Career: Gyllenhaal won critical praise and an army of fans with his breakout performance in Donnie Darko in 2001. He played opposite Jennifer Aniston in another Sundance Film Festival favourite, 2002's The Good Girl, and once again earned good reviews. Marking his theatre debut, Gyllenhaal arrived on the London stage with a starring role in Kenneth Lonergan's revival of This Is Our Youth. Next he played against type as a soldier during the first Gulf War in Jarhead. His role as a sexually conflicted ranch hand in Brokeback Mountain earned him more rave reviews, and he's followed this with Zodiac, Rendition, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Source Code, Prisoners and Nightcrawler.

Career: Jackson's first film was Together for Days in 1972. He later spent two years as a stand-in on The Cosby Show, before starring in the original Broadway production of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson. A series of walk-on parts in films and on TV followed. Spike Lee cast him as the crack-addicted Gator in Jungle Fever, which gained him international acclaim. His most notable films have included Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction (for which he was Oscar-nominated), Star Wars: Episodes One, Two and Three, Shaft, The 51st State, Unbreakable, Changing Lanes, Black Snake Moan, Django Unchained, Thor, The Avengers and many more. He is regarded as one of the most bankable assets in the movie business and always has a number of films in the pipeline.

Career: Favreau's first film role was alongside Sean Astin in Rudy (1993). A year later he appeared in an episode of Seinfeld. In 1996, he wrote and starred in Swingers (1996) alongside Vince Vaughn. In 1997 he had a recurring role as Monica Geller's boyfriend Pete Becker in Friends. In 2001, he teamed up again with Vince Vaughn in Made (2001), Favreau's directorial debut. Two years later, he enjoyed his first big success as a director for Elf. Since then, Favreau has continued to act, write and direct. He went on to direct Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), and Cowboys & Aliens (2011). More recently, he wrote, directed and starred in Chef (2014).

Career: Smulders's first role was as a guest in sci-fi drama Jeremiah. She followed this up with guest parts in Special Unit 2 and Tru Calling, before landing a regular role in short-lived sci-fi adventure series Veritas: The Quest. Her big break came in 2005 when she began playing TV reporter Robin Scherbatsky in sitcom How I Met Your Mother. On the big screen, she played Agent Maria Hill in Avengers Assemble (2012) and reprised the role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and TV series Agents of SHIELD.

Career: Tomei followed up a role in daytime soap opera As the World Turns with a part in the sitcom A Different World. Her film debut was a minor role in The Flamingo Kid (1984). Her breakthrough came in 1992 when she starred alongside Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny, a role that earned her an Academy Award. Since then, she has starred in a number of independent and mainstream movies, including Chaplin (1992), Untamed Heart (1993), Only You (1994), What Women Want (2000), In the Bedroom (2001), Anger Management (2003), Alfie (2004), Wild Hogs (2007), The Wrestler (2008), Cyrus (2010), Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011), The Ides of March (2011) and Parental Guidance (2012).