My Favourite British Actors

1. Orlando Bloom

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Copeland Bloom was born on January 13, 1977 in Canterbury, Kent, England. His mother, Sonia Constance Josephine Bloom (née Copeland), was born in Kolkata, India, to an English family then-resident there. The man he first knew as his father, Harry Bloom, was a legendary ...

2. Michael Caine

Actor | The Dark Knight

Michael Caine was born as Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in London, to Ellen (née Burchell), a cook, and Maurice Micklewhite Sr., a fish-market porter. He had a younger brother, Stanley Caine, and an older maternal half-brother named David Burchell. He left school at age 15 and took a series of ...

3. Ben Chaplin

Actor | The Thin Red Line

With charm to spare and dark, unassumingly handsome looks, British actor Ben Chaplin arrived on the Hollywood scene in smart and sexy fashion with the comedy The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996). While his habit for avoiding mainstream artificiality in favor of small, intense, independent ...

4. Charles Chaplin

Writer | The Great Dictator

Considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, Charlie Chaplin lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular character, the Little Tramp; the man with the ...

5. Brendan Coyle

Actor | Downton Abbey

Brendan Coyle was born in Corby, Northamptonshire to an Irish father and Scottish mother; his parents moved to Corby from County Tyrone, Ireland. Brendan holds Irish citizenship and has previously lived in Dublin and London. However, according to a video clip from the site for "Rockface" he resides...

6. Richard Coyle

Actor | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Richard Coyle was born and raised in Sheffield, in the UK with his four brothers. He began his career when, studying languages and the history of art at York University (1992 - 1995), he got interested in student drama and traveled to the Edinburgh festival twice.

A decision to raise funds to study ...

7. Benedict Cumberbatch

Actor | The Imitation Game

Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch was born and raised in London, England. His parents, Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton (born Timothy Carlton Congdon Cumberbatch), are both actors. He is a grandson of submarine commander Henry Carlton Cumberbatch, and a great-grandson of diplomat Henry Arnold ...

8. Christopher Eccleston

Actor | Thor: The Dark World

Christopher Eccleston trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and first came to public attention as Derek Bentley in Let Him Have It (1991). However, it was a regular role in the television series Cracker (1993) that made him a recognizable figure in the United Kingdom. He appeared in the ...

9. Joseph Fiennes

Actor | Shakespeare in Love

Joseph Alberic Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, to Jennifer Anne Mary Alleyne (Lash), a novelist, and Mark Fiennes, a photographer. He is one of six children. Four of his siblings are also in the arts: Ralph Fiennes, an actor; Martha Fiennes, a director; Magnus Fiennes, a...

10. Richard E. Grant

Actor | Gosford Park

Richard E. Grant is an actor and presenter. He made his film debut as Withnail in the comedy Withnail and I (1987). Grant received critical acclaim for his role as Jack Hock in Marielle Heller's drama film Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018), winning various awards including the Independent Spirit ...

11. Christopher Lee

Actor | Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee was perhaps the only actor of his generation to have starred in so many films and cult saga. Although most notable for personifying bloodsucking vampire, Dracula, on screen, he portrayed other varied characters on screen, most of which were villains, whether it ...

12. Andrew Lincoln

Actor | The Walking Dead

Andrew Lincoln is a British actor. Lincoln spent his early childhood in Hull, Yorkshire before his family relocated to Bath, Somerset when he was age 10. He was educated at Beechen Cliff School in Bath, and then the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. His father is a civil engineer...

13. Paul McGann

Actor | The Three Musketeers

Paul McGann was born on November 14, 1959 in Kensington, Liverpool, England, UK. He is an actor and director, known for The Three Musketeers (1993), Withnail & I (1987) and Alien³ (1992). He has been married to Annie Milner since 1992. They have two children.

14. Tobias Menzies

Actor | Manhunt

Tobias was born in London. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1998 and began his acting career in popular UK series such as Foyle's War (2002), Midsomer Murders (1997), and Casualty (1986). He also appeared in the controversial drama A Very Social Secretary (2005). He is ...

15. David Morrissey

Actor | The Walking Dead

David Morrissey started acting at Everyman's Youth Theatre in Liverpool, where he was born and raised. He made an auspicious debut in One Summer (1983), a series about two Liverpool runaways. Following a degree at RADA, he worked with the theatre company Cheek By Jowl. He has also worked at theatre...

