Career: Cage changed his name from Coppola to Cage (inspired by Marvel comic hero Luke Cage) so he could achieve success in his own right. However, he got some of his earliest breaks in the movies Rumble Fish, The Cotton Club and Peggy Sue Got Married, which were directed by his uncle Francis. The actor won critical acclaim for films including Raising Arizona, Moonstruck and Wild at Heart, before picking up an Oscar in 1995 for his portrayal of an alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas. After that, he branched out into action films, making Con Air, The Rock and Face/Off, but returned to his offbeat roots with movies like Adaptation, Lord of War, The Weather Man and World Trade Center. Since then he has made a string of big-budget movies, including National Treasure: Book of Secrets (a sequel to his 2004 hit National Treasure), The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and Season of the Witch. His 2011 film Drive Angry was a box-office flop, but he always has a number of films in the pipeline.

Career: Elba's earliest roles came in Crimewatch UK reconstructions, 2point4 Children, Absolutely Fabulous and Bramwell. He spent a couple of years in Channel 5 soap Family Affairs and featured in Ultraviolet and Dangerfield before playing a suave, but doomed, urban gangster in the critically acclaimed The Wire on US TV from 2002 to 2004. The role turned him into a star on both sides of the Atlantic. Projects since include 28 Weeks Later, American Gangster, RocknRolla, The Office (US version), Thor, The Big C, Prometheus and the hugely successful Luther. More recently, he has starred in Pacific Rim, Thor: The Dark World, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and No Good Deed.