Career: At the age of 10, Christian made his West End debut in The Nerd, opposite Rowan Atkinson. He was hand-picked from 4,000 auditionees to take the lead role in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun in 1987. Unlike many child stars, he has successfully made the transition to serious grown-up actor. Films since include Little Women, The Portrait of a Lady, Velvet Goldmine, American Psycho, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Shaft, Reign of Fire, Equilibrium and The Machinist. His status soared after playing Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins and its sequels. His other recent films have included The Prestige, 3:10 to Yuma, Terminator Salvation, Public Enemies, The Fighter (for which he won an Oscar) and American Hustle.

Career: Willem toured with Theatre X for four years, before joining avant garde New York company The Performance Group. He made his first venture into film acting with a role in Heaven's Gate, but was cut from the finished movie. He went on to win parts in To Live and Die in LA and The Loveless, but his big break came with Platoon, which earned him an Oscar nomination. He also made headlines in 1988 when he took the lead role in the controversial The Last Temptation of Christ. Since then, his movies have included Mississippi Burning, Born on the Fourth of July, The English Patient, Shadow of the Vampire (for which he received another Oscar nod) and Spider-Man. His more recent films include Antichrist, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, Daybreakers and Miral.

Career: A series of TV roles, including Diane Keaton's Wildflower and miniseries Return to Lonesome Dove, got Witherspoon noticed. After several unremarkable movie projects, she starred alongside Mark Wahlberg in commercial success Fear in 1996, winning an army of young fans. A string of hits soon followed, including Freeway, Pleasantville, Cruel Intentions, Election, American Psycho and Legally Blonde, establishing her as a major Hollywood star and prompting her to set up production company Type A Films. Movies since include The Importance of Being Earnest, Sweet Home Alabama, and Legally Blonde 2. She wowed critics with a breathtaking performance in Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, for which she landed an Academy Award. Her recent films include Penelope, Four Christmases, How Do You Know, Water for Elephants and This Means War.

Career: Jared's early acting roles came on the small screen in short-lived sitcoms Camp Wilder and Almost Home, and teen drama My So-Called Life. His made his film debut in How to Make an American Quilt (1995) and his first lead role was in Prefontaine (1997), a biography of 1970s Olympic hopeful Steve Prefontaine. Other film credits include The Thin Red Line (1998), Fight Club (1999), Girl, Interrupted (1999), American Psycho (2000), Requiem for a Dream (2000), Alexander (2004) and Mr Nobody (2009). Away from acting, Jared is the lead singer with American rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2002 and their fourth album, Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams, was released in 2013. They have sold more than 10 million records worldwide.

Career: A chance encounter with aspiring film-maker Harmony Korine in the mid-1990s changed Sevigny's career path. He and collaborator Larry Clark cast her as the leading actress in the controversial film Kids (1995), catapulting her into the limelight. Job offers came flooding in, but motivated by the quality of roles rather than huge pay cheques, she often chose independent movies over mainstream offerings. Her performance alongside Oscar-winner Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry (1999) increased her profile further, earning her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Other credits include American Psycho (2000), Melinda and Melinda (2004), and Manderlay (2005). She received a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in 2010 for her role in HBO drama Big Love. More recently, she has starred in Hit & Miss, American Horror Story: Asylum, Lovelace (2013), Portlandia, The Mindy Project and Those Who Kill.

Career: Lucas moved to Los Angeles and showed early promise in the 1993 TV movie Class of '61 and Alive (1993), but he was then forced to settle for a succession of minor TV roles. He relocated to New York and began developing his acting skills in various stage productions. His career received a boost in 2000 when he was cast in the films You Can Count on Me and American Psycho. Since then, he has appeared in A Beautiful Mind (2001), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), Hulk (2003), Poseidon (2006), Glory Road (2006), The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), Red Dog (2011) and J Edgar (2012).