16. Stephen Moyer

Actor | True Blood

Stephen Moyer's passion for acting began in local theatre in Brentwood & Chelmsford, Essex where he also made a name for himself with his own theatre company "The Reject Society". He then trained at LAMDA and began his professional acting career on stage, including 2 years with the RSC ("Romeo & ...

17. Gary Oldman

Actor | The Dark Knight

Gary Oldman is a talented English movie star and character actor, renowned for his expressive acting style. One of the most celebrated thespians of his generation, with a diverse career encompassing theatre, film and television, he is known for his roles as Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy (1986), ...

18. Clive Owen

Actor | Children of Men

British actor Clive Owen is one of a handful of stars who, though he is best known for his art house films, can handle more mainstream films with equal measures of grace and skill. Owen is typically cast as characters whose primary traits are a balance of physical strength, intellect, conflicting ...

19. Alan Rickman

Actor | Die Hard

Alan Rickman was born on a council estate in Acton, West London, to Margaret Doreen Rose (Bartlett), of English and Welsh descent, and Bernard Rickman, of Irish descent, who worked at a factory. Alan Rickman had an older brother (David), a younger brother (Michael), and a younger sister (Sheila). ...

20. John Simm

Actor | Human Traffic

John Simm was born on 10 July 1970 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, and grew up in Nelson, Lancashire. He attended Edge End High School, Nelson, Lancashire, followed by Blackpool Drama College at 16 and the Drama Centre, London, at 19. He lives with his wife, actress Kate Magowan, and their children Ryan ...

21. Mark Strong

Actor | 1917

British actor Mark Strong, who played Jim Prideaux in the 2011 remake of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), is often cast as cold, calculating villains. But before he became a famous actor, he intended to pursue a career in law.

Strong was born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia in London, England, to an ...

22. John Hurt

Actor | Nineteen Eighty-Four

One of stage, screen and TV's finest transatlantic talents, slight, gravel-voiced, pasty-looking John Vincent Hurt was born on January 22, 1940, in Shirebrook, a coal mining village, in Derbyshire, England. The youngest child of Phyllis (Massey), an engineer and one-time actress, and Reverend ...

23. Patrick Stewart

Actor | Logan

Sir Patrick Stewart was born in Mirfield, Yorkshire, England, to Gladys (Barrowclough), a textile worker and weaver, and Alfred Stewart, who was in the army. He was a member of various local drama groups from about age 12. He left school at age 15 to work as a junior reporter on a local paper; he ...

24. Kiefer Sutherland

Actor | 24

Kiefer Sutherland was born in London, England, UK, to Canadian actors Shirley Douglas and Donald Sutherland, who moved to California shortly after his birth. His maternal grandfather, Tommy Douglas, was a Scottish-born Canadian politician who was a Premier of Saskatchewan for over 17 years and led ...

25. Simon Pegg

Actor | The World's End

English actor, writer, and comedian Simon Pegg was born Simon John Beckingham in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, to Gillian Rosemary (Smith), a civil servant, and John Henry Beckingham, a jazz musician. His parents divorced when he was seven. He later took his stepfather's surname "Pegg." He was ...

26. Ian McKellen

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Widely regarded as one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native Great Britain and internationally, twice nominated for the Oscar and recipient of every major theatrical award in the UK and US, Ian Murray McKellen was born on May 25, 1939 in Burnley, Lancashire, England, to Margery ...

27. Malcolm McDowell

Actor | A Clockwork Orange

Malcolm John Taylor was born on June 13, 1943 in Leeds, England, to working-class parents Edna (McDowell), a hotelier, and Charles Taylor, a publican. His father was an alcoholic. Malcolm hated his parents' ways. His father was keen to send his son to private school to give him a good start in life...

28. Richard Attenborough

Actor | Jurassic Park

Richard Attenborough, Baron Attenborough of Richmond-upon-Thames, was born in Cambridge, England, the son of Mary (née Clegg), a founding member of the Marriage Guidance Council, and Frederick Levi Attenborough, a scholar and academic administrator who was a don at Emmanuel College and wrote a ...

29. Tim Roth

Actor | Rob Roy

Often mistaken for an American because of his skill at imitating accents, actor Tim Roth was born Timothy Simon Roth on May 14, 1961 in Lambeth, London, England. His mother, Ann, was a teacher and landscape painter. His father, Ernie, was a journalist who had changed the family name from "Smith" to ...

