Trivia: Was shy as a child, until his role as the Cowardly Lion in a school production of The Wizard of Oz inspired him to become an actor. Made his stage debut in a London production of A Streetcar Named Desire at age 16. Voted Sexiest Irish Male by U Magazine in 2005. Was named 48th Best Dressed Man in Britain by GQ in 2015. Became patron of the CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) charity in 2016; lost his friend Peter Greene to Sudden Adult Death Syndrome in 2002.

Trivia: First name comes from a nickname her grandmother used to call her mother. Was a member of Bristol Old Vic Youth Theatre. Made her West End debut in the 2013 revival of Graham Greene's The Living Room.

Trivia: With an expansive range that stretches from Shakespeare to Chicken Run and just about everything in between, actress Imelda Staunton has, not surprisingly, become one of the most highly respected actresses working in the U.K. If her penchant for playing what many would consider to be mundane, everyday characters found Staunton criminally overlooked in the early years of her career, it was her keen ability to inject those characters with a remarkable complexity that eventually made the stage mainstay-turned-small-screen powerhouse one of Britain's most sought-after talents.A London native and graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Staunton wasted no time launching her career following graduation, becoming associated with such prestigious venues as The Old Vic and the National Theatre. A trio of productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company gained her numerous critical accolades, and in 1986 Staunton made an impressive television debut in the legendary BBC production of Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective. Increasingly busy throughout the 1990s, Staunton continued to gain momentum on-stage while earning three Oliviers for her performances in the The Corn Is Green, A Chorus of Disapproval, and Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. As Staunton's numerous stage roles continued to earn her critical success, frequent television and film roles made her a familiar and endearing face to the general public. Though many of her U.K. television roles went unseen by stateside audiences, supporting roles in such features as Much Ado About Nothing, Sense and Sensibility, and Shakespeare in Love found Staunton slowly working her way into the conscience of U.S. film buffs as well. Moving into the new millennium, Staunton's roles in such films as Chicken Run (for which she provided the voice of Bunty), Crush, Bright Young Things, and I'll Be There found the established television actress actively distancing herself from the small screen in favor of feature films. Of course, every actor dreams of the breakthrough role that will make him or her an international star, and for Imelda Staunton that role was of a 1950s era abortionist caught in a downward spiral in director Mike Leigh's 2004 drama Vera Drake. Her undeniably affecting portrayal of the title role -- a selfless housewife and cleaning woman who makes a name for herself performing illegal abortions -- earned her near-universal praise. After earning accolades from both The Venice Film Festival and The New York Film Festival as well as the Los Angeles and Chicago film critic associations, Staunton had undeniably arrived when the role earned her a Best Actress nomination for the 77th Annual Academy Awards.Subsequent roles in the U.K. television comedy Little Britain as well as the features Nanny McPhee and Freedom Writers served well to introduce her to entirely new, often American, audiences. In 2007, just one year after appearing in a colorful Masterpiece Theatre production of the children's classic The Wind and the Willows, she remained in the world of fantasy for her role in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Staunton played Dolores Umbridge -- the latest in a long line of Defense Against the Dark Arts professors -- whose severe disposition drew the ire of Harry Potter himself. She was part of the cast of the well-respected television production Cranford, and appeared in the inspirational drama Freedom Writers. She teamed with Mike Leigh again for 2010's Another Year, and that same year she appeared in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. She continued to work in animated family films such as Arthur Christmas and The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

