Career: At 15, Williams became emancipated from her parents so that she could avoid America's child labour laws. She also moved to Los Angeles, and her big break came when she landed the role of Jen Lindley in teen drama Dawson's Creek. The popular series ran for six seasons, clocking up 128 episodes. During her time on the teen drama, she also starred on the big screen in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), Dick (1999) and Prozac Nation (2001). She went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for Brokeback Mountain (2005); while filming she fell in love with co-star Heath Ledger, with whom she had a daughter. They had separated by the time of his death in 2008. Williams has received two further Academy Award nominations for Blue Valentine (2010) and My Week with Marilyn (2011). Her other film credits have included The Station Agen (2003), Synecdoche, New York (2008), Shutter Island (2010), Take This Waltz (2011) and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013).

Career: Dano was 17 when he appeared in his first major film, L.I.E. (2001). He rose to prominence in 2006 when he starred in Little Miss Sunshine. He went on to play identical twin brothers in There Will Be Blood (2007), for which he earned a Bafta nomination. More recently, he has starred in Knight and Day (2010), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), Looper (2012), Prisoners (2013), 12 Years a Slave (2013) and Love & Mercy (2014).

Career: Rogen was cast in a major supporting role and credited as a co-producer in Apatow's directorial debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin. After Rogen received critical praise for that performance, Universal Pictures agreed to cast him as the lead in Apatow's directorial feature films Knocked Up and Funny People. Rogen and his comedy partner Evan Goldberg co-wrote the films Superbad, Pineapple Express, and The Green Hornet. Rogen has done voice work for the films Horton Hears a Who!, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Paul.

Career: Lynch enrolled at the Pennysylvania Academy of Fine Arts where he made his first films, including the animated Six Men Getting Sick and The Alphabet. He began working on his debut feature, Eraserhead, in 1971. It was released six years later and has become a cult favourite. In 1980 he received the first of his Oscar nominations for directing and co-writing The Elephant Man. The others were for Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive. Celebrated TV series Twin Peaks was a hit with critics and viewers alike. Since then he's made such films as Wild at Heart, Lost Highway and Inland Empire, branched out into selling coffee beans and even produced electro-pop music.

Career: Spielberg's 1971 thriller Duel paved the way for feature film The Sugarland Express, a modest hit. In 1975, Jaws started a long run of successes, including the Indiana Jones films, ET, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. He also co-founded studio Dreamworks SKG, which has backed various hits, including Shrek, American Beauty and Gladiator. Spielberg's recent films include The Terminal, Munich and War of the Worlds. He has also worked as the producer on a string of hit films, including The Goonies, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the Back to the Future trilogy, the Transformers trilogy, and True Grit. His recent work includes The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, War Horse and Lincoln. He won an Oscar for Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List and an honorary award in 1987.