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: Tall, slim, and possessing impossibly large cheekbones, English actress Saffron Burrows first came to the attention of international audiences with her role in Circle of Friends (1995). Burrows, who had made her screen debut two years earlier in Jim Sheridan's In the Name of the Father, was cast as one of Minnie Driver's titular circle, an Irish girl who makes the mistake of getting involved with an older, morally suspect Englishman (Colin Firth).Thanks to the film's great success, Burrows found herself steadily employed, though not always in films of great quality. In 1999, she earned the label of "star on the rise" thanks to leading roles in four different films. Two of these, Wing Commander and Deep Blue Sea, were big-budget action films, while the others were art-house dramas directed by Mike Figgis. The first, The Loss of Sexual Innocence, cast Burrows as identical twins separated at birth, while the second, Miss Julie, was an adaptation of August Strindberg's play that featured Burrows as the title character, a wealthy young woman who enters into a ruinous affair with a servant.Later gravitating toward television with roles in Boston Legal, My Own Worst Enemy, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Bones, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Burrows continued to hone her skills as a journalist by penning articles for such prominent British publications as The Guardian and The Times of London while she wasn't plying her trade in front of the cameras.

Trivia: British actor Richard Lintern began his onscreen career in television in his native U.K. in the late '80s, also appearing in feature films such as Malaventura and Jinnah. He would continue to work regularly in TV and film both in Britain and America, most notably showing up in Woody Allen's 2007 film Cassandra's Dream.

Trivia: Appeared in productions of Much Ado About Nothing and Antony and Cleopatra with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Made feature-film debut in 2003's Bright Young Things. Played the role of Irwin in the play The History Boys when it ran on Broadway, on the West End and in Sydney. Shot a pilot with girlfriend Claire Foy for a medical drama called Pulse. Suffered a bout of food poisoning while filming 2008's The Bank Job, and was assisted by costar David Suchet after collapsing in the parking lot. Took on the role of Chris in a West End production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons in 2010 when director Howard Davies offered him the role following their first meeting.

Trivia: Grew up in Buckhurst Hill, Epping Forest District of Essex, London, United Kingdom. Likes boxing sports. Is a fan of the Leyton Orient football team. Appeared in the music video of one of his favorites rock bands, Feeder, in 2012. Participated in the BGC Charity Day representing the Haven House Children's Hospice in September 2019.

Trivia: When doing work experience at Cosmopolitan magazine, she was approached by a modelling agency and spent a year doing photoshoots and music videos when she was 17 years old. Was the fourth person to voice Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider video games, since Tomb Raider: Legend was released in 2006. Along with her husband Matthew Macfadyen, she is a patron of the charity Chase and participated when the charity transformed Christopher's Hospice in Guildford into a winter wonderland in 2009. Is a member of the Loud and Clear Voices agency, and narrated the documentary Kate and William: A Royal Love Story in 2011 for the BBC. Worked on the Febreze Fresh Havens initiative, which aimed to help London become a fresher and greener city before the Olympic Games in 2012. Is a patron of the Lace Market theatre in Nottingham which has a good reputation for modern and traditional drama. Her performance as Detective Inspector Lindsay Denton in the BBC Two drama Line of Duty (2014-2016) was described in The Daily Telegraph as the performance of 2014. Was number 38 on the 2018 Radio Times TV 100 list, chosen by television executives and broadcasting veterans. Became a UNICEF ambassador in 2017, focusing on visiting Syrian refugee children and families living in the Za'tari refugee camp and host communities in Amman. In 2019, was nominated for a Leading Actress award for her role in Bodyguard and for Supporting Actress for Mrs Wilson.

Trivia: Sited by Pierce Brosnan himself as a shining candidate to portray the first black James Bond, British actor Colin Salmon has made a name for himself across the pond with appearances in such Bond flicks as Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World is Not Enough (1999), and Die Another Day (2002); however, the handsome and silky-voiced actor admits to feeling a little too close to his punkish roots to take on such a worldly character this early in his career. Born in London, England, in 1965, Salmon found early fame as authoritative Sgt. Robert Oswald in the acclaimed television miniseries Prime Suspect 2 (1992). Even opposite such formidable talent as Helen Mirren, Salmon commanded the screen with his bold posturing and dense screen presence. Though the following decade brought frequent television work for Salmon in the U.K., it was through his turn as M's right-hand man in Tomorrow Never Dies that international audiences got a true sampling of his talent. As Salmon's overseas exposure began to gain the actor a wider fan base, his ability to alternate between relatively low-key British television and flashy Hollywood blockbusters proved a testament to Salmon's remarkable abilities as an actor. A role in British director Paul Anderson's Resident Evil (2002) proved a physically grueling start to a busy year, and with subsequent work in that same year's Dinotopia and Die Another Day, Salmon's career as a recognized actor truly began to flourish. In addition to his film work, Colin Salmon often lends his richly reverberating vocal chords to voice-over work, and he can frequently be found on the London stage.

