Career: After several years of theatre work, Mortensen made his first film appearance playing an Amish farmer in Peter Weir's Witness. During the 1990s, Mortensen appeared in supporting roles in a variety of films, including Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady and Young Guns II, as well as taking leading roles in American Yakuza and Gus Van Sant's Psycho. Mortensen's major mainstream breakthrough came in 1999, when Peter Jackson cast him as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Since then, he has scored major successes with crowd-pleasing cowboy film Hidalgo, and super-tough David Cronenberg vehicles A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. His last major film was the post-apocalyptic drama The Road.

Career: Smit-McPhee's first feature film role was in Romulus, My Father (2007). He then went on to appear in The Road (2009) and Let Me In (2010). Smit-McPhee voiced the lead character, Norman, in the film ParaNorman (2012). Since then, he has appeared in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016).

Career: Duvall's first professional work came on stage. His TV debut was in a 1959 episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre, while his first film was 1962's To Kill a Mockingbird. Other early movies were The Chase, Bullitt, True Grit and MASH. In 1972, he received his first Oscar nomination for The Godfather. Nominations since have been for Apocalypse Now, The Great Santini, The Apostle (which he also wrote and directed) and A Civil Action. He won the Best Actor award for Tender Mercies in 1983. Other films include The Godfather: Part II, Sling Blade, Open Range, Secondhand Lions, Thank You for Smoking, Crazy Heart and Get Low.

Career: After three years in Ramsay Street, Pearce had a stint in Home and Away. During this time he also made several films, including Heaven Tonight, and Hunting, and later appeared in Snowy River: The McGregor Saga. But it was 1994's The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, that made Hollywood notice his acting talent, and lead roles in movies including the Oscar-winning LA Confidential (opposite fellow antipodean Russell Crowe) and critically acclaimed Memento followed. Other projects include The Count of Monte Cristo, Factory Girl, The Hurt Locker, The Road, The Proposition, The King's Speech and Iron Man 3.

Career: An agent spotted Theron arguing with a bank clerk and signed her on the spot. After eight months of acting lessons she landed her first role, a non-speaking part in Children of the Corn III. A more significant role in 2 Days in the Valley followed. Tom Hanks cast her in That Thing You Do! in 1996, and she hasn't looked back, appearing in hits such as The Devil's Advocate, Mighty Joe Young, and Reindeer Games. In 2003, she starred in the remake of The Italian Job and critically acclaimed drama Monster; her performance in the latter won her an Oscar. She also starred in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, Aeon Flux, Hancock, The Road, Young Adult, Snow White & the Huntsman and Prometheus.