Trivia: Australian-born actor Sam Worthington got his first break in the Belvoir Street Theatre production Judas Kiss, shortly after graduating from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art. He eventually made the transition to the screen, appearing in the Australian movie Bootmen. Worthington earned small roles in other films such as Hart's War, and eventually won the lead in the drama Dirty Deeds opposite Toni Collette. He later earned a prominent role in the critically acclaimed Somersault, which won a slew of awards, including an AFI for Worthington in the category of Best Actor. In 2006, he joined many young men of the acting community in going up for the role of James Bond, and while the legendary part went to Daniel Craig, Worthington took the title role in a modern retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth, garnering the 30-year-old actor a lot of attention. He caught the eye of director James Cameron, who cast Worthington as the lead in his sci-fi thriller Avatar. That film would become one of the biggest box-office successes in movie history and he would follow up that newfound celebrity with turns in another effects-laden extravaganza Clash of the Titans, as well as the indie drama Last Night. In 2012 he returned to the role of Perseus for Wrath of the Titans, and starred in the thriller Man on a Ledge. In 2013, he appeared in the Australian film Drift, followed by another Australian film, Paper Planes, in 2014. The following year, he appeared in Cake, opposite Jennifer Aniston, and in the disaster film Everest.

Trivia: Standing a burly 6'4", Liam Neeson was once described by a theatre critic as a "towering sequoia of sex." To say that he has undeniable charisma is certainly accurate, but it is a charisma composed as much of impressive talent as of broken-nosed physical appeal. Bearing both versatility and quiet forcefulness, Neeson has been touted as one of the most compelling actors of the late 20th century.Born June 7, 1952, in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, Neeson had an upbringing partially defined by his involvement in boxing. He became active in the sport as a teenager, earning his distinctive broken nose in the process; he stayed with boxing until he began experiencing black-outs from repeated blows to the head. Initially interested in a career as a teacher, Neeson attended Belfast's Queens College, but he aborted his studies after developing a desire to act. In 1976, he joined Belfast's Lyric Theatre, and two years later he began performing the classics at Dublin's famed Abbey Theatre. While he was with the Abbey, Neeson was discovered by director John Boorman, who cast him as Gawain in 1981's Excalibur. Following his part in that action fantasy, Neeson had supporting roles in such films as The Mission (1986), and he was featured in leads opposite Cher in Suspect (1987) and Diane Keaton in The Good Mother (1988). He got his first starring vehicle in 1990 with Sam Raimi's Darkman; unfortunately, the film was a relative disappointment. Neeson continued to do starring work in such films as Big Man (1991), which featured him as a boxer, Ethan Frome (1992), and Under Suspicion (1992), but ironically, it was his work on the stage that led to his true screen breakthrough. In 1992, the actor was turning in a Tony-nominated performance in Anna Christie opposite Natasha Richardson (whom he would marry in 1994) on Broadway. His work attracted the notice of Steven Spielberg, who was so impressed with what he saw that he cast Neeson as Oskar Schindler in his landmark Holocaust drama Schindler's List (1993). Neeson received Best Actor Oscar and British Academy Award nominations for his performance, and he subsequently didn't have to worry about finding work in Hollywood, or elsewhere, again.More high-profile work followed for Neeson, who went on to star in such films as Nell (1994), Rob Roy (1995), and Michael Collins (1996). However acclaimed his previous work had been, none of it received the hype of one of Neeson's 1999 projects, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Although the film, which starred Neeson as a Jedi master, ultimately earned a galaxy's worth of negative reviews, it mined box office millions. Its success further enhanced Neeson's status as one of the world's most visible actors, and it even helped to downplay the disappointment of The Haunting, his other film that year.Neeson would enter the new millennium with a variety of projects on his to-do list, appearing in the Martin Scorsese period piece Gangs of New York in 2002, and the extremely popular romantic comedy Love Actually in 2003. The following year would find him tackling a meatier role, however, as he singed on to portray pioneering scientist and researcher on human sexuality Alfred Kinsey in the biopic Kinsey. The part would earn Neeson a Golden Globe nomination, and Neeson would follow its success with performances in Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, as well as one in the blockbuster superhero reboot Batman Begins in 2005. He would also sign on to provide the voice of lion king Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia fantasy franchise.In 2008, Neeson starred in the thriller Taken, portraying a former CIA officer who employs his brutal skills learned on the job to find his kidnapped daughter. Audiences weren't accustomed to seeing the actor hold down the lead in an action film, but Neeson succeeded and the film was a categorical success. Sadly, the following year, Liam's wife actress Natasha Richardson died suddenly after suffering a severe head injury during a skiing accident. Neeson was left in care of their two children, Michael and Daniel, but was later able to resume his career. Neeson would find himself appearing in many action/adventure films over the coming years. He starred as the cigar-chomping ohn "Hannibal" Smith in the big-screen adaptation of The A-Team in 2010, and a man fleeing for his life and fighting for his identity in 2011's Unknown. The following year, Neeson played an oil driller stranded amid a pack of wolves in The Grey.

