Holliday Grainger
(Actor)
.. DCI Rachel Carey
Born:
March 27, 1988
in
Didsbury, Manchester
Best Known For:
Playing Anastasia in the live action version of Cinderella.
Early-life:
Holliday Clark Grainger was born on March 27, 1988 in Didsbury, Manchester. She was scouted by the BBC as a child and appeared in a number of TV series and independent films as a child actor. Holliday attended Parrs Wood High School from 1999 to 2006. She started to study for a degree in English literature at the University of Leeds in 2007 but switched to the Open University, where she gained a first.
Career:
Grainger's first role was in the BBC comedy drama series All Quiet on the Preston Front, which was followed by appearances in Casualty, Doctors and Dalziel and Pascoe. She played Megan Boothe in Where the Heart Is, Stacey Appleyard in Waterloo Road and Lucrezia Borgia in The Borgias. During the years when she worked on the latter, Grainger had a string of film appearances in Jane Eyre (2011), Anna Karenina (2012), Great Expectations (2012) and Bel Ami (2012). She played Bonnie Parker in the TV mini-series Bonnie & Clyde and has since gone on to appear in Cinderella (2015), The Finest Hours (2016) and the TV series Strike.
Quote:
'As much as I'd love to be a successful actor, the thought of being recognised in the street is petrifying.'
Trivia:
When she was a child, she had lessons in piano, gymnastics and Taekwondo.
Indira Varma
(Actor)
.. Khadija Khan
Ron Perlman
(Actor)
.. Frank Napier
Born:
April 13, 1950
in
New York
Best Known For:
Playing Hellboy
Early-life:
Ronald Francis Perlman was born April 13, 1950 in New York City, New York. He attended George Washington High School, the Lehman College in New York City, where he got the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre, and the University of Minnesota. He graduated from the latter in 1973 as a Master of Fine Arts. Made his TV debut in 1979 series Ryan's Hope. His big screen debut came in acclaimed prehistoric drama Quest For Fire. Perlman paid the rent with projects including The Ice Pirates, The Fall Guy and Miami Vice, before TV series Beauty and the Beast made him a cult star in 1987.
Career:
In 1993 he made his first collaboration with director Guillermo del Toro in Cronos, and also became a favourite of director Jean-Pierre Jeunet after starring in The City of Lost Children. The French director also cast him in Alien Resurrection. Re-teamed with del Toro for Blade II, who also cast him as the heroic demon star of Hellboy in 2004. Also starred in a sequel to that hit, and voiced an animated spin-off. Has lent his familiar tones to assorted cartoons and video games over the years, including Batman and Halo 3. In recent years has won a new wave of fans thanks to hit TV series Sons of Anarchy, and the films Drive and Conan the Barbarian. He starred in del Toro's 2013 fantasy epic Pacific Rim.
Quote:
On acting: 'This is not heart surgery. I'm not curing cancer. I'm just trying to put my kids through school.'
Trivia:
He supports the Make-A-Wish foundation.
Ben Miles
(Actor)
.. Danny Hart
Best Known For:
Coupling.
Early-life:
Born Benjamin Miles in Wimbledon in 1967, Ben began acting in school productions to get out of maths and English lessons. Later, he went on to train at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Career:
During the 1990s, Miles played a steady stream of supporting roles in a number of TV series such as Soldier Soldier, Is It Legal?, Wonderful You, The Bill, Peak Practice, Cold Feed and Holby City. His big break came in 2000 when he landed the role of Patrick in BBC sitcom Coupling. Other TV credits include The Forsyte Saga, Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness, Freezing, Lark Rise to Candleford, The Promise, and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: The Murder at Road Hill House. More recently, he has been starring in horror drama Dracula.
Quote:
'I've sort of enjoyed every job I've done, it's a very jammy thing to say.'
Trivia:
Away from acting, Miles enjoys playing the guitar and drums.
Lia Williams
(Actor)
.. Det Supt Gemma Garland
Ginny Holder
(Actor)
.. DI Nadia Latif
Nigel Lindsay
(Actor)
.. Tom Kendricks
Born:
January 17, 1969
in
St John's Wood, London
Best Known For:
Playing Barry in Four Lions.
Early-life:
Born on January 17, 1969 in St John's Wood, London. Nigel went to Merchant Taylors' School before going on to study English and French at the University of Birmingham. He then worked for three years as a financial analyst. After performing in a friend's charity production, he caught the acting bug and quit finance to take a two-year course at the Webber Douglas Academy. Nigel's first professional acting job was with the Lincolnshire touring company Great Eastern Stage.