Trivia: The daughter of educators, Elizabeth McGovern moved from her home town of Evanston, Illinois to Los Angeles when her father, a law professor at Northwestern, transferred to UCLA. Discovered for the movies while appearing in a high-school play, McGovern made an impressive screen debut as the girlfriend of emotionally disturbed teenager Timothy Hutton in the Oscar-winning Ordinary People (1980). The following year, she earned an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of notorious turn-of-the-century "kept lady" Evelyn Nesbit Shaw in Ragtime. She honed her acting skills at Julliard and the American Conservatory Theatre, then made her off-Broadway debut in a 1981 production of To Be Young, Gifted and Black; her later stage credits include Painting Churches and The Hitch-hiker. Carefully avoiding the make-work roles usually reserved for actresses of her generation, McGovern has opted for offbeat characterizations in such films as Racing with the Moon (1984) and Once Upon a Time in America. She seems unconcerned with the size of her roles, so long as she can make a lasting impression as witness The Handmaid's Tale (1991) in which she deftly handles her role with such formidable co-stars as Natasha Richardson and Robert Duvall with her brief appearance as self-deprecating lesbian prostitute Moira. Elizabeth McGovern also starred in the 1995 TV sitcom If Not for You.

Trivia: Wrote plays as a child that he performed with friends. Archbishop Rowan Williams was one of his teachers when he attended the University of Cambridge. Worked with the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company after college. First met his wife, Lulu, when they were in their teens. They drifted apart, but became reacquainted during their 30s. Made his professional acting debut in 1986 as an understudy to Ralph Fiennes in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Supports Merlin, a medical charity, and Scene & Heard, a mentoring program that pairs inner-city children from Somers Town, London, with theatre professionals.

Trivia: Reached the third round of auditions for the Sound of Music at the age of 8, but lost the part when she spoke in her natural Essex accent. Made her professional stage debut in His Dark Materials in 2004. In 2007, was nominated for the Evening Standard Award for her role as Eliza Dootlittle in Pygmalion. Is a jazz singer; performed at the 50th anniversary of Ronnie Scott's Jazz club in 2009. Became Oxfam's first ever Humanitarian Ambassador in 2014, having travelled to Jordan to meet with Syrian refugees.

Trivia: A member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, husky-voiced British actress Samantha Bond has an all-too-fitting surname for her onscreen career. She is most known stateside for her repeat performance as Miss Moneypenny, associate to Pierce Brosnan's James Bond. Her first appearance was in GoldenEye 1995, and she repeated the role for Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day. She is the fourth actress to play the small yet established super-secretary role, most notably played by Lois Maxwell. Bond's acting credits are predominately on the stage, however, ranging from touring companies to Broadway to London's West End. She has shared the stage and screen with veterans like Claire Bloom, Maggie Smith, and David Suchet, although she has gained more high-profile roles in her television career. Mostly appearing in British murder mysteries and thrillers, she gained a starring role as Detective Sergeant Maureen Picasso for the BBC series NCS: Manhunt. Bond appeared opposite Dame Judi Dench in the award-winning play Amy's View, and also shared a bill with her for Die Another Day in 2002.

Trivia: Is a distant relative of the English acting legend Ian Carmichael. Supported herself while pursuing an acting career by working as a teaching assistant, nanny and receptionist. Had to choose between Downton Abbey and a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in Dubai days before she won the part of Lady Edith; the audition process had whittled the potentials to her and one other actor at the time that she had to make the call. Became good friends with fellow Downton star Michelle Dockery.

Trivia: Has dyslexia. Attended a convent boarding school. Made her West End debut in John Osborne's West of Suez opposite Ralph Richardson in 1971; and has acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre Company. Became a household name in England in the mid-1980s due to her work on the BBC sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles. Honored with the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2004; elevated to a Dame in 2016. Bestowed with an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Hull in North Yorkshire, England, in 2012.

Trivia: Lead actress, onscreen from the early '80s.

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: Didn't begin acting until 2005, when a friend asked if he'd appear in a student film that he was shooting. Prior to that, he was pursuing the career he'd gone to college for—marketing. Found an acting teacher via the Yellow Pages after deciding he wanted to give acting a go. Among the jobs he took while supporting his acting aspirations: bricklayer and pastry packer. Hyphenated his name to James-Collier to placate the acting union Equity, as there was already an actor named Rob Collier. Scored a supporting role in a series (Down to Earth) on one of his first auditions. Appeared in catalogs for Argos (a British retail chain) in 2007 and '08. Anointed "Sexiest Male" at the 2007 and 2008 British Soap Awards for his work on Coronation Street.

