Career: Farrell dropped out of Gaeity Drama School in Dublin, but landed a part in Ballykissangel a few months later. Roles in The War Zone, and Ordinary Decent Criminal followed before Hollywood beckoned. An acclaimed performance in Tigerland in 2000 led to him being cast in Hart's War, and Minority Report. Phone Booth, his first lead role, was a hit and made him a force to be reckoned with. Since then, Farrell has starred in such films as The Recruit, Daredevil, Intermission, Alexander, Miami Vice, In Bruges (for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Crazy Heart and Ondien. He always has a number of films in the pipeline.

Career: Beckinsale continued to act in films such as Much Ado About Nothing and The Prince of Jutland while studying for her degree, but eventually dropped out of university to concentrate on her career. Shortly afterwards, she starred in British productions Cold Comfort Farm, Emma and Shooting Fish, before moving to Hollywood to make The Last Days of Disco and Brokedown Palace. Although those films were critically well received, it was the 2001 movie Pearl Harbor that made her a star in the US. Since then, she's appeared in Underworld and its sequels, Van Helsing, Serendipity, Vacancy, Click, Aviator and Total Recall.

Career: Biel went on to star in six seasons of 7th Heaven and made guest appearances in seasons 7, 8 and 10. During her run on the show, she found the time to star in I'll Be Home for Christmas (1998), The Rules of Attraction (2002), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Blade: Trinity (2004), Elizabethtown (2005) and The Illusionist (2006). Recent credits include I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007), The A-Team (2010), Total Recall (2012) and Hitchock (2012).

Career: Cranston became active in local theatre but his parents had mixed feelings about their son entering the profession. In the 1980s, he began landing guest roles on a number of TV shows, including CHiPs, Loving, Airwolf, Hill Street Blues and Falcon Crest. His career continued to be built on a steady stream of guest roles until his first big break came in 2000 when he landed a recurring role as Hal in the hugely popular sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. It ran for seven seasons, clocking up 151 episodes. Two years after Malcom ended, Cranston secured what turned out to be a landmark role in AMC drama Breaking Bad as high school chemistry teacher Walter White. For his work on the series, Cranston won a Golden Globe and four Emmys. Since starring in Breaking Bad, Hollywood producers have been beating a path to his door. He has starred in The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), Drive (2011), Larry Crowne (2011), Contagion (2011), John Carter (2012), Rock of Ages (2012), Total Recall (2012), Argo (2012) and Godzilla (2014). In 2014, he won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Lyndon B Johnson in the play All the Way.

Career: Nighy honed his craft at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre in the 1970s. He made his TV debut in 1980 in sitcom Agony. His first film, Eye of the Needle, came a year later. He has juggled acclaimed stage appearances with TV and film work. His role as a randy lecturer in 1991's The Men's Room made him a heart-throb, but he didn't become familiar to audiences until a string of hits beginning with 1998's Still Crazy, followed by Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, State of Play, and Love Actually. He also starred in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, Stormbreaker and Underworld: Evolution. Other projects include Valkyrie, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, The Boat That Rocked, G-Force, Wild Target. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and playwright David Hare's Worricker trilogy.

Career: Cho first came to prominence in American Pie (1999), when his character popularised the slang term `MILF". He reprised the role in three American Pie sequels. He went on to play a lead role in his own franchise, starring alongside Kal Penn in the Harold & Kumar movies. His other film credits include Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), Total Recall (2012) and Identity Thief (2013). On the small screen, he appeared in three short-lived series, the sci-fi drama FlashForward and the sitcoms Go On and Selfie.