Career: The US success of Mad Max 2 led to Gibson being offered mainstream Hollywood roles, including The Bounty, Mrs Soffel, and The River, before Lethal Weapon turned him into an A-list star in 1987. His directorial debut was 1993's The Man Without a Face, and his follow-up in front and behind the camera, Braveheart, won several Oscars. His company, Icon, has backed a string of hit-and-miss movies in recent years, including Kevin and Perry Go Large, and What Women Want. Gibson has also starred in Signs, and The Patriot, and wrote and directed controversial drama The Passion of the Christ, which Gibson himself funded. After taking a break from acting, he returned with Edge of Darkness and The Beaver.

Career: The Phoenix children began landing acting roles at a young age. Leaf's first role was on TV in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1982. His film debut was in 1986's Space Camp. He also appeared in Parenthood in 1989 before changing his name back to Joaquin and dropping out of acting to travel in South America with his father. To Die For thrust him back into the spotlight in 1995. He's worked constantly since then, in such projects as 8MM, The Yards, Quills, Buffalo Soldiers, Signs, The Village, Ladder 49, and Her. He has received Oscar nominations for The Master, Walk the Line, and Gladiator.

Career: Further roles followed on the big screen in Raising Helen (2004) and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), and on TV in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and NCIS. Breslin's breakthrough role came in the 2006 comedy drama Little Miss Sunshine, for which she received an Oscar nomination. Since then, she has starred in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006), Nim's Island (2008), Zombieland (2009), Ender's Game (2013) and Perfect Sisters (2014). She also voiced the character Priscilla in Rango (2011). More recently, she has appeared in Ender's Game (2013), Maggie (2015) and the TV series Scream Queens.

Career: Shyamalan was still a student in New York when he made his first film, Praying with Anger (1992). It never received mainstream distribution. His second film, Wide Awake (1998), only received a limited release and only recouped $300 against a $6million budget. 1999 was a big breakthrough year for Shyamalan. He co-wrote the screenplay for the hugely popular Stuart Little (1999) and gained international recognition when he wrote and directed The Sixth Sense (1999), which was nominated for six Academy Awards and grossed more than $670million worldwide. Since then, Shyamalan has struggled to achieve critical praise for his films but they have all been financially successful. He has written and directed Unbreakable (2000), Signs (2002), The Village (2004), Lady in the Water (2006), The Happening (2008), The Last Airbender (2010) and After Earth (2013).