Shameless

James McAvoy (Actor) .. Steve McBride

Born: April 21, 1979 in Port Glasgow

Best Known For: Shameless, X-Men: First Class and Wanted.

Early-life: Born in Port Glasgow on April 21, 1979, he is the son of a psychiatric nurse and a builder. His parents divorced when he was seven and he was brought up by his maternal grandparents in the Drumchapel area of Glasgow due to his mother's ill health. He has a sister and a younger half-brother. A visit to his school by actor David Hayman sparked an interest in acting, and Hayman offered him a part in his film The Near Room. James had already been accepted by the Royal Navy when he was also offered a place at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD). He selected the acting route and moved to London after graduating in 2000.

Career: McAvoy made guest appearances in a steady stream of TV shows (including The Bill, Band of Brothers, Foyle's War, State of Play and Early Doors) and movies until he caught the British public's imagination in 2004 playing Steve McBride in Shameless. A year later he became known to worldwide audiences for his role in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Since then he has been much in demand and starred in The Last King of Scotland, Penelope, Becoming Jane, Atonement, Wanted, the X-Men franchise, Filth, Muppets Most Wanted and Trance. He has also voiced characters in Gnomeo & Juliet and Arthur Christmas. McAvoy is a big fan of Celtic FC.

Quote: "I always believed that I never wanted to be an actor. I only did it because I was allowed to do it and I had to do something."

Trivia: Wed Shameless co-star Anne-Marie Duff in 2006. They have a son, Brendan. McAvoy describes their quiet way of life as: "mundane, and I love it that way".

Anne-Marie Duff (Actor) .. Fiona Gallagher

David Threlfall (Actor) .. Frank Gallagher

Born: October 12, 1953 in Manchester

Best Known For: Playing foul-mouthed Frank Gallagher in Shameless.

Early-life: Born in Manchester on October 12, 1953. He has a brother; their father was a plumber. David never wanted to be an actor, his first love was football, but thanks to a little encouragement from teachers, he trod the boards in a school production of The Crucible. After a short stint at art college in Sheffield, and a few months labouring, he became a student at Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama. His breakthrough role came in the gritty 1977 drama Scum.

Career: Aside from a lean period at the back end of the 1990s, Threlfall has rarely been out of work. His small-screen work includes roles in Mike Leigh's Kiss of Death, a 1984 staging of King Lear (opposite Laurence Olivier), Conspiracy and The Queen's Sister. His most famous on-screen character is that of chain-smoking patriarch Frank Gallagher, a role he held in Channel 4 drama Shameless between 2004 and 2013. Other projects include The Russia House, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Housewife 49, Hot Fuzz, Nowhere Boy and The Ark. He was also made a surprisingly good Tommy Cooper in the ITV biopic Not Like That, Like This.

Quote: On acting: "I just like getting up and pretending. It's the game of pretending you're other people, that's the liberating thing."

Trivia: He supports Manchester City. He received an honorary doctorate from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2013.

Jody Latham (Actor) .. Lip Gallagher

Gerard Kearns (Actor) .. Ian Gallagher

Jack Deam (Actor) .. Marty Fisher

Marjorie Yates (Actor) .. Carol Fisher

Dean Lennox Kelly (Actor) .. Kev Ball

Maxine Peake (Actor) .. Veronica Fisher

Born: July 14, 1974 in Bolton

Best Known For: Playing Twinkle in dinnerladies and Martha Costello in Silk.

Early-life: Born on July 14, 1974, in Bolton, Greater Manchester, to Brian, a lorry driver father and Glynis, a careworker mother. Maxine studied at Westhoughton High School and Canon Slade School before joining Bolton's Octagon Youth Theatre at the age of 13. She also honed her craft at the Royal Exchange Manchester and the University of Salford before moving to London at 21 where she trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada). She claims comedienne Marti Caine was an inspiration to her.

Career: Early TV appearances included The Ward, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates and Picking Up The Pieces. Roles in Jonathan Creek and Coronation Street boosted her profile, but it was Victoria Wood's sitcom dinnerladies that really put her on the showbiz map. She also received acclaim for Clocking Off and sublime comedy Early Doors before landing the part of Veronica in Shameless. In recent years she's been much in demand, starring in Messiah, See No Evil: The Moors Murders, Little Dorrit, Red Riding and The Street. She is currently starring in the BBC legal drama Silk. Maxine has also enjoyed an extensive stage career, with roles in Hamlet, Robin Hood, Leaves of Glass, The Children's Hour, and The Deep Blue Sea. In 2012 she wrote her first radio play about Leeds cyclist Beryl Burton.

Quote: "I remember feeling, at drama school, that if you were male and working class you were a bit of a poet, a working class hero. But if you were female, you were just a bit gobby and a bit brassy and common."

Trivia: She provided vocals for 1612 Underture, the Eccentronic Research Council's 2012 concept album.

Anthony Flanagan (Actor) .. Tony

Paul Abbott (Writer)

Dearbhla Walsh (Director)

Matt Jones (Producer)

George Faber (Executive producer)

Charlie Pattinson (Executive producer)

01:05 am - 02:05 am, Friday, February 6 on That's TV (56)

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Season 2, Episode 4

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