Career: Within five years of his big-screen debut, Cruise was one of the hottest actors of his generation, having starred in the likes of Risky Business and Top Gun. The likes of Rain Man, The Color of Money, Interview with the Vampire and Days of Thunder followed. He has also turned his hand to producing and made the smart move of taking a share of several of his film's profits, making him one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood. Recent hits include Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Jack Reacher, Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow. He has been Oscar-nominated three times, for his performances in Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire and Magnolia, but has yet to win. His next major film is Mission: Impossible 5.

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: Monaghan had a few minor acting roles before landing her big break in 2002 when she had a recurring role as Kimberly Woods in Boston Public. Films followed with parts in It Runs in the Family (2003), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) and Mr & Mrs Smith (2005). In 2006, she starred opposite Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible III. She went on to star in The Heartbreak Kid (2007), Made of Honor (2008), Somewhere (2010), Due Date (2010) and Source Code (2011). In 2014, she was a regular on the first season of HBO crime drama True Detective.

Career: Rhames first appeared on Broadway in the play The Winter Boys in 1984. Ving continued his rise to fame through his work in soap operas. He found work as a supporting actor, and came to the attention of the general public by playing the role of Marsellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction (1994). Major hits like Con-Air and the three Mission Impossible movies followed. He won a Golden Globe in 1998 for best actor in a TV miniseries for his performance in HBO's Don King: Only in America - and memorably presented it to Jack Lemmon. Other hits include Bringing Out the dead and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. He played the title role in a short-lived remake of Kojak.

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: Meyers was spotted playing pool and invited to audition for a film role. He didn't get it, but was encouraged to try acting as a career. His first role was in A Man of No Importance in 1994, but it was Michael Collins two years later than got him noticed. He's worked steadily since, first gaining public attention with Velvet Goldmine in 1998, despite the film's critical failure. TV series Gormenghast was his first major success, while Bend it Like Beckham launched him in the US. Since then he's played the lead in Elvis, and The Tudors, as well as roles in Alexander, Match Point and Mission: Impossible III. He is currently playing the lead role in TV horror drama Dracula.

Career: Laurence lied about his age to ensure he got a part in the epic Apocalypse Now, and enjoyed a minor role in Steven Spielberg's acclaimed The Color Purple. Since then, Fishburne has established himself as a character actor of some note - with roles in School Daze, Boys N the Hood, What's Love Got to Do With It? (for which he received an Oscar nomination) and The Matrix films. In 2008, he returned to TV work, accepting a lead role in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, but is also due to appear in the upcoming movies Predators and 4Chosen.

Career: Pegg quickly gained a fanbase and performed his acclaimed one-man show at major venues in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. His first TV appearance was in 1995's Six Pairs of Pants, followed by Saturday Live and a two-year stint in ITV sitcom Faith in the Future. Other early projects include Big Train and Is It Bill Bailey? He co-wrote cult, award-winning sitcom Spaced with friend Jessica Stevenson. He has since reinforced his standing as one of Britain's leading performers with appearances in Band of Brothers, 24 Hour Party People (2002), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Mission: Impossible III (2006) and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), Hot Fuzz (2007), Run Fatboy Run (2007), Star Trek (2009) and its sequel Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), Paul (2011) and The World's End (2013).

Career: During his senior year at college, he teamed up with Jill Mazursky to write a feature film treatment that became the basis for Taking Care of Business (1990). He wrote the screenplays for Regarding Henry (1991) and Forever Young (1992) before working with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay on 1998 box office hit Armageddon. In the same year, he co-created the TV series Felicity, which ran for four seasons. He went on to create Alias and co-create Lost. He made his feature film directorial debut in 2006 with Mission: Impossible III. Other projects include producing Cloverfield (2008), directing Star Trek (2009), co-creating TV series Fringe and writing and directing Super 8 (2011). He directed Star Trek sequel Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and he is directing Star Wars Episode VII, which is due to be released in cinemas in the summer of 2015.