Trivia: A staple of the British stage for nearly a quarter of a century before he gained his first significant measure of international notice, Nigel Hawthorne has had one of the acting profession's more slow-burning careers. However, it has been an undeniably distinguished career marked with any number of critical peaks, perhaps most notably his brilliant, Oscar-nominated title performance in Nicholas Hytner's 1994 adaptation of Alan Bennett's The Madness of King George. Born in Coventry on April 5, 1929, Hawthorne grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, where he moved with his family at the age of four. After attending the University of Cape Town, where he started acting, he returned to England in 1951. Determined to pursue an acting career, Hawthorne slogged away for years in relative obscurity, oftentimes hovering precipitously close to complete bankruptcy. His early career proved to be so disappointing that the actor returned to Cape Town for a time, but he ultimately returned to England to try his luck all over again. His second attempt was thankfully more successful than his first, and although it would be years before he would be duly appreciated, he did enjoy some measure of success in London's West End. Hawthorne's first helping of international acclaim came with his portrayal of Sir Humphrey Appleby on the popular British television series Yes, Minister during the '80s. His work on the political satire earned him a number of BAFTA awards and such fame in his native country that he was on occasion mistaken for being an actual politician, even, reportedly, by Queen Elizabeth herself. The actor went on to establish himself as one of Britain's great performers, winning a 1991 Tony Award for his performance in the Broadway production of Shadowlands and a 1992 Olivier Award (as well as an Evening Standard Award and a host of other honors) for his title role in the Royal National Theatre's production of The Madness of George the Third. His work in the latter play was adapted to the screen in 1994 with Nicholas Hytner's widely acclaimed The Madness of King George. Again, Hawthorne enjoyed great critical praise for his portrayal of the mentally unbalanced king, earning an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA award for his rich, manic, and ultimately dignified performance.Hawthorne, who had been appearing onscreen since 1972's Young Winston, subsequently did starring and supporting work in a number of high profile films, including Richard Loncraine's Richard III (1996), Steven Spielberg's Amistad (1997), The Object of My Affection (1998), and David Mamet's acclaimed adaptation of Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy (1999), which cast Hawthorne as the father of the title character. The actor, who offscreen has enjoyed a long relationship with writer Trevor Bentham, earned additional recognition for his contributions to film, television, and the theatre when he was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1987. In 1999, he was further recognized in the Queen's 1999 New Year's Honours List when he received a much-deserved knighthood.

Trivia: Perhaps the ultimate thinking man's sex symbol, Helen Mirren is also one of the most respected actresses of British stage, screen, and television. With classical training, years of work on the London stage, an acclaimed television series, and dozens of films to her name, Mirren has proven herself an actress of talent, versatility, and unforgettable presence.Born Ilynea Lydia Mironoff on July 26, 1945, in London, Mirren is a descendant of the White Russian nobility. Her father was a member of an aristocratic Russian military family who came to England during the Russian Revolution, but while Mirren was growing up, he worked in turn as a violinist with the London Philharmonic, a taxi driver, and a driving instructor. His daughter, on the other hand, knew her true calling by the age of six, when she realized she wanted to become an actress, in the "old-fashioned and traditional sense." After trying to please her parents with a stint at a teacher's college, Mirren joined the National Youth Theatre, where she first made her mark playing Cleopatra. The acclaim for her performance led the way to other work, and she was soon a member of the vaunted Royal Shakespeare Company, with whom she performed a wide range of classics. Her stage career thriving, Mirren made her screen debut in 1968 in the somewhat forgettable Herostratus. The same year, she made a more auspicious appearance as Hermia in Peter Hall's lauded adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and her screen career soon took off. She worked steadily throughout the late '60s and '70s, starring in 1969's Age of Consent and working with such directors as Robert Altman on The Long Goodbye (1973) and Lindsay Anderson on O Lucky Man! (also 1973). In 1977, Mirren earned permanent notoriety for her work in Caligula, a mainstream porn offering from the powers at Penthouse that also starred such notables as Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud, and Malcolm McDowell.During the subsequent decade, Mirren continued to work on the stage, and she also broadened her cinematic resumé and fan base with such films as Excalibur (1981) and Cal (1984). Her portrayal of an older woman in love with a younger man in the latter film earned her a Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival and further established her reputation as an actress willing to explore the kind of unconventional relationships often ignored on the screen. The actress' willingness go beyond safe conventionality was demonstrated with her work in such films as The Mosquito Coast (1986), Pascali's Island (1988), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989), and The Comfort of Strangers (1991). She again took on the role of an older woman in love with a younger man in Where Angels Fear to Tread in 1991, proving that seven years after Cal, her powers of attraction had been in no way tempered by time.At the beginning of the 1990s, Mirren began appearing on the television series Prime Suspect. Her character, Jane Tennison, a hard-boiled detective, proved immensely popular with viewers and critics alike, and she stayed with the series for its seven incarnations. Mirren also continued to do acclaimed work for the stage and screen, earning a Cannes Best Actress award and Oscar and BAFTA nominations for her work in The Madness of King George in 1994, and making her Broadway debut in Turgenev's A Month in the Country in 1995. The following year, she earned further acclaim for her work in Some Mother's Son, in which she played the mother of a Belfast prison hunger striker. In 1997, Mirren found the time to marry producer/director Taylor Hackford before signing on to provide the voice of the Queen in the Disney animated film The Prince of Egypt (1998). In 1999, she played the titular teacher in Kevin Williamson's disappointing Teaching Mrs. Tingle, earning the only good reviews given the movie, and she again won over critics with her title role in the made-for-television The Passion of Ayn Rand, earning an Emmy for her performance. Back on the big screen, Mirren continued with a lighthearted role as a master gardener in Greenfingers (2000), turned up in director Hal Hartley's comic monster fable No Such Thing (2001) and earned her second Oscar nomination for her re-teaming with Altman in the director's acclaimed comedy Gosford Park (2001).This pattern solidified for Mirren as her career moved through the new millennium. She was well received for her performance in yet another quirky British sleeper in 2003, with Calendar Girls. In it she played a middle-aged woman who raises money (as well as eyebrows) for a Women's Institute by posing nude with her peers. She also made notable appearances in movies like the thriller The Clearing (2004) and the romantic comedy Raising Helen (2004), before awing audiences with a performance in Shadowboxer (2005) as an assassin who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. 2005 would prove to be a special year for Mirren as September of that year would kick off a full 12 months of nonstop praise and excitement. Two of Mirren's projects would emerge during this period that would usher her into the upper tier of cinema's lead actresses -- a place that critics and fans had known she belonged all along. Coincidentally, these two projects would find her playing two different English monarchs who shared the same name. First, her performance as Queen Elizabeth I in the BBC miniseries Elizabeth I aired in September 2005, blowing viewers away with her ability to convey the full power and command of perhaps the most important crowned head in British history, all while confined to the small screen. Immersing herself into the opulent 16th century costumes and sets, Mirren tackled the Virgin Queen as a leader, a woman, and a human being, leaving such an impression that the miniseries was later aired in the U.S. By September 2006, the commotion over Mirren's performance had died down just enough for her to make an even bigger splash with her acclaimed role as Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears' film The Queen. Despite the shared name, playing the modern-day figure was as different from her earlier role as it could be. Taking place in 1997 after the death of the globally beloved Princess Diana -- whose divorce from Prince Charles had been a source of epic tabloid controversy -- The Queen found Mirren playing a monarch who wielded little-to-no executive power, but whose title derived all its meaning from tradition, symbolism, and national pride. Mirren handled this queen with gentle attention to detail, following her on confused journeys both personal and in the national consciousness, showing her surprise and bewilderment as the stoic exterior on which a queen's public face had always been built suddenly caused her to be reviled. Mirren's two Elizabeths were both honored with Golden Globe wins, one for Best Actress in a Drama, and one for Best Actress in a TV Movie or Mini-Series. She was further rewarded for her efforts by capturing the Oscar for Best Actress in The Queen.In the next year she appeared in the blockbuster sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets, but in 2009 she starred opposite Christopher Plummer in The Last Station as the wife of the dying Leo Tolstoy. For her work in that drama Mirren garnered acting nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, the Independent Spirit Awards, and the Academy. Substantial roles continued to rack up honors and acclaim for the actress in 2010, as she played an intriguing role as a former Mossad agent in The Debt, and no-longer-retired secret agent in Red, and none other than the leading role in William Shakespeare's The Tempest - with the gender of the part changed to female. Mirren would then make a comic turn in the 2011 remake of Arthur alongside British comedian Russell Brand, before delving back into drama once more with the reflective 2012 film The Door.