30. Pete Postlethwaite

Actor | The Usual Suspects

An oddly fascinating bloke with prominent bony cheeks and rawboned figure, Peter William (Pete) Postlethwaite was born on February 16, 1946 and was a distinguished character actor on stage, TV and film. Growing up the youngest of four siblings in a Catholic family in Warrington, Lancashire (near ...

31. Terence Stamp

Actor | The Limey

Terence was born in London and spent his early years watching American films and dreamed of being like the stars on the screen, He was awarded a scholarship for the Webber Douglas School of Dramatic Art. In his second year, during an audition, Peter Ustinov signed him for the title role in Billy ...

32. Tim Curry

Actor | Congo

Timothy James Curry was born on April 19, 1946 in Grappenhall, Cheshire, England. His mother, Maura Patricia (Langmead), was a school secretary, and his father, James Curry, was a Methodist Royal Navy chaplain. Curry studied Drama and English at Birmingham University, from which he graduated with ...

33. Idris Elba

Actor | Beasts of No Nation

An only child, Idrissa Akuna Elba was born and raised in London, England. His father, Winston, is from Sierra Leone and worked at Ford Dagenham; his mother, Eve, is from Ghana and had a clerical duty. Idris attended school in Canning Town, where he first became involved in acting, before he dropped...

34. Martin Freeman

Actor | Black Panther

Martin Freeman is an English actor, known for portraying Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film trilogy, Tim Canterbury in the original UK version of sitcom mockumentary The Office (2001), Dr. John Watson in the British crime drama Sherlock (2010) and Lester Nygaard in the dark ...

35. Angela Lansbury

Actress | The Manchurian Candidate

Angela Lansbury was born in 1925 into a prominent family of the upper middle class living in the Regent's Park neighborhood of London. Her father was socialist politician Edgar Isaac Lansbury (1887-1935), a member of both the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Labour Party. Edgar ...

36. Keira Knightley

Actress | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Keira Christina Knightley was born March 26, 1985 in the South West Greater London suburb of Richmond. She is the daughter of actor Will Knightley and actress turned playwright Sharman Macdonald. An older brother, Caleb Knightley, was born in 1979. Her father is English, while her Scottish-born ...

37. Helena Bonham Carter

Actress | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Helena Bonham Carter is an actress of great versatility, one of the UK's finest and most successful.

Bonham Carter was born May 26, 1966 in Golders Green, London, England, the youngest of three children of Elena (née Propper de Callejón), a psychotherapist, and Raymond Bonham Carter, a merchant ...

38. Judi Dench

Actress | Skyfall

Dame Judi Dench was born Judith Olivia Dench in York, England, to Eleanora Olive (Jones), who was from Dublin, Ireland, and Reginald Arthur Dench, a doctor from Dorset, England. She attended Mount School in York, and studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She has performed with the ...

39. Chiwetel Ejiofor

Actor | 12 Years a Slave

English actor, writer and director Chiwetel Ejiofor is renowned for his portrayal of Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave (2013), for which he received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations, along with the BAFTA Award for Best Actor. He is also known for playing Okwe in Dirty Pretty Things...

40. David Thewlis

Actor | Naked

David Thewlis was born David Wheeler in 1963 in Blackpool, Lancashire, to Maureen (Thewlis) and Alec Raymond Wheeler, and lived with his parents above their combination wallpaper and toy shop during his childhood. Originally, he came to London with his band Door 66, however he changed his plans and...

41. Daniel Radcliffe

Actor | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Daniel Jacob Radcliffe was born on July 23, 1989 in Fulham, London, England, to casting agent Marcia Gresham (née Jacobson) and literary agent Alan Radcliffe. His father is from a Northern Irish Protestant background, while his mother was born in South Africa, to a Jewish family (from Lithuania, ...

42. Maggie Smith

Actress | Gosford Park

One of the world's most famous and distinguished actresses, Dame Maggie Smith was born Margaret Natalie Smith in Essex. Her Scottish mother, Margaret (Hutton), worked as a secretary, and her English father, Nathaniel Smith, was a teacher at Oxford University. Smith has been married twice: to actor ...