Trivia: Won the Most Promising Newcomer award at the 2010 British Independent Film Awards for her leading role in drama film In Our Name. Is perhaps best known for her role as Anna Bates on the critically-acclaimed period drama Downton Abbey between 2010 and 2015. Won the Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or TV Movie award at the 2014 Golden Globes, for her role in Downton Abbey. Made her stage debut in 2019, playing Frances Thorpe in a West End production of Alys, Always. Is an ambassador for children's charity Plan UK's "Because I Am a Girl" campaign.

Trivia: The great-nephew of legendary Manchester United manager Matt Busby (1909-94). Trained to be a butcher after leaving school at age 16. Decided to pursue his acting dream at age 18, a year after his father unexpectedly died. Learned to act at his cousin's Dublin theatre. Honoured with the 1999 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for the London production of Irish playwright Conor McPherson's The Weir. Downtown Abbey creator Julian Fellowes wrote the role of Mr. Bates with him in mind, having seen him in the 2004 BBC series North and South. A patron of Lakelands Hospice in Corby, Northamptonshire; also supports Workwise, which helps young people find jobs.

Trivia: Made her television debut in 1985 soap opera The Practice.Starred as Auntie Annie in the original 1996 production of East is East, reprising the role in the 1999 film adaptation.Between 2000 and 2002, starred as Rosie in the West End production of Mamma Mia!Is perhaps best known for playing Mrs Patmore in ITV period drama Downton Abbey between 2010 and 2019.In 2017, wrote and produced an original musical about her life.Is an ambassador for animal charity Animals Asia.

Trivia: After her first week with Footsteps Theatre School at age 12, she was sent for an audition for The Goodbye Girl. She was cast and made her West End debut with the show at the London Palladium. Went on a national UK tour of Annie. Started a company with her then-boyfriend while at university called ThatSweetFeeling. Appeared in Jerusalem at the Apollo Theatre with Mark Rylance in 2011.

Trivia: Appeared in Bill Pryde's production of Noel Coward's play, Hay Fever, at the Arts Theatre in Cambridge. Worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in productions of Richard III, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet and Henry V. Earned a degree in history through the Open University, a distance-learning school. Took part in a Downton Abbey parody for ITV fundraising campaign, Text Santa, starring alongside George Clooney. Known for his roles as DS John Wadsworth in Happy Valley, John Parr in The Lakes and the valet /footman Joseph Molesley in Downton Abbey. Has won two Screen Actors Guild awards and a Royal Television Society award for best actor for Happy Valley.

Trivia: Born to a Spanish mother and an English father. Started working on a PhD in biological anthropology, but abandoned it to pursue an acting career. Is fluent in Spanish and also speaks French and German. Played Viola in Twelfth Night at the Royal National Theatre in 1997. Did a world tour with Macbeth, playing Lady Macbeth, in 2004. Became famous for her role as reformed thief and lady's maid Phyllis Baxter in Downton Abbey from 2013-2015.

