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: Landed bit parts in The Way We Were and The Choirboys. However, it was 1979 drama The Onion Field that brought him to the attention of many critics. High-profile projects including Videodrome, Once Upon a Time in America and Salvador followed, and the latter earned him an Academy Award nomination. Woods then proved he had a gift for comedy in 1991 offering The Hard Way, and gave stunning performances in Casino, Nixon and Contact. More recently, he has appeared in Shark, Coma and Ray Donovan.

Career: McGovern's first film was Robert Redford's Oscar-winning directorial debut Ordinary People in 1980. She followed that with an Academy Award nomination in 1981's Ragtime. She also appeared in Sergio Leone's acclaimed Once Upon a Time in America in 1984. Despite this early promise, her career faltered. Her most memorable film roles since have come in She's Having a Baby, The Handmaid's Tale, A Shock to the System, The Wings of the Dove and The House of Mirth; she also starred in the first series of the BBC's 1999 adaptation of The Scarlet Pimpernel. She returned to the spotlight in 2010 when she starred in the hugely popular ITV drama Downton Abbey, playing Cora, Countess of Grantham. Away from acting, McGovern is the frontwoman of the band Sadie and the Hotheads.

Career: Pesci's first film role was as an uncredited dancer in Hey, Let's Twist! (1961) but then he had to wait another 15 years for a minor part in The Death Collector (1976). His work in the second film was seen by Robert De Niro, who convinced director Martin Scorsese to cast him in the epic boxing film Raging Bull (1980), which really got him noticed in Hollywood. He played with buddy De Niro again in Once Upon a Time in America (1984), nearly stole the show as con man Leo Getz in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) and scored a Best Supporting Actor Oscar playing the psychotic Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas. His comedic talents shone again in the mega-popular Home Alone (1990), and he put in terrific performances as co-conspirator David Ferrie in JFK (1991) and the title character in My Cousin Vinny (1992). After a brilliant turn in 1995's Casino, he has only taken the occasional role, despite having plenty of offers.