Career: Owen's professional career began on stage, but he soon switched to TV, making his debut in a 1987 episode of Rockliffe's Babies. Adaptations of Precious Bane and Lorna Doone raised his profile, but it was Chancer that made him a star in the early 1990s. Projects such as Close My Eyes, An Evening with Gary Lineker, The Return of the Native, Sharman and Second Sight sealed his standing as a reliable leading man. Croupier (1998) made Hollywood bigwigs sit up and take notice, and he's enjoyed big-screen success ever since. He received an Oscar nomination for Closer (2004), and also featured in Gosford Park (2001), The Bourne Identity (2002), King Arthur (2004), Sin City (2005), Derailed (2005), Inside Man (2006), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), and Shadow Dancer (2012). In 2014, he began starring in American period medical drama The Knick.

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.