Career: At 19, Penn began studying acting, and made early TV appearances in Barnaby Jones and Little House on the Prairie. His first film was Taps in 1981. He stole the show in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and At Close Range. Since then, he's starred in Casualties of War, Carlito's Way, Dead Man Walking, I Am Sam, Mystic River, 21 Grams, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Milk, Fair Game and Gangster Squad. He won Best Actor Oscars for Mystic River and Milk. He has also written, directed, and produced several movies, including Into the Wild. Penn also actively supports a number of political and social causes. He called for George W Bush to be impeached after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Career: Caviezel's first stage work came in Seattle, where he'd originally moved to play basketball. He had a small role in the film My Own Private Idaho in 1991 before relocating to Los Angeles. Parts in Wyatt Earp, Murder, She Wrote and The Wonder Years followed. His breakthrough performance came in 1998's The Thin Red Line, but he didn't become famous until he played the lead role in Mel Gibson's surprise blockbusting hit The Passion of the Christ in 2004, but he suffered for his art - during filming he was struck by lightning, and suffered both pneumonia and hypothermia. He turned down the chance to play Cyclops in X-Men to take the lead in Frequency instead. Other film projects include Madison, Long Weekend and Transit; he also starred in a remake of The Prisoner on TV and crime drama Person of Interest.

Career: Brody appeared in an off-Broadway production when he was 13 and starred in a number of TV shows and movies before he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his role in the movie Restaurant (1998). He went on to star in The Thin Red Line (1998) and Summer of Sam (1999) before his big break came in Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002), a role that earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor. A string of films followed, including The Singing Detective (2003), The Village (2004), King Kong (2005), Hollywoodland (2006), Predators (2010) and Midnight in Paris (2011). More recently, he has appeared in such films as The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), American Heist (2014) and Septembers of Shiraz (2015).

Career: Clooney lived with his aunt Rosemary while attending auditions, working as her chauffeur. His TV debut was 1984's Riptide, following it up with, ironically, a short-lived sitcom called ER. A string of disastrous projects followed before medical drama ER turned him into a major star in 1994. After five years Clooney left to concentrate on films. Projects include O Brother Where Art Thou?, Three Kings, The Perfect Storm, Intolerable Cruelty, Out of Sight, Ocean's Eleven, Up in the Air, The American and Gravity. Clooney's directorial debut was Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and he has backed numerous projects as a producer. Away from showbusiness, he is involved with humanitarian causes.

Career: Cusack made his film debut at 16 in Class and went on become a 1980s teen film regular, starring in the likes of Sixteen Candles, Stand By Me, The Sure Thing and Say Anything, before moving on to more adult fare with the 1990 movie The Grifters. He continued to work steadily, but his career really took off again in 1997, when he starred in the blockbuster Con Air and the acclaimed Grosse Pointe Blank, which he also co-wrote and co-produced. Since then, his credits include Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, America's Sweethearts, Serendipty, 2012 and The Raven.

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: Travolta eventually moved to Los Angeles to further his acting career. His big break came with sitcom Welcome Back Cotter; he also made an early movie appearance in Carrie. Saturday Night Fever and the film version of Grease proved he was a major force to be reckoned with. More big-screen outings followed but, despite the success of Look Who's Talking, a string of flops in the 1980s meant he fell out of favour until Quentin Tarantino cast him in Pulp Fiction in 1994. He's since made various hits, including Swordfish, Primary Colors and Get Shorty. Over the past few years he's appeared in Wild Hogs, Hairspray, From Paris with Love and The Taking of Pelham 123. He remains an A-list star.

Career: Nolte's movie breakthrough was in 1982 action comedy 48 Hours. He followed this up with critically-acclaimed vehicles like Down and Out in Beverly Hills and Three Fugitives. He gave more serious performances in the The Prince of Tides and Cape Fear. He has been Oscar-nominated three times, and performances in dark dramas like Affliction have been critically-acclaimed. He gave a superb turn in short-lived HBO racing drama Luck.