Career: Early in his career, Washington landed small parts on TV, and made his movie debut in 1981's Carbon Copy. A starring role in St Elsewhere led to bigger projects such as Cry Freedom, Glory (for which he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar), and Mo' Better Blues. The eponymous role of Malcolm X made him a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood in 1992. Since then, he's starred in Philadelphia, Crimson Tide, The Hurricane, Training Day (picking up a Best Actor Oscar for his role as a crooked cop), American Gangster, The Book of Eli, Crimson Tide, Unstoppable, Flight, 2 Guns and The Equalizer. He continues to act on stage whenever his schedule allows.

Career: Foster resumed her career after graduating, but failed to match her success as a child star until she won an Oscar in 1989 for her portrayal of a rape victim in The Accused. She won a second Oscar for her performance in the 1991 blockbuster The Silence of the Lambs. In the same year she made her directorial debut with Little Man Tate, the story of a child prodigy. She received another Academy Award nomination for Nell and has subsequently appeared in Contact, Anna and the King, Panic Room, Flightplan, Elysium and Carnage. She's also acted in an executive capacity in a handful of projects, such as 2007's The Brave One (in which she also starred) and 2002's The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys.

Career: Owen's professional career began on stage, but he soon switched to TV, making his debut in a 1987 episode of Rockliffe's Babies. Adaptations of Precious Bane and Lorna Doone raised his profile, but it was Chancer that made him a star in the early 1990s. Projects such as Close My Eyes, An Evening with Gary Lineker, The Return of the Native, Sharman and Second Sight sealed his standing as a reliable leading man. Croupier (1998) made Hollywood bigwigs sit up and take notice, and he's enjoyed big-screen success ever since. He received an Oscar nomination for Closer (2004), and also featured in Gosford Park (2001), The Bourne Identity (2002), King Arthur (2004), Sin City (2005), Derailed (2005), Inside Man (2006), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), and Shadow Dancer (2012). In 2014, he began starring in American period medical drama The Knick.

Career: Plummer made his Broadway debut in 1953 in The Starcross Story - a play that lasted just one night. He had better luck with his next show, Home is the Hero, which lasted for 30 performances. He has since appeared successfully on stages around the world, including London. Plummer's film career began in 1958 when he was cast in Stage Struck, but it was The Sound of Music in 1965 that made him an international star. Since then, he has been a heavily in-demand character actor and appeared in a number of notable films, including The Night of the Generals (1967), The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), Malcolm X (1992), The Insider (1999), A Beautiful Mind (2001) and The Lake House (2006). He received his first Academy Award nomination in 2009 for The Last Station, but lost out to Christoph Waltz. He had better luck in 2012 when he won an Oscar for his performance in Beginners (2010). His recent credits include Priest (2011) and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011).

Career: Willem toured with Theatre X for four years, before joining avant garde New York company The Performance Group. He made his first venture into film acting with a role in Heaven's Gate, but was cut from the finished movie. He went on to win parts in To Live and Die in LA and The Loveless, but his big break came with Platoon, which earned him an Oscar nomination. He also made headlines in 1988 when he took the lead role in the controversial The Last Temptation of Christ. Since then, his movies have included Mississippi Burning, Born on the Fourth of July, The English Patient, Shadow of the Vampire (for which he received another Oscar nod) and Spider-Man. His more recent films include Antichrist, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, Daybreakers and Miral.

Career: Before Amistad, Chiwetel starred in TV movie Deadly Voyage. The film G:MT - Greenwich Mean Time (1999) was not well received, but his next film, Dirty Pretty Things (2002), led to him winning a number of awards. Since then, he has starred in Twelfth Night (2003), Love Actually (2003), Four Brothers (2005), Serenity (2005), Kinky Boots (2005), American Gangster (2007), 2012 (2009) and Salt (2010). An accomplished stage actor, he won a Laurence Olivier Award in 2008 for playing the lead role in Othello. More recently he played the lead role in the critically acclaimed 12 Years a Slave (2014).

Career: Lee's 1986 comedy She's Gotta Have It turned him into an overnight sensation. Made on a shoestring budget, the film went on to gross more than $7million. He followed it up with mainstream comedy School Daze, but his 1989 movie Do The Right Thing became one of the most acclaimed of the decade. He helped turn Samuel L Jackson into a star with Jungle Fever, and delivered an ambitious biopic of Malcolm X in 1992. Other projects include Crooklyn, Clockers, Girl 6, Summer of Sam and 25th Hour. In 2006, he directed When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, a documentary about how Hurricane Katrina changed the lives of residents in New Orleans. His made a follow-up in 2010 with God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise.