Career: During the early 1990s, McConaughey combined his studies with appearances in adverts, before winning an eye-catching part in the cult movie Dazed and Confused. He made an even bigger splash in 1996, when he won the starring role in the John Grisham adaptation A Time to Kill, which was a major hit worldwide. He's been a popular Hollywood leading man ever since, and his movie credits include Amistad, EDtv, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Sahara, Failure to Launch, Tropic Thunder, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. In more recent years McConaughey has proved his versatility with roles in more challenging movies, Magic Mike, Bernie, The Dallas Buyers Club, for which he won an Oscar, and Interstellar. He also starred in the first season of acclaimed TV series True Detective.

Career: Hunnam's first professional acting role was in children's TV series Byker Grove, after being discovered in a shoe shop at 17 by the show's production editor. He also modelled for Kangol caps but decided that modelling was not the career for him. His first major acting role was in the Channel 4 drama Queer as Folk. Following that, he appeared in the film Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999) before moving to Los Angeles. He then appeared in TV series like Young Americans and Undeclared and films including Nicholas Nickleby (2002), Cold Mountain (2003) and Children of Men (2006). Between 2008 and 2014, he starred in crime drama series Sons of Anarchy as Jackson 'Jax' Teller, which earned him various awards nominations. Having gained more fame with Sons of Anarchy, Hunnam was then cast in the films Pacific Rim (2013), Crimson Peak (2015) and The Lost City of Z (2017).

Career: Grant started out as a member of comedy troupe The Jockeys of Norfolk. He appeared in his first film, Privileged, in 1982. Other early projects include The Detective, A Very Peculiar Practice, The Demon Lover and Ladies in Charge. He had higher profile roles in Maurice, The Lair of the White Worm and The Remains of the Day. His big break came when he was cast in Four Weddings and a Funeral in 1994. Big-screen productions since include An Awfully Big Adventure, Sense and Sensibility, Notting Hill, Mickey Blue Eyes, About a Boy, Love Actually and two Bridget Jones films. He could recently be heard in animated film The Pirates!

Career: Dockery has worked extensively on the stage, appearing in Burnt by the Sun, Pygmalion and Hamlet. She made her TV debut in two-part BBC miniseries Fingersmith in 2005. Since then, she has starred in Hogfather, Dalziel and Pascoe, Heartbeat, Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974 and Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983, Waking the Dead, Return to Cranford and The Turn of the Screw. Her big break came in 2010 when she was cast as Lady Mary Crawley in the hugely popular Downton Abbey. More recently, she starred in miniseries Restless.

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: Ritchie was inspired to become a director after seeing Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but landed his first job at Island Records. During this period he admits to having known criminals, without becoming one himself, and received the scar on the left side of his face. At 25 he decided to move into films, originally becoming a runner, then directing commercials and pop videos. His short film The Hard Case was well received. He formed a partnership with producer Matthew Vaughn, which led to his first movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which he also wrote. Ritchie then made the successful Snatch. Sadly, his follow-ups, Swept Away and Revolver, haven't fared as well. He returned to form in 2008 with RocknRolla and the hugely successful 2009 release Sherlock Holmes and its 2011 sequel A Game of Shadows.