Career: Smith's charm swayed Quincy Jones and the NBC TV network to give him a starring role in The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, a series that ran for six years. In 1992, he made his film debut with Where the Day Takes You. Since then, he's enjoyed a steady string of box-office hits, including Bad Boys, Independence Day, Men in Black and its two sequels, and Ali, which gained him an Oscar nomination. Other projects include Enemy of the State, Six Degrees of Separation, I, Robot, I Am Legend, Seven Pounds and Hancock. His recent work includes Men in Black 3, After Earth, and new movie Focus.

Career: De Niro made a handful of films in the 1960s and early 1970s, but it wasn't until 1973's Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets (his first collaboration with Martin Scorsese) that his career took off. He received an Oscar for The Godfather Part II a year later and was nominated Academy Awards for Taxi Driver and The Deer Hunter, and took home his second Oscar for Raging Bull. The King of Comedy, Once Upon A Time in America, Brazil, The Mission, Angel Heart and The Untouchables followed. Over the past few decades, De Niro has made crowd pleasers such as Cape Fear, Casino, Heat, Meet the Parents and Analyze This, as well as directing A Bronx Tale and The Good Shepherd. He gave a fabulous comic performance in the fantasy movie Stardust, before starring alongside fellow big-screen icon Al Pacino in cop thriller Righteous Kill. His more recent films have included Silver Linings Playbook and The Family.

Career: After starring in Ben Stiller's directorial debut Reality Bites and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, Renee became a household name after starring as Tom Cruise's love interest in Jerry Maguire. In 2001, she beat many home-grown actresses to star in the lead role in Bridget Jones' Diary and its sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, despite being neither British nor chubby. She was nominated for an Academy Award in 2002. She received another nomination the following year for her performance in Chicago, before picking up the Best Supporting actress award in 2004 for her role in Cold Mountain. Her other notable film credits include Me Myself and Irene, Appaloosa and Cinderella Man. More recently, she has appeared in Miss Potter, Bee Movie, Monsters vs Aliens and My Own Love Song.

Career: Jolie's star began to rise following appearances in a number of small films in the mid-1990s, including Hackers (1995), Foxfire (1996), True Woman (1997) and George Wallace (1997), a TV movie that won her a Golden Globe. She secured another Golden Globe a year later for her role as supermodel Gia Carangi in Gia (1998). Her big break came in 1999 when she landed a leading role in The Bone Collector (1999). In the same year, she gave an acclaimed performance in Girl, Interrupted, a role that led to her third Golden Globe and an Academy Award. Since then, Jolie has appeared in a number of high-profile movies, including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Mr & Mrs Smith (2005), Changeling (2008), Salt (2010), The Tourist (2010) and Maleficent (2014).

Career: Black left university early to join Tim Robbins' Actors' Gang theatre group, where he met his musical partner Kyle Gass. Black's first film was Robbins' Bob Roberts in 1992. He then moved into TV, making numerous appearances in such shows as The Golden Palace, The X-Files and Touched By An Angel. Other early films include Waterworld, Dead Man Walking and Mars Attacks! His breakthrough role was in 2000's High Fidelity. He's also starred in Shallow Hal, Orange County, School of Rock, Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong and The Muppets. Lending his vocal talents to the animated Kung-Fu Panda movies cemented his star status.

Career: In 1999 Imperioli was cast in The Sopranos as Christopher Moltisanti, a low-ranking soldier in a crime organisation whose family connections to street boss Tony Soprano moved him up the ladder. Imperioli's multi-layered portrayal of such an unappealing character was a real highlight of the series and earned him an Emmy and a SAG award. Imperioli has long been active in the New York theatre scene as well, having written, directed, produced and starred in numerous plays. He recent work has included the US version of Life on Mars, The Lovely Bones, Mercy, and Stuck Between Stations. He features in the ensemble cast of American crime drama Detroit 1-8-7, which started broadcasting in the States in 2010.