Career: The Phoenix children began landing acting roles at a young age. Leaf's first role was on TV in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1982. His film debut was in 1986's Space Camp. He also appeared in Parenthood in 1989 before changing his name back to Joaquin and dropping out of acting to travel in South America with his father. To Die For thrust him back into the spotlight in 1995. He's worked constantly since then, in such projects as 8MM, The Yards, Quills, Buffalo Soldiers, Signs, The Village, Ladder 49, and Her. He has received Oscar nominations for The Master, Walk the Line, and Gladiator.

Career: He initially worked as a house-painter to make ends meet, but acting jobs soon started flooding in, mainly in theatre and TV. He bagged his first leading movie role in the cult film Knightriders in 1981, but it was his performance as John Glenn in the acclaimed The Right Stuff that marked him out as a rising star. In 1995, another fact-based drama about astronauts, Apollo 13, earned him his first Oscar nod. He's been nominated three more times for The Truman Show, Pollock (which he also directed) and The Hours. His other notable films include The Abyss, The Rock, Nixon, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence and Man on a Ledge.

Career: Released in 1993, The Piano was a worldwide success and won three Oscars. Paquin was left speechless when she beat the likes of Emma Thompson and Winona Ryder to win the Best Supporting Actress gong at the 1994 Academy Awards. Paquin then relocated to Los Angeles and won roles in Jane Eyre, She's All That, Amistad and the X-Men films to further boost her reputation. Since 2008, she has starred as telepathic barmaid Sookie Stackhouse in US vampire series True Blood, for which She won a Golden Globe in 2009.

Career: McGovern's first film was Robert Redford's Oscar-winning directorial debut Ordinary People in 1980. She followed that with an Academy Award nomination in 1981's Ragtime. She also appeared in Sergio Leone's acclaimed Once Upon a Time in America in 1984. Despite this early promise, her career faltered. Her most memorable film roles since have come in She's Having a Baby, The Handmaid's Tale, A Shock to the System, The Wings of the Dove and The House of Mirth; she also starred in the first series of the BBC's 1999 adaptation of The Scarlet Pimpernel. She returned to the spotlight in 2010 when she starred in the hugely popular ITV drama Downton Abbey, playing Cora, Countess of Grantham. Away from acting, McGovern is the frontwoman of the band Sadie and the Hotheads.