Black Hawk Down

Josh Hartnett (Actor) .. Ranger Staff Sgt Matt Eversmann

Born: July 21, 1978 in Saint Paul, Minnesota

Best Known For: Roles in Pearl Harbor and The Black Dahlia.

Early-life: Joshua Daniel Hartnett was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota on July 21, 1978, and raised largely by his father and stepmother. He has three siblings Jessica, Jake and Joe. He graduated from South High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota in June 1996, then attended a New York acting school. In 1997, he was offered the role of Michael Fitzgerald in the American TV series Cracker, as well as roles in several small plays and commercials. He reached a mainstream audience with his starring role in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later in 1998 and followed this up with The Faculty (1998).

Career: Hartnett has developed a steady career, having appeared in several hit films, including The Virgin Suicides (1999), Black Hawk Down (2001), Lucky Number Slevin (2006), Sin City (2005) and The Black Dahlia (2006). In 2008, he branched out into producing, with the movies August (in which he also features) and Nobody. In 2014, he began starring in the TV horror drama Penny Dreadful.

Quote: "I try my hardest not to have any plans. It drives the people in my life crazy. But I try to spend the majority of my time back home."

Trivia: Hartnett is a vegetarian.

Eric Bana (Actor) .. Delta Sgt First Class `Hoot" Gibson

Born: August 09, 1968 in Melbourne, Australia

Best Known For: Hulk.

Early-life: Eric Bana was born Eric Banadinovich in Melbourne, Australia, on August 9, 1968. He is of Croatian and German descent. He was popular among his schoolmates for doing impressions of his teachers. After being inspired to become an actor by watching Mel Gibson in Mad Max he moved to Sydney and worked odd jobs to support himself. In 1991, he began a career as a stand-up comedian, while working as a barman at Melbourne's Castle Hotel.

Career: After making his breakthrough as a comedian on Australian TV, Bana came to the attention of global audiences playing the lead role in Chopper, a biography of notorious Australian underworld figure Mark Read. Hollywood movies such as Black Hawk Down, Hulk and Troy followed. He had a lead role in 2005's Munich, alongside Daniel Craig and Geoffrey Rush, and directed by Steven Spielberg. With his stardom now assured, Bana continues to work in major US and Australian productions, including The Time Travellers' Wife, Star Trek, The Other Boleyn Girl and Kath and Kim.

Quote: "I love being at home, being with friends and family. I'm of European stock, brought up in Australia. I'm a passionate guy. I just love life."

Trivia: He is a motor racing enthusiast.

Ewan McGregor (Actor) .. Ranger Spec Grimes

Born: March 31, 1971 in Crieff, near Perth, Scotland

Best Known For: Trainspotting and Star Wars.

Early-life: Ewan Gordon McGregor was born on March 31, 1971, in Perth, Scotland, and was raised in nearby Crieff. He's the son of two teachers and the nephew of actor Denis Lawson. His brother is a former RAF pilot. His parents encouraged him to leave school at 16 to do whatever made him happy. Inspired by his uncle, he studied drama for a year at Kirkcaldy in Fife, before joining London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Shortly before graduating, he landed a role in Dennis Potter's 1993 series Lipstick on Your Collar.

Career: Shallow Grave kick-started McGregor's film career in 1994, then Trainspotting made his name on both sides of the Atlantic two years later. He went on to make Brassed Off, A Life Less Ordinary, Little Voice and the three Star Wars prequels. He formed production company Natural Nylon with friends Jonny Lee Miller, Sean Pertwee, Jude Law and Sadie Frost, but that has since disbanded. Other movies include Moulin Rouge!, Black Hawk Down, Young Adam, Big Fish, Deception, Angels & Demons, The Ghost and Mortdecai. The prolific actor always has a number of films in the pipeline, and occasionally tackles theatre work.

Quote: "Film-making is like a series of problems that need to be solved. And the excitement, the adrenaline that you get from making a small film is that you all have to pull together. I love that."

Trivia: Away from movies, he is active in several charities, including UNICEF, and has travelled the globe alongside pal Charley Boorman in the Long Way series.

Tom Sizemore (Actor) .. Ranger Lt Col Danny McKnight

Born: November 29, 1961 in Detroit, Michigan

Best Known For: Playing assorted Hollywood cops and soldiers.

Early-life: Thomas Edward Sizemore Jr was born on November 29, 1961, in Detroit, Michigan. He caught the acting bug after studying the work of Montgomery Clift, James Dean and Marlon Brando. After attending Wayne State University, he got his master's degree in theatre from Temple University in 1986. Tom moved to New York City and earned a living waiting tables at the World Trade Centre, while honing his craft performing in plays. Eventually he came to the attention of director Oliver Stone who cast him in his 1989 Vietnam drama, Born on the Fourth of July.

