Career: At the age of 16, Hathaway was cast in short-lived TV series Get Real. Her big-screen debut came in The Other Side of Heaven. In the same year she beat 500 other girls to land a role alongside Julie Andrews in Disney's The Princess Diaries. The film was a huge success and the family films Nicholas Nickleby, Ella Enchanted and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement followed before she started taking on more mature roles. The first of these was gritty drama Havoc. Since then, Hathaway has starred in a number of box-office hits, including Brokeback Mountain, The Devil Wears Prada, Becoming Jane, Rachel Getting Married, Alice in Wonderland, Love & Other Drugs, The Dark Knight Rises and Les Miserables, a role that secured her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

Career: Sturgess moved to London in 2000 and joined the band Called Saint Faith. He took small acting roles to fund his musical adventures. His big break came in 2007 when he won a leading role in Julie Taymor's musical film Across the Universe. He followed this with parts in The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), 21 (2008), Crossing Over (2009), Heartless (2009) and The Way Back (2010). His breakthrough came in 2011 when he starred alongside Anne Hathaway in One Day. His recent work includes Cloud Atlas (2012) and Upside Down (2013).

Career: Her first major film role came in Nicholas Nickleby (2002) and a year later, she landed the lead in I Capture the Castle (2003). Her film credits also include Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004), Vanity Fair (2004), Scoop (2006), Angel (2007), Atonement (2007) and One Day (2011). She received Golden Globe nominations for both TV miniseries Emma and TV drama The Hour.

Career: Spall made his film debut in the 2001offering Beginner's Luck. He went on to star in the projects Out of Control, The Lion in Winter, Shaun of the Dead, The Calcium Kid and Kidulthood. In recent years, he's rarely been out of the public eye, featuring in Cracker, the Russell Crowe comedy A Good Year, Wide Sargasso Sea, Hot Fuzz, a TV version of A Room with a View (in which he starred with his dad) and ITV1 drama He Kills Coppers. He's also appeared in Frankie Howard: Rather You Than Me, Desperate Romantics, and Channel 4 sitcom Pete Versus Life.

Career: Whittaker's first professional acting job was in The Storm at Shakespeare's Globe in 2005, but her big break came the following year when she made her film debut alongside Peter O'Toole in Venus, a role which saw her nominated for the British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer. She went on to star in St Trinian's, One Day and the acclaimed British sci-fi movie Attack the Block. Whittaker also won plaudits for her TV work, most notably as bereaved mother Beth Latimer in Broadchurch and a nurse posing as a doctor in Trust Me. However, her profile received the biggest boost when it was announced she was taking over the Tardis as the 13th Doctor.