EWAN McGREGOR (Valiant) was born in 1971 in Crieff, Scotland. Despite a small-town upbringing, he became enthralled with the world of acting from an early age and was largely inspired by his uncle, Denis Lawson (of Local Hero fame). From a tiny child, he would return home to watch old black and white movie classics, rather than contemporary television programmes of the day. His passion for the silver screen was crystallized in 1977, when, as a 6-year old, he was taken to see his uncle act in Star Wars. Like millions of other small boys in the world, he was spellbound. He saw the film so many times that he could recite practically the whole script without drawing breath - one of life’s ironies that would take over twenty years to unfold.

Six months before his graduation at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, McGregor was offered the role of Private Mick Hopper in Dennis Potter’s six-part musical comedy television series Lipstick on Your Collar. Shortly after this break, he landed his first film role in Bill Forsyth’s Being Human, where the producer, Lord David Puttnam, was so impressed by McGregor’s abilities that he added extra scenes for him. Puttnam said: “McGregor has the same quality that a certain select group of actors have. Once you watch them, they mesmerise you and you forget you are watching an actor, because they appeal to you personally.”

Following his portrayal of an over-sexed hotel bell-hop in the classic adult comedy play What the Butler Saw, and the romantic lead as the French adventurer Julien Sorel in a BBC production of Scarlet and Black, McGregor starred in the BAFTA winning Shallow Grave. The confidence with which he balanced this dark comedic role, coupled with the success of the film, pushed the young Scottish actor into the limelight. His portrayal of Alex Law earned him the Hitchcock D’Argent Best Actor Award and a nomination for Best Actor at the BAFTA Scotland Awards, as well as laying the roots for a highly successful partnership with the director, Danny Boyle. He then went on to portray the shifty London drug-dealer Dean Raymond in Blue Juice opposite an up-and-coming Catherine Zeta Jones, followed by his first solo lead in the cult director Peter Greenaway’s art-house erotic film, The Pillow Book.

Although Shallow Grave provided McGregor with his breakthrough role, it was his portrayal of heroin-addict Mark Renton in Irvine Walsh’s Trainspotting that catapulted him to international fame. To prepare for this role, he worked closely with ex-drug addicts who helped provide him with a level of insight needed to tackle the graphic portrayal of drug addiction and withdrawal - scenes that have now become classics in film history.

Trainspotting won a string of prestigious awards, including the BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Feature Film, while McGregor himself picked up BAFTA Scotland’s Best Actor accolade and, for the second year running, the Empire magazine award for Best British Actor.

After the success of Trainspotting, McGregor eluded any danger of typecasting by taking on the contrasting role of Frank Churchill opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in an adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Emma. After this he starred opposite Tara Fitzgerald in Mark Herman’s Cesar award winning Brassed Off, which juggled humour and pathos by portraying the fate of a brass band in a small community threatened by the politically-motivated coalmine closures in the early 1980’s.

Ewan McGregor’s US film debut arrived in the shape of Nightwatch, a grisly slasher movie filmed in LA in which he played the lead role of Marin Bwelos, a law student who worked part-time as a mortuary night watchman. Walk-on parts in the BBC Dennis Potter series Karaoke and Cold Lazarus provided him with a chance to return to Britain before starring as a Dutch landscape artist in Philippe Rousselot’s The Serpent’s Kiss with Pete Postlethwaite, Greta Scacchi and Richard E. Grant.

Following his second short feature for director Justin Chadwick, Swimming with Fishes, McGregor teamed up with Cameron Diaz in the quirky romantic fantasy A Life Less Ordinary, which reunited him with director Danny Boyle. McGregor’s character portrayal of the sweet innocent Robert won him the Best British Actor award in the 1997 Empire Movie Awards - for the third time running. During 1997, he also received a much-coveted Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor for his role in an episode of ER - The Long Way Round.

He then went on to play Curt Wild, a crazed Seventies rock star in the glam rock film, Velvet Goldmine, with Michael Stipe of REM as Executive Producer, followed by a portrayal of the infamous trader Nick Leeson and his spectacular fall from grace in Rogue Trader opposite Anna Friel. Shortly after this, Golden-Globe winning Little Voice saw him team up again with Brassed Off director Mark Herman, where he starred alongside Jane Horrocks and Michael Caine.

