Career: Sheen's screen debut came in 1974's The Execution of Private Slovik. Despite dreaming of a baseball career, he began acting professionally in the mid-1980s. He appeared in Red Dawn, Lucas and Ferris Bueller's Day Off before Platoon made him a star in 1986. He followed it up with Wall Street, Young Guns, Eight Men Out, Major League and two Hot Shots! movies. Sheen's career suffered as a result of his drug abuse during the 1990s, but he returned to form with appearances in Being John Malkovich, Spin City, Two and a Half Men and Anger Management.

Career: Willem toured with Theatre X for four years, before joining avant garde New York company The Performance Group. He made his first venture into film acting with a role in Heaven's Gate, but was cut from the finished movie. He went on to win parts in To Live and Die in LA and The Loveless, but his big break came with Platoon, which earned him an Oscar nomination. He also made headlines in 1988 when he took the lead role in the controversial The Last Temptation of Christ. Since then, his movies have included Mississippi Burning, Born on the Fourth of July, The English Patient, Shadow of the Vampire (for which he received another Oscar nod) and Spider-Man. His more recent films include Antichrist, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, Daybreakers and Miral.

Career: Whitaker made his screen debut in Fast Times at Ridgemont High alongside Judge Reinhold, Nicolas Cage and Phoebe Cates. Roles on TV followed, in such shows as Diff'rent Strokes and Cagney & Lacey, before an excellent scene in The Colour of Money opposite Paul Newman showcased his talents to a wider audience and led to further film roles in the likes of Platoon and Good Morning Vietnam. He starred in the 1988 Charlie Parker biopic Bird, and has since put together an impressive body of work, including The Crying Game, Ghost Dog, The Last King of Scotland, Vantage Point and two seasons of The Shield. He always has a number of films and TV work in the pipeline.

Career: On a visit to Los Angeles, Depp met Nicolas Cage who took him to see his agent. Depp made his movie debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street, but didn't become a star until the TV series 21 Jump Street. Despite gaining fame via the series, he quit to concentrate on offbeat movies. He has since gained critical acclaim in Edward Scissorhands (where he began his long association with director Tim Burton), Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood, Blow, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Finding Neverland, Chocolat, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and the Pirates of the Carribean movies - he received his first Oscar nomination for his role in the original film. He always has a number of films in the pipeline and his recent movies include Alice in Wonderland, The Tourist, Dark Shadows, The Lone Ranger and Transcendence.