Career: Murray joined Chicago's Second City improvisational comedy team in 1973. He then worked with National Lampoon Radio Hour and joined the cast of Saturday Night Live. He starred in 1979's Meatballs, but his first major film was 1980's Caddyshack - Ghostbusters, Scrooged, Quick Change (which he co-directed) and Groundhog Day followed. In 1998, he worked with director Wes Anderson for the first time on Rushmore, which boosted his career as a dramatic actor. He's subsequently featured in the film-maker's The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Fantastic Mr Fox and Moonrise Kingdom. Other notable parts include Kingpin, Lost in Translation (for which he won a Bafta and received an Oscar nomination), Hyde Park on the Hudson, The Monuments Men, Broken Flowers and St Vincent.

Career: After a few sporadic TV roles, del Toro landed the role of Dario, the vicious henchman in the James Bond film Licence to Kill. He followed it with several notable movie roles but really came to critics' attentions as the mumbling, mysterious gangster in The Usual Suspects in 1995. Staying true to his independent roots, he next gave a charismatic turn as cold-blooded gangster Gaspare in The Funeral. A couple of years later, he took a leading role with Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Gaining 40 pounds for the role of Dr. Gonzo, the drug-addicted lawyer to sports writer Raoul Duke, Benicio immersed himself totally in the role. He won an Oscar for his role in Traffic and also gave a notable performance in Snatch, The Pledge and 21 Grams. His recent films include Sin City, Che, The Wolfman and Somewhere. He is now one of Hollywood's most sought after leading men.

Career: Finding herself drawn to more obscure fare, Swinton began an association with experimental director Derek Jarman. She continued to work with Jarman for the next nine years, developing seven critically acclaimed films, including Caravaggio, The Last of England, The Garden, Edward II and Wittgenstein. After Jarman's untimely death in 1994, she took the title role in the hugely popular arthouse flick Orlando and began experimenting with new and untried directors and mediums, but also starred in more mainstream productions, such as The Beach, Constantine, Michael Clayton (for which she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar), and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She also had roles in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I Am Love and Only Lovers Left Alive.

Career: Wright won a Tony Award for his role in Angels in America. He reprised the role several years later when HBO made a miniseries version of the play, for which he won an Emmy and a Golden Globe. Wright's film credits include The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Syriana (2005), Broken Flowers (2005), Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Source Code (2011), The Ides of March (2011) and The Hunger Games movies. He had a recurring role in Boardwalk Empire.

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).

Career: Bottle Rocket was so well-received, the writers were asked to turn it into a full-length feature. Although it wasn't a hit, it launched Wilson's acting career - his frequent collaborator Ben Stiller offered him a small role in The Cable Guy after seeing the movie. He went on to star in films including Armageddon, The Haunting, Shanghai Noon, Meet the Parents and Zoolander, although he gained more critical acclaim for co-writing Anderson's films Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Since then, he's taken starring roles in Starsky and Hutch, Wedding Crashers, Drillbit Taylor, Marley and Me, Midnight in Paris and Hall Pass, as well as reuniting with Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Darjeeling Limited.