Trivia: Popularly known as "Mr. Ubiquitous" thanks to his versatility as a stage and screen actor, Ian Holm is one of Britain's most acclaimed -- to say nothing of steadily employed -- performers. Although the foundations of his career were built on the stage, he has become an increasingly popular onscreen presence in his later years. Holm earned particular plaudits for his work in Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter (1997), in which he played an emotionally broken lawyer who comes to a small town that has been devastated by a recent school bus crash.Born on September 12, 1931, Holm came into the world in a Goodmayes, Ilford, mental asylum, where his father resided as a psychiatrist and superintendent. When he wasn't tending to the insane, Holm's father took him to the theatre, where he was first inspired, at the age of seven, by a production of Les Miserables starring Charles Laughton. The inspiration carried him through his adolescence -- which, by his account, was not a happy one -- and in 1950, Holm enrolled at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Coincidentally, while a student at RADA, he ended up acting with none other than Laughton himself.Following a year of national service, Holm joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, making his stage debut as a sword carrier in Othello. In 1956, after two years with the RSC, he debuted on the London stage in a West End production of Love Affair; that same year, he toured Europe with Laurence Olivier's production of Titus Andronicus. Holm subsequently returned to the RSC, where he stayed for the next ten years, winning a number of awards. Among the honors he received were two Evening Standard Actor of the Year Awards for his work in Henry V and The Homecoming; in 1967, he won a Tony Award for his performance in the Broadway production The Homecoming.The diminutive actor (standing 5'6") made his film debut as Puck in Peter Hall's 1968 adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, a production that Holm himself characterized as "a total disaster." Less disastrous was that same year's The Bofors Gun, a military drama that earned Holm a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA. He went on to appear in a steady stream of British films and television series throughout the '70s, doing memorable work in films ranging from Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) to Alien (1978), the latter of which saw him achieving a measure of celluloid immortality as Ash, the treacherous android. Holm's TV work during the decade included a 1973 production of The Homecoming and a 1978 production of Les Miserables, made a full 40 years after he first saw it staged with Charles Laughton.Holm began the '80s surrounded by a halo of acclaim garnered for his supporting role as Harold Abrahams' coach in Chariots of Fire (1981). Nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, he won both a BAFTA and Cannes Festival Award in the same category for his performance. Not content to rest on his laurels, he played Napoleon in Terry Gilliam's surreal Time Bandits that same year; he and Gilliam again collaborated on the 1985 future dystopia masterpiece Brazil. Also in 1985, Holm turned in one of his greatest -- and most overlooked -- performances of the decade as Desmond Cussen, Ruth Ellis' steadfast, unrequited admirer in Dance with a Stranger. He also continued to bring his interpretations of the Bard to the screen, providing Kenneth Branagh's Henry V (1989) with a very sympathetic Fluellen and Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet (1990) with a resolutely meddlesome Polonius.The following decade brought with it further acclaim for Holm on both the stage and screen. On the stage -- from which he had been absent since 1976, when he suffered a bout of stage fright -- he won a number of honors, including the 1998 Olivier Award for Best Actor for his eponymous performance in King Lear; he also earned Evening Standard and Critics Circle Awards for his work in the play, as well as an Emmy nomination for its television adaptation. On the screen, Holm was shown to great effect in The Madness of King George (1994), which cast him as the king's unorthodox physician, Atom Egoyan's aforementioned The Sweet Hereafter (1997), and Joe Gould's Secret (1999), in which he starred in the title role of a Greenwich Village eccentric with a surprising secret. In 2000, Holm took on a role of an entirely different sort when he starred as Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's long awaited adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Holm, who was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1989, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998 for his "services to drama."After the final installment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy was released in 2003, Holm took a role in completely different kind of film. 2004's Garden State was a far cry from the epic, big-budget fantasy he'd just starred in and rather, was a quiet, independent film written, directed, produced by and starring the young Zach Braff. Holm's portrayal of the flawed but well-meaning father a confused adult son was a great success, and he went on to play equally complex and enjoyable supporting roles in a variety of films over the next year, from the Strangers with Candy movie to Lord of War. In 2006, Holm signed on to lend his voice to the casts of two animated films: the innovative sci-fi noir, Renaissance, and the family feature Ratatouille--slated for release in 2006 and 2007 respectively. He also joined the cast of the controversial drama O Jerusalem, a movie about a friendship between a Jewish and Arab man during the creation of the state of Israel. After five years away from the big screen, he returned to play Bilbo Baggins yet again in Peter Jackson's adaptations of The Hobbit.

