Career: Hardy made his film debut in Black Hawk Down in 2001. A year later he starred in Star Trek: Nemesis and in 2003 he won the London Evening Standard Theatre Award for his performances in Blood and In Arabia We'd All Be Kings. He continued to make a name for himself on the small screen in The Virgin Queen, Meadowlands, Oliver Twist and The Take, and on the big screen in RocknRolla, Bronson, Inception, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, This Means War and Lawless. He delivered a standout performance as the villain Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, before scoring a critical hit with Locke in 2013. More recently he's taken the lead role in Mad Max: Fury Road, and played both Kray twins in Legend.

Career: Harrelson was an understudy for Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues on Broadway and appeared in various small productions before gaining the role of dimwitted barman Woody Boyd in Cheers in 1985. His TV commitments made it difficult for him to gain good movie roles, although he did star in the hit White Men Can't Jump in 1992. When the sitcom finished a year later, he concentrated on films, and has since starred in Indecent Proposal, Natural Born Killers, The People vs Larry Flynt, Welcome to Sarajevo, The Thin Red Line, A Scanner Darkly, No Country for Old Men, The Messenger, Zombieland, 2012 and The Hunger Games movies. In 2014, he starred alongside Matthew McConaughey in HBO crime drama True Detective.

Career: At 15, Williams became emancipated from her parents so that she could avoid America's child labour laws. She also moved to Los Angeles, and her big break came when she landed the role of Jen Lindley in teen drama Dawson's Creek. The popular series ran for six seasons, clocking up 128 episodes. During her time on the teen drama, she also starred on the big screen in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), Dick (1999) and Prozac Nation (2001). She went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for Brokeback Mountain (2005); while filming she fell in love with co-star Heath Ledger, with whom she had a daughter. They had separated by the time of his death in 2008. Williams has received two further Academy Award nominations for Blue Valentine (2010) and My Week with Marilyn (2011). Her other film credits have included The Station Agen (2003), Synecdoche, New York (2008), Shutter Island (2010), Take This Waltz (2011) and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013).

Career: Harris' first break came in Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later (2002). In the same year, she starred in the TV adaptation of Zadie Smith's White Teeth. Since then, Harris has appeared on the big screen in A Cock and Bull Story (2005), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Miami Vice (2006), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) and Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010). In 2012, she starred alongside Daniel Craig in the hugely popular James Bond movie Skyfall. A year later, she starred opposite Idris Elba in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013). She returned to the James Bond franchise in 2015 in Spectre.

Career: Since playing the role of Tommy in Snatch (2000), Graham's film credits have included Gangs of New York (2002), Public Enemies (2009) and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011). He was cast as Combo in This Is England (2006) and its TV sequels This Is England '86 (2010), This Is England '88 (2011) and This Is England '90 (2015). From 2010 to 2014, he played the infamous gangster Al Capone in the TV drama Boardwalk Empire.

Career: Serkis honed his skills at the Dukes Playhouse, Lancaster, in the mid-1980s, before touring with well-known companies, and appearing at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. Success on London stages in the early 1990s coincided with his breakthrough in TV and film. He has starred in an eclectic mix of projects, such as Stella Does Tricks (1996), Among Giants (1998), Topsy-Turvy (1999) and 24 Hour Party People (2002). He achieved global recognition for playing Gollum in Peter Jackson's epic Lord of the Rings trilogy. He worked with the filmmaker again on his King Kong (2005) remake. Other film work includes Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2009), Burke and Hare (2010), Brighton Rock (2011), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014). He is also set to appear in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015).