Career: Damon dropped out of Harvard to concentrate on acting. He struggled to get roles and made his film debut in 1988's Mystic Pizza. Playing a troubled soldier in 1996's Courage Under Fire got him noticed. A year later, Good Will Hunting, based on a story by Damon and Affleck, became a major success and won them Best Screenplay Oscars. Since then, Damon has appeared in several hits, including Saving Private Ryan, Dogma, The Talented Mr Ripley, Stuck On You, The Departed, True Grit, Invictus and the Ocean's Eleven and Bourne franchises. He is now among the world's most bankable stars.

Career: Law made his TV debut in 1989's The Tailor of Gloucester, and a year later left school to take a role in daytime soap Families. During his early twenties, he spent much of his time on stage, where he gained numerous plaudits. His first film, Shopping, wasn't a success, but he made a name for himself in Wilde. Appearances in Gattaca, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, eXistenZ and AI: Artificial Intelligence cemented his reputation. He gained an Oscar nomination for The Talented Mr Ripley in 1999, and another for Cold Mountain four years later. Other projects include Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Aviator and The Holiday. His more recent roles include a part in Guy Ritchie's takes on Sherlock Holmes, playing Dr Watson. He also occasionally appears in stage productions.

Career: After appearing in several plays, she made her movie debut in 1991's Shout. She was standing in a cinema queue when family friend Steven Spielberg asked whether she fancied playing Wendy in Hook. Further roles followed, but she didn't become a star until 1995's Seven. Since then, Paltrow has appeared in Emma, A Perfect Murder, Sliding Doors, Shakespeare in Love (for which she won an Oscar), The Talented Mr Ripley, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Sylvia. She has also starred in the West End play Proof, as well as the film version. More recent projects include Love and Other Disasters and the Iron Man movies.

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: Philip's TV debut came in an episode of Law & Order and early films included Scent of a Woman. By the late 1990s, he started to make critics take notice with indie hits Boogie Nights, The Big Lebowski, Happiness, Flawless and Magnolia. On stage he also impressed critics with True West. During the last 10 years of his life, Philip had become one of Hollywood's most reliable character actors, adding depth to projects such as Cold Mountain, Capote (for which he won an Oscar), and Mission: Impossible III. Other projects include The Savages, Charlie Wilson's War, Synecdoche, New York, Doubt, The Invention of Lying, Moneyball, The Master and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. He died in New York on February 2, 2014, at the age of 46.

Career: Davenport became a sought-after actor and heart-throb after starring as Miles in hit series This Life. Projects such as Talos the Mummy, Macbeth, and Ultraviolet followed, before he made his Hollywood debut in The Talented Mr Ripley in 1999. Since then, he's returned to TV to star in acclaimed sitcom Coupling and made little-seen movies such as Offending Angels, The Bunker, Look, and Gypsy. His biggest film role to date came in The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. He also appeared in The Boat That Rocked, and was a cast member of US shows FlashForward and Smash. Davenport returned to the UK to make ITV series Breathless.