Career: The US success of Mad Max 2 led to Gibson being offered mainstream Hollywood roles, including The Bounty, Mrs Soffel, and The River, before Lethal Weapon turned him into an A-list star in 1987. His directorial debut was 1993's The Man Without a Face, and his follow-up in front and behind the camera, Braveheart, won several Oscars. His company, Icon, has backed a string of hit-and-miss movies in recent years, including Kevin and Perry Go Large, and What Women Want. Gibson has also starred in Signs, and The Patriot, and wrote and directed controversial drama The Passion of the Christ, which Gibson himself funded. After taking a break from acting, he returned with Edge of Darkness and The Beaver.

Career: After making his mark on the London stage, McGoohan appeared in his first film, The Dam Busters, in 1954. He later gained contracts with the Rank Organisation and Walt Disney, but it was the TV play The Greatest Man in the World that led to him being cast in spy series Danger Man in 1960. Its huge success made him Britain's highest-paid TV actor. McGoohan created surreal cult hit The Prisoner in 1967 before moving to the US. Afterwards his output was sporadic, but he appeared in, directed and written episodes of Columbo, had his own series called Rafferty, and starred in the films Ice Station Zebra, Escape from Alcatraz, Silver Streak and Braveheart. McGoohan died on January 13, 2009, in Santa Monica, California, following a brief illness.

Career: McCormack made her film debut in little-seen Australian movie Loaded in 1994, the same year she appeared on TV for the first time in Wycliffe. Her performance in Braveheart looked set to make her a star, but instead of heading for Hollywood, she preferred to stay in Europe to make Deacon Brodie, The Land Girls, Dancing at Lughnasa, This Year's Love, and Love in the 21st Century. She has also starred in Shadow of the Vampire, Born Romantic, The Tailor of Panama and Spy Game. In 2004 she returned to TV with Gunpowder, Treason and Plot and in 2007 she appeared in horror sequel 28 Days Later.

Career: Gleeson's classical acting skills gained the attention of Mel Gibson and he was cast in Braveheart (1995). Since then he has been in a huge variety of films, such as Mission: Impossible II (2000), Lake Placid (1999), The General (1998) and Gangs of New York (2002). He proved his was in the A-league when he was cast in the Harry Potter films and has several leading man roles to his name, including the popular crime caper, In Bruges.

Career: Cox's earliest TV appearances were as an extra in cult TV series The Prisoner. He has been a mainstay in the world of TV and film ever since, popping up in Hammer House of Horror, Minder, Frasier and Deadwood. He played Hannibal Lecktor in Manhunter, Michael Mann's adaptation of Red Dragon. (The name was later spelled Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs). He has appeared in a string of major Hollywood offerings, including The Long Kiss Goodnight, X-Men 2, Troy, The Bourne Supremacy, Zodiac and Red. On the stage he has appeared in Titus Andronicus, Taming of the Shrew and King Lear. He has also voiced characters in the video games Killzone and Manhunt.

Career: Macfadyen's first role was in the TV film The Lost Language of Cranes (1991). After appearing in TV series Takin' Over the Asylum (1994), he was cast in the Oscar-winning Braveheart (1995). Through the rest of the 1990s, he appeared in such films as Warriors of Virute (1997) and The Rat Pack (1998). He went on to appear in science fiction film Equilibrium (2002) and then play Jeff Denlon in Saw III (2006) and Saw IV (2007). Since then, he has starred in historical drama series Turn: Washington's Spies and appeared in We Bought a Zoo (2011), Hirokin: The Last Samurai (2012) and The Lost City of Z (2017). He also wrote, directed and starred in Macbeth Unhinged (2016).