Career: Cage changed his name from Coppola to Cage (inspired by Marvel comic hero Luke Cage) so he could achieve success in his own right. However, he got some of his earliest breaks in the movies Rumble Fish, The Cotton Club and Peggy Sue Got Married, which were directed by his uncle Francis. The actor won critical acclaim for films including Raising Arizona, Moonstruck and Wild at Heart, before picking up an Oscar in 1995 for his portrayal of an alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas. After that, he branched out into action films, making Con Air, The Rock and Face/Off, but returned to his offbeat roots with movies like Adaptation, Lord of War, The Weather Man and World Trade Center. Since then he has made a string of big-budget movies, including National Treasure: Book of Secrets (a sequel to his 2004 hit National Treasure), The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and Season of the Witch. His 2011 film Drive Angry was a box-office flop, but he always has a number of films in the pipeline.

Career: In 1980 Malkovich moved to New York to further his career, and won great acclaim in 1984 for his performance opposite Dustin Hoffman in Death of a Salesman. Early films include Places in the Heart, The Killing Fields and Empire of the Sun, but it was 1988's Dangerous Liaisons that made him a star. Further plaudits came for Of Mice and Men and In the Line of Fire. He played a version of himself in Being John Malkovich. He continues to appear on both stage and screen in a variety of projects, including blockbuster hits RED and its sequel, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Career: Cusack made his film debut at 16 in Class and went on become a 1980s teen film regular, starring in the likes of Sixteen Candles, Stand By Me, The Sure Thing and Say Anything, before moving on to more adult fare with the 1990 movie The Grifters. He continued to work steadily, but his career really took off again in 1997, when he starred in the blockbuster Con Air and the acclaimed Grosse Pointe Blank, which he also co-wrote and co-produced. Since then, his credits include Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, America's Sweethearts, Serendipty, 2012 and The Raven.

Career: Buscemi's early roles included several in experimental theatre, co-written by himself and fellow actor/writer Mark Boone Jr. He also appeared in Miami Vice, The Equalizer, and films The Way It Is, Tommy's and Parting Glances. He received excellent reviews for the latter, which led to parts in Lonesome Dove and New York Stories. He's since become a stalwart of indie movies thanks to his scene-stealing appearances in Reservoir Dogs, Miller's Crossing, Fargo and The Big Lebowski. Bigger-budget films include Armageddon, Con Air and The Wedding Singer. Buscemi has also written, directed, and produced several projects, and appeared in TV show The Sopranos. More recently he's played Enoch "Nucky" Thompson in acclaimed drama Boardwalk Empire, for which he won a Golden Globe in 2011.

Career: Rhames first appeared on Broadway in the play The Winter Boys in 1984. Ving continued his rise to fame through his work in soap operas. He found work as a supporting actor, and came to the attention of the general public by playing the role of Marsellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction (1994). Major hits like Con-Air and the three Mission Impossible movies followed. He won a Golden Globe in 1998 for best actor in a TV miniseries for his performance in HBO's Don King: Only in America - and memorably presented it to Jack Lemmon. Other hits include Bringing Out the dead and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. He played the title role in a short-lived remake of Kojak.