Trivia: A much-lauded director specializing in fantasy, action, and sci-fi, French-born Louis Leterrier ascended from supporting assignments on film crews to white-hot cinematic guru in a remarkably short period of time. Leterrier began as artistic director on the action-laden opus The Transporter (2002), directed by Corey Yuen. That film (which would later become extremely important in Leterrier's life and career) depicted the electric adventures of one Frank Martin (Jason Statham) , an underground courier willing to transport anything from client to destination without making inquiries -- until he accidentally stumbles into a white-slavery ring bound and determined to use him as transport. Leterrier then ascended to first assistant director (to Alain Chabat) on the 2002 adventure sequel Astérix et Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre. Leterrier debuted as a director with the well-received Jet Li martial arts vehicle Unleashed (2005), before returning to the Transporter material to direct the original movie's sequel, Transporter 2 (2005). Critics regarded the film -- which found Frank Martin struggling to protect a politician's son from a cadre of psychotic bioterrorists -- as one of Leterrier's most impressive feats, and that movie, in turn, inspired Universal Studios and Marvel to tap the wunderkind to direct The Incredible Hulk, the 2008 sequel to Ang Lee's comic-book extravaganza The Hulk (2003).

Trivia: With his electrifying gaze, elegant comportment, and lips that look as if they could breathe life into concrete, Ralph Fiennes has caused many a jaded filmgoer to reaffirm the existence of British sex appeal. Since 1993, when he first impressed international audiences in the decidedly unglamorous role of Nazi sadist Amon Goeth in Schindler's List, Fiennes has delivered performances marked by dignified passion and relentless intensity.The oldest of six children, Fiennes was born in Suffolk on December 22, 1962. His father was a self-taught photographer and his mother a novelist who wrote under the pen name Jennifer Lash, professions which virtually ensured a unique upbringing. Fiennes' family moved a number of times while he was growing up, and the children were encouraged in their creative pursuits. Thus, it is less than surprising that four out of the six Fiennes siblings went on to work in the entertainment business, with Ralph and his brother Joseph becoming actors, his two sisters a director and a producer, and another brother a musician. Originally wanting to be a painter, Fiennes enrolled at the Chelsea College of Art and Design before transferring to London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to study acting. Following graduation, he joined the Royal National Theatre in 1987, and he became part of the Royal Shakespeare Company a year later. While a member of the company, he performed a wide range of the classics, playing everyone from Romeo to King Lear's Edmund. Fiennes first became known to a wider audience in 1991, when he starred as the title character in the acclaimed British television production of A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia. The next year, he gained additional exposure, making his film debut as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. Starring opposite Juliette Binoche, Fiennes glowered his way across the screen with suitable aplomb, something that he would do again to devastating effect the next year in Schindler's List. As the psychotic Nazi commandant Amon Goeth, Fiennes blended quiet yet absolute menace with surprising charisma (even more surprising given that he had gained over 30 pounds for his role) to such great effect that he earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination and a British Academy Award for his portrayal. Fiennes' work in the film incited a flurry of interest in the actor, whose intensity and odd name (its correct pronunciation is "Rafe Fines") made him the subject of many a magazine article.Interest in Fiennes only increased the following year, when, back to his normal weight and sporting an American accent, he played the more sympathetic (but tragically flawed) Charles Van Doren in Robert Redford's Quiz Show. Critics loved him in the role, and he further consolidated his acclaim two years later in Anthony Minghella's Oscar-winning adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, which won Fiennes Oscar and Golden Globe nominations as Best Actor. Given his newfound heartthrob status, many audience members were surprised to see Fiennes next turn up in the title role of the gawkish, ginger-haired minister with a gambling problem (playing opposite a then-unknown Cate Blanchett) in Oscar and Lucinda (1997). He gave a highly eccentric performance in the film, which received a mixed critical reception. Where Oscar and Lucinda was only vaguely disappointing, Fiennes' next project, a 1998 film version of the popular 1960s TV series The Avengers, was one of the most lambasted films of the year. Fiennes somehow managed to avoid most of the critical wrath directed at the film, and in 1999 he could be seen starring in no less than three disparate projects. In Onegin, directed by his sister, Martha, Fiennes played the title character, a blasé Russian aristocrat; in The End of the Affair, directed by Neil Jordan, he portrayed a novelist embroiled in an adulterous affair with the wife (Julianne Moore) of his best friend (Stephen Rea); while in Sunshine, directed by István Szabó, he played three different roles in a saga tracing 150 years of the affairs and intrigues of a family of Hungarian Jews.If his roles to date had served to showcase Fiennes' talent at about the rate of a solid performance per year, 2002 provided a trio of diverse and demanding roles that would prove just how well he could perform under pressure. In Red Dragon -- the first of those efforts to hit stateside screens that year -- Fiennes' chilling performance as serial killer Francis Dolarhyde shifted between meekness and menace at the drop of a hat. Thankfully eschewing the grandiose theatrics of Hannibal for a tone more in keeping with the original Silence of the Lambs, the film proved a hit at the box office, and Fiennes' performance rivaled that of Ted Levine's in providing the film with a chilling villain straight from the pages of the most lurid true-crime encyclopedia (Fiennes' character was purportedly based on the exploits of an uncaptured Wichita serial killer who went by the name "Bind, Torture, Kill"). A few short months later, audiences were treated to yet another deeply disturbed characterization by Fiennes, that of a schizophrenic man haunted by his childhood in director David Cronenberg's dark psychological drama Spider, based on author Patrick McGrath's bleak novel of the same name. Fiennes' performance substituted the menace of Red Dragon with a more sympathetic protagonist whose memory slowly regresses to reveal a scarring childhood tragedy. No doubt having had his fill of disturbed characters that year, Fiennes once again caught audiences off guard with a disarmingly charming role in the romantic comedy Maid in Manhattan.Fiennes would continue to find substantial and challenging roles in the years to come, most notably in his sister's film Chromophobia, the Merchant-Ivory film The White Countess, The Constant Gardener, the James Bond film Skyfall, and the ever-popular Harry Potter series, in which Fiennes played baddie Lord Voldemort. Fiennes would also earn accolades for directing and starring in a cinematic adaptation of William Shakespeare's war epic Coriolanus.

