Career: Berry had a regular role in TV series Living Dolls in 1989, followed by a two-year stint in Dallas spin-off Knots Landing. Early films include Jungle Fever, Boomerang, and The Flintstones. She received acclaim for her performance in Bullworth in 1998, and a year later won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for playing the lead in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. Projects since include Swordfish, Die Another Day, X-Men and its sequels, and Monster's Ball, for which she won a Best Actress Oscar. In 2005, she was given a worst actress Razzie award for Catwoman - and is one of the few stars to turn up to the ceremony to accept it. Other projects include Perfect Stranger, Things We Lost in the Fire, Frankie and Alice, Could Atlas, The Call and X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Career: Downey Jr appeared in three of his father's films while still a child. His career took off in the mid-1980s thanks to such films as Weird Science, The Pick-Up Artist and Chances Are. He beat several talented actors to the lead role of Chaplin in 1989, and his performance earned him an Oscar nomination. Since then, he's appeared in Natural Born Killers, Only You, Restoration and Wonder Boys. Following his widely reported personal problems, TV show Ally McBeal gave him a chance to put his career back on track, but his character was written out when he was sacked following two drug arrests. Since then he has emerged as one of the world's most sought-after and respected thespians, with roles in the likes of The Singing Detective, Iron Man, Tropic Thunder and Sherlock Holmes catapulting him to A-list status.

Career: Hill went on to become one of British TV's most reliable character actors. The projects I, Claudius, Professional Foul and Pit Strike brought him great acclaim. However, it was Alan Bleasdale's 1980 series Boys From the Blackstuff that made him a household name. It brought him to the attention of director Peter Jackson who considered him for the role of Gandalf, before eventually casting him as King Theoden in The Lord of the Rings movies, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. On stage, Hill has appeared in A View from the Bridge, The Cherry Orchard and Macbeth. His other high profile roles on the big screen include parts in Gandhi, Shirley Valentine, The Bounty, The Ghost and the Darkness, Titanic, The Scorpion King, Wimbledon and Joy Division. On the small screen, he played David Blunkett in A Very Social Secretary to great acclaim.