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: Crudup's first big film role was in Grind, which was made in 1994 but didn't see the light of day until 1997. He followed this up with roles in Sleepers (1996), Everyone Says I Love You (1996) and Inventing the Abbotts (1997). More recent film credits include Almost Famous (2000), Big Fish (2003), The Good Shepherd (2006), Watchmen (2009), Public Enemies (2009) and Eat Pray Love (2010). He regularly returns to performing on the stage.

Career: Penry-Jones made his movie debut in 1994's Black Beauty. A role in Absolutely Fabulous came a year later. He gained bigger parts in Cold Comfort Farm, Cold Lazarus, and a TV adaptation of Jane Eyre. A part in acclaimed Stephen Poliakoff drama The Tribe made people sit up and take notice in 1998, the year before he won the prestigious Ian Charleson Award for his theatre performance in the RSC's Don Carlos. Projects since include Hilary and Jackie, Cambridge Spies, Charlotte Gray, The Four Feathers and the BBC drama Casanova. He's best known as MI5 agent Adam Carter in Spooks, which he left in 2008 in explosive fashion, but other projects include period drama Persuasion, Joe's Palace, The 39 Steps, Whitechapel, and Silk.

Career: Gambon became a member of Laurence Olivier's first Royal National Theatre company, and made his movie debut in 1965's Othello, alongside the star. His role in long-running TV show The Borderers led to an audition for James Bond. Parts in such forgettable productions as The Beast Must Die and Nothing But the Night came next. It was The Singing Detective in 1986 that finally made him a star. He's worked steadily ever since in the likes of Maigret, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Gosford Park, Doctor Who, Quartet, Sleepy Hollow and Fortitude. He took over playing Dumbledore in Harry Potter following the death of Richard Harris. He's won BAFTA TV awards for Perfect Strangers, Longitude, Wives and Daughters, and The Singing Detective.

Career: Fleet is best known for playing the bumbling Tom in the 1984 romantic comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral, and the dim-witted Hugo Horton in the sitcom The Vicar of Dibley. He had a stint in Coronation Street in 2010 and his other TV credits include roles in Midsomer Murders, Being Human, Death Comes to Pemberley and Bad Education. On the big screen, he has appeared in Sense and Sensibility (1995), The Phantom of the Opera (2004) and Charlotte Gray (2001).

Career: Cook's many TV credits include The Singing Detective, Bergerac, Boon, The Bill, Sharpe's Honour, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Casanova, Funland, Doctor Who, Little Dorrit, The Diary of Anne Frank. He plays Mr Crabb in Mr Selfridge. On the big screen, he has appeared in Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), Chocolat (2000), Thunderbirds (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007) and Bert & Dickie (2012). On the stage, he has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court and the National Theatre.

Career: Shepherd worked at the Royal Court Theatre in London from 1965 to 1969, and during the 1970s, he was a regular on TV, appearing in Budgie, The Adventures of Black Beauty, Bill Brand, Crown Court, and Ready When You Are, Mr McGill. From 1977 to 1985, he was a member of Bill Bryden's Cottesloe Theatre Company at the National Theatre. He continued to work on TV, appearing in the likes of Blind Justice, Shoot to Kill, Between the Lines, Lovejoy, High Stakes, The Jury, Silent Witness, All About George, The Nativity, and The Politician's Husband. The peak of his TV popularity came when he played the title role in ITV detective drama Wycliffe from 1993 to 1998. He has also written and directed a number of stage plays.