Trivia: Better known for his work on the English stage than for his onscreen roles, Mark Rylance made a name for himself on the American art house circuit in 2001 with his performance in Patrice Chéreau's controversial melodrama Intimacy. For his portrayal of Jay, a self-destructive bartender engaged in a torrid affair with a married woman, Rylance was required to strip off both his clothes and his emotional inhibitions. He earned raves for his efforts, as well as ribbing from the press in London, where he was the artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.Born in Ashford, Kent, on January 18, 1960, Rylance grew up in Milwaukee, where both of his parents were English teachers. Although he was raised in the U.S., the actor felt a strong sense of British identity and returned to his home country at 18 to study theater in London. Accepted into the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Rylance was soon making a name for himself in productions of Hamlet, Henry V, and Much Ado About Nothing. Rylance first made a notable impression on audiences on both sides of the Atlantic in 1995 -- the same year he became the Globe's director -- when he portrayed an explorer/scientist who marries into an insidiously dysfunctional family in Philip Haas' Angels and Insects. The film, adapted from a novel by A.S. Byatt, earned critical kudos but limited recognition, and Rylance didn't appear onscreen again until he starred in Intimacy. Picked for his starring role opposite Kerry Fox after Chéreau saw his performance as an alcoholic boxer in the 1991 BBC drama The Grass Arena, Rylance turned in a strong portrayal that tended to be overshadowed by the film's graphic content. Its frank sex scenes, which included full frontal nudity and unsimulated oral sex, caused a sensation among the British press who criticized Rylance, a public figure in the theater world, for his willingness to let it all hang out for the public to see. However, Intimacy went on to win critical raves at film festivals across the globe, and in the process allowed Rylance to be recognized as an actor who added up to more than the mere sum of his parts.Rylance continued to take on-screen roles in between theatre jobs, such as playing Thomas Boleyn, the father of Anne Boleyn, in The Other Boleyn Girl, and in the British drama The Government Inspector. In 2015, he was thrown into the American awards circuit for his work in two projects. First, he played Thomas Cromwell (opposite Damian Lewis' King Henry VIII) in the BBC/PBS miniseries Wolf Hall, earning Rylance an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination. Then, he played captive KGB spy Rudolf Abel in Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies, which nabbed Rylance his first Oscar nomination and win, for Best Supporting Actor (Rylance became only the second actor, after Daniel Day-Lewis, to win an acting Oscar for a Spielberg film). He continued his association with Spielberg for his next big-screen role, playing the title character in The BFG.

Trivia: London-born actor Damian Lewis cultivated a reputation in the press not only for his well-received performances, but for his ability to effectively slip out of his English accent and into American characterizations. The actor first came to prominence in the early 2000s via his participation in the Steven Spielberg WWII miniseries Band of Brothers (2001) on HBO, then delivered a pair of high-profile cinematic portrayals over the next three years: as a man who gets possessed by an extraterrestrial in the widely panned Stephen King/Lawrence Kasdan horror opus Dreamcatcher (2003) -- and a critically acclaimed lead role as a schizophrenic father bereft of his little girl in Lodge Kerrigan's psychodrama Keane (2004). Lewis's turn as a volatile and psychotic ex-husband opposite Jennifer Lopez in Lasse Hallström's An Unfinished Life turned a few heads; unfortunately, Miramax shelved the film after its production in 2003, and it failed to reach theaters before the fall of 2005. Thereafter, Lewis signed for a lead role opposite Connie Nielsen and Mido Hamada in the politically charged thriller The Situation (2006) and garnered a lead on the small-screen series drama Life, as a former police officer once sentenced to years in jail for a crime he did not commit, who, now exonerated, returns to his old career. He appeared in The Baker and The Escapist in 2008, and in 2011 he was cast in the well-reviewed made-for-cable series Homeland. That same year he appeared in the period pot comedy Your Highness.

Trivia: Her maternal grandparents were from Dublin and Kildare. The youngest of three children, her parents divorced when she was eight years old. Trained as a ballet dancer from a young age, but developed juvenile arthritis at the age of 13 and retired from dancing. Is highly skilled at playing the piano. Nominated for a Royal Television Society award in 2009 for her role in Little Dorrit. Was listed as one of 55 Faces for the Future by Nylon Magazine in 2010. Played Lady Macbeth in the 2013 West End production of Macbeth, opposite James McAvoy. /Has won five awards for her role as the young Queen Elizabeth ll in The Crown: a Golden Globe Award in 2017 for Best Actress in a Television Drama; a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2018; a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series in 2017 and 2018; and a Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress in 2018.

