as James. The year 2007 found Pitt involved, simultaneously, in a number of increasingly intelligent and distinguished projects. He signed on to reteam with David Fincher for the first occasion since Fight Club, with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - a bittersweet fantasy, adapted by Forrest Gump scribe Eric Roth from an F. Scott Fitzgerald story, about a man who falls in love while he is aging in reverse. When the special effects heavy film hit theaters in time for awards season in 2008, Pitt garnered a Best Actor nomination from both the Academy and the Screen Actors Guild. Also in 2007, Pitt produced an adaptation of Marianne Pearl's memoir A Mighty Heart that starred Angelina Jolie. In the years that followed, Pitt remained supremely busy. He delivered a funny lead performance as Lt. Aldo Raine in Quentin Tarantino's blistering World War II saga Inglourious Basterds (2009), then did some of the most highly-praised work of his career as a disciplinarian father in Terence Malick's The Tree of Life (2011) - a sprawling, cerebral phantasmorgia on the meaning of life and death that became one of the critical sensations of the year. He also won a great deal of praise for his turn as Billy Beane in Bennett Miller's adaptation of the non-fiction book Moneyball, a role that not only earned him critical raves but Best Actor nominations from the Academy, BAFTA, the Broadcast Film Association, the Golden Globes, and won him the New York Film Critics Circle award (though the institution also recognized his work in Tree of Life as figuring into their decision).In 2013, Pitt's Plan B production company produced 12 Years a Slave (he also appeared in the film, in a small supporting role), which earned Pitt an Academy Award when the film won Best Picture. The next year, Pitt won an Emmy as part of the producing team of the HBO tv movie The Normal Heart.

Trivia: Known for his dark intensity and idiosyncratic performances, Benicio Del Toro became one of Hollywood's more unique actors. His looks suggesting a hidden background as Wednesday Addams' hunky older brother, he first became known to film audiences in 1995 with his breakthrough performance in The Usual Suspects. Born February 19, 1967 in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Del Toro was the son of lawyers. His mother died when he was nine, and, four years later, his father moved the family to Mercersberg, PA, where they lived on a farm. While attending the University of California at San Diego, where he was working toward a business degree, Del Toro took an acting class and was soon hooked. He appeared in a number of student productions, one of which led to a stint performing at a drama festival at New York's Lafayette Theatre. Del Toro decided to remain in New York to study acting at the Circle in the Square Acting School and won a scholarship to the Stella Adler Conservatory.A move to Los Angeles, where he studied at the Actors Circle Theatre, led to Del Toro's first television roles, which included a guest spot on Miami Vice and an appearance as a drug dealer on the miniseries Drug Wars: The Camarena Story (1990). The actor also began showing up in feature films, perhaps most notably as Duke the Dog-Faced Boy in Big Top Pee-wee (1988). Despite fairly steady work, Del Toro was still virtually unknown when he was cast as the eccentric criminal Fenster in Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects. His slurred, otherworldly performance earned widespread praise, an Independent Spirit Award, and, coupled with the film's great success, Del Toro was soon thrust into the limelight that had hitherto eluded him. The actor followed up The Usual Suspects with a supporting role as the titular artist's best friend in Julian Schnabel's Basquiat (1996). Despite intriguing subject matter and a stellar cast, the film was something of a critical and commercial disappointment, although Del Toro's work did earn him a second Independent Spirit Award. Having thus put his trademark on offbeat character acting -- something that was also helped by his role as a gangster in Abel Ferrara's The Funeral (1996) -- Del Toro played a romantic lead opposite Alicia Silverstone in Excess Baggage (1997), a botched caper comedy that cast the actor as a bumbling car thief.Del Toro's next film, Terry Gilliam's much anticipated 1998 adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, would receive an intensely mixed critical reception. A drug-addled, hallucinatory odyssey, it starred Del Toro as Dr. Gonzo, protagonist Raoul Duke's (Johnny Depp basically playing Thompson) partner in crime. Del Toro earned strong notices for his portrayal of the portly, freewheeling, Samoan lawyer (based on real-life Thompson cohort Oscar Acosta), and his performance was widely touted as one of the best aspects of the film. Del Torogained further notice when he won several awards -- including the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe and Oscar -- for his role as a Mexican cop entangled in the international drug-trade war in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic (2000). The next year, Del Toro played a mentally disabled man wrongly accused of murder in director Sean Penn's sad tale of obsession, The Pledge, and earned his second Academy Award nomination for his performance in 21 Grams in 2003. Del Toro made his directorial debut in 2004, reuniting with Depp for an adaptation of another Hunter Thompson book, The Rum Diaries. He was also starred in Che (2008), Terrence Malick's biopic about Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara. This role led t many awards, including the Best Actor Award at the celebrated Cannes Film Festival. Later, in 2010, Del Toro starred in a remake of The Wolf Man, the classic creature feature from Lon Chaney, Jr.