Life came full circle for Ewan McGregor when he landed the part of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, the legendary role once played by Sir Alec Guinness. Impressed by his skilful character portrayal, director George Lucas then invited him back to star in the sequels, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, which was released in 2002, and Star Wars: Episode III, due to be released in 2005.

In 1998, McGregor went behind the camera to co-produce Nora, the story of the romance between writer James Joyce (McGregor) and Nora Barnacle (Susan Lynch). In Baz Luhrmann’s Oscar and BAFTA award winning musical Moulin Rouge, McGregor played Christian, a poet who falls in love with Satine (Nicole Kidman), a courtesan of the tragic-comic underworld of the Moulin Rouge, with music drawn from 20th century pop songs. McGregor described the challenge of singing, dancing and acting as something he had wanted to do all his life. He then went on to reprise his role as Obi-Wan for Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. In 2001, he jumped into an entirely different role, starring as Grimes, a Ranger specialist in Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down, a film based on the actual events of two U.S. soldiers who were dropped in war torn Somalia in 1993 to capture two lieutenants of a renegade warlord.

Since then, McGregor has filmed Young Adam, an original thriller based on a novel by Scottish beat writer Alexander Trocchi, set in the working canals between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The film was a tremendous critical success, and he was rewarded with a London Film Critics Circle Awards nomination.

In 2002, McGregor starred in Down With Love opposite Renee Zellweger, a romantic comedy in the vein of the 1960’s films of Doris Day and Rock Hudson. He then went on to Alabama to shoot Tim Burton’s Big Fish, and then to Australia for Episode III of George Lucas’ Star Wars prequel trilogy. This was followed by the supernatural thriller Stay, co-starring with Naomi Watts and Ryan Gosling.

In 2004 McGregor took time off to fulfil a long-held ambition to ride a motorbike around the world with his good friend, Charley Boorman. A documentary charting their progress, Long Way Round, aired on Bravo in the US and Sky One in the UK. A book of their journey, Long Way Round: Chasing Shadows Across the World, remains on the bestsellers list in both countries.

In late 2004, McGregor returned to the States to start work on Michael Bay’s The Island, alongside Scarlett Johanssen, Djimon Hounsou and Steve Buscemi. Ewan McGregor is recognised as one of the finest British actors in the world and has been described both by Vanity Fair (on whose cover he has appeared three times) and Time Out as “the saviour of the British film industry.”

RICKY GERVAIS (Bugsy) After a diverse career Ricky Gervais finally found fame in The Office.

Among other things, he worked as a pizza delivery man, a DJ for a London radio station, and managed rock group Suede, before going into comedy.

His bigoted comedy persona for The 11 O’Clock Show proved popular. He went on to host the television show Meet Ricky Gervais.

The Office was a cult hit. Word of mouth ensured its repeat run scoring higher ratings than the first. Gervais played David Brent, the self-important office manager of the Slough branch of a firm of paper suppliers. The observations were spot on. Gervais’ in-depth knowledge of office life stems from seven years spent as Entertainment Manager for a student union.

The second series of The Office was shown in 2002 to much critical acclaim. In the US, The Office was the winner of two Golden Globes: Ricky Gervais was Best TV Actor in a Musical or Comedy series while The Office was acclaimed as Best TV Musical or Comedy Series.

TIM CURRY (Von Talon) Acclaimed British actor and two-time Tony Award nominee, Tim Curry first came to the attention of American audiences in the cult phenomenon The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was his motion picture debut.

He has gone on to a diverse career with film credits that include Charlie’s Angels, Scary Movie 2, The Scoundrel’s Wife, The Addams Family Reunion, McHale’s Navy, The Muppets Treasure Island, Congo, The Shadow, The Three Musketeers, Loaded Weapon I, Home Alone 2, Passed Away, Oscar, The Hunt for Red October, Pass the Ammo, Clue, Legend, The Ploughman’s Lunch, Annie, Times Square and The Shout.

On television, Curry has been seen in numerous mini-series and telefilms including starring as Will Shakespeare in Life of Shakespeare and Attila. Other television credits include Jackie’s Back for Lifetime, Titanic for CBS, It for ABC, The Worst Witch for HBO and Oliver Twist for CBS. He also starred in several films for the BBC: Three Men in a Boat directed by Stephen Frears, Napoleon in Love and Schmoedipus. Curry was part of the initial cast of Family Affair and Over the Top, he was a series regular on Wiseguy and has had recurring roles in Showtime’s Rude Awakening and Earth 2. He has also been a guest host of Saturday Night Live.