Career:
Lindsay's early career was mainly focussed on theatre but he later broke into TV and film. He has appeared in a number of regular series, such as Spooks, Silent Witness, Waking the Dead, Midsomer Murders, New Tricks and Between the Lines. Lindsay has also appeared on such comedy programmes as Alan Partridge, The Armando Iannucci Shows, Jam & Jerusalem and Brass Eye. His film credits include Rogue Trader (1999), Four Lions (2010) and Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013). Meanwhile, he has continued to amass theatre roles, including playing the title role in the West End run of Shrek the Musical. More recently, he has appeared in the TV series Victoria, Unforgotten and White Gold.
Quote:
'When you play any character you have to sort of like them.'
Trivia:
He was nominated for Best British Comedy Performance in Film at the 2011 British Comedy Awards for his performance in Four Lions.
Hugh Quarshie
(Actor)
.. Commissioner Cameron Yates
Born:
December 25, 1954
in
Accra, Ghana
Best Known For:
Playing Ric Griffin in Holby City.
Early-life:
Hugh Antony Kobna Quarshie was born on December 22, 1954, in Accra, Ghana, where he spent the first few years of his life. He moved to England and grew up in Golders Green, north London. Hugh went to school in Cheltenham and later studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford, where he was president of the African Society, and co-director of the Oxford and Cambridge Shakespeare Company. After graduating, he worked as a journalist, becoming a sub-editor at West Africa Magazine.
Career:
Made his small-screen debut in 1979 TV movie The Knowledge, and later featured in TV series Angels, Surgical Spirit and Medics. Appeared as Julius Caesar and Macbeth for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Starred in a string of movies including Highlander and Nightbreed. While filming Star Wars: Episode One _ The Phantom Menace in Italy, he drew more autograph hunters than co-star Liam Neeson because of his role as a priest in Italian horror film La Chiesa. He was asked to reprise his role of Captain Panaka in Attack of the Clones but turned it down. Over the past few years he has appeared in Conspiracy of Silence, The Afternoon Play, Doctor Who and Holby City.
Quote:
'My attitude to acting is if you take it too seriously then you're not taking your life seriously enough.'
Trivia:
In 2010, he traced his Ghanaian and Dutch origins in an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?
Andrew Buchan
(Actor)
.. Deputy Commissioner Julian Talbot
Born:
February 19, 1979
in
Stockport
Best Known For:
Garrow's Law and The Fixer.
Early-life:
Andrew was born in Stockport on February 19, 1979, but was brought up in a suburb of Bolton. While studying for his A levels, Andrew worked as a tour guide for Granada Studios. He was also a bartender at Manchester Airport, a concierge at a hotel at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton and a labourer on an Italian building site. He then attended Durham University and Rada.
Career:
Following a spell on stage at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, Buchan made his TV debut in one-off drama If I Had You. Roles followed in miniseries Jane Eyre, political satire Party Animals, Cranford and The Whistleblowers. He grabbed his first leading role as paid assassin John Mercer in ITV drama The Fixer. He had a role in the John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy (2009) before returning to the small screen as young barrister William Garrow in BBC legal period drama Garrow's Law. He's also featured in The Nativity, Coming Up and The Sinking of the Laconia. More recently, he starred in Broadchurch and The Honourable Woman.
Quote:
'I love parts that really stretch you and tear you and challenge you.'
Trivia:
Buchan is fluent in French, German and Spanish.
Daisy Waterstone
(Actor)
.. Abigail Carey
Isabella Brownson
(Actor)
.. Paige Thomas
Tessa Wong
(Actor)
.. DC Chloe Tan
Joe Dempsie
(Actor)
.. James Whitlock
Frederick Schmidt
(Actor)
.. CTSFO Commander George
Georgina Hellier
(Actor)
.. DC Jacobs
Amy Conachan
(Actor)
.. DC Erin Foster
Beruce Khan
(Actor)
.. DC Lyons
Jude Mack
(Actor)
.. Natasha Hayes
Sam Hoare
(Actor)
.. Ed Polczynski
Olamide Candide-Johnson
(Actor)
.. Evans
Alwyne Taylor
(Actor)
.. Janet Whitlock
Barry Aird
(Actor)
.. Jean-Paul
Maggie Bain
(Actor)
.. DI Murphy
Eloka Ivo
(Actor)
.. Archer
Lewis Mackinnon
(Actor)
.. Cole
Ian Kenny
(Actor)
.. James
Philip Correia
(Actor)
.. News presenter
Georgia Landers
(Actor)
.. News reporter
Killian Scott
(Actor)
.. Noah Pierson
David Heyman
(Executive producer)
Rosie Alison
(Executive producer)
Tom Coan
(Executive producer)
Sue Gibbs
(Executive producer)
Derek Ritchie
(Executive producer)
Anthony Philipson
(Director)