Trivia: Lovable tough guy character actor Dennis Farina was already well into his first career as a Chicago cop before he was able to turn his occasional acting gigs into a prodigious new line of work.Raised in Chicago by Italian immigrant parents, Farina joined his hometown's police force in the mid-'60s, settling into a life of law enforcement. When he was hired to be a local consultant on Michael Mann's film Thief (1981), however, Farina wound up with a bit part as the villain's heavy. Farina continued to moonlight as an actor for several years, appearing in local theater and occasional movies, including Final Jeopardy (1985) and the Chuck Norris vehicle Code of Silence (1985). Though he never took an acting class, Farina was a natural; after Michael Mann offered him the lead in the series Crime Story in 1986, Farina left the police force to play a TV cop. During his 1986-1988 stint on the series, Farina also played FBI agent Jack Crawford (Scott Glen's part in Silence of the Lambs [1991]) in Mann's stylish thriller Manhunter (1986), was the Birdman of Alcatraz in the TV movie Six Against the Rock (1987), and a cop in TV movie mystery Through Naked Eyes (1987). Drawing on his no-nonsense charm as well as his eclectic life experience, Farina continued to shine in roles on both sides of the law, such as serial killer Angelo Buono in The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989) and the lead prosecutor in the TV docudrama Blind Faith (1990). As nimble with comedy, Farina went up against Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin as a mobster in the popular buddy yarn Midnight Run (1988). His versatility firmly established by the 1990s, Farina's early '90s work ranged from playing a billionaire in People Like Us (1990), to Banquo in a New York gangland version of Macbeth, Men of Honor (1991), as well as supporting roles in the comedy Another Stakeout (1993), Bruce Willis actioner Striking Distance (1993), John Turturro's Italian-American family drama Mac (1993), and vicious neo-noir Romeo Is Bleeding (1994). Farina's appearance as John Travolta's nemesis, hilariously bumbling tough guy Ray "Bones" Barboni, in Barry Sonnenfeld's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Get Shorty (1995), led to his most notable hit since Midnight Run. His career hitting a new high, Farina co-starred with Bette Midler as reunited exes in Carl Reiner's That Old Feeling (1997), and starred as a Sicilian bigwig in the high-profile TV miniseries Bella Mafia (1997). Though his Marshall Sisco made only a brief appearance in Steven Soderbergh's esteemed Elmore Leonard adaptation Out of Sight (1998), Farina was pitch-perfect as Jennifer Lopez's protective dad. After joining the superb corps in Steven Spielberg's award-winning Saving Private Ryan (1998), Farina returned to series TV, playing smooth detective Buddy Faro (1998); the series, however, lasted only one season. Returning to films, Farina followed his role as the police captain who recruits The Mod Squad (1999) with another comic turn as a New York gangster who sets the diamond larceny plot in motion in Snatch (2000), adding a dash of Hollywood celebrity (along with Brad Pitt and Benicio del Toro) to British lad director Guy Ritchie's sophomore effort. The releases of two of Farina's next films, Barry Sonnenfeld's caper Big Trouble (2001) and Edward Burns' romantic comedy Sidewalks of New York (2001), were delayed after the terrorist attack on New York on September 11, 2001. Sidewalks of New York surfaced later in 2001, but the romantic comedy failed to charm a large audience. Big Trouble finally made it into theaters in the first half of 2002, but despite the big name cast, Sonnenfeld's farce joined such high profile fare as Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Collateral Damage (2002) and the espionage actioner Bad Company (2002) on the list of 9/11-delayed flops. Farina's next film, the broad, witless comedy Stealing Harvard (2002), also failed at the box office. Farina returned to television during the fall 2002 season with a lead role as a comically monstrous Meet the Parents-esque father-in-law on the sitcom The In-Laws (2002). Despite initially withering reviews, The In-Laws managed to show signs of ratings life.As the 2000's rolled forward, Farina appeared in a number of movies, most notably in Bottle Shock and What Happens in Vegas. Farina would find even more success on the small screen, with roles on Law & Order and the much discussed horse-racing drama Luck. Sadly, Farina died of a bloodclot in his lung in July of 2013. He was 69 years old.