43. Arthur Darvill

Actor | Doctor Who

Thomas Arthur Darvill, known professionally as Arthur Darvill, is an English actor and musician. He is perhaps most recognized as Rory Williams, one of the Eleventh Doctor's companions in Doctor Who (2005), and as Rev. Paul Coates in Broadchurch (2013). In 2013-2014 he appeared in the lead role in ...

44. Richard Ayoade

Writer | Submarine

Richard Ellef Ayoade was born in Hammersmith, and grew up in Suffolk, in England, the son of a Norwegian mother, Dagny Amalie (Baassuik), and a Nigerian father, Layide Ade Laditi Ayoade. He studied Law at Cambridge university, and followed in the footsteps of British Comedy legends like Monty ...

45. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett

Actor | Candyman

Nathan was brought up in Wandsworth, London, He studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama, which he graduated from in 2006. He made his professional stage debut playing a number of roles in 'Brixton Stories' at the Lyric, Hammersmith and has also appeared on stage in 'The History Boys' at ...

46. Harry Lloyd

Actor | The Theory of Everything

Harry Charles Salusbury Lloyd is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Will Scarlet in the 2006 BBC drama Robin Hood, Jeremy Baines in the 2007 Doctor Who episodes "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood", Viserys Targaryen in the first season of the HBO series Game of Thrones, Peter ...

47. Andrew Lee Potts

Actor | The Witcher

Andrew was born on 29 October 1979 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, UK to dad Alan and mum Susan. He has a sister, Sarah-Jane, who is also an actor. He studied at Leeds Performing Arts School and started out in musical theatre. He is now a veteran TV actor and has been in a catalogue of all ...

48. Rex Harrison

Actor | My Fair Lady

Rex Harrison was born Reginald Carey Harrison in Huyton, Lancashire, England, to Edith Mary (Carey) and William Reginald Harrison, a cotton broker. He changed his name to Rex as a young boy, knowing it was the Latin word for "King". Starting out on his theater career at age 18, his first job at the ...

49. Helen Mirren

Actress | The Queen

Dame Helen Mirren was born in Queen Charlotte's Hospital in West London. Her mother, Kathleen Alexandrina Eva Matilda (Rogers), was from a working-class English family, and her father, Vasiliy Petrovich Mironov, was a Russian-born civil servant, from Kuryanovo, whose own father was a diplomat. ...

50. James Callis

Actor | Battlestar Galactica

James Callis was born on June 4, 1971 in London, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Battlestar Galactica (2004), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) and Austenland (2013). He has been married to Neha Callis since December 30, 1998. They have three children.

51. Shirley Henderson

Actress | Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

Shirley Henderson was the eldest of three sisters born into a working-class family in the village of Kincardine in Fife, Scotland. As a teenager she sang locally and performed in school drama clubs. Her first break came when she watched a singer on the Opportunity Knocks (1956) TV talent program ...

52. Elizabeth Taylor

Actress | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was considered one of the last, if not the last, major star to have come out of the old Hollywood studio system. She was known internationally for her beauty, especially for her violet eyes, with which she captured audiences early in her youth and kept the world hooked ...

53. Fiona Shaw

Actress | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1

Shaw was already an accomplished theater actress when director Jim Sheridan awarded her a role in his film, My Left Foot (1989). The film is a telling of Christy Brown (Daniel Day-Lewis), an Irishman disgruntled with his confinement to a body horribly crippled by cerebral palsy but who found ...

54. Dexter Fletcher

Actor | Ghosted

Two-time BAFTA-nominated director Dexter Fletcher is an English actor-turned-filmmaker whose movies and TV work include the Academy Award-winning Elton John biopic Rocketman. Fletcher started his career in front of the camera at the age of 6; three years later he played "Baby Face" in Alan Parker's...

55. Oliver Reed

Actor | Gladiator

Robert Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. His notable films include The Trap (1966), playing Bill Sikes in the Best Picture Oscar winner Oliver! (1968), Women in Love (1969), Hannibal Brooks (1969), The Devils (1971), Revolver (1973), ...

56. Peter Vaughan

Actor | Straw Dogs

A true character actor in the best sense of the word, offbeat British thespian Peter Vaughan's hefty frame could appear intimidating or benevolent; his mere presence menacing or avuncular. Adept at playing both sides of the law, his characters usually possessed a strange, somewhat wary countenance ...