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: English actress Gemma Arterton rose to fame in her native Britain during the late 2000s, with a series of roles in productions that crossed genre lines. She landed one of her first major assignments as an alluring, mischievous boarding-school student, Kelly, in the 2007 St. Trinian's (an update of Frank Launder's 1953 comedy classic The Belles of St. Trinian's), then signed for a supporting part in the legendary Stephen Poliakoff's made-for-television drama Capturing Mary. Arterton made headlines around the world when cast as Fields, one of the famed Bond girls, in the 22nd installment of the James Bond series, Quantum of Solace. She vaulted into leading roles in big-budget fantasy fare such as Clash of the Titans and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and scored a major part in Neil Jordan's vampire film Byzantium.

Trivia: After a quintessentially bohemian childhood that found her straddling New York, Paris, and Los Angeles (with a photographer father and actress mom), Alexa Davalos packed up, left the nest, and headed to Manhattan, flying solo. In the Big Apple, she instantly snagged lucrative assignments as a photographer's model for the likes of Peter Lindbergh, then discovered an inborn passion for acting and decided to make it the focus of her life. In 2002, Davalos -- desirous of Hollywood fame and success -- migrated to Los Angeles and began signing for guest parts on series such as Angel and Undeclared. Her big break arrived when producers selected her to play Kyra, the heroine in the 2004 futuristic fantasy vehicle The Chronicles of Riddick, starring Vin Diesel. Davalos next took on a prominent role as Samantha on the high-concept mystery-period series Reunion (2005). When highly touted series failed to catch on with viewers and was canceled after half a season, Davalos bounced back with a convincing portrayal as Diane Keaton's daughter in the well-received made-for-television feature Surrender, Dorothy (2006). The following year, Davalos stepped up several notches with a lead role in Robert Benton's much-anticipated drama Feast of Love -- an ensemble piece about a free-spirited woman who arrives in a small Northwestern town and recolors the life of everyone she meets. Also in 2007, Davalos appeared in the Stephen King horror adaptation The Mist, directed by Frank Darabont. The following year she co-starred with Daniel Craig and Jamie Bell in the war drama Defiance, and in 2010 she took on a supporting role in The Clash of the Titans.

Trivia: Danish-born Mads Mikkelsen studied his craft at Arhus Theatre School near his hometown of Copenhagen before embarking on his professional career. He would appear in many Danish films throughout the '90s, such as Pusher and Bleeder and on the series Unit One before transitioning into American cinema, playing Tristan in 2004's King Arthur and villain La Chiffre in 2006's Casino Royale. Mikkelsen would soon follow this up with roles in Monsters vs. Aliens, Valhalla Rising, and 2010's Clash of the Titans, in which he played Draco.

Trivia: Welsh-born Luke Evans won a scholarship to The London Studio Centre in Kings Cross, London, in 1997 at age 18. He took the knowledge he gained there onto the stage, beginning his professional acting career with many prominent roles in productions on London's West End, like Rent and Miss Saigon. Evans took his time branching out into on-screen acting, landing his first film audition at age 30. He made his big-screen debut as the Greek god Apollo in 2010's Clash of the Titans. He then played Aramis in 2011's The Three Musketeers before taking on the role of another Greek god in 2011's Immortals, this time tackling the king of the pantheon, Zeus.