In theatre, Curry earned Tony Award nominations for his lead roles in Amadeus and My Favorite Year. He also starred in Broadway’s Travesties. On the London stage, Curry has starred in the Royal National Theatre productions of Pirates of Penzance, The Rivals, Love for Love and The Threepenny Opera. Curry also starred in both the London and Broadway productions of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

JIM BROADBENT (Sarge) is one of Britain’s most versatile and talented character actors, equally at home in comedy and serious drama. His film roles include Bullets on Broadway, Richard III, Secret Agent, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, The Borrowers, Little Voice, Topsy-Turvey (winner of the Best Actor Award from the UK Evening Standard and at the Venice Film Festival), Bridget Jones Diary, Moulin Rouge (for which he won the BAFTA award Best Supporting Actor) and The Gangs of New York.

In 2002, Broadbent won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as John Bayley in Iris. His most recent feature film credits include Nicholas Nickleby, Bright Young Things, Vanity Fair, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Vera Drake, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Art School Confidential. On television he appeared in The Gathering Storm with Albert Finney and HBO Films And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself.

Other television credits include Wide-eyed and Legless, the award-winning A Sense of History which he also wrote and Walter directed by Stephen Frears.

In the theatre his stage performances include Kafka’s Dick and The Government Inspector both directed by Richard Eyre, Goosepimples, Ecstasy, A Place with Pigs directed by Athol Fugard at the Royal National Theatre and Sam Mendes acclaimed production of Habeas Corpus presented at the Donmar.

HUGH LAURIE (Gutsy) emerged from the 1981 Cambridge University Footlights revue The Cellar Tapes along with Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson. This award winning show was transmitted by the BBC in 1982.

He wrote and performed, with Stephen Fry, The Crystal Cube for the BBC and the second series of Alfresco for Granada Television. In 1984, he appeared in The Young Ones for the BBC and David Hare’s film Plenty, starring Meryl Streep. This was followed by two episodes of Rowan Atkinson’s second series of The Black Adder.

In 1987 he performed in the second series of Saturday Live, played the Prince Regent in Blackadder III and took part in the 1987 Royal Variety Show with Stephen Fry. They then co-wrote and performed in A Bit of Fry and Laurie, a fifty minute special for the BBC, which kicked off the hugely successful series of the same name.

From here, Laurie filmed David Hare’s Strapless, starring Bridget Fonda, appeared regularly in Friday Live and taped the first series of A Bit of Fry and Laurie as well as Blackadder Goes Forth. He then played Bertie Wooster in the Granada Television series Jeeves and Wooster.

Between recording further series of A Bit of Fry and Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster, Laurie went on to play the lead in Gasping, written by Ben Elton, at the Theatre Royal. He appeared in the feature film Peter’s Friends, directed by Kenneth Branagh, A Pin for the Butterfly and the series All or Nothing at All.

From 1995 to 1999 Laurie appeared in Sense and Sensibility, which was adapted for the screen and starring Emma Thompson; 101 Dalmations with Glenn Close, Jeff Daniels and Joely Richardson; Cousin Bette with Jessica Lange; The Man in the Iron Mask; The Place of Lions; the smash hit Stuart Little co-starring Geena Davis; Maybe Baby for writer/director Ben Elton and That Girl From Rio, directed by Chris Monger.

He then filmed Me and My Shadow playing Vincente Minnelli opposite Judy Davis, followed by the sequel Stuart Little II and two episodes of the BBC’s Spooks.In 2003 he appeared in Carlton Television’s production of the Nigel Williams novel Fortysomething and The Young Visitors. His most recent credit is a lead role in The Flight of the Phoenix, co-starring with Dennis Quaid.

Laurie is currently playing the titular role in the US television series House, for which he has received great acclaim.

In addition to acting, Laurie has directed television programmes and commercials, composed and recorded numerous original songs and has written articles for The Daily Telegraph. Four volumes of A Bit of Fry and Laurie scripts have been published by Mandarin and his novel, The Gunseller, was published in the UK and the US to great success and has been adapted into a screenplay.