57. Dominic West

Actor | The Wire

Dominic West was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England as Dominic Gerard Francis Eagleton West. He is an actor and producer, known for The Wire (2002), Chicago (2002), 300 (2006), The Affair (2014) and The Forgotten (2004). He has been married to Catherine Fitzgerald since June 26, 2010. They have ...

58. Indira Varma

Actress | Bride & Prejudice

Indira Anne Varma (born 27 September 1973) is a British actress. Her film debut and first major role was in Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. She has gone on to appear in the television series The Canterbury Tales, Rome, Luther, Human Target, and Game of Thrones (as Ellaria Sand). In September 2016, she ...

59. Christine Adams

Actress | Tron: Legacy

Film and television actress Christine Adams was born in London, United Kingdom.

She starred on several British and American films and television series since early 2000s.

On television, she is known for roles as "Katherine Williams Osgood" on the British miniseries, NY-LON (2004); "Simone Hundin" on ...

60. Sophie Wu

Actress | Kick-Ass 2

Sophie Wu was born on December 23, 1983 in the UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Kick-Ass 2 (2013), Kick-Ass (2010) and Wild Child (2008).

61. Jim Carter

Actor | Transformers: The Last Knight

Jim Carter was born on August 19, 1948 in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Downton Abbey (2019). He has been married to Imelda Staunton since October 1983. They have one child.

62. Hugh Laurie

Actor | House M.D.

Hugh was born in Oxford, England on June 11, 1959, to Patricia (Laidlaw) and William George Ranald Mundell "Ran" Laurie, a doctor, both of Scottish descent. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge. Son of an Olympic gold medalist in the sport, he rowed for the England youth team (1977) and for ...

63. Joe Dempsie

Actor | Skins

Joseph Maxwell Dempsie is an English actor, best known for his roles as Chris Miles in the E4 teen comedy-drama Skins (2007-2008) and Gendry Baratheon in Game of Thrones (2011-2013; 2017-2019). Dempsie's earlier acting credits include the medical dramas Peak Practice (2000), Doctors (2001-2003), ...

64. Rupert Grint

Actor | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint was born in Harlow, Essex, England, the elder son of Joanne (Parsons) and Nigel Grint, who dealt in memorabilia. The first of 5 children, Rupert has one brother and three sisters.

Rupert grew up in Hertfordshire, the English county directly to the north of London, ...

65. Iwan Rheon

Actor | Game of Thrones

Iwan Rheon (born 13 May 1985) is a Welsh actor, singer and musician, best known for portraying Ramsay Bolton in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011), Simon Bellamy in the E4 series Misfits (2009) and Ash Weston in the ITV sitcom Vicious (2013).

Rheon was born in Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire. When he...

66. Lauren Socha

Actress | Misfits

Lauren Marie Socha is an actress, known for her role in Misfits (2009).

She born June 9, 1990, in Derby, Derbyshire, England, to Kathleen (Lyons) and Robert Socha, and has Polish, English, Irish, and Italian ancestry. In 2010, Socha starred alongside Tim McInnerny in the short film Missing. She also...

67. Simon Farnaby

Actor | Paddington 2

Simon Farnaby was born on April 2, 1973 in Darlington, County Durham, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for Paddington 2 (2017), Wonka (2023) and Your Highness (2011). He is married to Claire Keelan. They have one child.

68. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett

Actor | Candyman

Nathan was brought up in Wandsworth, London, He studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama, which he graduated from in 2006. He made his professional stage debut playing a number of roles in 'Brixton Stories' at the Lyric, Hammersmith and has also appeared on stage in 'The History Boys' at ...

69. James Lance

Actor | Northern Soul

James Lance was born on September 29, 1975 in Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Northern Soul (2014), Bronson (2008) and Marie Antoinette (2006). He has been married to Kate Quilton since 2016. They have one child.

70. Cillian Murphy

Actor | 28 Days Later...

Striking Irish actor Cillian Murphy was born in Douglas, the oldest child of Brendan Murphy, who works for the Irish Department of Education, and a mother who is a teacher of French. He has three younger siblings. Murphy was educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork. He went on to study law ...

71. Thandiwe Newton

Actress | Crash

Thandiwe Newton was born in London. She is the daughter of Zimbabwean mother Nyasha, a health-care worker from the Shona tribe, and British father Nick Newton, who worked as a lab technician. She lived in Zambia until political unrest caused her family to move back to the UK, where she lived in ...