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: Rupert Graves has repeatedly impressed audiences with his dead-on portrayals of upper-class twits since 1985, when he appeared in Merchant Ivory's classic adaptation of E.M. Forster's A Room With a View. However, Graves' own background could not be more different from those of the characters he brings to the screen.Born June 30, 1963, Graves grew up in the small town of Western-Super-Mare (coincidentally also the birthplace of John Cleese), located in western England. By his own account a terrible student who resented authority, Graves left school at 15 and joined the circus. After his stint with the circus ended, Graves made his way to London, where, at 19, he landed his first acting role in a stage production of The Killing of Mr. Toad. His performance caught the attention of a film industry figure, which in turn led to his first film role in A Room With a View. As the irresponsible and irrepressible Freddy Honeychurch (brother of the film's heroine, played by Helena Bonham-Carter), Graves gave a performance that set the pattern for the roles he was to be typcast in for much of the next decade. Graves virtually became the male equivalent of Helena Bonham-Carter, in that he was stuck in period drama after period drama until others slowly realized that his range was not limited to films with an abundance of waistcoats, corsets, and men with names like Cecil or Clive. Graves' other significant films of the 80s included another Merchant Ivory outing, the memorable Maurice (1987) (in which Graves played Maurice's working class lover, Alec Scudder, and, as in A Room With a View, demonstrated his ability to tackle nude scenes), 1988's A Handful of Dust (also starring a then-unknown Kristin Scott Thomas, and Graves' Maurice colleague James Wilby), and the epic television series Fortunes of War, set during World War II and starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson.In the 1990s, Graves has continued to do period pieces such as the 1991 adaptation of E.M. Forster's Where Angels Fear to Tread (reuniting him again with Bonham-Carter), and Nicholas Hytner's brilliant The Madness of King George (1995), which also starred "the other Rupert," Rupert Everett. In addition, he made a memorable appearance in the film adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway (1997) as a shell-shocked World War I veteran. As he has gained greater recognition, however, Graves has been able to branch out toward other genres, notably as Jeremy Irons' jilted, ill-fated son in Louis Malle's Damage (1993), a confused and irresponsible motorcycle courier in Different For Girls (1996), and as the severely conflicted Harold Guppy in the deliciously twisted Intimate Relations (1996), for which he won a Best Actor award at the Montreal Film Festival. In addition to his film work, Graves has continued to work for television and the stage, acting as the wormy, conniving Octavius alongside Billy Zane in the TV series Cleopatra (1999), and in such stage productions as Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh (1998) and the the hit Broadway production of Patrick Marber's Closer (1999).

Trivia: An alumnus of London's Central School of Speech and Drama, English actress Amanda Donohoe's first film role was a supporting one in the door-slamming sex farce Foreign Body (1986). She then starred in a handful of British TV movies, usually cast as the slinky femme fatale. Briefly a member of director Ken Russell's informal stock company, Donohoe was stunning as the wicked snake woman in Russell's Lair of the White Worm (1988); in the same director's The Rainbow (1989), she played the worldly seductress to whom sexual naif Judy Davis turns to for advice. Donohoe was also starred as the alluring desert-island companion of Oliver Reed in director Nicholas Roeg's Castaway (1987), and was seen in a rare sympathetic role in 1990's Paper Mask. It was back to "black widows" again in 1993's made-for-cable The Substitute--one of several recent TV appearances for Donohoe, the most well-publicized of which was her weekly assignment as attorney C. J. Lamb on the popular TV series LA Law.

Trivia: Julian Wadham understands what it was like for boy actors to play female roles in the Shakespeare era. When he was attending Ampleforth College Junior School -- a Catholic academy in Yorkshire for boys eight to 13 -- he portrayed Queen Elizabeth I in a school play. The experience not only taught him a lesson in stage history, but it also trained him in the rudiments of acting and whet his appetite for theater. Today, critics recognize him as one of Britain's better actors. His roles in Our Country's Good, Serious Money, and Another Country helped those dramas win Best Play Laurence Olivier Awards in the 1980s. He also won Royal Television Society Awards for Goodbye Cruel World in 1992 and Blind Justice in 1989. If one may gauge an actor -- in part, at least -- by the reputation of his co-stars, then Wadham measures up. Among the actors with whom he has exchanged dialogue are Bob Hoskins, John Hurt, Gérard Depardieu, Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Ian Holm, Ben Kingsley, and Wendy Hiller.Wadham was born in England on August 7, 1958. After graduating from London's Central School of Speech and Drama in 1980, he performed in various television and stage productions over the next decade, earning a 1983 nomination as Most Promising Newcomer from the London Theatre Critics for his role in Falkland South. In the 1990s, he achieved worldwide recognition for roles as Sir James Chettam in the acclaimed TV miniseries Middlemarch and Madox in the Oscar-winning film The English Patient. His role as Queen Elizabeth in his youth foreshadowed later parts as government leaders, including portrayals of William Pitt in The Madness of King George, the prime minister in The Commissioner, King Polixines in The Winter's Tale, and the assistant commissioner in The Secret Agent. His good looks and aristocratic bearing make him a popular choice among casting directors seeking a proper gentleman at home with beautiful women and high society. Wadham performs frequently for Britain's National Theatre in productions of such esteemed directors and producers as Richard Eyre, Harold Pinter, Peter Gill, Stuart Burge, and Max Stafford-Clark.

