Career: During the 1990s, Carell taught an improvisational comedy class, wrote for The Dana Carvey Show and was one of the correspondents on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He impressed critics with supporting roles in Bruce Almighty (2003) and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004). In 2005, he co-wrote and starred in The 40 Year Old Virgin, which thrust him into the mainstream. He also shone in Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and helped turn the US version of British sitcom The Office into a big success. Since then he's starred in the likes of Date Night (2010), Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011), Hope Springs (2012) and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013). He left The Office in 2011 to concentrate on movies.

Career: Freeman's first credited big-screen appearance was in 1971's Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow?, before he landed a regular role on children's show The Electric Company. In the mid-1980s, Freeman started getting more prominent roles in movies. Among his biggest hits have been Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption, Se7en, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Glory, Amistad, Deep Impact and Bruce Almighty. He is also an in-demand voice-over artist, lending his dulcet tones to sci-fi blockbuster War of the Worlds and the Oscar-winning documentary March of the Penguins. Freeman received an Academy Award of his own for his supporting role in Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby. A prolific actor, he has more recently appeared in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy and always has several films in pre-production.

Career: Thanks to financial help from his brother, Goodman moved to New York in 1975 and attempted to make ends meet as a barman and waiter while gaining acting experience on stage and in adverts. His first film was 1977's Jailbait Babysitter. Other small film and TV roles followed, as did an acclaimed performance in Broadway musical Big River. His first film with the Coen brothers was 1987's Raising Arizona (he's worked with them a further three times). A year later he made his debut in Roseanne. The sitcom ran for nine years and made him a household name. Other notable projects include The Flintstones, The Artist, Flight and Treme.