72. Sophie Okonedo

Actress | Hotel Rwanda

Sophie Okonedo is a British actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Tatiana Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda (2004).

Okonedo was born within London in 1968. Her parents were Henry Okonedo (1939-2009) and Joan Allman. Her father was British Nigerian ...

73. Peter O'Toole

Actor | Lawrence of Arabia

A leading man of prodigious talents, Peter O'Toole was born and raised in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, the son of Constance Jane Eliot (Ferguson), a Scottish nurse, and Patrick Joseph O'Toole, an Irish metal plater, football player and racecourse bookmaker. Upon leaving school, he decided to become a...

74. Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Actor | Den 12. mann

Jonathan Rhys Meyers was born Jonathan Michael Meyers on July 27, 1977, in Dublin, Ireland, to Mary Geraldine (Meyers) and John O'Keeffe, a musician. He and his family moved to County Cork, Ireland, when the actor was nearly a year old, and then, at the age of 3, his father left the family, leaving...

75. Emily Mortimer

Actress | Mary Poppins Returns

British actress Emily Kathleen Anne Mortimer was born in Hammersmith, London, England, to writer and barrister Sir John Mortimer and his second wife, Penelope (née Gollop). She was educated at St Paul's Girls' School in West London, and it was whilst there she began acting. Mortimer moved on from ...

76. Robert Carlyle

Actor | The Full Monty

Robert Carlyle was born in Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland, to Elizabeth, a bus company employee, and Joseph Carlyle, a painter and decorator. He was raised by his father after his mother left him when he was four. At the age of 21, after reading Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," he enrolled in acting ...

77. Alec Guinness

Actor | Star Wars

Alec Guinness was an English actor. He is known for his six collaborations with David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Prince Faisal in Lawrence...

78. James Nesbitt

Actor | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

James Nesbitt was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, to May, a civil servant, and James Nesbitt, a primary school headmaster. He was educated at Coleraine Academical Institution (also the school of Brian Campbell & Brian McAlister). He originally planned to be a French teacher. It ...

79. John Rhys-Davies

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Welsh actor John Rhys-Davies was born in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales, to Mary Margaretta Phyllis (nee Jones), a nurse, and Rhys Davies, a mechanical engineer and Colonial Officer. He graduated from the University of East Anglia and is probably best known to film audiences for his roles in the...

80. Jamie Bamber

Actor | Battlestar Galactica

Jamie Saint John Bamber Griffith known professionally as Jamie Bamber, is a British actor, known for his roles as Lee Adama in Battlestar Galactica and Detective Sergeant Matt Devlin in the ITV series Law & Order: UK. He also had a supporting role as 2nd Lt. Jack Foley in the HBO miniseries Band of...

81. Ben Miller

Actor | Professor T

Halfway through a PhD in physics at Cambridge University, Ben met Alexander Armstrong (who was also studying there) in 1992. Instead of finishing his PhD, Ben chose to scrap science for comedy and started playing at the Comedy Club Footlights, Cambridge. After four years of touring pubs and ...

82. Stuart Townsend

Actor | The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Stuart Townsend was born in Howth, County Dublin in 1972. Although his father, Peter Townsend was a professional golfer, Stuart was determined to be an actor and began his career by appearing in a number of student films, while attending the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin. He supported himself ...

83. Lennie James

Actor | The Walking Dead

Lennie James was born in Nottingham to Trinidadian parents, and grew up in South London. His mother, Phyllis Mary James, died when he was 12. Lennie and his older brother went into a council children's home. When he was 16 he was fostered with a social worker who had two older children, and they ...

84. Daniel Kaluuya

Actor | Get Out

Daniel Kaluuya is a British actor and writer. He is best known for Get Out (2017), Black Panther (2018) and for portraying Fred Hampton in Judas & The Black Messiah (2021).

He had a supporting role in Sicario (2015).

He also starred in the Black Mirror episode "Fifteen Million Merits".

For his work in...

85. Adrian Lester

Actor | The Day After Tomorrow

Adrian Lester CBE was born on August 14, 1968 in Birmingham, England. He is a multi award winning actor and director, known for seven seasons of the hit TV show Hustle (2004), The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and Primary Colors (1998) and his extensive classical work in the theatre playing Othello, ...

86. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Actor | Farming

Born and raised in London, England, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje began his career as a model in Milan. He graduated with a masters degree in Law from London's prestigious Kings College, before moving to Los Angeles to make the transition to acting. Fluent in several languages, including English, ...

87. Dylan Moran

Actor | Black Books

Irish comedian Dylan Moran was born in Navan, County Meath in 1971. Leaving school without any qualifications at age 16, Moran quickly became attracted to stand-up comedy and debuted, in 1992, at a comedy club in Dublin, The Comedy Cellar. A year later, he won the Channel Four comedy newcomer's "So...

88. Bernard Cribbins

Actor | Frenzy

An actor since the age of 14, Bernard Cribbins had become a major star on the London stage by his mid-20s, but it was another ten years before he became a national star by his success in film comedies and with a string of hit records. He appeared in several of the "Carry On" series, and also ...

89. Eve Myles

Actress | Torchwood

Eve Myles was born on July 26, 1978 in Ystradgynlais, Wales, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Torchwood (2006), Dragon Age II (2011) and Keeping Faith (2017). She has been married to Bradley Freegard since May 18, 2013. They have two children.

90. Thomas Brodie-Sangster

Actor | Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

Thomas Brodie-Sangster was born on May 16, 1990 in London, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015), The Maze Runner (2014) and Love Actually (2003).

91. Paterson Joseph

Actor | Wonka

Paterson Joseph was born on June 22, 1964 in Willesden, London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Wonka (2023), The Beach (2000) and Æon Flux (2005). He is married to Emmanuelle Joseph. They have one child.

92. Hugh Bonneville

Actor | Downton Abbey

Hugh Bonneville is a British actor, known for his stage work at the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company as well as the West End. His extensive film and television work includes Twenty Twelve, W1A, Downton Abbey, Paddington, The Gold and I Came By. See his website hughbonneville.uk for ...

93. Mark Sheppard

Actor | Supernatural

Mark Andreas Sheppard was born on May 30, 1964 in London, England. He is an actor director and producer, known for Supernatural (2005), Battlestar Galactica (2004), Firefly (2002), Leverage (2008), Doctor Who (2005) In the Name of the Father (1993) and many others. He has been married to Sarah ...

94. Gina Bellman

Actress | Leverage

Gina Bellman was born on July 10, 1966 in Auckland, New Zealand. She is an actress, known for Leverage (2008), Coupling (2000) and Jekyll (2007). She has been married to Zaab Sethna since September 2013. They have one child. She was previously married to Lucho Brieva.

95. Richard Griffiths

Actor | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

The avuncular star character actor Richard Griffiths grew up in a council flat in less than prosperous conditions, the son of deaf and volatile parents in a dysfunctional family setting. According to an article in the Telegraph newspaper, his father Thomas was a steelworker 'who fought in pubs for ...

96. Oliver Reed

Actor | Gladiator

Robert Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. His notable films include The Trap (1966), playing Bill Sikes in the Best Picture Oscar winner Oliver! (1968), Women in Love (1969), Hannibal Brooks (1969), The Devils (1971), Revolver (1973), ...

97. Richard Burton

Actor | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Probably best-remembered for his turbulent personal life with Elizabeth Taylor (whom he married twice), Richard Burton was nonetheless also regarded as an often brilliant British actor of the post-WWII period.

Burton was born Richard Walter Jenkins in 1925 into a Welsh (Cymraeg)-speaking family in ...

98. Jessica Tandy

Actress | Driving Miss Daisy

A beloved, twinkly blue-eyed doyenne of stage and screen, actress Jessica Tandy's career spanned nearly six and a half decades. In that span of time, she enjoyed an amazing film renaissance at age 80, something unheard of in a town that worships youth and nubile beauty. She was born Jessie Alice ...

99. Olivia Williams

Actress | The Ghost Writer

Olivia began her career on the stage at the RSC and The National Theatre, breaking into TV with the Andrew Davies adaptation of Emma (1996).

From a damp basement in Camden Town she won the role of Abby in the $120 million blockbuster The Postman (1997) starring alongside Kevin Costner. In the ...

100. Douglas Booth

Actor | Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Douglas John Booth is an English actor. Booth was born in London, England, the son of Vivien (De Cala), an artist, and Simon Booth, who works in shipping for Citigroup. He has appeared on English television as (Christopher and His Kind (2011), Great Expectations (2011)), starred in the film Romeo &...