Career: Between 2004 and 2007, Chastain made guest appearances in a number of TV shows, including ER, Veronica Mars, Law & Order: Trial by Jury and Journeyman. She made her film debut in Jolene (2008). Her big break came in 2011 with the commercial success of The Help, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. Her other film credits include The Tree of Life (2011), The Debt (2011), Lawless (2012), The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby trilogy (2013-2014), Miss Julie (2014), Interstellar (2014) and A Most Violent Year (2014). She picked up her second Academy Award nomination for her performance in Zero Dark Thirty (2012).

Career: Elba's earliest roles came in Crimewatch UK reconstructions, 2point4 Children, Absolutely Fabulous and Bramwell. He spent a couple of years in Channel 5 soap Family Affairs and featured in Ultraviolet and Dangerfield before playing a suave, but doomed, urban gangster in the critically acclaimed The Wire on US TV from 2002 to 2004. The role turned him into a star on both sides of the Atlantic. Projects since include 28 Weeks Later, American Gangster, RocknRolla, The Office (US version), Thor, The Big C, Prometheus and the hugely successful Luther. More recently, he has starred in Pacific Rim, Thor: The Dark World, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and No Good Deed.

Career: Costner believed his break would come in 1983's The Big Chill - but he was cut from the final film. However, director Lawrence Kasdan cast him in Silverado, which boosted his career. His first major leading role arrived in 1987 in The Untouchables. Since then he has picked up a Best Director Oscar for Dances with Wolves, and had box-office hits with The Bodyguard, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Field of Dreams and JFK. He has struggled to find successful projects in recent years, but Open Range in 2003, which he starred in as well as directing and producing, was a return to form. He won a 2012 Emmy Award for his role in miniseries Hatfields & McCoys. He's also appeared in Mr Brooks, The Guardian and Man of Steel.

Career: Cera rose to prominence in 2003 when he began playing George Michael Bluth in the critically acclaimed sitcom Arrested Development. He went on to star alongside Jonah Hill in Superbad (2007), a film that was made for $20million and went on to gross more than $169million. He continued to forge a movie career in the likes of Juno (2007), Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008), Year One (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010) and This Is the End (2013). TV credits include Burning Love and Children's Hospital. He made his Broadway debut in September 2014 in This Is Our Youth.

Career: O'Dowd made his TV and film debuts in 2003, in an episode of Red Cap and Conspiracy of Silence respectively. Other early roles came in Vera Drake, Festival, The Clinic and Showbands. Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd made him a star in the UK, while the movies The Boat That Rocked, Dinner for Schmucks and Bridesmaids raised his profile in the US. He then created, wrote and starred in the sitcom Moone Boy, which is loosely based on his own childhood. More recently he appeared in the films The Sapphires, This Is 40 and St Vincent.