Trivia: British actor Thomas Sangster caught audience's attention in 2003's Love Actually when he was 13. He would go on to appear in films like Nanny McPhee, Tristan and Isolde, and Bright Star, as well as provide the voice of Ferb on the animated TV series Phineas and Ferb.

Trivia: When producers of the Lord of the Rings trilogy needed an actor of eminence and power to play King Théoden in the second and third films, they went fishing and reeled in a prize catch: Bernard Hill. It was Hill who portrayed Captain E.J. Smith in the 1997 box-office blockbuster Titanic. By sinking to the bottom as the stiff-upper-lipped commanding officer of the doomed ship, Hill rose to new heights in his profession, receiving international recognition for his acting skill. Although Titanic was mediocre artistically, audiences loved it for its soapy melodrama, special effects, and strong performances from veteran actors like Hill. But who was Hill? When fans checked into his background, they discovered that he was among Britain's most accomplished actors. In the 1980s, he earned critical acclaim for roles in stage and television productions of Shakespeare's plays and won Britain's Press Guild award for Achievement of the Decade for his performance in the TV miniseries Boys From the Blackstuff. In 1994, he received a British Academy award for his starring role in Skallagrigg. Further research revealed that Hill had portrayed Gratus in what was unquestionably one of the top three or four TV miniseries of all time -- I, Claudius (1976) -- and Sergeant Putnam in the 1982 Academy Award-winning biodrama Gandhi. Hill was born on December 17, 1944, in Manchester, England, and eventually resided with his own family in Suffolk. Since the early '70s, he has acted in television and film, as well as theater. Hill has appeared in TV adaptations of such classics as The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot; The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame; and Antigone by Sophocles. Hill accepted roles in a string of films with offbeat names: Besides Skallagrigg, he appeared in Madagascar Skin (1995), Drug-Taking and the Arts (1994), Dirtysomething (1993), Drowning by Numbers (1988), Bellman and True (1987), Milwr Bychan (1986), Squaring the Circle (1984), The Spongers (1978), and Pit Strike (1977). In the Lord of the Rings films, Hill plays white-haired Théoden Ednew, the 17th king of Rohan and a defender of Middle-earth. Made old and decrepit beyond his chronological age by the machinations of Grima Wormtongue and Saruman, Théoden regains his vigor through the intervention of Gandalf and rides his horse, Snowmane, to battlefield glory.

Trivia: Helped birth calves and lambs as a girl on her father's farm. Initially rejected by every drama school she applied to. Taught English in Thailand for a year prior to being accepted at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Other jobs have include waitressing and answering phones on an Internet provider's help line. Began her acting career with the Royal National Theatre in London, where she earned acclaim.

Trivia: Father is Dominic Holland, a famous British comedian and novelist. Started performing as a young child when he began studying dance at Nifty Feet Dance School in London. In 2006, was noticed at a dance showcase by Lynne Page, the choreographer of Billy Elliot The Musical, who decided to train him in preparation for a role in the stage show. After training for two years and auditioning numerous times, starred in the titular role of Billy Elliot The Musical in the West End in London from 2008 until 2010. Played Lucas in the 2012 film The Impossible, a role that earned him an award for Best Breakthrough from the National Board of Review and for which he was honored at the Hollywood Spotlight Awards. Is involved with the Anthony Nolan Trust, a charity that aims to persuade people to donate bone marrow and stem cells.

Trivia: Raised in England but moved to Australia for a short time, where he worked as a white-water rafting guide. Acted in stage productions at the National Theatre in London and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Began appearing on British television in the mid-1990s. Narrated an audiobook titled Stranger House by Reginald Hill. Stephen and Frank Dillane, his brother and nephew, are also famous actors.

Trivia: A member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, dramatic actress Saskia Reeves made her film debut in December Bride (1990). Prior to that, she had appeared in the television film Metamorphosis (1987). In film, Reeves has specialized in playing offbeat roles in films such as Michael Winterbottom's Butterfly Kiss (1995).

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.

