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: Australian director Gregor Jordan auditioned him for the lead in Two Hands (1999), which he got. An in-your-face Aussie crime thriller, the film was outstanding and helped him secure a role in 10 Things I Hate About You (1999). After that, Heath feared being typecast as a teen hunk so he accepted a role in Mel Gibson historical war drama The Patriot (2000). He followed that with roles in the hugely popular A Knight's Tale (2001), the dark drama Monster's Ball (2001) and fantasy thriller The Brothers Grimm (2005). He won critical acclaim for his role as a conflicted gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain (2005) and the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008), for which he won a posthumous Oscar. He died on January 22, 2008, at the age of 28.

Career: Isaacs' film debut came in The Tall Guy in 1989. Other early roles came in Capital City, Inspector Morse and Taggart. His first major film was 1997's Event Horizon, but it was small part in the blockbuster Armageddon a year later that cemented his position as a noteworthy actor, and he hasn't looked back since. Movie projects include The Patriot, Black Hawk Down, Divorcing Jack, Event Horizon and the Harry Potter franchise. On TV he's appeared in The West Wing, Brotherhood, Awake and Case Histories.

Career: Richardson's early films include The Hotel New Hampshire (directed by her dad), Wetherby (playing her mother as a young woman), King Ralph, and Shining Through. Controversial TV series Lady Chatterley made her famous in 1993. She went on to appear in numerous projects, such as Loch Ness, 101 Dalmatians, Event Horizon, Maybe Baby, and The Patriot before accepting a role in acclaimed US small screen hit Nip/Tuck in 2003, which made her a global household name. Her recent work includes the TV movie Wallis & Edward, The Tudors and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Career: Cooper plied his trade on the stage before making his film debut in box-office flop Matewan (1987). He had success on the small screen in the miniseries Lonesome Dove and Return to Lonesome Dove but he is better known for his supporting roles in a number of notable Hollywood films. He has appeared in The Horse Whisperer (1998), American Beauty (1999), The Patriot (2000), The Bourne Identity (2002), Adaptation (2002), Seabiscuit (2003), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), Capote (2005), The Town (2010), August: Osage County (2013) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).

Career: Wilkinson made his TV debut in the mid-1970s, and went on to appear in programmes including First Among Equals and A Pocket Full of Rye. However, it was his role as Mr Pecksniff in the BBC's 1994 adaptation of Martin Chuzzlewit that really put the actor on the map. Three years later Tom won a Bafta for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in The Full Monty, and the 1990s also saw him appear in such notable films as Shakespeare in Love, In the Name of the Father and Wilde. More recently, he played the gangster Carmine Falcone in Batman Begins, gained great critical acclaim for In the Bedroom, starred alongside George Clooney in Michael Clayton and played German army officer Friedrich Fromm in Valkyrie. He won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Benjamin Franklin in the miniseries John Adams. His recent work on the big screen includes roles in The Ghost, Burke and Hare, The Green Hornet and The Conspirator.