Career: Black left university early to join Tim Robbins' Actors' Gang theatre group, where he met his musical partner Kyle Gass. Black's first film was Robbins' Bob Roberts in 1992. He then moved into TV, making numerous appearances in such shows as The Golden Palace, The X-Files and Touched By An Angel. Other early films include Waterworld, Dead Man Walking and Mars Attacks! His breakthrough role was in 2000's High Fidelity. He's also starred in Shallow Hal, Orange County, School of Rock, Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong and The Muppets. Lending his vocal talents to the animated Kung-Fu Panda movies cemented his star status.

Career: Following a successful spell on stage he turned to movies, making a massive impact as Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy in 1986, and Prick Up Your Ears a year later. Alcoholism threatened his career, but he has now quit booze. His roles include playing Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK, the title role in Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Mason Verger in Hannibal. Other projects include Lost in Space, Leon, and The Fifth Element. His directorial debut, the acclaimed Nil By Mouth, was a heart-breaking, semi-autobiographical movie about his childhood. Oldman suffered a career slump around the Millennium, when he concentrated more on raising his young family than he did on acting. But he came back stronger than ever with roles in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy (for which he was Oscar nominated) and the Batman franchise.

Career: Jolie's star began to rise following appearances in a number of small films in the mid-1990s, including Hackers (1995), Foxfire (1996), True Woman (1997) and George Wallace (1997), a TV movie that won her a Golden Globe. She secured another Golden Globe a year later for her role as supermodel Gia Carangi in Gia (1998). Her big break came in 1999 when she landed a leading role in The Bone Collector (1999). In the same year, she gave an acclaimed performance in Girl, Interrupted, a role that led to her third Golden Globe and an Academy Award. Since then, Jolie has appeared in a number of high-profile movies, including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Mr & Mrs Smith (2005), Changeling (2008), Salt (2010), The Tourist (2010) and Maleficent (2014).

Career: Hoffman spent 10 years trying to get decent roles, making ends meet by teaching and appearing in commercials and TV series. In 1967 he landed the lead role in The Graduate which made him a star and secured his first Oscar nomination. He gained further nods from the Academy for Midnight Cowboy, Lenny, Tootsie and Wag the Dog, and has won twice for Kramer vs Kramer and Rain Man. Other notable films include Straw Dogs, Little Big Man, Sleepers, Runaway Jury, Finding Neverland, I Heart Huckabees, Meet the Fockers and Stranger Than Fiction. More recent projects include Last Chance Harvey, Little Fockers, the short-lived TV series Luck and Esio Trot. He also directed the BBC-backed film Quartet.

Career: Chan had small roles in Bruce Lee movies Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon, and also did stunt work and directed projects. After Lee died, Chan decided he didn't want to imitate him, so he developed his own film-making style, a mixture of action and comedy inspired by Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. By the 1980s, he was Asia's biggest star, and tried to break the US market by appearing in The Cannonball Run and its sequel. These days, Chan is a global superstar thanks to such movies as Rush Hour and Shanghai Knights and their sequels, and The Forbidden Kingdom, Kung Fu Panda, The Spy Next Door and the remake of The Karate Kid. In 2012 Chan announced he would be cutting down on the number of stunts he would perform in an attempt to take better care of himself.

Career: Rogen was cast in a major supporting role and credited as a co-producer in Apatow's directorial debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin. After Rogen received critical praise for that performance, Universal Pictures agreed to cast him as the lead in Apatow's directorial feature films Knocked Up and Funny People. Rogen and his comedy partner Evan Goldberg co-wrote the films Superbad, Pineapple Express, and The Green Hornet. Rogen has done voice work for the films Horton Hears a Who!, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Paul.

Career: After moving to Los Angeles, Liu worked as an aerobics instructor before gradually gaining roles. After short appearances in Beverly Hills 90210, ER, and The X Files, she won a regular part in sitcom Pearl. Various forgettable roles followed before she set pulses racing as a dominatrix in Mel Gibson's Maverick and landed a regular part in Ally McBeal, which made her a star. She's since appeared in Shanghai Noon, Charlie's Angels and its sequel, Chicago, Kill Bill, Lucky Number Slevin and Elementary.

Career: Yeoh came to prominence in the West thanks to 007 epic Tomorrow Never Dies. She went on to star in Ang Lee's Oscar winning martial arts drama Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (for which she was Bafta nominated), Memoirs of a Geisha, and also played an astronaut in Danny Boyle's sci-fi thriller Sunshine. Other big screen offerings include The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Babylon AD and she will be heard in 2011 in the Kung Fu Panda 2. She has also worked as a jury member at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival and is a supporter of Save China's Tigers project.