Trivia: His parents divorced when he was three years old. Appeared in a school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the age of 10. Was learning lines for a school production of Hamlet when he was cast as the title character in the film Eragon (2006), winning the role against 180,000 applicants. Founded, alongside his manager Matthew Hobbs, a film production and talent management company, Firefly. Has run the London Marathon several times, for charities like Pets as Therapy and Somerset Cancer Care. Has supported Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from a young age. Is ambassador for the UK charity, YouthNet. As actor and producer, is known principally for Downton Abbey (2010), Wolf Hall (2015) and Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016).

Trivia: Is openly gay, and was the 38th most influencial gay person in the UK in 2010. Attended Heighington CE Primary School. Has been collecting fossils since his childhood. Has always been a fan of Doctor Who. Spent a year travelling around Europe after school. Met his League of Gentlemen co-workers at a drama school in his late teens.

Trivia: Joined the dramatic society at university where he made most of his friends, including his best friend to this day. Although he had trained as an architect, he watched a British Council screening of a film about the RSC and Stratford-upon-Avon in Nigeria where he was working as a trainee architect, and knew straightaway that he wanted to become an actor. While studying at RADA in 1977, he won the Bancroft Gold Medal for acting. Frequently performs with the Royal Shakespeare Company; played Bolingbroke in Richard II in 1990 and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew in 1992. Has been associated with reading novels by Charles Dickens for Naxos Audio Books since 2012, including Oliver Twist. Is a patron of the Lynx Animal Welfare Trust. In 2013, for two months played the part of Robin Carrow in Ambridge Extra, a BBC Radio 4 Extra spin-off from the BBC Radio 4 drama The Archers. Was announced a public supporter of Chapel Lane Theatre Company located in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK in 2015.

Trivia: Welsh native Jonathan Pryce switched from art studies to acting after winning a RADA scholarship, and quickly became both a critically viable and immediately recognizable screen presence. In numerous screen assignments, Pryce's subtle intensity and mania - deftly but not deeply buried beneath a placid exterior - could be parlayed with equal aplomb into roles as an angst-ridden everyman or a manipulative sociopath. In the majority of Pryce's characterizations, he projected a frightening degree of intelligence and sophistication almost by default.After a few seasons with the Liverpool Everyman Theatre, Pryce scored a London theatrical success in Comedians, winning a Tony award when the play moved to Broadway in 1976. Thereafter, he starred in the Broadway musicals Miss Saigon and Oliver!. Pryce's subsequent effectiveness in villainous roles threatened to typecast him as Machiavellian heavies, such as his icewater-veined personification of "reason and logic" in Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989). As time rolled on, however, Pryce began to demonstrate his ability to add layers of offbeat and intriguing eccentricity to roles that, in other hands, could easily become caricatures or stock parts - a gift apparent as early as Pryce's leading turn in Gilliam's Brazil (1985), as a beleaguered everyman enmeshed in a Kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmare. The actor was particularly arresting, for example, as James Lingk, a bar patron with not-so-subtle homosexual inclinations, who falls prey to the machinations of hotshot salesman Ricky Roma (Al Pacino), in James Foley's 1992 screen adaptation of the David Mamet play Glengarry Glen Ross. He commanded equally powerful screen presence as Henry Kravis, a cunning entrepreneur and the "master of the leveraged buyout" (who bilks corporate giant F. Ross Johnson for a fortune) in the Glenn Jordan-directed, Larry Gelbart-scripted boardroom comedy Barbarians at the Gate (1993). In 1995, Jonathan Pryce won a Cannes Film Festival best actor award for his portrayal of homosexual writer Lytton Strachey in Carrington, opposite Emma Thompson. In subsequent years, Pryce's screen activity crescendoed meteorically; he remained extremely active, often tackling an average of three to five films a year, and demonstrated a laudable intuition in selecting projects. Some of his more prestigious assignments included roles in Evita (1996), Ronin (1998), De-Lovely (2004) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007). The Brothers Grimm (2005) re-united the Welsh actor with Brazil and Baron Munchausen collaborator Terry Gilliam. In 2008, Pryce teamed up with George Clooney, Renee Zellweger and John Krasinski for a supporting role in the Clooney-directed sports comedy Leatherheads (2008); Pryce plays C.C. Frazier, the manager of a 1920s collegiate football player (Krasinski). Many American viewers may continue to associate Pryce with his television commercial appearances as the spokesman of Infiniti automobiles.