Career: Early in his career, Washington landed small parts on TV, and made his movie debut in 1981's Carbon Copy. A starring role in St Elsewhere led to bigger projects such as Cry Freedom, Glory (for which he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar), and Mo' Better Blues. The eponymous role of Malcolm X made him a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood in 1992. Since then, he's starred in Philadelphia, Crimson Tide, The Hurricane, Training Day (picking up a Best Actor Oscar for his role as a crooked cop), American Gangster, The Book of Eli, Crimson Tide, Unstoppable, Flight, 2 Guns and The Equalizer. He continues to act on stage whenever his schedule allows.

Career: Nielsen's early professional acting roles were in French and Italian films and TV series. Her first English language film role was in The Devil's Advocate (1997) and she received global recognition when she played Lucilla in the Oscar-winning Gladiator (2000). Since then, she has appeared in Mission to Mars (2000), One Hour Photo (2002), Basic (2003), The Hunted (2003), The Ice Harvest (2005) and Nyphomaniac (2013). She also had roles in the TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Boss, The Following and The Good Wife. More recently, she played Queen Hippolyta in Wonder Woman (2017).

Career: Following acclaimed performances at university, Jacobi joined Birmingham Rep. He was spotted by Laurence Olivier, who invited him to join the National Theatre Company. He made his film debut alongside Olivier in 1965's Othello. Since then, Jacobi has continued to make acclaimed appearances on stage and screen. Among his films are The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, Love Is the Devil, Gladiator, Gosford Park, The King's Speech and Hereafter. He inspired Kenneth Branagh to become an actor and worked alongside him in Henry V, Hamlet and Dead Again. Jacobi won a Bafta for I, Claudius in 1977, starred in the medieval-set series Cadfael, played The Master in Doctor Who, is the narrator of In the Night Garden and scored a surprise hit with Last Tango in Halifax.

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.