JOHN CLEESE (Mercury) has long been one of the industry’s most innovative and influential comedic talents. Today’s audiences have most recently seen him on the big screen as the new Q in the James Bond movie Die Another Day - having been promoted from R in The World is Not Enough - and as Nearly Headless Nick in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He has also had a recurring role as Lyle Finster on the NBC television sitcom Will and Grace.

On the big screen he has recently appeared in the remake of Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, George of the Jungle 2 (voice), the remake of Around the World in Eighty Days, Shrek 2 (voice), Complete Guide to Guys, Man About Town and in the forthcoming James Bond 21.

Hailing from England, Cleese first gained international fame for his groundbreaking work as creator, writer and member of the classic Monty Python’s Flying Circus. First aired on the BBC in 1969, the series was an instant hit in Europe and gained an equally loyal following when it landed on American shores in 1972. The show also spawned the feature film comedies Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life. There have also been subsequent Monty Python videos, CDs and specials.

In 1988, Cleese co-wrote, executive produced and starred in the hit comedy A Fish Called Wanda, for which he earned Oscar and BAFTA nominations for Best Original Screenplay, won a BAFTA Award and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor. He also co-wrote, produced and starred in the sequel Fierce Creatures.

His additional film acting credits include The Out-of-Towners, Rat Race, The Jungle Book, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Silverado, Time Bandits and The Great Muppet Caper.

For his work on television, Cleese won an Emmy Award for his guest role on the comedy series Cheers and received another Emmy nomination for a guest stint on 3rd Rock From the Sun. He also garnered a BAFTA Award for the acclaimed BBC series Fawlty Towers, which he created and starred in.

JOHN HURT (Felix) was born in 1940, the son of an Anglican vicar and an amateur actress. He attended schools in Kent and Lincoln, worked as a stage hand with the Lincoln Repertory and studied Art at St. Martin’s School, London before winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

John Hurt is one of Britain’s best known, critically acclaimed and most versatile actors. He made his West End debut in 1962 and went on to take the 1963 Critics Award for Most Promising Actor in Harold Pinter’s The Dwarfs. On the stage, he has also appeared in Pinter’s The Caretaker, O’Casey’s Shadow of a Gunman, Stoppard’s Travesties for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Turgenev’s A Month in the Country. In 2000, he gave a greatly acclaimed performance in Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape in London’s West End.

Hurt’s impressive body of television work commenced in 1961 where he has had notable roles as I, Claudius, Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment and, most memorably, as Quentin Crisp in the autobiographical The Naked Civil Servant (for which he received a Best Actor Emmy and a BAFTA Best Television Actor Award). This portrayal led Crisp to opine that “John Hurt is my representative here on Earth.”

It was his defining film roles as Max in Midnight Express (1978) and as John Merrick in The Elephant Man (1980) that thrust him into the international spotlight, with Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor respectively. His other film work includes a trio of roles in 1984 which rewarded him with the Evening Standard Award for Best Actor for that year for: 1984, The Hit and Champions. His many films include A Man For All Seasons, The Field, Scandal, Rob Roy, John Boorman’s Two Nudes Bathing for which he received a Cable Ace Award in 1995, and an acclaimed performance in Richard Kwietniowski’s Love and Death on Long Island. He was also seen as Dr Iannis in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, directed by John Madden.

In 1999, Hurt filmed Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, directed by Atom Egoyan and Tabloid TV, directed by David Blair in 2000. He went on to make Miranda, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Owning Mahony, directed by Richard Kwietniowski.

In 2002, John Hurt won the Variety Club Award for Outstanding Performance in a Stage Play, alongside Penelope Wilton, for their performances in Brian Friel’s Afterplay. This was followed by the film Hellboy and the BBC production of The Alan Clark Diaries, which received great critical acclaim.

Recently he filmed Skeleton Key for Universal, Shooting Dogs and The Proposition.

RIK MAYALL (Cufflingk) went to Manchester University where he read drama. Whilst there, he formed a theatre company called 20th Century Coyote which he later took to the Edinburgh Festival with great critical success and subsequently to the Comic Strip in Soho. On leaving University he played Dromio of Syracuse in the Oxford and Cambridge Shakespeare Company Production of The Comedy of Errors, which toured America and the UK.

