Career: A spell in musical theatre led to Crowe's first major big-screen role in 1990 film The Crossing, followed by Proof, for which he won an Australian Film Institute Award. A second gong came for the controversial Romper Stomper, prompting Sharon Stone to headhunt him for The Quick And The Dead in 1995. He followed that with major movies such as LA Confidential, The Insider, and Gladiator, for which he won the 2001 Best Actor award at the Oscars. Since then, he's starred in A Beautiful Mind and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Recent hits have included 3.10 to Yuma, American Gangster, State of Play, and Robin Hood. His recent credits include Les Miserables, Man of Steel, Winter's Tale and Noah.

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: Harris made his film debut in the 1958 British comedy Alive and Kicking. Other roles followed in The Guns of Navarone and Mutiny on the Bounty before his first lead role came in 1963's This Sporting Life. Other movies followed, including The Heroes of Telemark, Major Dundee, Camelot, A Man Called Horse, The Cassandra Crossing and The Wild Geese. He appeared in a number of forgettable productions during the 1980s but returned to form in the 1990s with The Field, Patriot Games and Unforgiven. His later films included Gladiator and two Harry Potter films. He died in London on October 25, 2002, at the age of 72, following a battle with Hodgkin's disease.

Career: Following acclaimed performances at university, Jacobi joined Birmingham Rep. He was spotted by Laurence Olivier, who invited him to join the National Theatre Company. He made his film debut alongside Olivier in 1965's Othello. Since then, Jacobi has continued to make acclaimed appearances on stage and screen. Among his films are The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, Love Is the Devil, Gladiator, Gosford Park, The King's Speech and Hereafter. He inspired Kenneth Branagh to become an actor and worked alongside him in Henry V, Hamlet and Dead Again. Jacobi won a Bafta for I, Claudius in 1977, starred in the medieval-set series Cadfael, played The Master in Doctor Who, is the narrator of In the Night Garden and scored a surprise hit with Last Tango in Halifax.

Career: Nielsen's early professional acting roles were in French and Italian films and TV series. Her first English language film role was in The Devil's Advocate (1997) and she received global recognition when she played Lucilla in the Oscar-winning Gladiator (2000). Since then, she has appeared in Mission to Mars (2000), One Hour Photo (2002), Basic (2003), The Hunted (2003), The Ice Harvest (2005) and Nyphomaniac (2013). She also had roles in the TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Boss, The Following and The Good Wife. More recently, she played Queen Hippolyta in Wonder Woman (2017).

Career: Hounsou received wide critical acclaim and a Golden Globe Award nomination for his role as Cinqué in the 1997 Steven Spielberg film Amistad. He gained further notice as Juba, in the 2000 film Gladiator. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for In America, in 2004, becoming the first black African to be nominated for an Oscar. In 2006, he won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Blood Diamond; he received Broadcast Film Critics Association, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Academy Award nominations for this performance. His recent work includes The Tempest, Special Forces, Baggage Claim and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Career: Scott worked as a designer, then as a director, on TV shows Z Cars, Softly Softly and Adam Adamant Lives. He set up his own company in the 1960s, which made classic adverts for Hovis and Guinness. His first film was 1977's The Duellists. Two years later he made Alien, which was a blockbuster. He's since directed a number of hugely successful movies including Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise, GI Jane, Gladiator, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down and Matchstick Men. The success of these projects made him Britain's most lucrative film-maker. His most recent work includes Kingdom Of Heaven, American Gangster, Robin Hood and Prometheus. He always has several films in various stages of production.