Trivia: British lead actor James Faulkner is best known for his character roles in films like Bridget Jones' Diary. He has also made a name for himself on stage, and has lent his voice to numerous radio productions and audiobooks.

Trivia: Grew up in East End of London, in Stepney.Worked as an asphalt roofer's labourer to support himself while securing acting roles in his early years.Bought his own business, a sandwich bar in Woolwich, London, early in his career after saving up enough money.First acting role in a Hollywood picture was as Delmar in the 1993 blockbuster Cliffhanger, which starred Sylvester Stallone and John Lithgow.Lent his voice to Gaz in the 2007 video game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and later voiced Ghost in Modern Warfare 2 and Sgt. Wallcroft in Modern Warfare 3.

Trivia: As an older student, comforted and encouraged fellow actor James D'Arcy after his audition London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art went badly. In 2004, appeared in the video "Bellissimo" by the Bristol band Ilya. Played Iorek Byrnison in the 2004 revival of His Dark Materials at the Olivier National Theatre. In 2005, played Edmund Mortimer, Pistol and Ralph Mouldy in Nicholas Hytner's 6-hour staging of Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 at the London National Theatre. Played Gerald Thornton in Time and the Conways, directed by Rupert Goold and staged at the National Theatre, London in 2009.

Trivia: Known mostly for portraying Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot for more than a decade, the short and stocky character actor David Suchet has also enjoyed a lengthy career on stage, screen, and television. Born in London, he studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and eventually joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. Throughout the 1970s, Suchet appeared in numerous stage productions and crime dramas on British television. His did his first film in 1980 with A Tale of Two Cities, but didn't play his first detective until the crime comedy Trenchcoat in 1983. For the rest of the '80s, the British actor played a Middle Eastern terrorist in The Little Drummer Girl, a Russian operative in The Falcon and the Snowman, and a French hunter in Harry and the Hendersons. He also occasionally portrayed real-life figures, including Sigmund Freud in the miniseries Freud, news reporter William L. Shirer in the HBO docudrama Murrow, and movie legend Louis B. Mayer in RKO 281. While the Poirot mysteries would dominate his career in the '90s, Suchet also played some other leading roles: double agent Verloc in miniseries The Secret Agent, based on the novel by Joseph Conrad; Aaron in the TNT television special Moses; and downsized New Yorker Oliver in the American independent film Sunday. Some standard Hollywood action thrillers followed with Executive Decision, Deadly Voyage, and A Perfect Murder being just a few. After 2000, he turned to costume dramas to play Napoleon in Sabotage!, Baron von Stockmar in Victoria & Albert, and upper-crust Augustus Melmotte in The Way We Live Now. He resumed the role of Poirot (after a short break from 1998-1999) just as he started up another detective character, DI John Borne of NCS: Manhunt and NCS 2. In 2003, he played gangster Leo Gillette in the action thriller Foolproof.

Trivia: Trained with the National Youth Music Theatre as a child. Made his West End debut at the age of 14 in Sam Mendes' production of Oliver at the London Palladium. Played Puck in the stage production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare's Globe in 2008. Appeared in Roots at the Donmar Warehouse in 2013; the following year, he reprised his performance for BBC Radio 3 production of the show.

Trivia: Comes from a theatrical background; Laurence Olivier once helped her with her homework at a summer party. Met her fiance Blake Ritson when both were invited to be in a Cambridge Footlights pantomime; she played Little Red Riding Hood. Joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2001, making her professional theatre debut at Stratford-upon-Avon in Love in a Wood. In 2008, played Clair in Martin Crimp's The City alongside Benedict Cumberbatch at the Royal Court Theatre, London. In 2012, won the Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for her portrayal of Nora in A Doll's House.

Trivia: Swaggering, thick-lipped Brit Mick Jagger has been the lead singer and (along with guitarist Keith Richards) main songwriter for the consistently popular and influential rock band The Rolling Stones since 1962. His first feature film appearance, in 1969's Sympathy for the Devil, was in the company of the Stones. One year later, Jagger made his solo acting bow in Ned Kelly, in which he was ideally cast as "Australia's Jesse James." Over the next several years, the musician would continually make appearances on screen, in movies like Freejack, Bent, The Man from Elysian Feilds, and the Bank Job.

Trivia: British actor Stephen Campbell Moore trained at the prestigious London arts school Guildhall, where he began to cultivate a successful career in the theater. At 24, he ventured into onscreen acting as well, landing a major role in the Stephen Fry comedy Bright Young Things. Moore would continue to accrue impressive roles in a variety of films throughout the next few years including the Scarlett Johansson film A Good Woman and the crime thriller The Bank Job. Among Moore's more notable theater roles is the part of Irwin in the West End production of The History Boys.