Television credits include Rik Mayall Presents, two trilogies commissioned by Granada Television. These were individually titled: Mickey Love, Briefest Encounter, Dancing Queen, The Big One, Dirty Old Town and Clair De Lune. They received several awards including ACE nominations in 1966 and Best Comedy Actor at the British Comedy Awards in 1993. Four series of The New Statesman followed, resulting in a 1989 Emmy Award, a BAFTA for Best Comedy Series Award in 1990 and the Special Craft Gold Medal for Best Performer in the International Film & Television Festival of New York in 1991.

At the 1992 Comedy Awards he received the Best New Comedy Award for three series of Bottom. Other credits include Flashheart in Blackadder, two series of Grim Tales, Saturday Night Live, Filthy Rich and Catflap, Kevin Turney in A Kick Up the Eighties, two series of The Young Ones (which he originated and co-wrote), The Comedy Strip Presents, Four Men in a Car, Four Men in a Plane, Murder Rooms, The Knock, The Bill, Jonathan Creek and Believe Nothing.

In 2002, Mayall won the Gold Medal in the New York Festival International Radio Programme and Promotional Awards for Best Narration for George & the Dragon and Robinson Crusoe.

His animated film narration includes The Willows in Winter, for which he won the Emmy for the role of Toad, The Wind in the Willows, Watership Down, Tom & Vicky (two series), A Monkey’s Tale, The World of Peter Rabbit & Friends, Santa’s Special Delivery and 78 episodes of Jellikins.

Mayall’s theatre work includes twenty years of sell out tours as a stand-up comedian in addition to A Family Affair, Cell Mates, Waiting for Godot, The Common Pursuit, Man Equals Man, and The Government Inspector at the Royal National Theatre, directed by Richard Eyre.

His Film credits include Oh Marbella, A Day of Sirens, Alone in the Dark, Kevin of the North, Herod in the video filmed Jesus Christ Superstar, Guest House Paradiso, Merlin the Return, Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis (for which he won the Best Actor Award at the San Remo Film Festival 1997), An American Werewolf in London and Shock Treatment.

OLIVIA WILLIAMS (Victoria) made her big screen breakthrough co-starring with Bruce Willis in the smash hit The Sixth Sense. She also co-starred with Kevin Costner in The Postman. Described by Costner as “one of the most beautiful women on screen in the last 10 years,” she went on to co-star with Bill Murray in Rushmore as the primary school teacher who falls in love with a misanthropic millionaire.

Trained at the Bristol Old Vic, her theatre work includes productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. Her television credits include Emma, Friends, Jason and the Argonauts and Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures.

She starred in Born Romantic, Dead Babies, The Body, The Man From Elysian Fields, Lucky Break, The Heart of Me, Below, To Kill a King, Tara Road and as Mrs. Darling in Peter Pan.

PIP TORRENS (Lofty) is one of Britain’s busiest and most versatile talents, appearing in many notable film, television and theatre productions. His feature film appearances include A Handful of Dust, Patriot Games starring Harrison Ford, James Ivory’s The Remains of the Day, Incognito, the James Bond adventure Tomorrow Never Dies, Rogue Trader starring Ewan McGregor, To End All Wars, All the Queen’s Men and Revelation. He most recently appeared with Keira Knightley in Pride and Prejudice. His recent television credits include At Home with the Braithwaites, Trail and Retribution VII, Wire on the Blood, Gifted, When I’m Sixty-four, Rosemary and Thyme, The Commander II & III, Marple: 4.50 from Paddington, Mentorn’s David Kelly, Missing and No Angels. In the theatre, he has appeared at the Royal National Theatre in productions of Stanley and Absolute Hell.

JONATHAN ROSS (Big Thug) is a multi-award winning TV and radio presenter. Rarely off our screens, his memorable highlights include the BBC’s coverage of the Academy Awards; three Hollywood Greats specials on James Stewart, Kirk Douglas and Michael Caine; the BBC Red Nose Day and a feisty one-off special with Madonna in Friday Night with Ross and Madonna.

1999 saw him become Barry Norman’s successor with the BBC1 flagship show Film 99, which he has continued to host. He is also host of It’s Only TV But I Like It.

In 1991 he hosted the prestigious British Comedy Awards for the ITV network, an annual event that he has made his own, having hosted it every year since. He also hosted the 1999 BAFTA’s for the BBC.

In 2003 Jonathan Ross won a British Comedy Award for the Best Comedy Entertainment Programme for Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. He also scooped two prestigious Sony Awards for his show on BBC Radio 2.