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: Redmayne starred in a production of Twelfth Night at Shakespeare's Globe theatre in 2002 and two years later, he won an Evening Standard award for his performance in Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? His TV credits include roles in Doctors, Elizabeth I, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, The Pillars of the Earth and Birdsong. His big break came in 2012 when he was cast as Marius Pontmercy in the big-screen version of Les Miserables.

Career: After graduating from Rada, he made his West End debut in Another Country and enjoyed success in Northern Ireland with his appearances in three Belfast-set Play for Today productions. He then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. Despite some big hits, he disliked the organisation's structure and so set up his own theatre company. TV series Fortunes of War made him a star in the UK, but it was his film version of Henry V that catapulted him to global fame. Other films include Peter's Friends, Dead Again, Love's Labours Lost, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. More recently, he's appeared in TV dramas Conspiracy, Shackleton, 10 Days to War and Wallander, and the movies Rabbit-Proof Fence, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and My Week with Marilyn. He also directed the revamp of Sleuth, The Magic Flute and had a huge hit with blockbuster Thor.

Career: Dench made her professional debut with the Old Vic Company before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1961, and has frequently worked on stage ever since. She became a household name in the 1980s thanks to sitcom A Fine Romance, for which she won a Bafta. She's also won the award for Four in the Morning, Talking to a Stranger, Iris, The Last of the Blonde Bombshells, Shakespeare In Love (for which she picked up an Oscar too), A Handful of Dust, Mrs Brown and A Room With a View. Other notable productions include Chocolat, Notes on a Scandal, J Edgar, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its sequel, and several Bond movies, including Skyfall, in which she bowed out as M.

Career: Casting agents for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone found Watson through her Oxford theatre teacher. The release of the film in 2001 marked her professional acting debut. She went on to star as Hermione Granger in a further seven Harry Potter films, alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint. In the post-Harry Potter era, Watson has starred in My Week with Marilyn (2011), The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), The Bling Ring (2013), This is the End (2013) and Noah (2014).

Career: Quickly becoming a respected stage actress, she won rave reviews for her performances in various classic plays. She made her TV breakthrough in 1991 as Catherine the Great in Young Catherine. Hollywood finally took notice of her lauded support role in Legends of the Fall opposite Brad Pitt. She followed this up with the Audrey Hepburn role in the remake of Sabrina in 1995, and as Guinevere in First Knight, opposite Richard Gere and Sean Connery, the same year. She took a lead role in the thriller Smilla's Sense of Snow in 1997, and despite being tipped for the A-list, has spent more than a decade in various character parts on stage and screen. She head a lead role in two seasons of fantasy TV drama Witches of East End.

Career: Torrens has appeared in a number of Hollywood films, including Pride and Prejudice (2005), My Week with Marilyn (2011), Anna Karenina (2012), The Danish Girl (2015) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). He has also appeared in a number of British TV programmes, including Heartbeat, Doctor Who, The Brittas Empire, Green Wing and Silent Witness. More recently, he has had regular roles in Poldark, The Crown, Preacher and Versailles.