Trivia: Stocky Scottish comic actor Robbie Coltrane was trained as an artist in Glasgow. During the 1970s, he rose to prominence as an improvisational nightclub comedian, usually working in ensemble groups (one of his partners was actress Emma Thompson). During the '80s, he was in a number of British features and made-for-TV movies. A regular at London's Comic Strip comedy club, he had a habit of appearing as himself in comedy specials like Secret Policeman's Third Ball. He also showed up in small comedic cameos in National Lampoon's European Vacation and Kenneth Branagh's Henry V. Though he was popular in the U.K. on TV shows like Alfresco, Tutti Fruitti, Black Adder, and The Young Ones, he wasn't widely known in the U.S. until his antic performance in Nuns on the Run with Eric Idle. He then starred as the title character in the satiric comedy The Pope Must Die (released in the U.S. as The Pope Must Diet). In 1993, he starred in the British TV detective series Cracker as Fitz, a nervous forensic psychologist who helps crack cases. He won a BAFTA TV award for the role, and he won a Cable ACE award when it was rebroadcast in the U.S. on A&E. When the show ended, he briefly joined up with the James Bond film series as Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky in GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough. In the late '90s, he starred in a few independent films (Montana, Frogs for Snakes) and played Sgt. Peter Goldy in the Hughes brothers' thriller From Hell. However, he's been most successful in the area of family entertainment. He was delightful as the con man in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with Elijah Wood; he was Tweedledum to George Wendt's Tweedledee in Alice in Wonderland; and he found a fine place for himself as Hagrid the Giant in the Harry Potter film series. In 2002, he earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination from the British Academy for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. In 2003, he returned to British TV to play lawyer Jack Lennox in The Planman. Coltrane continued to work as Hagrid throughout the Harry Potter film series (2001-2011), and lent his voice to films including The Tales of Despereaux (2008) and Brave (2012).

Trivia: British character actress Julie Walters has made a career out of playing working-class women with good hearts and sharp tongues -- which should come as no surprise, given her background. Born in Birmingham, England, on February 22, 1950, Walters was raised in a strong, practical family where she was encouraged to study nursing. Walters did in fact enroll in the nursing program at Manchester Polytechnic, but in her second year of studies she developed an interest in acting, and eventually changed her major to theater. Walters soon made friends with fellow theater student Pete Postlethwaite, and they joined a small theater troupe with Matthew Kelly; Walters made her legitimate stage debut not long after in a Liverpool production of The Taming of the Shrew. Walters also began moonlighting as a comedian, performing as a standup act and with an improvisational troupe called Van Load. In 1976, Walters made her London stage debut in Funny Peculiar, and in 1980, she was cast in the title role of the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Willy Russell's play Educating Rita. Walters won rave reviews for her performance, and the comedy-drama became a major success; following her appearances in several well-received television productions, Walters was cast in the film version of Educating Rita opposite Michael Caine, and the movie was a solid critical and financial success in both Europe and the United States. Walters' budding film career seemed to have gotten off to a solid start when she was nominated for an Academy Award for her work in Educating Rita; while she didn't win, she did receive Golden Globe and British Film Academy awards for her performance. However, Walters opted to continue living and working in Britain, and while she maintained a busy schedule of television and stage work, it would be a few years before Walters became a regular presence in films. In 1987, she won the leading role in the fact-based comedy Personal Services, as well as a major supporting role in the Joe Orton biopic Prick up Your Ears, and the following year she starred opposite pop star Phil Collins in another comedy-drama drawn from real life, Buster. Over the next ten years, Walters continued to work steadily in British television (both in dramatic roles and in comedic appearances, frequently with English comedy star Victoria Wood), but her next major screen success wouldn't arrive until 2000, when she played dance instructor Mrs. Wilkinson in the international hit Billy Elliot; the role earned her another Academy Award nomination, as well as a British Film Academy nomination. The following year, Walters appeared in a small role in one of the year's biggest box-office blockbusters, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, as well as a number of TV projects. Offscreen, Walters is married to Grant Roffey, who operates a successful organic farm; they're the parents of a daughter, Maisie. In 1999, Walters received special recognition for her work in the arts when she was presented an Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth for her services to British drama. In the years to come, Walters would remain active on screen, appearing in moviesl ike Mama Mia!.

Trivia: Actress Andrea Riseborough caused a veritable sensation in her native Britain during the 2000s, with a succession of remarkable portrayals (character and lead roles) that resisted typecasting through their stunning diversity. A native of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Riseborough left school at age 17 and resisted the idea of attending university at first, but ultimately enrolled at London's legendary Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where she began to specialize in playing virginal innocents. The homogeneity of those assignments was reportedly frustrating for the blossoming thespian, though she had the epiphany that "all virgins are different," and began to excel by locating the psychological and dramatic uniqueness (the core) of each new character. The ability to do so helped the upstart secure a highly regarded agent by her third year at RADA. Following graduation, the then-ingenue spent time waitressing, directed a succession of short films, launched a greeting-card firm, and took Cantonese language lessons, but soon found herself magnetically drawn back to acting. In that sphere, two remarkable tendencies emerged: a chameleon-like ability to adapt her personality and behavior to suit the material at hand, and a proclivity for exhaustively researching parts prior to beginning work. Her research, for example, carried her to Croatia for a lengthy period (as preparation for The Pain and the Itch) and prompted her to read everything she could get her hands on about onetime prime minister Margaret Thatcher (as preparation for her portrayal of a young Thatcher in the English telemovie Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley [2008]). Also in 2008, she teamed up with succès d'estime Mike Leigh for a small supporting role, as Dawn, in that director's seriocomedy Happy-Go-Lucky.Significantly, Riseborough remained equally active in other venues, particularly theater, with acclaimed performances in productions of Miss Julie, Dog Days, A Brief History of Helen of Troy, and other plays. She could also be seen on television, where she turned viewers' heads as the sexually voracious Kirsty on the series Party Animals.

Trivia: Born in the United Kingdom, but grew up in Gambia. Worked as an auditor and studied microbiology at Imperial College London prior to beginning his career in acting. Acquired his first role in film when the casting director for the film Severance saw him in a production of Macbeth. Role in Inspector Lewis was a bold step in the show's casting, which up until that point maintained a predominantly Caucasian cast of characters.

Trivia: British actor Tim McInnerny first caught the attention of audiences in the early '80s, playing Lord Percy Percy on the comedy series The Black Adder. He would continue appearing on the English screen over the following years, with roles in projects like Erik the Viking and Rogue Trader. His notoriety increased, but as the years passed, McInnerny's affection for his home country would continue, with appearances in British movies like 2009's Hustle, and 2011's Black Death.