Career: After a few stage gigs and a handful of made-for-TV movies, he scored a supporting role in the Rob Lowe hockey flick Youngblood (1986), which was filmed in Canada. His first popular success came in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure three years later. He then showed his range with more dramatic roles in My Own Private Idaho and Much Ado About Nothing. He truly hit the big time with action flick Speed and struck box-office gold again a few years later with the Wachowski siblings' cyber-adventure The Matrix and its sequels. Reeves' first film as director, Man of Tai Chi, was released in 2013.

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: Two weeks after graduating from Yale in 1994, Reddick was cast as an understudy on Broadway in Angels in America. Other theatre roles followed, including the 2006 off-Broadway revival of August Wilson's 7 Guitars. His breakthrough TV role came in 2000 when he played John Basil on HBO's OZ. His role on HBO's The Wire brought Reddick a new legion of fans. His recent credits have included recurring roles in Lost and Fringe.

Career: Yen has built a name for himself as an actor and martial artist both in Asian cinema and in Hollywood. His first starring role was in the film Drunken Tai Chi (1984). Then, in 1992, he was cast as the villain Once Upon a Time in China II (1992), which starred Jet Li. Yen and Li later appeared together again in Hero (2002). During the 1990s, Yen appeared in TV shows and started his own production company, where he directed films. Later, he went back to the United States where he choreographed fight scenes and had cameo roles in Highlander: Endgame (2000) and Blade II (2002). He also appeared alongside Jackie Chan in Shanghai Knights (2003). Yen starred in Ip Man (2008) and its sequels, which has led to him being credited for popularising the Wing Chun martial arts style. Roles that Yen has been cast in more recently include as Chirrut Imwe in Rogue One (2016) and as Xiang in xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017).

Career: McShane's first film was 1962's The Wild and the Willing. After that, he built a reputation as a fine stage actor thanks to various West End productions. His first starring role came in 1966's Skywest and Crooked, which co-starred Hayley Mills and was directed by her actor father John. He played Heathcliff in an acclaimed TV adaptation of Wuthering Heights and gained plaudits for such productions as Roots, Jesus of Nazareth and Disraeli. McShane became a household name thanks to Lovejoy in 1986, and even appeared in Dallas. Other projects include Deadwood (for which he won a Golden Globe award), Sexy Beast, Kings, 44 Inch Chest, The Pillars of the Earth, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Jack the Giant Slayer.