Trivia: Breathes there a theatergoer or film fan on Earth who has not, at one time or another, fallen in love with the sublimely brilliant British comedic actress Dame Maggie Smith? The daughter of an Oxford University pathologist, Smith received her earliest acting training at the Oxford Playhouse School. In 1952, she made her professional stage bow as Viola in Twelfth Night. Four years later she was on Broadway, performing comedy routines in Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1956; that same year, she made her first, extremely brief screen appearance in Child in the House (she usually refers to 1959's Nowhere to Go as her screen debut).In 1959, Smith joined the Old Vic, and in 1962 won the first of several performing honors, the London Evening Standard Award, for her work in the West End production The Private Ear/The Public Eye. Her subsequent theatrical prizes include the 1963 and 1972 Variety Club awards for Mary Mary and Private Lives, respectively, and the 1990 Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway play Lettice and Lovage. In addition, Smith has won Oscars for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and California Suite (1978), and British Film Academy awards for A Private Function (1985), A Room With a View (1986), and The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987).These accolades notwithstanding, Smith has had no qualms about accepting such "lightweight" roles as lady sleuth Dora Charleston (a delicious Myrna Loy takeoff) in Murder By Death (1976), the aging Wendy in Steven Spielberg's Peter Pan derivation Hook (1991), and the Mother Superior in Whoopi Goldberg's Sister Act films of the early '90s. During the same decade, she also took more serious roles in Richard III (1995), Washington Square (1997), and Tea With Mussolini (1999). On a lighter note, her role in director Robert Altman's Gosford Park earned Smith her sixth Oscar nomination. She earned a whole new generation of fans during the first decade of the next century when she was cast as Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a part she would return to for each of the film's phenomenally successful sequels. She worked in other films as well including Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Becoming Jane, and Nanny McPhee Returns. In 2010 she earned rave reviews for her work in the television series Downton Abbey.Made a Dame Commander in 1989, Smith was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1994. Previously married to the late actor Sir Robert Stephens, she is the wife of screenwriter Beverly Cross and the mother of actors Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin.

Trivia: Left school at 17 and worked in a tax office in Liverpool. Worked in a music store owned by Beatles manager Brian Epstein's family, and as a result, was friendly with the Beatles. Suffered from bulimia as a teenager, and deals with the topic in her autobiography entitled Things I Couldn't Tell My Mother. Was sexually attacked in 1970. Published her first book, a memoir entitled Hold on to the Messy Times, in 1989. In 2009, was appointed an OBE (an Officer of the Order of the British Empire). Has campaigned on behalf of the Labour Party and for gay rights. Supports Liverpool FC and St Helens RFC. Was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2010 by the University of Chester at Chester Cathedral.

Trivia: The son of a publisher and a philosophy professor, handsome young British actor Hugh Dancy studied English Language and Literature at Oxford and speaks fluent French. He got his start performing in theater productions under the direction of Sam Mendes before he made his first few television guest-star appearances on Dangerfield, Cold Feet, and the miniseries Trial & Retribution II. He got his first starring role in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of David Copperfield, which aired in the States on TNT, and he continued doing costume dramas adapted from literature with the BBC productions of Madame Bovary and Daniel Deronda. In 2000, he experimented with fantasy adventures, starring in the Three Musketeers-inspired Young Blades and appearing in an episode of Relic Hunter. He had a small role in the war drama Black Hawk Down before making the move toward romance with the straight-to-video titles The Sleeping Dictionary (opposite Jessica Alba) and Tempo (opposite Melanie Griffith). Dancy stuck with romance for his next feature, the fantasy comedy Ella Enchanted, opposite Princess Diaries star Anne Hathaway. He worked steadily in projects such as King Arthur, Basic Instinct 2, and The Jane Austen Book Club. In 2007 he began a lengthy relationship with fellow actress Claire Danes. He landed a big part in 2009's Confessions of a Shopaholic. He enjoyed a fantastic 2011 with roles in the superb comedy Our Idiot Brother, the well-reviewed indie thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene, and the period comedy Hysteria.

Trivia: Was inspired to become an actress as a child when she saw Hayley Mills in Pollyanna. Once had to sit for an hour on a block of ice while shooting a scene as a mermaid in the British TV series Honest. Appeared in the play When We Are Married at the Garrick Theatre in 2010.

