Career: After a spell as a stand-up comic, Thompson teamed up with Fry and Laurie for TV sketch show Alfresco, starred in West End smash Me and My Girl, and acclaimed dramas Tutti Frutti and Fortunes of War. Her first film was 1989's The Tall Guy. Already a familiar face in the UK, she became an international star thanks to her Oscar-winning role in 1992's Howards End. She later won another Academy Award, this time for writing the screenplay for Sense and Sensibility. She also wrote as well as starred in Nanny McPhee and its sequel. Thompson's other movies include Dead Again, In the Name of the Father, The Remains of the Day, Junior, Primary Colors, Love Actually, Stranger Than Fiction, I Am Legend, Brideshead Revisited, The Boat That Rocked, three Harry Potter movies and Saving Mr Banks.

Career: Gyllenhaal's first film was 1992's Waterland, which was directed by her father. Various stage and screen jobs followed, including an appearance alongside her brother in Donnie Darko in 2000. Her breakthrough role came in Secretary two years later. Since then she's rarely been off the screen, turning up in the likes of Adaptation, Mona Lisa Smile, World Trade Center, Stranger Than Fiction, The Dark Knight, Away We Go and Crazy Heart (for which she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination). Her first major TV role came in the BBC's acclaimed drama The Honourable Woman.

Career: Ifans spent 18 months at the National Theatre and has also appeared at Manchester's Royal Exchange theatre. His first TV appearances were in Welsh-language programmes for S4C. In 1995, he made his movie debut in Streetlife. Two years later he appeared on the small screen in The Sin Eater and Trial and Retribution, and starred in the film Twin Town with his brother. Notting Hill made him a star in 1999. Since then he's featured in Kevin and Perry Go Large, Little Nicky, The 51st State, The Shipping News and Vanity Fair. His recent work includes Enduring Love, Hannibal Rising, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, The Boat That Rocked, Greenberg, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, and The Amazing Spider-Man.

Career: Shallow Grave kick-started McGregor's film career in 1994, then Trainspotting made his name on both sides of the Atlantic two years later. He went on to make Brassed Off, A Life Less Ordinary, Little Voice and the three Star Wars prequels. He formed production company Natural Nylon with friends Jonny Lee Miller, Sean Pertwee, Jude Law and Sadie Frost, but that has since disbanded. Other movies include Moulin Rouge!, Black Hawk Down, Young Adam, Big Fish, Deception, Angels & Demons, The Ghost and Mortdecai. The prolific actor always has a number of films in the pipeline, and occasionally tackles theatre work.

Career: Fiennes' film debut was in Wuthering Heights opposite Juliette Binoche in 1992. It was his performances in that and the acclaimed 1990 TV drama A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia that impressed Steven Spielberg so much he cast him in Schindler's List. That movie launched his Hollywood career and he was soon snapped up for Quiz Show, Strange Days, The English Patient, The End of the Affair and Red Dragon. In 1995, he won a Tony Award for his role as Hamlet on Broadway. More recently, Fiennes has worked in such diverse projects as Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, The Constant Gardener, The White Countess, In Bruges, The Reader, Clash of the Titans, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang and four Harry Potter movies. He made his directorial debut with Coriolanus in 2011, and is the Bond franchise's latest M.

Career: Smith rose to prominence on stage during the 1950s thanks to regular West End roles. Her first film, 1956's Child in the House, didn't set the box office alight, but she eventually gained international acclaim thanks to her role in Othello nine years later. She won an Oscar for 1969's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and has since appeared in such acclaimed productions as California Suite (for which she picked up another Academy Award), A Room with a View, and Gosford Park. She became a Dame of the British Empire in 1990. More recently, Smith gained a new fan base thanks to her role as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies, appeared in the films Ladies in Lavender and Keeping Mum, and TV series Downton Abbey. She has also battled breast cancer.