Trivia: First earning renown in Great Britain as a star footballer, Vinnie Jones smoothly parlayed his physically formidable "hard man" sports rep into a second career as a charismatic movie tough guy. Raised on the estate where his father worked as a gamekeeper, Jones began his professional sports career with the Wimbledon FC soccer team in 1986. Becoming famous for his aggressive athleticism, Jones played for several other teams before returning to Wimbledon in 1994. A multimedia celebrity in Britain as well as a sports star, Jones also hosted TV and radio talk shows, published a book, and wrote a weekly column for the Sun during his years as an athlete. Jones found his next calling when tyro writer/director Guy Ritchie cast him as paternal enforcer Big Chris in the flashy London gangster romp Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1999). A major hit in England, and an art house success in the U.S., Lock, Stock earned Jones several British prizes. Jones officially retired from soccer in 1999, and turned his attention full time to acting. After a featured role as "The Sphinx" in the bombastic Hollywood car heist blockbuster Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), Jones rejoined Ritchie's lad-movie universe as Bullet Tooth Tony in the charmingly titled diamond caper Snatch (2001). Having proven that he could hold his own among such Hollywood stars as Nicolas Cage and Brad Pitt, Jones was subsequently cast a series of films like Swordfish, Mean Machine, Hell Ride, The Heavy, and Kill the Irishmen. He would also find success on the dark superhero series The Cape.

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: After the death of his mother when he was 10, he and his brother chose to live in a children's home in London instead of being sent to America to reside with a relative. He stayed in foster care for eight years. Aspired to be a professional rugby player as a teen. Was introduced to acting after following a girl he was interested in to an audition for a play. Was once employed by the British government's social security office. Penned the autobiographical TV film, Storm Damage, in 2000. Wrote the well-received play The Sons of Charlie Paora, which opened in London's Royal Court in 2004. Landed the role of Robert Hawkins on Jericho after his first audition.

Trivia: Knew that he wanted to act since he was 10. Became friends with Leonardo DiCaprio on the set of Gangs of New York, and Dicaprio recommended Graham to director Michael Mann for his role in Public Enemies. Sent Mann an audition tape made by his wife on her handheld video camera. Found it difficult at first to play a racist in 2007's This Is England because of his mixed-race heritage. (His grandfather is Jamaican.) Honed his Brooklyn accent for Boardwalk Empire with Brooklynite Charlie, a gaffer on the set of the series.

Trivia: Despite the fact that his excrement-flinging moment of glory in director Danny Boyle's flamboyant adaptation of the Irvine Welsh novel Trainspotting would forever leave an impression on adventurous filmgoers, and regardless of subsequent appearances alongside such Hollywood heavies as Ben Affleck in high-profile Hollywood releases like Pearl Harbor, actor Ewen Bremner has yet to achieve the level of success of Trainspotting cohorts Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle. An Edinburgh native whose art teacher parents actively supported his creative pursuits, Bremner first received widespread exposure when, at age 17, the theater workshop play in which he appeared transferred from Scotland to London's Royal Court. Subsequently making his feature debut with the U.K. television drama Heavenly Pursuits (1985), Bremner would take on supporting roles in Prince of Jutland (1994) and Judge Dredd (1995) before being catapulted into the international limelight as the hapless "Spud" in Trainspotting. Despite having essayed the lead as Renton in the popular stage adaptation of Trainspotting, Bremner no doubt made quite an impression with audiences in the key supporting role, his alternately pathetic and sympathetic put-upon character offering some of the film's finest comic moments. The following year, Bremner attempted to bypass the hype by taking some time off and pondering his future as an actor. Though such subsequent films as The Life of Stuff (1997) and The Acid House (1998, again adapted from the works of Welsh) contained Trainspotting's edgy humor, their attempts to be "hip" were notably strained, and neither film fared well at the box office. Bremner's role as the titular character in eccentric wonder-boy director Harmony Korine's Julien Donkey-Boy found him again overlooked when the film failed to click with critics and audiences, but the undaunted Bremner would soon crack up audiences with his supporting role as "Mullet" in Guy Ritchie's stylized follow-up to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch (2000). With his role in director Michael Bay's high-profile 2001 war film Pearl Harbor, the talented actor proved his versatility once and for all by essaying the role of a wholeheartedly patriotic American soldier fighting in WWII. When Bremner stepped back into fatigues the very next year for a supporting role in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down, it appeared as if he might finally be achieving the success that had previously eluded him. The next year, he appeared as none other than legendary surrealist Salvador Dali in the U.K. television drama Surrealissimo: The Trial of Salvador Dali, and in the following few years, he would balance such high-profile Hollywood releases as The Rundown (2003) and Around the World in 80 Days (also 2003) with such foreign gems as the Swedish film Sweet Dreams. He was in 2004's Alien vs. Predator, and the next year played an Inspector in Woody Allen's Match Point. He was part of the ensemble in the original version of Death at a Funeral, and reteamed with Allen for 2010's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. In 2011 he appeared alongside Ewan McGreggor in the drama Perfect Sense, and also appeared in the spy drama Page Eight.

Trivia: Represented his country at wrestling in his teens. Studied to be a doctor before deciding to switch to acting. Has been criticised for giving up one of the most secure jobs for one of the least secure. Trained in acting at The Poor School in London alongside Eastenders actress Jessie Wallace. Has said his favourite role has been Robin Hood and praised his fellow cast members. Appeared as consultant Dylan Keogh in the BBC medical drama Casualty for a number of years, saying that his medical background helped him in the role.

Trivia: A director who had more of a critical and financial success with his first film than many of his colleagues have had over the course of their entire careers, Guy Ritchie became one of Britain's most talked-about directors on the strength of his 1998 debut, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. A highly stylized crime caper/black comedy set in London's East End, it inspired favorable comparisons to films ranging from Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs to the Hong Kong crime spectaculars of John Woo.The film's decidedly irreverent sensibility was an appropriate one, given the background of its director. Born in England in 1968, Ritchie hails from a proudly working-class background and never attended film school. He regarded the work of most film school graduates as "unwatchable and boring" and the British film industry as suffering from a creative void. Feeling strongly compelled to fill this void, Ritchie thus embarked on Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. It was to be a long and difficult journey, as the director and his producer struggled for three years to find funding and repeatedly met with rejection from various members of the British film establishment. Finally, salvation came through in the form of PolyGram, and the film's eventual huge success all but ensured that Ritchie would never have to endure similar funding hardship again. Ritchie followed up Lock, Stock with Snatch, another crime caper, this time set in London's Jewish diamond district. With a cast that featured many of the Lock, Stock players and American support from the likes of Brad Pitt and Benicio Del Toro, the 2000 feature was treated with significant anticipation on both sides of the Atlantic. Though many viewed Snatch as a simple carbon-copy of his previous success, the film nevertheless retained the giddy energy and humor that had made Lock, Stock so successful and found both Pitt and Del Toro at their quirky best. Wed to Madonna in December of 2000, the duo would soon find themselves working together while collaborating on a remake of the 1974 Lina Wertmuller comedy Swept Away. Yet another in the long running series of cinematic mishaps for the sultry pop diva, Swept Away (2002) survived a mere fortnight in stateside theaters before being relegated a straight to video release in Ritchie's native England. In early August of 2000 the happy couple gave birth to their first child, Rocco. And though the couple would also adopt an infant boy named David some time later, in 2008 their brief yet passionate marriage came to an end. Meanwhile, behind the camera, Ritchie remained busy as ever. And though his next two films, Revolver (2005) and RocknRolla (2008), failed to hit big at the box office, 2009 found the visionary director scoring the biggest hit of his career with Sherlock Holmes. A hyper-stylized take on the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes found Oscar-nominated actors Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law cast in the roles of Holmes and Dr. Watson respectively, and proved a big enough hit to warrant the disappointing sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows in 2011. Meanwhile, the prolific director branched out into the world of music by launching his own record label, dubbed Punchbowl Records, in 2010. His ventures outside of the film work kept him from directing another film until 2015's The Man From U.N.C.L.E.