Trivia: Says that he started acting as a way to get to know his father better, actor Roy Kinnear, who died when Rory was 10 years old. He originally planned on becoming a butcher. At age 15, he learned the piano and participated in his first theatre performance through school, Cyrano. Performed with the Royal Shakespeare company and won two awards for his performance in the Restoration comedy, The Man of Mode, in 2008 — a Laurence Olivier Award and an Ian Charleson Award. Played Iago, opposite Adrian Lester, in Othello at the National Theatre in 2013; the two men tied for the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor.

Trivia: A prolific character actor in his native Britain, Eddie Marsan specialized in challenging and provocative roles, in slightly tough and edgy projects that often took advantage of his unique, immediately identifiable countenance. After debuting as a bit player and guest star in English television series including Casualty, Game On, and The Bill, Marsan took one of his premier big-screen bows in Michael Radford's crime thriller B. Monkey (1998), then effectively played one of Tammany Hall's minions opposite Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's period crime epic Gangs of New York (2002). On a much different note, Marsan subsequently teamed up with English cause célèbre director Mike Leigh in the abortion-themed character study Vera Drake (2004) -- in which the actor ushered in a partly improvised portrayal of a kindly road worker who romances the title character's daughter. Drake brought Marsan an upsurge of attention, and thereafter, assignments rolled in quickly and furiously from both sides of the Atlantic. These included supporting roles in Isabel Coixet's gentle, atmospheric drama The Secret Life of Words, Neil Burger's period supernatural drama The Illusionist, and the mega-budgeted action extravaganza Mission: Impossible III. 2008 marked a busy period for Marsan; that year, he both tackled a supporting part opposite Will Smith and Charlize Theron in the superhero comedy Hancock, and -- on a much-anticipated note -- re-teamed with Mike Leigh for a prominent role as an angsty teacher in the slice-of-life comedy Happy-Go-Lucky.

Trivia: Performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1993 and 1994. In 1998, performed as part of the ensemble in satirical sketch show Comedy Nation. Is perhaps best known for playing Chrissie Watts in BBC soap Eastenders between 2004 and 2005. Was nominated for five British Soap Awards between 2004 and 2006, winning two. Between 2009 and 2017, regularly contributed to The Jewish Chronicle.