Career: A string of other projects followed, including TV series China Beach, and the movies Blue Steel, Flight of the Intruder, Guilty By Suspicion, Point Break and Passenger 57. By the early 1990s, Sizemore was inundated with film roles, including True Romance, Striking Distance, Wyatt Earp and Natural Born Killers. He was typecast as either macho cops in Strange Days and The Relic or gruff soldiers in Saving Private Ryan, Pearl Harbor and Black Hawk Down. In recent years he's rarely been out of work, featuring in TV shows such as Robbery, Homicide Division, Dr Vegas, CSI: Miami, Southland, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Hawaii Five-O. He always has a number of projects in the pipeline.

Quote: "Temptation is impossible for me to resist. Come on, this is Hollywood. It's in the job description."

Ewen Bremner (Actor) .. Specialist Shawn Nelson

Born: January 23, 1972 in Edinburgh

Best Known For: Playing Spud in Trainspotting.

Early-life: Ewen was born in Edinburgh on January 23, 1972. He originally wanted to be a circus clown but ended up an actor instead. He made his acting debut in Scottish comedy Heavenly Pursuits (1986).

Career: Bremner is best known for his portrayal of Spud in Danny Boyle's film adaptation of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting (1996). Since then, he has had roles in Julien Donkey-Boy (1999), Snatch (2000), Pearl Harbor (2001), Black Hawk Down (2001), Alien vs Predator (2004), Around the World in 80 Days (2004), Death at a Funeral (2007), Snowpiercer (2013), Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) and Get Santa (2015).

Quote: "Whatever I do, it's crucial to me that I give it 100 per cent. It doesn't matter if it's a short film, stage, theatre, TV or blockbuster."

Trivia: In 1997, he won an Empire Award in the Best Debut category for Trainspotting.

William Fichtner (Actor) .. Delta Sgt First Class Jeff Sanderson

Sam Shepard (Actor) .. Maj Gen William F Garrison

Gabriel Casseus (Actor) .. Ranger Spec Mike Kurth

Kim Coates (Actor) .. Delta Master Sgt Chris `Wex" Wexler

Hugh Dancy (Actor) .. Ranger Sgt First Class Kurt Schmid

Ron Eldard (Actor) .. Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant

Orlando Bloom (Actor) .. Blackburn

Born: January 13, 1977 in Canterbury

Early-life: Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom was born on January 13, 1977 in Canterbury. He has a sister, Samantha. At a young age, he was encouraged by his mother to take art and drama classes. In 1993, he moved to London to study a course in drama, photography and sculpture at Fine Arts College, Hampstead. He then spent two seasons at the National Youth Theatre, where he earned a scholarship to train at the British American Dance Academy. He made his professional acting debut on Casualty.

Career: In 1999, two days after graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he landed the role of Legolas in Peter Jackson's hugely successful The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Bloom's other film credits include Black Hawk Dawn (2001), Ned Kelly (2003), The Calcium Kid (2004), Troy (2004), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), The Three Musketeers (2011), Zulu (2013) and Romeo and Juliet (2014). He reprised the role of Legolas in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014).

Quote: "Elves are like trees, grounded and focused from the trunk down but graceful and agile on top."

Trivia: He learned to surf during the filming of The Lord of the Rings trilogy in New Zealand.

Best Known For: A string of Hollywood movies.

Ridley Scott (Director)

Born: November 30, 1937 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear

Best Known For: Directing Alien, Thelma and Louise and Gladiator.

Early-life: Born on November 30, 1937, in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. He spent most of his free time drawing or watching movies. He trained at West Hartlepool Art School and the Royal College of Art, where he developed a passion for film-making. His student project, Boy On A Bicycle, won much acclaim. His brother Tony is the director of Top Gun and True Romance. Their older sibling, Frank, died of cancer in 1980.

Career: Scott worked as a designer, then as a director, on TV shows Z Cars, Softly Softly and Adam Adamant Lives. He set up his own company in the 1960s, which made classic adverts for Hovis and Guinness. His first film was 1977's The Duellists. Two years later he made Alien, which was a blockbuster. He's since directed a number of hugely successful movies including Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise, GI Jane, Gladiator, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down and Matchstick Men. The success of these projects made him Britain's most lucrative film-maker. His most recent work includes Kingdom Of Heaven, American Gangster, Robin Hood and Prometheus. He always has several films in various stages of production.

Quote: "People always ask me what's the plan. There is no plan. I go to what fascinates me next."

Trivia: He was knighted in 2003.

02:25 am - 05:05 am, Monday, January 12 on Sky Cinema Action HD (521)

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