Mel Gibson
Despite the fact that he was born in New York, most people believe that Mel Gibson is a native Australian due largely to the lilting and chipper-sounding Aussie accent, and the fact that before hitting the big time in movies he made several appearances on the ubiquitous Australian daytime soap opera circuit. After emigrating to Australia with his family at the age o twelve, he threw himself into acting and found that the theater was his natural habitat and his calling. HIs first critical acclaim came in Peter Weir's Gallipoli, set in World War One, for which he earned a Best Actor Award from the Australian Film Institute.
Best known as an actor for his performances in two hit action movie franchises, Mad Max and Lethal Weapon, the latter alongside Danny Glover, Gibson returned to his historical drama roots and directed, produced and starred in Braveheart, which earned him considerable plaudits. He won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe in the Best Director category and topped this off with a Best Picture Oscar as well.
After the success of Braveheart, Gibson's career took a more controversial turn, both on screen and off. On screen the controversy was largely artistic; his big screen biblical drama The Passion of the Christ was an enormous financial success.
In 2016 he directed Hacksaw Ridge, reminding people of what a talent he actually is. The film won two Academy Awards, and was nominated for four more including Best Director - Gibson's second nomination in this category.
Sophie Marceau
Better known in Europe than in America, Marceau became a star at a relatively young age with her debut movie, La Boum, for which she earned a Most Promising Newcomer award. Like Gibson, she is also known as a director in her native France.
Her role in Braveheart finally enabled her to break through onto the world stage, and she received the ultimate accolade for an international female movie star - she appeared as one of James Bond's love interests of dubious moral rectitude in the nineteenth Bond movie, The World is Not Enough.
Angus Macfadyen
There are not many actors whose names give off such an air of the Scottish as Macfadyen's, making him the perfect choice for a film about the battle between Scotland and England. Macfadyen has actually played the role of Robert the Bruce twice, once in Braveheart and once in the eponymous movie about this beloved Scottish folk hero.
Macfadyen's film career has been extremely diverse, spanning historical drama, family feel-good films and horror; he starred in the SAW franchise and was also cast opposite Matt Damon in the sleeper hit We Bought A Zoo.
Patrick McGoohan
Patrick McGoohan is one of those actors who has achieved cult hero status because of his roles in two of the most popular television serials of the late 'sixties and early 'seventies; he starred in the British hit Dangerman (which even spawned its own animated cartoon Dangermouse) and also in the surreal and slightly disturbing drama The Prisoner which he not only starred in but was also responsible for creating.
McGoohan was once shortlisted as a possible James Bond but he turned it down because he did not approve of the suave secret agent's promiscuous ways with women. He not only turned the role down once, but twice, which is a record within the franchise.
McGoohan received two Emmy Awards for his recurring role on Columbo opposite a trench-coat clad Peter Falk, and he also directed a number of the episodes as well. McGoohan passed away in Santa Monica, California, in 2009.
Catherine McCormack
English actress McCormack made her movie debut in Loaded, directed by Anna Campion, but her first big screen role during which you could blink and not miss her was as Murron MacClannough in Braveheart. However, she does not make many films because she does not receive many scripts that ignite any kind of passion in her, preferring instead to work almost exclusively on the stage.
Brendan Gleeson
Brendan Gleeson is a man of many nominations, winning an Emmy for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in Into The Storm, and a plethora of Golden Globe, BAFTA and Emmy Award nominations. Although he has appeared in many a gritty political thriller, most notably opposite Liam Neeson in Michael Collins, it is for his portrayal of Alistair Moody in the Harry Potter franchise that he is best known and loved. Roger Ebert once described him as having "the face of a boxer gone to seed".
Alun Armstrong
It's funny how show business works; an actor can appear in one hundred films and receive critical acclaim for every one of them, but they remain best known and loved for a television series in which they play the lovable buffoon. Such is the case for Shakespearean thespian Armstrong, whose appearance in the popular BBC television series New Tricks, in which he plays a retired police detective brought back to the Metropolitan Police in order to work on the cold case team, made him a household name.
Armstrong was also a member of the original London cast of Les Miserables, creating the role of Thernadier, the inn keeper, one of the show's more popular characters, and a role he recreated when the cast were brought together to perform at the musical's twenty five year anniversary. He also won an Olivier Award for the title role in the musical Sweeney Todd.
Brian Cox
Cox, the recipient of the CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honors List, is a Scottish actor who has been a long-standing member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, his first love, despite a film career that is wide ranging and extremely successful. He is best known for his role in two of the Bourne movies and was also the first actor to play Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter on screen, although his psychopathic psychologist was not nearly so well-known as Sir Anthony Hopkins' later creation. He also appeared in the Super Trooper and RED franchises.
More recently, Cox has given his distinctive voice to the characters of several popular children's animations, including Bob the Builder.