Trivia: His role as Sandra Bullock's egotistical, self-absorbed fiancé offering audiences a hilarious glimpse of the handsome actor's notable comic talents, actor Dominic West has since gone on to display his versatility in such notably diverse projects as the acclaimed HBO series The Wire and director Rob Marshall's Best Picture-winning musical Chicago (2000). Born into a family of seven children in Sheffield, England, West's father was the owner of a plastics manufacturing plant and his mother a homemaker with a taste for the theater. At first employed in such unglamorous positions as that of a cattle herder in Argentina, it wasn't long before West enrolled in Dublin's Trinity College and graduated with a B.A. in English Literature. His love of acting propelled him next to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and West graduated from the prestigious school in 1995. Though he had previous acting experience in a few minor film roles, it was the late '90s that found West's career truly beginning to bloom. A small role in Spice World was followed by a notable performance in the British miniseries Out of Hours (1998), and after minor roles in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace (both 1999), he got his big feature break with 28 Days Later. As the millennium turned, so did West's career; in 2001, he took to the screen with Mark Wahlberg in the musical drama Rock Star. Cast in the lead of HBO's The Wire shortly thereafter, the show debuted in 2002 to glowing critical reviews. On that program, West played Detective Jimmy McNulty, a gifted yet defiantly individualistic Irish-American detective with the Baltimore Police Department whose penchant for subverting the traditional methods of police investigations consistently threatened to get him in hot water. The program's five seasons (all of which featured McNulty in a significant capacity) found the character (among other subplots) attempting to bring down the elusive Barksdale drug ring, aggressively attempting to solve an enigmatic series of murders, and struggling with alcoholism, as he juggled a romantic relationship with Port Authority officer Beattie Russell (Amy Ryan). Following a pair of memorable performances in Chicago and Mona Lisa Smile (2003), West appeared in director Joseph Ruben's supernatural thriller The Forgotten in 2004.He subsequently played a police inspector in the gory thriller Hannibal Rising (2007) and a devious political leader in the period epic 300 (2007). His big-screen career continued with Punisher: War Zone,Arthur Christmas, Johnny English Reborn, and John Carter, while he continued his well-respected television career by starring in The Hour.

Trivia: English actor Matthew Goode took his Hollywood bow on a prestigious note, as Casper, one of the key characters in the well-received Alliance Atlantis telemovie Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (2002). The film constituted a revisionist update of the Cinderella story, adapted from the best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire, and premiered on ABC to stellar ratings, virtually guaranteeing success for Goode and his fellow players. The young actor achieved his next coup not long after, landing a role in the romantic comedy Chasing Liberty (2004), opposite pop diva and heartthrob Mandy Moore. In that movie, Goode portrayed a British playboy who falls for the first daughter of the U.S. president (Moore), wholly unaware of her identity -- meanwhile guarding a little secret of his own.Goode demonstrated his versatility as Tom Hewett in Woody Allen's deadly serious, British-borne thriller Match Point (2005) and returned to romantic comedy as a groom whose bride (Piper Perabo) falls for another woman on the day of their wedding, in the 2006 Imagine Me & You. Following a critically praised appearance in Scott Frank's 2007 caper thriller The Lookout (opposite Jeff Daniels and Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Goode hearkened back to England for a much-anticipated portrayal of Charles Ryder in the 2008 big-screen adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. He was also cast as Ozymandias in the hotly anticipated comic-book superhero film Watchmen (2009), adapted from the acclaimed Alan Moore graphic novel. He followed that up with an appearance in Tom Ford's directorial debut A Single Man. The romantic comedy Leap Year came the next year, and the Australian comedy drama Burning Man in 2011.

Trivia: Supporting actress, onscreen from 1980.

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.

Trivia: Was 'roped in' to act in plays at school, found he was good enough and decided to focus on acting as a career. Gained attention for his role in the 1976 BBC production of I, Claudius, starring as Germanicus. For over twenty years, has volunteered for the Samaritans, a charity providing support to vulnerable people in emotional distress, or at risk of suicide. Ran in the Edinburgh Marathon to raise money for leukaemia research. Appeared in a Scottish production of Lay of the Last Minstrel opposite his wife, Briony McRoberts, and Joanna Lumley in 2013. His late wife suffered from anorexia and depression; she committed suicide in 2013 by jumping in front of a train in London. Was classicly trained as an actor and finds theatre acting keeps his feet on the ground, although he likes the fast pace of screen acting.