Women Talking

Rooney Mara (Actor) .. Ona

Born: October 17, 1992 in New York

Best Known For: The US remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Carol.

Early-life: Patricia Rooney Mara was born in New York on April 17, 1985 to Kathleen and Timothy. Her mother's family founded the Pittsburgh Steelers and her father's family founded the New York Giants. She has two brothers, Daniel and Conor, and a sister, Kate, who is also an actress. She attended George Washington University for a year before transferring to New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where she studied psychology, international social policy and nonprofits. She made her professional acting bow in a 2006 edition of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Career: Mara made her film debut in Dream Boy (2008). Her first high-profile role came in the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010). Since then, she has starred in The Social Network (2010), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Side Effects (2013), Her (2013) and Carol (2015).

Quote: 'I am very slow to warm. I've always been sort of a loner. I didn't play team sports. I am better one-on-one than in big groups.'

Trivia: Mara was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Claire Foy (Actor) .. Salome

Born: April 16, 1984 in Stockport

Best Known For: Little Dorrit and Season of the Witch.

Early-life: Clare was born in Stockport on April 16, 1984, the youngest of three siblings. Her parents divorced when she was eight but she doesn't view this period as a traumatic time. She went on to study drama and screen studies at Liverpool John Moores University and spent a year on an acting course at the Oxford School of Drama.

Career: After filming the pilot of Being Human and guest starring in an episode of Doctors, Foy landed the lead role in BBC period drama Little Dorrit. Her next projects were the TV movie Going Postal and the 2010 BBC remake of Upstairs Downstairs. In 2011, she starred opposite Nicolas Cage in the Hollywood fantasy Season of the Witch. More recently, she has appeared on the small screen in Hacks, White Heat and Crossbones.

Quote: 'I'd like to work with directors who really make you work hard.'

Trivia: In 2013, she starred alongside James McAvoy in Macbeth at the Trafalgar Studios.

Jessie Buckley (Actor) .. Mariche

Born: December 28, 1989 in Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland

Best Known For: Playing Lorna Bow in Taboo.

Early-life: Born on December 28, 1989 in Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland. She attended Ursuline Secondary School, where she appeared in school productions. Her mother, Marina Cassidy, is a vocal coach and encouraged her to sing. While attending The Association of Irish Musical Societies workshops, Jessie was encouraged to apply for drama schools in London. She was turned down by two drama schools just before she auditioned for the talent show-themed television series I'd Do Anything.

Career: Buckley came second in I'd Do Anything, losing out on the chance to play Nancy in Oliver. She was offered the understudy role for Nancy but turned it down in favour of playing Anne Egerman in the Off-West End production of A Little Night Music. The production later appeared at the Garrick Theatre in the West End. Buckley graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in January 2013 and, in the summer of the same year, performed in The Tempest and Gabriel in Shakespeare's Globe. In 2015, Buckley performed in the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company's production of The Winter's Tale, which was broadcast to cinemas worldwide. Buckley has since had TV roles in such shows as War and Peace and Taboo.

Quote: 'If you work hard then you don't have to worry about anyone's preconception of what you were before.'

Trivia: She achieved Grade eight in piano, clarinet and harp with the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Judith Ivey (Actor) .. Agata

Kate Hallett (Actor) .. Autje

Frances McDormand (Actor) .. Scarface Janz

Born: June 23, 1957 in Chicago

Best Known For: Fargo.

Early-life: Frances Louise McDormand was born in Chicago on June 23, 1957, and was adopted by a nurse and a pastor. She has two other siblings that were also adopted by her parents. Her father moved around a lot with his work, so she ended up living in lots of small towns in Illinois. She attended Bethany College, West Virginia, and Yale University School of Drama. Her first professional acting job was a play in Trinidad and Tobago.

Career: Frances made her film debut in Joel and Ethan Coen's first film Blood Simple (1984). She went on to win an Academy Award for her role in Fargo (1996) and picked up further nominations for Mississippi Burning (1988), Almost Famous (2000) and North Country (2005). The acclaimed actress has also starred in Short Cuts (1993), Lone Star (1996), Wonder Boys (2000), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), Laurel Canyon (2002), Friends with Money (2006), Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008), Burn After Reading (2009), Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) and Moonrise Kingdom (2012). She voiced a character in Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012).

Quote: 'I'm a character actress, plain and simple...Who can worry about a career?'

Trivia: Wed Joel Coen in 1984. They have an adopted son, Pedro. She won a Tony award in 2011 for her performance on Broadway in Good People.

Liv McNeil (Actor) .. Neitje

Ben Whishaw (Actor) .. August

Born: October 14, 1980 in Clifton, Bedfordshire

Best Known For: Playing Q in the James Bond franchise and being the voice of Paddington Bear.

Early-life: Benjamin John Whishaw was born in Clifton, Bedfordshire, on October 14, 1980 to an English mother and a father of French, German and Russian descent. He has a fraternal twin, James. Ben developed an interest in theatre when he attended Samuel Whitbread Community College and became a member of the Bancroft Players Youth Theatre at Hitchin's Queen Mother Theatre. In 1995, his performance in the play If This Is a Man was well received at the Edinburgh Festival. Ben went on to graduate from Rada in 2004 and in the same year, he landed the role of Hamlet in a production by Trevor Nunn, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award and the Ian Charleson Award.

Career: Whishaw made his film debut in The Trench (1999). His other film credits include Layer Cake (2004), Stoned (2005), Brideshead Revisited (2008), The Tempest (2010) and Cloud Atlas (2012). He has played Q in the James Bond movies Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015). More recently, he has voiced the title character in Paddington (2014) and appeared in The Lobster (2015), Suffragette (2015), The Danish Girl (2015) and In the Heart of the Sea (2015). On the small screen, he has starred in Nathan Barley, Criminal Justice, The Hollow Crown, The Hour and London Spy.

Quote: 'I think I could actually make quite a good spy.'

Trivia: Whishaw won a Bafta TV award in 2013 for his performance in The Hollow Crown.

Sarah Polley (Director)

11:40 pm - 01:20 am, Sunday, February 22 on BBC Two England (2)

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