Trivia: Was head boy of his high school in his final year. Left the University of Sussex after two years to join a fringe theatre group called the Brighton Combination. Performed with the Madhouse Company of London, a comedy troupe, during the 1970s. Attended a circus school in New York during the 1970s, where he learned to walk the tightrope, ride a unicycle, juggle and perform magic. Met wife Imelda Staunton when they were both cast in a 1982 production of Guys and Dolls at the Royal National Theatre in London. They later worked together in a production of The Wizard of Oz; he was the Cowardly Lion to her Dorothy. Serves as chairman of the Hampstead Cricket Club.

Trivia: Geoffrey Palmer is a master of deadpan drollery. His hangdog countenance and understated comedic style are two of the main reasons that his TV situation comedies are popular not only in Britain but also in America. Among the best-loved of his sitcoms -- which enjoy a long afterlife in the rerun market -- are The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin and As Time Goes By. In the latter sitcom, Palmer co-stars with one of the U.K.'s most esteemed actresses, Judi Dench. They play old flames reunited after 40 years. Palmer has also performed in other popular TV comedies, including Fawlty Towers, Executive Stress, Fairly Secret Army, Hot Metal, Butterflies, and Whoops Apocalypse. In addition, his finespun wit and waggery has enlivened many a film production, such as Rat, A Fish Called Wanda, and The Madness of King George.Palmer was born in London on June 4, 1927. After a brief career in business, he discovered his acting talent in amateur theater, then became a stage manager and eventually a full-time performer. Like so many other outstanding British actors, he studied and acted in plays written by the greatest popularizer of situation comedies, William Shakespeare. His role as Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream is well known to fans of BBC Shakespeare productions. However, Palmer has not limited himself to comedies; he has also performed in productions in other genres, such as Mrs. Brown (a drama about Queen Victoria as a widow), Tomorrow Never Dies (a James Bond adventure), and Anna and the King (a historical/costume epic about an Englishwoman's relationship with the King of Siam). Thanks to his resonant voice, Palmer has also obtained work doing TV commercials, selling everything from veal to varooming cars. In his leisure time, he enjoys foraying into nature with his wife, Sally, who introduced him to trout and salmon fishing. They have two children.

Trivia: All expectations of staid English cinema aside, British actor Adrian Scarborough often forsook more conservative projects to essay a series of genial supporting roles (usually a common everyman) in edgy, occasionally provocative material, nearly always in his native U.K. His resumé includes a turn as biographer Daniel Farson in John Maybury's Love is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (1998), garage owner Frank (the angelic title character's brother-in-law) in Mike Leigh's Vera Drake (2004), and a minor role in Richard Eyre's visceral psychological drama Notes on a Scandal (2006). Scarborough also tackled period work with a bit part in Shekhar Kapur's period drama Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007).

Trivia: Attended ballet school as a child. Performed with the English National Opera for the 2007 West End run of On The Town. Is an ambassador for the 'Euro a Month' charity.

Trivia: Alan Bennett is a distinguished British screenwriter, playwright and occasionally an actor. In the latter capacity, Bennett is best known as one of the "Beyond the Fringe" comedy troupe, where he was the most unobtrusive member of the lively group that included Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, and Jonathan Miller. He also wrote for the show. Bennet is the son of a Yorkshire butcher. As a young man he won a scholarship to Oxford. As a writer, Bennett is highly regarded for his ability to create detailed, memorable character sketches of complicated men. His work has appeared on stage, screen, and television. Among his better known films is his in-depth portrait of the notorious spy Guy Burgess, An Englishman Abroad (1983).

Trivia: British actor John Wood attended Oxford, where he served as president of the university's Dramatic Society. After serving as a lieutenant in the Royal Horse Academy, Wood joined the Old Vic in 1954, then spent several seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1967, he made his Broadway bow as the glib Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. He went to star in such Atlantic-crossing stage productions as Sherlock Holmes (in the title role), Travesties (for which he won a Tony Award), Tartuffe, Deathtrap, and Amadeus. His infrequent film roles include the reclusive computer whiz Stephen Falken in WarGames (1983) and the Bishop in Ladyhawke (1985). John Wood was seen as the heroine's chauffeur father in Sabrina (1995) and the forbidding Lord Brocklehurst in Jane Eyre (1996).. He died of natural causes at age 81 in 2011.

Trivia: British actor Robert Swann played supporting roles on-stage and in a few feature films. He was frequently cast as a villain or other unlovable character.