Trivia: A blonde beauty who began her career as a ballerina, Izabella Miko moved between Poland and America before establishing herself in the Hollywood scene with roles in such popular features as Coyote Ugly (2000) and The Forsaken (2001).Born in Lodz, Poland, in 1981, Miko studied ballet, voice, and piano at Poland's Chopin Music School before a choreographer recruited her at the age of 14 to move abroad and join the School of American Ballet. Relocating to New York, Miko studied at the New York City Ballet and the Lee Strasberg Institute before a back injury brought her dancing career to a halt. Moving back to Poland and appearing in numerous films in the following few years, Miko moved back to the United States in the mid-'90s and, with her acting experiences intact, began to make a bid for the big time on the silver screens of Hollywood. She had a small recurring role on the HBO western series Deadwood, and went on to appear in Save the Last Dance 2, Dark Streets, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and 2010's big-budget spectacle Clash of the Titans.

Trivia: Irish actor Liam Cunningham has spent much of his career on stage, but also occasionally appears on television and in feature films. He made his movie debut with a small role in Mike Newell's charming Irish fantasy Into the West (1993). He has since played supporting roles in productions such as War of the Buttons (1994) and Michael Winterbottom's Jude (1996). Before entering drama school in the 1980s, Cunningham had been an electrician. He started out on the Irish stage and then embarked upon a U.S. tour with a travelling Irish troupe. Cunningham's other stage credits include stints with the Passion Machine theater company and London's Royal Court Theatre. His television credits include guest-starring roles on such British series as Cracker.

Trivia: Matheson's mother encouraged him to pursue acting. Made his film debut in Jez Butterworth's Mojo. Matheson can play guitar, violin and harmonica. Film, TV and theatre actor. Notable roles include Sherlock Holmes, The Tudors, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Clash of the Titans and 300: Rise of an Empire.

Trivia: Studied theater at Haifa University because it struck him as an easy profession. Formerly worked with Israel's Kameri theater company. Auditioned for United States movies for six years prior to being casting in the 2007 film The Kingdom.

Trivia: Discovered at age 3 while attending a production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle by a director who noticed his intense concentration. Mother accompanied him on set for all his projects until he began filming the TV series Skins when he was 17. Visited slums in the Kenyan city of Nairobi in 2010 to raise awareness about poverty as part of Christian Aid Week. Appeared in the video for the song "Lez be Friends" by the British musical-comedy act Midnight Beast in 2010. Modelled eyewear in a advert for the 2010 Tom Ford spring collection after appearing in Ford's film A Single Man. Played a villain in a 2014 commercial for Jaguar, part of a series that also featured Ben Kingsley and Tom Hiddleston.

Trivia: Attended the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in London. Began his acting career as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Made his television debut in the movie Unwanted Woman in 1992. Appeared in several films associated with Ancient Greece – Troy (2004), 300 (2006) and Clash of the Titans (2010). Helped launch South London's Landor Theatre.

Trivia: With her moony eyes, broad forehead, and chiseled facial features, British actress Polly Walker embodies a direct throwback to an earlier era -- a reincarnation of late '60s glamour goddesses such as Twiggy and Veruschka. Unsurprisingly, she continues to earn frequent comparisons to these mod cover girls in the press. Walker's depth and breadth as an actress, however, arguably far exceed that of her predecessors.Born in 1966, Walker received classical training as an actor with that crème de la crème of acting ensembles, the Royal Shakespeare Company (or RSC). She demonstrated extraordinary versatility in her early Hollywood roles, which included everything from an assassin (in the Harrison Ford-headlined 1992 political thriller Patriot Games) to the coke-snorting, gossip-mad denizen of a Manhattan apartment complex in the Joe Eszterhas-scripted erotic thriller Sliver (1993) -- both for Aussie import director Phillip Noyce. Additional features in which Walker appeared through the end of the 1990s include Restoration (1994), Talk of Angels (1998), and Peter Greenaway's 8 1/2 Women (1999), opposite Amanda Plummer and Toni Collette. Walker earned a whole new generation of fans with her impassioned portrayal of Atia of the Julii in the HBO series Rome (2005-2007), about the evolution of the titular city from Republic to Empire.Walker's resumé also includes a few guest appearances on the series Waking the Dead and a key role in the short-lived thriller series State of Play (both in the U.K.). She was particularly memorable and impressive -- and had an opportunity to draw on her classical roots -- with her portrayal of Lucetta, the epileptic and expectant mistress of Michael Henchard, in the made-for-television Thomas Hardy adaptation The Mayor of Casterbridge (2001). In the years to come, Smith would remain active on screen, appearing on series like Caprica and Prisoners Wives.