Career: Freeman's TV debut came in 1997 with a bit-part in This Life. His first starring role arrived the following year in the short film I Just Want to Kiss You. Notching up a string of appearances in the TV series Lock, Stock..., Casualty and Black Books, he really came to the public's attention in 2001 as lovelorn Tim Canterbury in The Office. He's since become a major player in the British comedy and drama scene, appearing in Charles II: The Power and the Passion, Hardware, Love Actually, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Robinsons, Confetti, Hot Fuzz, and Nativity. He returned to TV in 2010, playing Dr John Watson in the acclaimed Sherlock. He played the lead role of Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's three-part adaptation of The Hobbit.

Career: McKellen started out on stage, gaining acclaim in Britain and America, and winning a prestigious Tony award for his performance in the original Broadway production of Amadeus. He didn't become a household name until his film career took off with hits such as Scandal, Richard III, and X-Men and its sequels. He received Oscar nominations for Gods and Monsters and the first part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. More recently, he reprised the role of Gandalf in The Hobbit movies. He continues to appear on stage.

Career: Armitage's first appearance on screen was in Brit-flick This Year's Love, with several small roles in Doctors, Casualty and Spooks following shortly afterwards. He landed the part of Capt Iain Macalwain in ITV1's Ultimate Force in 2003, and his star rose even higher thanks to Cold Feet, where he played Lee, and a major role in costume drama North & South, based on the Elizabeth Gaskell novel. He's since starred in a TV version of Macbeth, The Golden Hour, George Gently and Robin Hood. Armitage also took over from Rupert Penry-Jones as the male lead in Spooks.

Career: After working in theatre, Nesbitt made his TV debut in Boon and his first film, Hear My Song, in 1991. He hasn't looked back, appearing in a string of hits on both the big and small screens, including Waking Ned, Jude, Touching Evil, and Playing The Field. Cold Feet turned him into a major TV star, while acclaimed film Bloody Sunday marked him out as a gifted serious actor. The lead role of a maverick cop in TV drama Murphy's Law was written especially for him. He's also starred in Quite Ugly One Morning, Match Point and Five Minutes of Heaven. Nesbitt has also been seen in The Deep, Babylon, Monroe, The Hobbit. and The Missing.

Career: Turner's TV acting career continued with roles in Desperate Romantics, The Clinic, and Being Human. He played Kili in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy. Since 2015, he has been making a big impression playing the title role in the BBC's revival of period drama Poldark.

Career: Weaving's first major roles came in TV series Bodyline and The Dirtwater Dynasty. He also starred opposite Nicole Kidman and Denholm Elliott in 1989's mini-drama The Bangkok Hilton. More film parts followed, but the actor's big break came in 1994 with Australian movie Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Five years later he was cast as the cunning Agent Smith in The Matrix. Two sequels followed, as did another three-part epic, The Lord of the Rings, in which Weaving appeared as Elvish elder, Lord Elrond (he reprised the role in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies). Weaving's other films include V for Vendetta, Oranges and Sunshine, and Captain America.

Career: Blanchett started out on the Sydney stage, in both straight dramas and musicals. She made her TV debut in Police Rescue in 1993. Other brief small-screen roles followed, until two miniseries, Heartland and Bordertown, got her noticed. The movies Oscar and Lucinda, and Thank God He Met Lizzie were well-received, but it was 1998's Elizabeth, for which she received an Academy Award nomination, that made her a star. She reprised the role in sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Other notable projects include The Talented Mr Ripley, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Aviator (for which she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Robin Hood. In 2013, she won an Oscar for Blue Jasmine in the Best Actress category.

Career: Lee hit the big time in 1957 when his formidable height landed him the role of the monster in Hammer's The Curse of Frankenstein. It marked the beginning of his horror movie partnership with Peter Cushing, which also included such films as Dracula, The Mummy, and The Gorgon. Lee went on to become one of the world's most prolific actors. Star Wars episodes II and III and The Lord of the Rings introduced him to a new generation of fans. Other significant titles include The Wicker Man, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Gremlins II, The Man with the Golden Gun and The Golden Compass. He also appeared in Alice in Wonderland, Burke and Hare, Season of the Witch and The Hobbit. He died on June 7, 2015, at the age of 93 due to respiratory problems and heart failure.

Career: Bad Taste's surprise success was mirrored by that of 1989's Meet The Feebles, enabling Jackson to raise enough money to make zombie comedy Braindead (1992). He then surprised his fans by making the impressive but more mainstream Heavenly Creatures (1994), which received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. TV movie Forgotten Silver and big-screen offering The Frighteners (1996) followed, but it was The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001 to 2003) that made him a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood and won him several Academy Awards. He followed that with a remake of King Kong (2005) and The Lovely Bones (2009). His next big project was a trilogy based on JRR Tolkien's novel The Hobbit. The first of these films, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, was released in 2012.